University Lifelong Learner Showcases 78-Painting Collection at Everhart

In 1979, artist Jim Markowich shifted focus after creating a visual celebration of baseball. Today he's getting back in the game to showcase a significant body of work.

"I graduated with a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art back in 1979," said Markowich. "Making a living as a fine artist was an iffy proposition, so I became a computer programmer and did that professionally for 45 years."

Since his retirement in 2024, the lifelong learner has been engaging in University coursework as an auditor and volunteering botanical skills at the University's Quain Memorial Conservancy Greenhouse. And this spring, in addition to studying European History and Science and the Human Environment at The University of Scranton, he can be found exhibiting a collection of paintings (78!) at the Everhart Museum.

The museum is showcasing his artistry, "Play Ball!: The Tarot de Cooperstown," now through July 19. And, at an Artist's Reception there on Friday, May 15, from 5-8 p.m., Markowich will walk visitors through the development of 78 baseball-related tarot paintings inspired by the baseball diamond and its cast of characters, including the manager, the owner, the players and the commissioner, to name a few.

Registration is not required, but is recommended.

In celebration of America's pastime, artists Paul Kuhrman and James Markowich used the 18th-century Nicolas Conver tarot card deck, itself derived from the original Tarot de Marseille decks, as the foundation for a series of 78 paintings inspired by the baseball diamond and its cast of characters, including the manager, the owner, the players and the commissioner, to name a few.

According to the Everhart Museum exhibition description, "Tarot decks were originally created for card games, before evolving into tools used to seek guidance and insight into the future. As any baseball fan understands, speaking to and pleading with one's deities about the game is a rite of passage, even to the extent of praying for a hit by one's favorite player or team, or a recorded out by the opposition. These artistic interpretations take a different approach: not to predict what lies ahead, but to offer a playful celebration of baseball through the imaginative lens of tarot imagery.

In conjunction with the series of paintings, reproductions of the paintings have been printed into a complete tarot card deck that can be used to play an actual baseball game, complete with hits, outs, and interactions with the gods of the diamonds - the umpires!"

Postcard courtesy Everhart Museum.

IF YOU GO:

What: "Play Ball!: The Tarot de Cooperstown," on view through July 19, 2026

When: Artist's Reception with Jim Markowich, Friday, May 15, 2026, 5 -7 p.m.
Registration is not required, but is recommended.

Where: Everhart Museum,1901 Mulberry St, Scranton, PA 18510. Contact: [email protected] and 570-346-7186 ext. 510