SRU Art Show
SLIPPERY ROCK — Seneca Valley High School teacher Jason Shorr is the first to exhibit artwork at the newly renovated Martha Gault Gallery at Slippery Rock University this season. The gallery is under new director Sean Macmillan, an assistant professor of metal smithing at SRU who graduated from Seneca Valley.
Though both artists are SVHS graduates, Shorr was not teaching at Seneca when Macmillan was a student there.
"I had given Kay Mickle, the former gallery director and photography professor, my portfolio so she could consider me for a possible exhibition at SRU and she passed the information on to Sean when he took over," Shorr said.
The work in the show "Medically Influenced Fine Art," which continues through Oct. 2, includes pieces of printmaking, sculpture, drawing and painting Shorr has created over the past 10 years.
Some of the paintings in the SRU show were featured at the Carnegie Sports Works Complex alongside the "BODIES" exhibition from October 2007 to May 2008.
"This is the kind of art I do. That's why it worked so nicely for the Carnegie Science Center," he said.
"When I was young I wanted to be a doctor ... then I decided not to go that way. I wanted to do something with my art."
Shorr exhibits his artwork at other venues as well.
"I currently have two pieces in Harrisburg at the Whitaker Center for Art and Science, and an exhibit of my work at the McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine in Pittsburgh," he said.
"I have had two paintings juried into a show for a December exhibit at SPACE Gallery in Pittsburgh, and I have an upcoming solo show at Boxheart Gallery in Bloomfield in April."
He said he also loves Greek mythology as a subject. "The show in April in Bloomfield called 'Myth' has an anatomical base," Shorr noted. "Several pieces at the Slippery Rock show will be in that show, too."
Shorr is scheduled to give a lecture about his work and his career as an educator and artist today in SRU's art department, Macmillan said.
Other shows upcoming for the Martha Gault Gallery include an SRU art department faculty show opening Oct. 6 and a "Sisters in Healthcare Project." The "Sisters" show is about the various orders of Catholic nuns who pioneered health care in Pennsylvania. It will open Oct. 27.
The gallery finishes its season with the college seniors' exhibitions.
For more information, call 724-738-4289.
The gallery at 159 Kiester Road is open noon to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
