September’s Art Exhibit Presents the Artwork by Cynthia Murray

September 4, 2024 | Skip Gosnell

September’s Art Exhibit “Exploration”, brought to you by Swarthmore Friends of the Arts, presents the original artwork by artist Cynthia Murray. The exhibition will be displayed from September 5th through September 30th at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Avenue.

The public is invited to the artist’s opening reception on Friday, September 6th, from 6 to 8 pm. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Design has always been an integral part of Cynthia Murray’s life. Studying landscape architecture at both Rutgers University and University of Illinois led to a career as a landscape architect, working over two decades on a wide variety of both public and private projects throughout the country as well as international locations. Painting became a creative outlet, with landscapes being a common theme. In addition to painting, Ms. Murray’s works include encaustic with her original photographs, botanical monoprinting, acrylic ink contact printing, cyanotype, jewelry design and fabrication and sewing. The exhibit, ‘Exploration’, highlights a selection of mediums that Ms. Murray is constantly exploring, searching for new ways to interpret the surrounding world in ways that she hopes viewers might find captivating and thought provoking. When not creating original works, Ms. Murray works as Administrative Coordinator at Community Arts Center in Wallingford.

Follow Cynthia Murray’s creative Journey:

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit hours are M-Th 9am – 8pm, Fri 10am – 7pm, Sat 10am – 3pm, Sun 1 – 5pm.

For information about Swarthmore Friends of the Arts or to submit a request for your own show, visit www.swarthmorearts.org or contact Martha Perkins, martha.perkins@gmail.com.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for exhibition schedules, check out past show listings, and view images of wonderful local art.

August’s Art Exhibit Presents the Artwork by Ivy Egger

July 18, 2024July 18, 2024 | Skip Gosnell

August’s Art Exhibit “Nature’s Bounty”, brought to you by Swarthmore Friends of the Arts, presents the original artwork by artist Ivy Egger. The exhibition will be displayed from August 1st through September 2nd at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Avenue.

The public is invited to the artist’s opening reception on Friday, August 2nd, from 6 to 8 pm. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Ivy Egger grew up and lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania where she took an early interest in art. She studied at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia before graduating with a B.A. in art from Millersville University. After graduating she took additional design courses at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.

Ms. Egger’s current medium is mixed media mosaic: utilizing pieces of cut glass, beads, mica, glitter, and whatever else adds a sparkle to this art form. “Beginning my mosaics with a simple acrylic or gouache painting provides me with a foundation. Working with mosaics allows me to take broken pieces of glass and make them into a new creation. Since mosaics require a sturdy surface, I create them on canvas panels or cradled wood panels.” Contrary to traditional mosaic artwork, she uses glue to adhere the beads, pieces of glass, mica, and other materials to the panels, which allows the materials to lend extra sparkle to her mosaics. “My art practice is in direct contrast with my rigid day job. The dreamlike quality of my art represents freedom; I can make and do what I want and therefore bring a sense of hope and beauty to my audience.”

Ms. Egger continues to show in many art exhibitions and galleries in the Greater Philadelphia region. Some recent exhibitions include the Chester County Studio Tour, her solo show at the art gallery at St. David’s Church in Wayne, and the international Art Ability at Bryn Mawr Rehab show where she received an honorable mention.

Follow Ivy’s creative Journey:

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit hours are M-Th 9am – 8pm, Fri 10am – 7pm, Sat 10am – 3pm, Sun 1 – 5pm.

For information about Swarthmore Friends of the Arts or to submit a request for your own show, visit www.swarthmorearts.org or contact Martha Perkins, martha.perkins@gmail.com.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for exhibition schedules, check out past show listings, and view images of wonderful local art.

July’s Art Exhibit Presents the Artwork of Brit Ray

June 30, 2024June 30, 2024 | Skip Gosnell

July’s Art Exhibit “Whimsy Whamsy“, brought to you by Swarthmore Friends of the Arts, presents the original artwork including paintings and drawings by local artist Brit Ray. The exhibition will be displayed from July 3rd through July 31st at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Avenue.

The public is invited to the artist’s opening reception on Friday, July 12th, from 5 to 7 pm. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

On relishing a memory, Brit thoughtfully recalls, “A pastel I made in my teens, a scene of Riverside Drive in Washington Heights where I grew up, brings back a thought I had at the time. I was asking myself why I was moved to make images. This demonstrates that the art we make connects us to our former selves in a way different from photographs. And in answer to that long-ago question, art is a way to better know myself and the world–and to bring something uniquely my own into the world. For me, the creative life is challenging, stimulating, and most of all, fun.”

