MCCC Awards Student Artists At TriCounty High School Art Exhibition‏

Photograph: Students from area high schools participated in Montgomery County Community College’s TriCounty High School Art Exhibition, and 19 students received Awards of Excellence for their artwork. Photograph by Diane VanDyke.

Pottstown, PA —More than 115 visitors attended the “Meet the Artists” reception and awards ceremony for the Third Annual TriCounty High School art show on Feb. 17 at Montgomery County Community College’s Fine Arts Gallery, North Hall, 16 High Street, Pottstown.

During the awards presentation, 19 students received certificates in recognition of their artwork, along with gifts of sketch pads and pencils. MCCC’s art faculty served as judges of the show, which included 160 entries from area high schools.

The following students received Awards of Excellence:

Methacton High School: Isabel Cabrena, “Nature,” acrylic; Emily Cortellessa, “Dionysus,” chalk pastel; and Sarah Koshy, “Chirophobia,” charcoal.

Owen J. Roberts High School:  Zachary Foreman, “Broken,” charcoal; and Nicole MacMullin, “Kacey,” charcoal.

Perkiomen Valley High School:  Isabel Guzman, “Long Term,” oil/water soluble; and Samuel Yu, “Kawaii,” ball point pen.

Plymouth Whitemarsh High School: Jackie Lorenzon, “Cubist Face,” digital photo; and Gianna Perrone, “Frosty Falls,” digital photo.

Spring-Ford High School:  Abigail Grinstead, “Gadgets/Utensils,” charcoal; and Sabrina Pistona, “Gadget/Bicycle,” colored pencil on charcoal paper.

The Hill School:  Toby Johnson, “Chief,” digital art; Aron Gyoo Lee, “Panda Heaven,” pastel; Marina Mendez, “Leopard,” digital arts; and Cathy Wang, “Grandma,” photography.

Upper Merion Area High School: MJ Aggabao, “7-Up,” colored pencil; Nicole Dunleavy, “Sprinkles,” photography; Yaseen Elarbi, “Droplets,” photography; and Abby Volpe, “Distaste,” charcoal.

The exhibition opened Feb. 17 and will continue through March 4. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m.-9:30 p.m., and Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Closed weekends.

The next exhibit, the 11^th Annual Art Students’ Exhibition and Competition, opens on April 6 and runs through April 29 and features the artwork of MCCC students. The community is invited to the opening reception and award ceremony on Wednesday, April 13, 5-7 p.m. For more information about the exhibition, contact Gallery Director Holly Cairns at 215-619-7349 or hcairns@mc3.edu.

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MCCC To Host ‘Color Blast’ Exhibit In Pottstown

“Winged Victory,” 2014, oil on linen, by Valley of Peace Burke.

Photo caption: “Dancing the Night Away,” acrylic, by Lois Schlachter.

Photo caption: “Dancing the Flamenco,” by Patricia Wilson-Schmid.

Pottstown, PA— Montgomery County Community College continues its 2014-2015 fine arts season with the exhibit “Color Blast,” which opens on Monday, Nov. 3, at the Fine Arts Gallery, North Hall, 16 High Street, Pottstown. A “Meet the Artists” reception is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 12, from 5-7 p.m. Both the exhibit, which continues through Dec. 12, and the reception are free and open to the community.

“Color Blast” features the vibrant artwork of three artists, who are brought together through this exhibit and their shared enthusiasm for color:  Valley of Peace Burke of Long Island, New York; Lois Schlachter of Spring Mount, Pennsylvania; and Patricia Wilson-Schmid of Lederach, Pennsylvania.

While color unites the exhibit, each artist has her own distinct style and personality, as reflected in the art.

Working as both an artist and a registered cardiac surgery intensive care nurse, Valley of Peace Burke reinterprets the visual elements of the medical world into an artistic expression that explores the interwoven relationship between body and spirit. She believes and portrays the body and mind as “sacred and whole.”

“Color is healing. It carries life and beauty into the world. I have spent most of my life near the sea and am influenced by the elements of nature. These elements are also internal, as the human body is a microcosm of the earth,” she says.

This multi-faceted artist has studied oil painting under Judy Dupic in France and has traveled and painted throughout England, Ireland, Italy, Mongolia and Spain. In addition to her nursing degree, she also is a master of oriental medicine and acupuncture physician. Her great-grandfather, Joseph A. Burke, was composer well-known to the Philadelphia area during the 1920s-40s, and his songs were recorded by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Bing Crosby, among others. Valley is pleased to be exhibiting in the Philadelphia area where much of her family resides.

As an abstract artist, Lois Schlachter is in love “with the line, handsome vibrant color and a comfortable composition” and describes her work as simply “fun.” Working directly from her hand to the canvas, she lets her imagination direct her as playful and colorful images emerge.

“I feel that acrylic paint gives me the brilliant and intense color that I love,” she says. “I use color to navigate the viewer’s eye across the canvas providing an avenue to discover one fun spot after another.”

Schlachter is a graduate of The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and The University of the Arts, formerly Philadelphia College of Art.  She will be exhibiting approximately 40 acrylic works on canvas in a variety of sizes, all of which were created in the past 15 years.

For artist Patricia Wilson-Schmid, her style spans the range from representational to abstract, based upon her feelings when she views and interprets her subjects. Like her co-exhibitors, color profoundly impacts her work.

