Ejecta Projects, a new artistic space and gallery opened by Dickinson Professor Anthony Cervino and his wife, Shannon Egan, is exhibiting Valediction, an exploration of an ending. The space, formerly owned by Harmony Society and located at 136 W. High Street in Carlisle, was opened this past March.

The gallery had its opening on Saturday, March 24. On its Facebook page, the gallery is described as “a quiet space to consider collaborative artistic and curatorial undertakings,” Ejecta Projects is also a departure from standard galleries. Cervino noted that, although Ejecta borrows from traditional gallery layout, “we should question that, because this isn’t the way you would show [art] in your house. We’re here to talk about [art],” Cervino said, “we don’t have all the answers… we’re here to facilitate permission to like and dislike art.”

Cervino described Ejecta’s mission as “contributing to a broader conversation” about art in Carlisle, with the hope that “people come in and look, people come in and talk, without the pressure of the grade… or mandatory attendance, there’s none of that.” For Cervino, the space is multifaceted: a warm space, “an extension of our home, it’s an extension of my studio, it’s an extension of my wife’s office… all these things kind of wrapped into one.”

Emma Larson-Whittaker ’21, said of the gallery “I’d definitely go once, although with galleries it can be hard [because] it’s difficult to know when openings are and attendants at galleries don’t usually seem super receptive to young people.”

Ejecta came about from a long period of cooperation between Cervino and his wife, including a collaborative show also called Ejecta shown in Washington, D.C. in 2015. Compounding with this was a desire to bring a new artistic experience and perspective to the Carlisle community.

Cervino said that “it’s doing what we wanted to do” and that he is excited for a new challenge and a new perspective in approaching the gallery work from the side of a manager and curator, rather than as an artist. “That’s what’s exciting,” he said, “I have no idea how it’s going to turn out… that risk is healthy.”

He expressed his interest in hosting other types of programming at the space to allow people to, in his words, “connect in the presence of art,” as well as possibly issuing artists’ books and curating small, rentable shows in the future as part of Ejecta’s broader purpose.

The current exhibition, Valediction, features works that “share a sense of concerted loss, fragmentation and displacement,” according to the exhibitions pamphlet. Works on display include “intimately sized” paintings by Nora Sturges, a sculpture created with CAD software by Joe Meiser, a collage by Elin O’Hara Slavick and layered prints by Lisa Blas. This  first exhibit will be open to the public until May 5.

The next gallery’s next exhibit will feature a Dickinson alumna, Carley Zarzeka ’15, who attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina, and will begin in mid-May before graduation.

Both Cervino and Egan have prior experience in curation. Cervino is associate professor of studio art at Dickinson College and Egan is an adjunct assistant professor of art and art history at Gettysburg College.

Ejecta Projects is open from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, as well as 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays.

For more information about upcoming exhibits or news regarding the gallery, visit www.ejectagallery.com or visit the gallery’s Facebook page at @EjectaProjects.