Two worlds collided Friday night for one common love — art.

Shippensburg Arts Programming and Education’s (SHAPE) Gallery welcomed its new Reinventing Traditions exhibit featuring digital collage artist John P. Wise and glass blower Mike Peluso.

As visitors filtered in, Beatles music played in the background providing a liberating mood. The gallery was enveloped with multiple digital collages on its walls. Each image was intricately composed with multiple layers of wrappers and splashes of color. In the middle of the room, glass bowls and vases glistened atop wooden pedestals overseeing all who passed. Some of the glass creations looked as if they were folding over in a floppy fashion, which is done by spinning the hot glass.

Peluso has been recognized as one of the up-and-coming glass artists on the East Coast. He operates a soft glass and flameworking studio in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and gives individualized lessons. Peluso’s work has been featured at SHAPE Gallery during the Give the Gift of Art exhibit and SHAPE’s annual Christmas party in December, where he did a live demonstration.

Peluso invests a lot of time and care into each piece that he makes. He strives to make every customer satisfied.

“In life, the recycling of material, the destruction and the creation of forms creates a balance in nature,” Peluso said in the SHAPE brochure. “In order to achieve this balance and happiness within my own life, there must be an exchange of energy between the large picture and the artist.”

Wise has used his creative talent across a vast field of careers which include graphic designing, furniture building and picture framing — a job he served for the White House. Eventually, he turned to creating abstract images through a combination of scans, graphic elements, paint and photographs. Wise creates traditional formats presented in a contemporary medium. He participates in multiple one-man shows across the Maryland region.

The exhibit will remain on display at SHAPE Gallery until Feb. 23.

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