Over the course of the past 100 years, LUAG has developed an incredible collection that spans the globe and 5,000 years of art, Crow says.

“As we celebrate this major milestone, we should not neglect the artists and the creativity of the people who are right here in our community, because the Lehigh Valley is certainly a place that’s growing leaps and bounds in terms of its creative production and the artists living and working here,” Crow says. “We are here to connect artists, neighbors and people from all walks of life, with the goal of becoming their go-to site for a wide range of experiences. We are their museum, and we are here to support them.”

That was the idea behind LUAG’s latest exhibition: “Here and Now: 100 Years of LUAG, 100 Local Artists.”

The exhibition will run from Sept. 2, 2025 through May 22, 2026, featuring 100 works by local artists. It will serve as the catalyst for a series of receptions, lectures, community workshops and special events. A kickoff for the exhibition is planned from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19, called “Light Up LUAG.” The free event will include artmaking, food, music and other activities throughout the main gallery and Zoellner Arts Center.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Lehigh students will select and ultimately purchase local artworks for the collection through the ART275: Museum Collections and Exhibitions class this fall. As of June, the class was full and had a waiting list. Students will get to interview artists who participated in the “Here and Now” exhibition. At the end of the class, they will purchase select works with money from Lehigh’s Fine Arts Endowment and the Robin and Allan B. Kachel ’71 Endowed Fund.

Students will be asked to choose art for the collection that “speaks to the times in which we live,” Crow says.

“One thing people often forget when they visit an art museum is that at some point in time, all art was contemporary. Even the most ancient pieces in our collection were made by people at a specific moment of time, in a specific context, and they reveal to us what people were concerned about, what they were interested in,” Crow says. “Our hope is this exhibition will help all of us gain a better understanding about what we value at this particular moment in time.”