“As I paint from my emotions, the act of painting is who I am,” she says in her artist’s statement. “It is a line, a color, a shape, or an effect of light that inspires me. My spirit than directs me through the painting. Time embellishes my approach. In the end the paintings and I have traveled through much effort and feeling. Color is the vehicle by which I express my feelings. It is a part of who I am.”

Wilson-Schmid enjoys working in oil, watercolor, acrylic and pastels and has been painting since 1962. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Penn State University and has taken post-graduate courses at Temple University, Lehigh University, Penn State University, Samuel S. Fleisher Art Institute and Montgomery County Community College. She has exhibited her work at various galleries and shows throughout the tri-state area, as well as in juried international online exhibitions hosted by Upstream People Gallery.

The show is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Mon.-Thurs., 8 a.m.-9:30 p.m. and Fri. 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For more information about the exhibit or the gallery, contact MCCC Galleries Director Holly Cairns at 215-619-7349 or hcairns@mc3.edu.

For the more information about upcoming exhibits and activities, like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/DestinationArts, and visit our website at http://www.mc3.edu/arts/fine-arts.

Help support the arts and art education programs at Montgomery County Community College by becoming a Friend of the Galleries. Donations are tax deductible. For more information, contact the College Foundation at 215-641-6535.

Montgomery County Community College To Host ‘Meet The Artists’ Reception For ‘Visions’ Art Exhibition June 1

Pottstown, Pa.—Montgomery County Community College will host a “Meet the Artists” reception for the “Visions” art exhibition on Sunday, June 1, 1-3 p.m. at the Fine Arts Gallery, North Hall, 16 High Street, Pottstown. The exhibition features the artwork of four area artists: Phil Smith of Schwenksville, Jim Hendricks of Pottstown, Julie Longacre of Barto, and Sonya Moyer of Earl Township.

The exhibit opened May 12 and will continue through June 6. Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.  Longacre’s Dairy will serve homemade-style ice cream at the reception. Everyone is welcome.

“Entitled ‘Visions’ this exhibition reflects how each of us, with our own separate working styles and mediums, has been united by the common idea of strong personal visual expressions,” says Phil Smith.

Phil Smith: Metal sculpture by Phil Smith, Norristown.

As a metal sculptor, Smith likes to create sculptures as visual recordings of his life and how his life has been involved with these things. His sculptures incorporate weathered, used objects, such as old tools, machine parts and discarded metal objects. “The sculptures are nearly all the assembly of the brazed and welded metal parts coming together to express an idea based on my perception(s) of life,” he notes in his artist statement.

Smith, now retired, taught Fine Arts in the Norristown Area High School for 33.5 years, and his sculptures have appeared in numerous local galleries and exhibitions. He earned a bachelor’s degree and Master of Science degree in Education from Millersville University and a second master’s degree in education from Marywood College in Scranton.  Additionally, he has taken courses at Temple University/Tyler School of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, as well as other area arts centers, and has an associate’s degree in Art from Montgomery County Community College.

Stone/wood sculptor Jim Hendricks is a former student of Smith’s at Norristown Area High School in 1978-1980. The two sculptors have maintained their friendship throughout the years and are looking forward to exhibiting their work together at the gallery.

Jim Hendricks: Stone sculpture by Jim Hendricks, Pottstown.

Hendricks has always been inspired by the human form and his work is influenced by a range of work from the German expressionists to Aztec and Mayan carving and from the American realists of the Works Progress Administration to the Medieval and Gothic carvers, according to his artist statement. “I believe that by exaggerating, enlarging, stretching and distorting the forms of the human figure, I can express powerful emotions and ideas to the viewer through the sculpture,” he says.

A native of Norristown, Hendricks graduated from the University of the Arts in 1984 and helped to fabricate sculptures for the Treehouse exhibit at the Philadelphia Zoo. He then worked as a studio assistant on government-commissioned monuments in Washington, D.C. He currently has a studio in Pottstown.

Like Smith and Hendricks, artists and sisters Julie Longacre and Sonya Moyer look forward to sharing gallery space at the Fine Arts Center, too.

Julia Longacre, a Berks County native, earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas.  She first exhibited her local landscape paintings in 1971 at the Boyertown Historical Society, launching her successful career in fine art. Throughout her career, Longacre has held numerous solo exhibitions locally, regionally and as far as Nova Scotia, Canada, and garnered many awards and accolades.

Julie Longacre: “Rows into Winter” by Julie Longacre, Barto.

Proficient in any medium, from watercolor, oil or acrylic, Longacre is well-known for her landscapes and buildings of the rural countryside of southeastern Pennsylvania. Her love of painting and joy of writing has been an integral part of Berks County community for the last 40-plus years.

Artist/photographer Moyer lives in an 1838 restored stone farmhouse, where she enjoys capturing the bucolic landscape and “workings” of the farm through her camera lens. She credits her sister for encouraging her to exhibit her photographs and to truly “see” and appreciate the world around her.

“I try to capture the joy and wonder, the quietness and beauty of nature, a small frame of perfection in an imperfect world. So many times, these little scenes are just fleeting moments and are gone before you fully appreciate them. Sometimes it just takes my breath away, that I am lucky enough to see and experience these moments and I want to share it with others so that they, too, can see, feel, enjoy and reflect on them,” says Moyer.

The gallery is open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m.-9:30 p.m. and Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Sonya Moyer: Photography by Sonya Moyer, Earl Township.

For more information about the exhibition, contact Montgomery County Community College Galleries Director Holly Cairns at 215-619-7349 or hcairns@mc3.edu. 

For information and photographs of exhibitions and participating artists, friend us on Facebook/DestinationArts.