'Wood & Metal' opens at Art Center
The anything "Wood & Metal" exhibit opens with a reception at 7 p.m. Friday at The Art Center, 344 S. Main St.
"The general theme of the exhibit is art made of, or including, wood or metal objects, or art that reflects the textures and finishes of wood and/or metal," said Paul Scanlon, president of the Associated Artists of Butler County.
The sculptures include a variety of materials including ceramic, porcelain, tupelo wood, brass, copper and wire.
More than 55 pieces have been installed for this exhibit, which boasts a $250 prize for Best of Show.
Ribbons will be awarded for first, second and third places in different categories.
A "New Artist" award of $50 will also be presented to a new artist (one who has never entered artwork in the AABC exhibits before) judged to be most deserving.
James Myford, retired chairman of the Slippery Rock University art department and nationally-recognized sculptor, will be the judge for the show.
The featured artist will be Ellen R. Brooks, who created more than 10 new pieces of sculpture for this exhibit, said Scanlon.
The Philadelphia resident will have a solo show in the Members Gallery as well as pieces exhibited in the main "Wood & Metal" exhibit. She created "The Dreamer" installation sculpture that fills The Art Center's front window.
Her part of the show is a little different from most, in that she has created multipiece installations rather than just displaying individual pieces.
"One piece consists of three large wire-framed sculptures that are about 5-feet wide, 6-feet high, and 30-feet long and suspended above the Rittelmann main art gallery," Scanlon said.
Brooks is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Her additional undergraduate studies took place at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Montgomery County Community College and Ballynakill Studios in Connemara, Ireland.
She has received grants and awards from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and various Pennsylvania museums.
Brooks is fine arts department chairwoman at Villa Joseph Marie High School in Holland, Pa.
She said, "I approach making art as an intuitive process. I begin, through exploration, to build a bridge between myself and the materials. That bridge becomes a window from which a form or image starts to emerge.
"The window, in turn, provides a mirror into the intuitive source of self that moves my work," she said.
The show "Wood & Metal" runs through July 16.
Selling price for the works ranges from $25 to more than $3,000.
<B>WHO: </B>Associated Artists of Butler County<B>WHAT: </B>"Wood & Metal" exhibit<B>WHEN: </B>Opens to the public at 7 p.m. Friday and continues through July 16. Gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays.<B>WHERE: </B>The Art Center, 344 S. Main St.<B>INFORMATION: </B>724-283-6922 or www.aabcArtCenter.com.
