“BOLTS & STITCHES”: “Aquatic in Nature” a sculpture by Gene Hracho, above, and “Power Pose,” a cloth and stitch work by Peggy Hracho, below, are part of an exhibit at Artworks Trenton on view March 12 through April 13. An opening reception is March 16 from 7 to 9 p.m.

“Bolts & Stitches,” works by Gene and Peggy Hracho, will be on view in the main gallery at Artworks Trenton March 12 through April 13. An opening reception is Saturday, March 16 from 7 to 9 p.m.

Each artist pieces together complex works from a variety of new and repurposed materials. Each of the resulting works is constructed with a density of details that reward the viewer with more to experience the longer they spend with the work.

Peggy and Gene Hracho, two artists living in Reading, Pa., have been together for more than 30 years, having met while they were studying at the Atlanta College of Art. They keep separate studios in the home that they share with their two daughters. They often work simultaneously, listening to the sounds of each other’s process through the floorboards that separate them.

Peggy’s work with cloth and stitch employs the sewing machine as both a construction tool and a drawing tool. Images of women are central in her narrative series dealing with themes of memory, current happenings, and portraiture. Gene’s sculpture is built upon narratives, some recounted and some imagined, for which the physical works become relics. Sometimes, the scars of the previous lives of the materials that are curated into the work become the lines with which Gene draws, thus allowing their histories to contribute to the impact of the art. Other times, he manipulates the materials to give them the appearance of possessing more of a past than they actually have. Through these processes, the objects provide clues to the story of the person who made the object or to the personified object itself.

Artworks Trenton is located at 19 Everett Alley in Trenton. For more information, visit www.artworkstrenton.org.