SRU instructor's artwork rises with the breath
Work by art instructor Theresa Antonellis will be featured as part of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh's 107th Annual Exhibition.
Antonellis teaches at Slippery Rock University and is the director of the Martha Gault Gallery on campus. She has been a member of the AAP since 2016.
Her artwork “Point Reyes Volute” was accepted for this show.
“This is one drawing, of several drawings and paintings, that I made while I was the Artist in Residence at Lucid Art Foundation near Point Reyes, Calif.,” she said.
“This is an abstract drawing based on the sensation of breathing. This paper is round in shape, and the nature of the drawing is also round,” she said.
The spiral artwork was made with ballpoint pens on handmade cotton rag paper, Antonellis said.
“As I draw, I'm making one mark per one breath, and I turn the paper as I go,” she noted.
“The paper has this tremendously resilient quality of being both soft and durable. When I draw with pens, I'm physically embossing the ink into to paper. This paper from St. Armand Paper Mill stands up to the weight of the drawing process. They use old cotton clothes and recycle cotton rags into paper.”
She said she bases all of her artwork on the sensation of breathing.
Her implements include the ballpoint pen, “for its pointiness and dryness, Japanese Sumi ink and walnut ink for when I want to paint with a brush.”
Another ink she uses is called iron oak gall ink, which originated in the Middle Ages.
Her work has been in six AAP group exhibitions, including three of the annual shows in a row.The Associated Artists's present the exhibition at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art and Seton Hill University.Juana Williams, a specialist in contemporary African American art, is the juror of the exhibition, which features the work of contemporary artists from around the Pittsburgh region.The exhibition will open Nov. 9 and run through Jan. 26 at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art with an additional four installations at the Seton Hill University Arts Center, both in Greensburg.The Westmoreland's hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, except for school groups.Admission is free. More information about the exhibition and accompanying programming will be available at 724-837-1500, or visit thewestmoreland.org.AAP is the oldest continuous-exhibiting artist member organization in the country.The annual exhibition has highlighted the work of AAP's members, currently numbering more than 530, since the organization's founding in 1910.
