Women of WV Art Expo Is March 20

Fairmont State University is hosting the third annual Women of West Virginia Art Expo from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the Falcon Center.

"This year we are highlighting more of our faculty, staff and students," said Laurie Johnston, Director of Student Activities. "Several of the artists are either students, faculty or alumnae. New for this year will be a "Make Your Own Jewelry" station, where Julie Shinaberry will instruct the technique of earring making. Anyone can stop by and make a pair of earrings or a simple bracelet. We will ask for a $1 donation that will go to HOPE, Inc., a domestic violence shelter for women in Marion County."

Elizabeth Savage and Donna Long, two faculty members of the Department of Language & Literature, will offer poetry readings at noon. Light refreshments will be served. Admission to the event is free and open to the public.

The following female artists will have their works on display:

Chelsey Adams
A junior at FSU, she is majoring in French and minoring in studio art with concentrations in painting and ceramics. Her work has been published in the 2006 edition of the campus art journal called Whetstone and was included in the 2006 FSU Student Juried Art Exhibition. She is the president of Cafe, FSU's French club, and a member of Kappa Pi International Honorary Art Fraternity.

Lauren Adams
Lauren Adams is a native of Fairmont and an alumna of FSU. She holds a Bachelor of Arts interdisciplinary degree in Studio Art and French. Currently a senior at West Virginia University, she will graduate in May 2007 with a B.F.A. in Painting and a minor in Art History. She has been awarded the Whetstone Award of Excellence for the 2004 and 2006 editions; Outstanding Visual Art Student of 2006; and Chairperson's Choice and Best of Show at the 2006 FSU Student Juried Art Exhibition. She has shown her work at California University of Pennsylvania, the James Brooks Memorial Gallery at FSU, the Cooper Gallery, the Randolph County Arts Center and the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center.

Sara Bean
Sara Bean is a 28-year-old native of West Virginia and a 2003 Fairmont State graduate. She works with a variety of traditional media including oils, acrylics and watercolor. Lately she has been experimenting with sculpture. Her preferred genres are fantasy and the supernatural; her works are best described as dream-like and expressive.

Hannah Brown
Hannah Brown has been photographing West Virginia scenes for six years now. Her interest in photography began through the Technology Student Association (TSA) at her alma mater, Valley High School, where she presented her photography at both state and national levels. She is still an active alumni member of TSA. In addition to photographing landscape scenery, she also enjoys photographing her friends, family and other things native to the state. When not taking photographs or studying, she enjoys reading, shopping and participating in student activities. At FSU, she is an English Education major and is actively involved in Student Government and the group Increasing our Faith.

Tina Del Prete
Residing three decades among many artisans and musicians in Doddridge County, Tina Del Prete has many interests including quilting, basket making, cross stitch, music, dance and organic gardening. In 1994, under the tutelage of Susan Kraft of Kraftworks Studio, she learned to assemble jewelry and Tina's Treasures was born. For her jewelry, she uses natural gemstones, glass seed beads, colored glass, as well as various metals. She says that living close to the earth has brought the joy, achievement and artistry that her jewelry invokes.

Stacey Elder
Stacey Elder, a sophomore at FSU pursuing a degree in studio art, says her paintings have been focused on abstraction, color and detail, as well as negative and positive space. She has been working on a larger scale and adding detail and texture to her paintings by sewing and using tape. The tape creates negative and positive space, as well as the illusion of lines and several layers of color. Sewing objects and yarn to her paintings helps the focal point of the paintings become stronger. "Abstract art has always been fun to create," Elder says. "It doesn't restrict me with boundaries and becomes more open to something new as the piece progresses. I get inspiration by everything around me, as well as everyday experiences. As an artist, my goal is to create work that is colorful, fun, inspirational and out of the ordinary."

Karen Gergely
A native of Morgantown, Karen Gergely received her B.F.A. in Painting from Shepherd University in 2003 and her M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary 2D from the University of Cincinnati DAAP in 2006. She currently teaches Fine Arts at FSU. Gergely served as a one-year ambassador to Debrecen, Hungary, in 1998-1999; spent time in Mali, Africa, for fine arts research in 2003; and received the Wolfstien Fellowship Grant for research in Ollyantambo, Peru, for six weeks in 2005. Gergely through-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2002 and mountain biked the Continental Divide trail in 2004. These journeys play a dominant role in Gergely's work where exploration, adventure and reenactment are investigated. Recent solo exhibitions include the University of Charleston; the Monongalia Arts Center, Morgantown; a thesis exhibition at the University of Cincinnati Downtown Galleries, Cincinnati, Ohio; and a group exhibition at the Torpedo Factory Target Gallery in Alexandria, Va.

