The art department will be opening up the Coburn Art Gallery once again for the AU campus and community as they host their new exhibit. The exhibit coming in is entitled, “Thy Neighbor.” It opens Oct. 26 at 4:30 p.m. and will run through Nov. 17. The gallery can be found inside of the Center for the Arts building.

“Thy Neighbor” will be a mail art exhibit that is a part of the larger exhibition, “Strength through Connections.” Artists were invited to make postcards that built a better understanding of community population through race, class, and religion. These postcards were then mailed to Coburn Gallery Director, Cynthia Petry.

Petry, who has been the gallery director for 11 years, said, “the main theme is addressing our diverse community and ways we can better interact within it.”

When the exhibit is put up, it will be displayed in a grid format.

Currently, the gallery is set to have over 100 cards. Petry explained the diversity within each of those cards.

“We have cards that are international, national, regional, and Ashland,” Petry said. “We have a wide variety of cards that are coming in.”

Petry sees a great value not only in the works coming in, but also in the way that they are delivered to her as well.

“Everyone who touches these cards gets to see the artists’ message,” Petry said. “It could potentially affect someone just by holding them for a minute.”

While the exhibit is going on, an animation artist will be coming in to give an artist lecture and a four-hour animation workshop. This workshop will be open to all.

Petry stated that she hopes this exhibit will help push the campus and community into interacting with each other more. She also says that this encourages people to talk to others that they may not have engaged with beforehand.

Overall Petry is excited about the upcoming gallery and the potential that it holds to impact the community.

“I want to see students come and interact with the work,” Petry said. “I hope it will help people to get outside their boundaries and comfort zones.”