An award-winning multimedia artist and writer – and Edinboro art program graduate – will be featured in an upcoming collaboration with the Erie Art Museum.

Tony Machi ’70, who earned a degree from Edinboro in art education, will present his “Passionately Curious” exhibition June 1 at the museum to coincide with the release of his new book, “We All Look, But Rarely See: My time and space as a performance artist.”

During the event, which is scheduled from 6-8 p.m., Machi will sign copies of the book and discuss his career in communications and arts.

Machi’s book started to take shape over a dozen years ago, when he reflected on his discovery of the fine arts as a student in Edinboro. Much of his work was produced in cooperation with Jim Vredevoogd, a former Edinboro faculty member who influenced his artistic outlook.

“We had done some pretty significant work – as we helped create a new art movement known as performance art,” Machi said. “I felt that if I didn’t document it in a book, it might be gone forever and no one would ever know what we did.”

Alongside stories about performance art, the book also details his discovery of the fine arts as a student of the ‘60s at Edinboro.

The owner and president of Machi & Machi Communications, Inc. in Webster, New York, outside of Rochester, Machi considers himself a “serial artist.” He first began exploring performance art on campus in the late 60s.

“Being a ‘serial artist’ is a metaphor for the affliction and addiction I’ve had since I was very young – the need to be creative,” he said. “I always knew I wanted to be an artist, my main reason for going to Edinboro. I've had a lifelong need to be creative.”

His performance pieces include “Plunger Piece” and “Theater Piece No. 1” – an interactive water-balloon exchange performance that caused chaos for the audience and displeasure for the state manager.

Machi was born in Pittsburgh and attended public and parochial schools in the area. While attending Edinboro, he founded the Art Students League, a non-profit, self-governing student organization for the purpose of furthering the understanding of media among students and faculty.

At Edinboro, he also discovered ceramic arts and became a member of the Pittsburgh Craftsman’s Guild. Between 1969 and 1972, Machi wrote, produced and performed experimental theatrical productions and, in 1970, he was invited to study with the National Center for Experiments in Television in San Francisco.

Machi began his career in broadcasting in 1970 when he was hired as a television producer by WQLN Public Broadcasting in Erie, Pennsylvania. He was employed by WQLN until 1979, producing and directing many programs and series in the areas of the arts and public affairs. Former Edinboro faculty member Bob Chitester, who helped create WQLN, has his own essay in Machi’s book.

During his term at WQLN and eventually the PBS network, Machi created a documentary based on Donald Lambo’s “Fat City: How Washington Wastes Your Taxes,” which discusses how the federal government spends tax money through agencies and programs.

Tickets to Machi’s presentation, a part of the Erie Art Museum’s “Up Close with the Collection” event, are $50, which includes hors d’oeuvres, drinks and a tour of the museum’s 8,000 objects.

Proceeds from the sale of “We All Look, But Rarely See” will directly benefit the Art Department at Edinboro for student scholarships. Machi’s book will be available for purchase at the Erie Art Museum exhibition and Edinboro’s campus bookstore.

Image: "Into the Void," Tony Machi