Lucy Gans is a printmaker and a sculptor, her oeuvre is figurative, narrative and deftly utilizes portraits to explore social issues; it ranges from small photogravures and monotypes to individually carved figures, and includes installations with cast objects, prints, drawings, and recorded text. Her work gives voice to family narratives and stories of relationships that can include abuse, social violence, and abandonment, through layering of text and image. Her 2007 exhibition In Our Own Words at Lehigh University Art Galleries dealt with intimate partner violence and was composed of over 400 ceramic heads, eight looping audio tracks featuring interviews with survivors, and accompanying texts. The exhibition received a Social Impact Award from the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission.
Gans' work is in many public and private collections in the United States and abroad. She has received the National Association of Women Artists' Medal of Honor, Peabody Award for her work in printmaking, and Clara Shainless Memorial Award. She has taught for over forty years in schools, colleges, and universities in Ohio, New York, Alabama, and Pennsylvania.
Gans earned her MFA in sculpture from Pratt Institute, with a minor in drawing. She also studied painting and drawing at the Art Students League, and earned her BFA from Lake Erie College, Painesville, Ohio.
Lucy Gans joined the Lehigh University Faculty in 1981 and is currently Professor of Art and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and was the first holder of the Louis and Jane P. Weinstock '36 Chair in Art and Architecture in the Department of Art, Architecture and Design.
For the full list of works included in the exhibition view the 
Exhibition Checklist