Ms. Ray’s drawings, paintings, photographs, and sculptures generally include people, usually in urban settings. In recent years she has been injecting fantasy images into otherwise normal scenes; this during a time while writing a series of world-building fantasy novels. Ms. Ray attended New York’s Music & Art High School (now called LaGuardia) and Columbia University. She exhibits and takes classes at the Wallingford Community Art Center. “This is my second solo show through the wonderful organization Swarthmore Friends of the Arts, whose volunteers I heartily thank on behalf of us all.”

Follow her journey here: https://www.instagram.com/hibray2

Brit Ray’s novel is available on Amazon: Revamped!: A Misadventure of Cosmic Proportions (A Planet Heart Screwball Fantasy Book 1)

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit hours are M-Th 9am – 8pm, Fri 10am – 7pm, Sat 10am – 3pm, Sun 1 – 5pm.

For information about Swarthmore Friends of the Arts or to submit a request for your own show, visit www.swarthmorearts.org or contact Martha Perkins, martha.perkins@gmail.com.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for exhibition schedules, check out past show listings, and view images of wonderful local art.

May’s Art Exhibit Presents the Artwork of Jessica Graae

April 29, 2024 | Skip Gosnell

May’s Art Exhibit “Between the Trees“, brought to you by Swarthmore Friends of the Arts, presents the original artwork of local artist Jessica Graae.

The exhibition will be displayed from May 1st through the end of May at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Avenue. The public is invited to the artist’s opening reception on Friday, May 3rd, from 5 to 7 pm. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Jessica Graae delights in painting landscapes of Delaware County. Primarily working in oils, she finds endless inspiration in nature and light.

Follow her journey here:

www.Jessicagraae.com

https://www.instagram.com/jessica_graae_art

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit hours are M-Th 9am – 8pm, Fri 10am – 7pm, Sat 10am – 3pm, Sun 1 – 5pm.

April’s Art Exhibit Presents the Artwork of Beth Camagna

March 22, 2024 | Skip Gosnell

April’s Art Exhibit “Snippets of Time”, brought to you by Swarthmore Friends of the Arts, presents the original artwork of local artist Beth Camagna.

The exhibition will be displayed from April 1st through April 30th at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Avenue. The public is invited to the artist’s opening reception on Friday, April 5th, from 6 to 8 pm. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

“I feel like I experience my world in snippets…my family, my art, my work. The images I create come from glimpses of my world that have caught my attention. In my mind, I can see them as artworks. Does a relief print, a monotype, or a watercolor painting best say this image in my mind? Through these mediums many appealing challenges are offered…picking out just enough to show you what I see through line, form, and limited color; the physical carving away of the woodblock or linoleum that I am working with; using a broader color palette when painting; and the revealing act of pulling the prints. All of this comes together in a visual I give back to be caught by someone else.

Follow her journey here: instagram.com/bcamagna_art/

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit hours are M-Th 9am – 8pm, Fri 10am – 7pm, Sat 10am – 3pm, Sun 1 – 5pm.

March’s Art Exhibit Presents the Paintings by Elizabeth Breakell

February 25, 2024February 26, 2024 | Skip Gosnell

March’s Art Exhibit “Painterly Impressions”, brought to you by Swarthmore Friends of the Arts, presents the artwork of local artist Elizabeth Breakell.

An exhibition of original oil paintings by Ms. Breakall will be on display from March 1st through March 29th at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Avenue. The public is invited to the artist’s opening reception on Friday, March 1st, from 5 to 7 pm. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

A lifelong student of painting, Pennsylvania native Elizabeth Breakell works primarily in oils. With a background in scientific and technical illustration, Elizabeth has softened the edges of her subjects and infused them with light. Her Plein-air landscapes capture the essence of a day whether a cornfield, a coastline, or a brightly blooming treeline. Stories unfold through her interior scenes, sunlight filtering through the sheers and blocks of light on the floor. She has studied with regional and national artists such as Christine Lafuente, Donna Cusano, and Frances Galante. “In the past few years, I have enjoyed painting without input from instructors or fellow artists. Rather going with all I have learned throughout many years of painting and working my own painterly style has given me immense pleasure and joy!”

For more information on the artist: www.ebreakell.com

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit hours are M-Th 9am – 8pm, Fri 10am – 7pm, Sat 10am – 3pm, Sun 1 – 5pm.

The exhibit is sponsored by Swarthmore Friends of the Arts. For information about Swarthmore Friends of the Arts or to submit a request for your own show, visit www.swarthmorearts.org or contact Martha Perkins, martha.perkins@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for exhibition schedules and images of unique local artwork.

November’s Exhibit Presents The Artwork of Ellen Rosenholtz.

