Mural of an artwork depicting a standing woman in frilly Victorian clothes and sunhat reading beneath the shade of a dappled tree. The mural is on the brick column of a building and has a parking lot at right.

Looking at US: Celebrating America's 250th

July 1

State College Downtown

Looking at US is a collaborative project featuring larger-than-life reproductions of artworks from the Palmer Museum of Art’s permanent collection installed throughout Downtown State College.

Guided by a community-driven working group and funded by The Knight Foundation Fund at Centre Foundation, the project features 19 large-scale reproductions of artworks from the Palmer’s permanent collection throughout Downtown State College. These installations activate downtown façades, sidewalks, and local businesses, creating a seamless and walkable cultural corridor that links Penn State’s artistic resources with the broader community.

We invite the community to experience the installation throughout downtown, then continue the journey on campus at the Palmer Museum of Art to see the original works and explore more treasures from the museum’s American art collection.

Logo for the State College, PA, Downtown Improvement District with colorful square blocks with letters that spell out "Downtown" and a navy banner across them that says "State College" and letters below saying "Downtown Improvement District"

For full information on Looking at US, visit the website here.

Locations and Artworks

Map with blowups of artworks from a walking tour in State College, PA

Site 1 – 200 W Beaver Avenue | Violet Oakley, Venus Rising from the Sea, 1940

Site 2 – 123 W Beaver Avenue (inside) | Roberto Lugo, Melting Pot I, 2018

Site 3 – 211 S Allen Street | Theodore Robinson, Sunlight and Shadows, 1896

Site 4 – 364 E College Avenue (inside) | Ralph Hetzel, Approximately Dorn, 1963

Site 5 – 101 Hiester Street | John Sloan, Two Sisters, 1925

Site 6 – 113 Hiester Street | Gifford Beal, The Roman Standing Race, about 1930

Site 7 – 320 E Calder Way (side) | Everett Shinn, The Vaudeville Act, 1902–03

Site 8 – 252 E Calder Way (side)

Jacob Eichholtz, Portrait of Catharine Mayer Eichholtz, about 1819
Attributed to William Aiken Walker, Portrait of a Woman, about 1920
Sanh Brian Tran, Camouflage, No. 5, 2016
John Singleton Copley, Joshua Henshaw II, about 1770–74
Louis B. Sloan, Untitled (Portrait of a Boy), about 1958
Tom Jones, Cyrus Ortiz, 2015
Charles Willson Peale, Mrs. David Beveridge (Mary Emlen), 1773

Site 9 – 222 E Calder Way (side) | James Henry Cafferty, The Weary Newsboy, 1861

Site 10 – 119 S Pugh Street (side) | Reginald Marsh, Gathering the Mail, 1934

Site 11 – 135 E Calder Way | John George Brown, How Happy Could I be with Either?, about 1897

Site 12a – 115 S Allen Street (side) | Kenneth Hayes Miller, The Little Coat and Fur Shop, 1931

Site 12b – 115 S Allen Street (side) | Simka Simkhovitch, Island Beach Ferry, 1940

Project Partners

Downtown State College Improvement District
Palmer Museum of Art
Centre Foundation
Happy Valley Adventure Bureau
Borough of State College
Central PA Festival of the Arts

Funded by The Knight Foundation Fund at Centre Foundation.