For Immediate Release --
Morgan Arts Council • Berkeley Springs, WV
Press contact only: Mary Klotz -- 301-845-4447

ARTWALK OPENS PAINT MORGAN COUNTY SHOW

BERKELEY SPRINGS, WV -----More than 20 artists have been working for the past year to create favorite images for Paint Morgan County, the Morgan Arts Council’s (MAC) new show. The special exhibit opens at the Ice House Gallery in Berkeley Springs on Friday, June 6 at 7:30pm as part of Hey, Girlfriend! weekend activities. It is curated by artist Mary Klotz and hangs through July 6.

The Ice House Gallery gala opening is part of an Artwalk that begins at Mountain Laurel Crafts on the square from 5 to 7:30pm with a meet-the-artist reception for local favorite Gordon MacLeod and his Abstractions in Clay: Hand-Thrown Pottery.

"Many people may find the show is a scavenger hunt of sorts," says Klotz. "They'll respond to an image and then try to remember where they may have seen it in life. Some sights will be familiar, others intriguing. Some will even be people they recognize." She predicts that those seeing the show will be interested to discover what parts of Morgan County life artists choose as subjects.

Klotz has been visiting Morgan County since her childhood and is now shopping for a retirement home here. "There are certain trees, rocks, vistas, and scenes that evoke an entire range of my fondness for Morgan County," she says. " I thought that others might have similar visual touchstones that serve as their personal imagery connecting them to this place."

Among the artists showing are Jan and Jonathan Heath of Berkeley Springs. Jan has a linoleum cut of their son Damien's restaurant, Lot 12, while Jonathan is working on portraits of local figures. Sue Parker created a painting of the Morgan County Courthouse in flames based on news photos as well as a group of watercolors of traditional farm implements. John Bickle has a watercolor of the Hancock train station.

Earle Andrews' meticulously detailed watercolors in the show include Winter Bath and Old Yellow, a piece of heavy equipment from U.S. Silica where he worked most of his life. Self-taught, Andrews says he has always been able to draw -- "a God-given gift, even in first grade." He never did anything with it until 2004 when at his wife Pat's urging he left his job at Silica and began painting full time. "For three years while we were still living in Texas I just painted and completed 25 to 30 paintings," said Andrews. Most hang throughout their mountain top home in Morgan County.

"I also have Pat to thank for moving me into watercolors," he says. "I always had done pen and ink and she asked about color. I started experimenting." Andrews says he is enthralled by watercolors. "It's a difficult medium but I learn something from every painting I do." Most of Andrews' paintings are of structures which he does from his photographs. They are available for sale in Giclee prints from his Website andrewsartworks.com. Paint Morgan County marks his debut at the Ice House. "I'm looking forward to meeting some of the local artists," he says.

The curated gallery exhibit produced by the Morgan Arts Council is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the West Virginia Commission on the Arts and hotel/motel tax revenues. The Ice House is located on the corner of Independence and Mercer and is open Friday through Monday from 11am to 5pm. For more information call 258-2300 or check online at www.macicehouse.org.