© Maria Maneos work, *Under the Microscope*

December 10, 2025
Amie Potsic interviewed Co-Curators of A Scrutiny Mutiny at The Hook Experiment - Vicki Vinton, Constance McBride (and Lisa Baird).

The Hook Experiment is an unconventional art gallery and performance space in Oxford, Pennsylvania, housed in a raw, partially renovated 4,500-square-foot space with exposed brick, worn floors, and hidden rooms. Founded by artists and curators, it encourages creators to showcase work outside their usual mediums - including unfinished or experimental pieces - free from commercial pressures. The gallery’s name honors the building’s former owners (the Hooks) and its mission to embrace artistic risk and imperfection. The gallery supports the arts community of Chester County and beyond.

Vicki Vinton: Vicki Vinton is an American painter and sculptor living and working in rural Pennsylvania. Vinton began her undergraduate work at the University of Denver where she majored in art and philosophy. She continued her studies at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. In 1985, she was selected as one of the first residents of The Vermont Studio School. Vinton studied applied arts at The Finishing School in NY before entering a twenty-year career in the decorative Arts Industry. Vinton returned to the studio in 2009. The unique quality of her work blends a knowledge of art history and the fine arts with a vast array of technical skills learned from the applied arts. Vinton began curating in 2023 when the Hook building was stripped of its former office bones and offered an empty shell no artist could refuse. The bones of the 4500square foot building were intoxicating." I have found as a visual artist you sometimes have to make your own opportunity's to exhibit your work. " There is so much talent in this area and its surrounds. So the first pop up commenced in 2023. It coined the name The Hook Experiment, from its original owners, The Hooks who operated it as a Sears catalogue company.

Constance McBride: Constance McBride draws attention to gender-based issues using ceramic sculpture, installations and mixed media collage. Her work has appeared in solo and group shows around the country including at Phoenix Art Museum (AZ), The Delaware Contemporary (DE), The Woodmere and The Clay Studio (PA), and Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts (MT). Recent awards include the J. M. Dowling Award for sculpture (Woodmere) and a grant from The Puffin Foundation. She serves as a juror for various exhibitions including recently the Betsy Meyer Memorial exhibition for Main Line Art Center in Haverford, PA. McBride has curated group exhibitions for several galleries in Arizona, for The Art Trust and Chester County Art Center in West Chester and most recently for The Hook Experiment in Oxford. McBride serves as a board member for The Hook Experiment and teaches at the Center for the Creative Arts in Yorklyn, DE. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Arcadia University, Glenside, PA and a Master’s Certificate from George Washington University in D.C. McBride currently resides in West Grove, outside of Philadelphia.

Lisa Baird: Lisa Baird’s practice spans across sculpture, video, installation, and painting, and she is currently focused on creating colorful mixed media works. She began working as a curator at The Hook Experiment in 2023, where she now serves as Executive Director. Baird lives and works outside of Philadelphia in West Grove, PA.

A Scrutiny Mutiny

Exhibition Dates: November 21, 2025 - January 16, 2026

Closing Reception: Saturday, January 16th, 5 - 8pm

The Hook Experiment: 45 S 3rd St. Oxford, PA 19363

The 52-artist show includes two components:

An invitation was extended to five installation artists: Emilio Maldanado, Lisa Marie Patzer, Meirav Ong, Maria Maneos and Jessica Valoris.
A juried portion consisting of a global mix of 10” x 10” panel pieces. Artist from around the country and beyond responded to the open call.

Installation Highlights

Jessica Valoris - It’s About Flight

The piece is dedicated to the memory of 14 enslaved people, who escaped from Poolesville, MD in 1831. Escape was sometimes referred to as "slave flight". In the published story, The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton, a root doctor sings a special song to enslaved people working the fields. The song reminds them of their powers, and they fly away home. In other versions of the story, it is noted that when Black people took to the skies, their hoes were left still working the ground. Enslaved people used the hoe to work the fields, and also to tend to their own gardens, called a "truck patch". In the Chesapeake Region, enslaved people often cultivated their truck patch by moonlight, and supplemented the little food they were allotted by gardening, foraging, and fishing.

The dancefloor at the base of the sculpture is inspired by the ways that secret dance gatherings were a space of refuge, refusal and revival. At the risk of severe punishment Black communities coordinated secret dance parties in the woods, and used dance as a way of reclaiming their bodies, time, movement, and personal agency.

Emilio Maldanado - 0 to 100%

The project "0-100%" is the artist's reflection on life in Capitalist North America, examining the complexities of material wealth from the immigrant perspective. It responds to the living environment and the pressures of material comfort. This project embodies an act of defiance, calculated destruction, and controlled chaos. It offers a quasi-voyeuristic experience, inviting viewers to connect with the various composite objects through their memories and to create their own narratives through associations and the semantics of these objects.

Maria Maneos - Under the Microscope

An immersive sculpture that delves into the often unseen and unexamined layers of human experience, magnifying the complexities of life through both visual and narrative means.

At its core, Under the Microscope is about uncovering the hidden stories and connections that influence our understanding of the world. The narratives within Under the Microscope draw from real-life experiences, exploring themes of identity, memory, and social justice. By deconstructing and reassembling these elements, the work invites the audience to engage with the deeper meanings behind the stories and to reflect on the interconnectedness of our shared human experience.

To learn more about The Hook Experiment: https://www.thehookexperiment.org/