October 28, 2023October 28, 2023 | Skip Gosnell

November’s Art Exhibit, titled “Salient Garden”, presents the original artwork of artist Ellen Rosenholtz. The exhibit will be on display through November at Swarthmore Borough Hall. The opening reception is Friday, November 3, 5-8 pm. The event is free and open to the public. On your stroll through town stop by Borough Hall, meet the artist, and enjoy complimentary refreshments and hors d’oeuvres.

Ellen Rosenholtz’s work deals within the intersection between flora and fauna and the human connection to landscape. The work explores native, invasive, and extinct plants and animals of New Jersey. The work looks at the profound beauty of natural forms and questions the balance between the natural world and our human imprint. The multiplicity of images underscores the interconnection of living systems, while geometric patterning enables the viewer to commune with the species through repetition of form. The semi-permanence of graphite reflects the fragility of our biodiversity at any moment in time.

Ellen Rosenholtz is a New Jersey-based artist whose work is about environmental concerns with a focus on native, invasive, and extinct flora and fauna. She has a B.F.A from University of the Arts and an M.F.A from Vermont College. Artistic accomplishments include a residency at the Rosenbach Museum and Library. She wrote art criticism for both the Philadelphia Weekly and Philadelphia City Paper and was the Director of Programs for the Painted Bride Art Center. Ellen exhibits regularly throughout the mid-Atlantic region while educating two amazing young people.

Swarthmore Friends of the Arts sponsors the exhibit. For information about Swarthmore Friends of the Arts or to submit a request for your own show, visit www.swarthmorearts.org or contact Martha Perkins, martha.perkins@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for exhibition schedules and images of inspiring artwork by our local artists.

date Change for May’s Artist Exhibit Reception – Next Friday, May 12th, 6-8pm

May 4, 2023 | Skip Gosnell

May’s Art Exhibit “Explorations”, brought to you by Swarthmore Friends of the Arts, presents art by The Mixed Media Studio, a group of area artists who have come together weekly for the past 8 or nine years to explore a variety of media together, and to be inspired by each other’s work and spirit of adventure.

The public is invited to the artist’s opening reception on Friday, May 12th, from 6-8pm.

An exhibition of original mixed media artwork by Molly Wing Berman, Georgianna Grentzenberg, Gail Herring, and Michele Southworth will be on display from May 3rd through May 30th at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Avenue. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

May’s Art Exhibit Presents Mixed Media Artworks by The Mixed Media Studio Artists Group

April 26, 2023May 4, 2023 | Skip Gosnell

An exhibition of original mixed media artwork by Molly Wing Berman, Georgianna Grentzenberg, Gail Herring, and Michele Southworth will be on display from May 3rd through May 30th at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Avenue. The public is invited to the artist’s opening reception on Friday, May 12th, from 6-8pm. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Molly Wing Berman studied printmaking and painting in art school, and spent many years as an art and preschool teacher. For the last 10 years she has worked primarily in pastels. She says “The spirit of play and experimentation are central to my art practice. I am interested in movement and color and the feeling I have when I see an animal in nature. I blend abstract art and realism. All of the pieces in the show are a combination of oil paint and pastel on paper.”

mollywingberman.com

Georgianna Grentzenberg also studied printmaking and painting in art school, before embarking on a 20-year career working in various professional capacities at a number of Philadelphia art and archaeological museums. In her own artwork, she has developed a whimsical artistic style of detailed, fluid and fantastical imagery, using ink and colored pencils.She uses this style in creating decorative ceramic tiles and vessels that echo her drawings. Most recently she has returned to an earlier interest in exploring mixed media, using found objects and creating more abstract works.

artbygeorgi.com

Gail Herring has had a wide ranging career as an artist working in various media, and with experiences from teaching art, to graphic design, and numerous collaborations in community-based art projects. She retired from full-time teaching when she moved to Media, and now teaches a variety of classes for children, teens and adults at the Community Arts Center in Wallingford. She says that “Nature has always been the focus in my artwork. Experimenting with mixed media has inspired me to think about color and texture in new ways, different from my traditional detailed botanical illustration techniques.”

Michele Southworth has had day jobs as a lawyer, divorce mediator, family therapist and training program director, with various artistic interests woven throughout. For 20 years she pursued a passionate interest in ceramic work, and in 2011 turned to mixed media painting. She says “In my work as a psychotherapist and as an artist, I frequently find myself exploring the beauty that we can find in the fragments and broken pieces that are a part of us all, as well as those fragments and broken things that we find along our way. Working now in mixed media painting and printmaking, I start by putting down color, creating texture, and then layering on lines, more color, more texture, more lines and forms, using all of the scraps and broken things, to discover what emerges.”

michelesouthworthart.com