A shared exhibition of original paintings by local artists Melissa Husted-Sherman and Polly Dressler Bech will be on display from April 3rd through April 29th, 2019, at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Avenue, Swarthmore. The public is invited to the artist’s opening reception on Friday April 5th, from 6:30pm to 8pm. Both the exhibit and the opening are free, kid friendly and open to the public.

Ms. Bech has been creating most of her life, in one form or another – paintings, clothing, collage, computer graphic art, and most recently quilting. “Something about the whole process of constructing a quilted art piece just worked for me, so I kept working at making them.”

Most of Ms. Bech’s current pieces have started with solar printing her own fabric. She collects leaves in her yard or while on walks through town to be used for printing materials. “These prints capture the essence of nature for me, because this is my natural world, being surrounded by trees.” A love of, and respect for, the natural world has been a theme in Ms. Bech’s life and throughout her work. “I also love playing with color schemes, light and dark, mixing this traditional art form of quilting with newer surface design techniques – it’s a heartfelt connection to the past that I feel when working with my hands, creating with cloth, needle, and thread.”

Ms. Husted-Sherman, after working in crisis counseling, left the field intending to pursue a degree in landscape architecture. A landscape design course reignited her love of drawing and painting, leading to another change in direction – using painting to capture her experience of the landscape into color and line.  Since then, she has had multiple solo and group exhibitions throughout the region.

Ms. Husted-Sherman’s work has moved away from pure representation of the landscape to a more abstract expression of ideas involving the impact of the passage of time and the impermanence of beauty. “My initial objective is to capture the beauty of an individual moment. I am not attempting to make a copy of a scene, but to capture the essence of an experience.  I might be moved to paint by light and shadow, plants in the landscape, or by the countless colors in a piece of fruit. Whatever my source of inspiration, ultimately, the painting becomes as much about the process of painting itself as about the initial visual spark.”

Inspiration for Ms. Husted-Sherman’s work comes from such diverse sources as Renaissance painting, decaying buildings, maps, architectural diagrams, erosion, and evolving landscapes.  She lives and works in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

Exhibit hours are Monday to Thursday 9 am to 8 pm, Friday 10 am to 7 pm, Saturday 10 am to 3 pm, Sunday 1 to 5 pm.

The exhibit is sponsored by Swarthmore Friends of the Arts. For information about Swarthmore Friends of the Arts, visit www.swarthmorearts.org or contact Exhibit Chair Martha Perkins, martha.perkins@gmail.com.