Hills, Stills, Florals & Frills Show
Thru September 26, 2004

Hills, Stills, Florals and Frills, an exhibit featuring 15 painters and watercolorists from the Potomac River Artists’ Guild opens at the Ice House on Friday, August 6 with a special reception from 7:30 to 9pm. Produced by the Morgan Arts Council. the gala opening for the show of works of art on paper is the main feature for Berkeley Springs’ downtown First Friday activities. Hills and Stills continues on display through September 26.

The more than thirty pieces that compose the exhibit include various paper-based media from collage and watercolors to pastels and sketches. Several of the artists have studied with Robin Young and Joe mayer, two regionally significant painters. Included among the Potomac River Guild are award winners Anna Hogbin and H. Margaret Moore.

Hogbin is a painter in Martinsburg, West Virginia who focuses on still life and considers her work a “spiritual response to the world around me.” She particularly emphasizes colors, textures and shapes. Moore lives in Sharpsburg, Maryland and works in watercolor and collage with Oriental papers. “Painting is visualizing that brief revelation from God Mind,” writes Moore about her work. Ronda Albright is a native West Virginian from Richwood now living in Martinsburg who often depicts patterns of light and dark in her realistic paintings. “I prefer to go out on location and sketch and draw,” said Albright about her technique. Judy Bradshaw of Harpers Ferry works with the vibrant colors of pastels and uses her art to create pools of quiet moments in a hectic world.

The Guild members whose work is on display during the show are residents of a half dozen towns along the Potomac from Charles Town to Martinsburg. “We’re delighted that this group of neighboring artists approached the Morgan Arts Council (MAC) about staging a show here in Berkeley Springs,” said Julia Robey, gallery coordinator for MAC. “It shows that the Ice House Gallery has a regional reputation for excellent exhibits.” The Potomac River Artists Guild was established in 2000 by Sandy Sagalkin and has displayed art works at several locations in the region.

The Ice House Gallery special exhibit is funded through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the West Virginia Commission on the Arts and local hotel/motel tax revenues. The Ice House is located on the corner of Independence and Mercer streets. The gallery is open from 11am to 5pm Fridays through Sundays. For more information call 258-2300 or check online at www.macicehouse.org