Butler Art Center hosts exhibit on domestic violence
Patricia Rippee said she has channeled her personal experiences into a traveling art exhibition.
“Pony Express of Tears and Hope,” returned to the Butler Art Center & Gallery on Thursday, Oct. 2 and will run through Oct. 16.
“I am a victim of abuse,” said Rippee, 74, of Evans City. “I wanted to do something to bring about awareness, because it’s a subject matter that’s talked about very little.”
The exhibition features numerous pieces of artwork, poems and other art displays with domestic abuse as a central theme. One of the more haunting displays, contributed by Rippee herself, was a series of toy animals with notes attached to them, which were purported to be written by the toys themselves and referencing their young owners.
The notes had such messages as, “They killed mine,” “Mine is an alcoholic,” “Mine got into drugs and O.D’d,” and “Aren’t you glad we can’t talk.”
Not all of the displays were meant to be artistic in nature. One was a folder containing pages upon pages of letters from victims of domestic abuse telling their experiences.
This is not the first time that the Pony Express exhibit has taken residence at the Butler Art Center; it previously set up there in 2021. Rippee says that the exhibit has traveled up and down the state over the past 24 years, including multiple appearances at the state Capitol building in Harrisburg.
“It’s been at the courthouse in Allegheny County four times. It’s been at Harrisburg four times. It’s been at Cranberry once. It’s been over in Monroeville,” Rippee said. “We keep trying to find places to take it. We hope one day to have enough to fill the whole ground floor of the rotunda at the (state) Capitol.”
She added that the exhibit has grown considerably since its beginnings. According to Rippee, an early show in Harrisburg struggled to gain attention until she took matters into her own hands.
“It started out with just one table and two or three pieces of art,” Rippee said. “The first time I went to Harrisburg, hardly anybody paid any attention to the art. So I bought a little mini (horse) and we took him to the rotunda. He had a little area where he had his carpet and he stayed in his area. People came and looked at everything.”
Aside from art, the exhibit at Butler features pamphlets and literature relevant for those who might be dealing with domestic violence situation.
