The 20×20 Posters for Peace and the Hexagon Project is currently featured in the Kresge Gallery in the Insalaco Center for Studio Arts, running through Oct. 30.

The Posters for Peace project was founded by Pouya Jahanshihi, an associate professor at Oklahoma State University.

“He grew up during the Iran War, left Iran because of it and moved to the U.S. and went right into college at the age of 15,” said Chris Medley, associate professor of graphic design and printmaking at Marywood University.

“He’ll just put the prompt out to these artists and they submit the posters, and then he organizes these exhibits and they’ll curate some from the submissions and show them,” Medley said.

Jahanshihi partnered with local artist Beth Burkhauser, founder and organizer of the Hexagon Project.

“She and Pouya teamed together to have Posters For Peace and the Hexagon Project exhibit together at the Artworks Gallery in Scranton last September,” Medley said.

Burkhauser also organized hexagon making throughout different schools in the area with the theme of peace, and they were all hung together in September, according to Medley.

The exhibit also had an important role during Advocacy and Social Justice Day on Oct. 23, in which all students were invited to make their own hexagons and display them.

Medley’s Social Impact Design class also made posters, but the main theme for the class was food justice.

“When there’s war, there’s food insecurity because they can’t get to the food and it keeps communities from completing harvests and access to food,” Medley said.

When reflecting on this year’s exhibit, Medley stated, “I think it’s been a really good experience understanding the whole Posters for Peace project, how it started, and understanding how one person was living with war and how they were bringing good out of it, turning it into something positive.”

The closing reception for the exhibit will take place Oct. 29 from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

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