“LOGOS” exhibit at Miller Gallery

LOGOS

An Exhibition of Works by John E. Ruggles
Miller Gallery at Alvernia University
August 21, 2025 – Sept 12, 2025

The Miller Gallery at Alvernia University is proud to present Logos, a compelling exhibition by artist John E. Ruggles, featuring two major series: Letters on the Wind and My One Brown Arm. Drawing from the Greek term logos, meaning “word,” “reason,” and “principle”, the show invites viewers to reflect on the power of language and the urgent call to use it with excellence and generosity in our current cultural moment.

In Letters on the Wind, Ruggles explores the calligraphic beauty of written languages, revealing the visual poetry embedded in each letterform. Through large gestural mark-making, layered mixed media, and gilded divisions that evoke sacred thresholds, these works present letters as both vessels of meaning and seeds carried across time, taking root in the stories and identities of cultures. Beginning with Hebrew, he is currently researching and preparing a series on Arabic, Ruggles moves through linguistic traditions with reverence, seeking the divine in form, gesture, and space.

In My One Brown Arm, the artist turns toward personal narrative and embodied identity. This series grapples with race, belonging, and perception, offering a deeply felt meditation on what it means to be seen, and unseen, in contemporary America. This series explores his time doing end of life care for his grandmother and the stories she told of being a Costa Rican immigrant to the United States. The works are at once intimate and political, speaking to the lived experience of difference while resisting reduction to a single story.

Together, the two series create a dialogue between the universal and the personal, the sacred and the social. Logos asks: How do we speak with integrity? How do we tell stories that heal rather than harm? How can art renew our commitment to excellence, and community?

“At a time when language is too often weaponized or diminished, we need to engage with it more deeply,” says Ruggles. “We need to choose words, and works that strive for clarity, generosity, and love. Logos is my offering toward that end.”

Logos will be on view at the Miller Gallery at Alvernia University from August 21, 2025 to September 12, 2025. An opening reception with the artist will be announced soon.

Admission is free and open to the public.

About the Artist:
John E. Ruggles is a multidisciplinary artist whose work traverses the boundaries between language, identity, and the sacred. Drawing on traditions from calligraphy to abstract expressionism, his art investigates the spaces between cultures, ideas, and personal narratives, offering viewers both contemplative stillness and active engagement. He is adjunct faculty at the PA College of Art and Design Center for Creative Exploration, and Community Programs Director at Berks Arts.

About the Miller Gallery:
The Miller Gallery at Alvernia University is dedicated to presenting exhibitions that challenge, inspire, and foster dialogue between artists, students, and the wider community.

For more information, images, or interviews, please contact:
Kevin Godfrey

Miller Gallery, Alvernia University
kevin.godfrey@alvernia.edu | 610-796-8233