Alessandra L. Iaquinta
A native of Clarksburg, Alessandra Iaquinta obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from West Virginia University and studied printmaking in Florence, Italy, through the University of Texas. While at WVU, she focused on the art of the mentally ill and interned with an art therapist at an out patient medical facility. She is currently employed as an Adjunct Professor at Fairmont State teaching Art Appreciation. Iaquinta has her own greeting card line, "ART BY A.L.I.," that features her original artwork. Her cards are displayed at Tamarack in Beckley, as well as other art galleries and specialty shops in the tri-state area. She works in a variety of media: pastels, ink pens, acrylic paints and printmaking. She describes her work as "expressionistic" and believes her work is a reflection of her discoveries and inquiries she encounters through her journeys.

JoAnn D. James
A native of Bridgeport, JoAnn James retired from Hope Gas (Dominion) in 2000 and from Allegheny Power in 2003. She is currently employed as a substitute teacher for Harrison County and is the sole proprietor of J's Stitchery, a small sewing business operated out of her home. James says she has always had a passion for sewing and now enjoys creating various craft items, quilts, specialty clothing, monogramming and doing alterations. J's Stitchery specializes in a variety of unique gift items and special order items. She studied Home Economics at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Howard University, and earned a B.S. in Home Economics and Social Science from Seton Hill College, Greensburg, Pa. She also earned a master's degree in Public Management from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

Donna J. Long
Donna J. Long is Associate Professor of English at FSU. Her poetry has appeared in the Tampa Review, GW Review, Puerto del Sol and other journals, and is forthcoming in Traditions and The Florida Review. Her scholarship on Renaissance women writers has appeared in Discovering and (Re)Covering the Seventeenth Century Religious Lyric (Duquesne 2001) and Speaking Grief in English Literary Culture (Duquesne 2004), and is forthcoming in The Literary Mother (McFarlane 2007).

Lisa McCullough
Lisa McCullough is a native of Fairmont and a graduate of East Fairmont High School. She is currently enrolled at FSU pursuing a B.A. degree in Art Education. Aside from being a student, she is a military wife; her husband Scott currently serves in the U.S. Navy. Through the lens of a camera, she enjoys capturing local landscapes through black and white prints. Currently however, she is working on a new project involving the Corridor H. She wants to convey the opposition of the current construction along side the remaining landscapes. She wants people to look beyond the wreckage and think of the people who are affected by the demolition and vacancy. She is a recipient of the Blanche Kinney Fine Arts Scholarship for the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years at FSU. Her work has been published in the Whetstone 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 editions. She received an Honorable Mention Award in the Student Juried Art Exhibition in the spring of 2005 for the black and white photograph "Vanished." Other student shows in which she has participated include: the Student Sensual Art Show and the Student Pop Art Show, 2003. More of her work will be on display in her upcoming Senior Exhibit, a solo show set for April 9-13 at the Brooks Gallery located at FSU's Wallman Hall. She currently resides in Fairmont.

Amy Napierkowski
Following is Amy Napierkowski's artist statement in her own words:
"Computers have always been a part of my life. When I was 4, a student gave my dad a program they created called "Amy's First Primer." As the name suggests, it was just simple little games that worked with the alphabet, numbers and shapes. Since then, my interest in computers has only grown. At Braxton County High School, they offered a class called "Computer Imaging." This was my first taste of graphics, my first taste of Photoshop. Now a junior here at Fairmont State, and a current major in Graphics Technology, I've been constantly pushing myself to improve in Photoshop and broaden my graphical skills by undertaking courses covering Flash and Dreamweaver and others. Besides graphics, my other love, and some say my first real love, is speech/theatre. I grew up doing different dramas in school and church. In both high school and college, you'd find me actively involved on the speech team. After graduation, I'll head west to Colorado and begin my graphics career, while looking for opportunities in voice-over work."

Elizabeth Savage
Elizabeth Savage teaches writing and literature at Fairmont State. Her published work includes poems and articles in HOW2, Sagetrieb, Court Green and Approaches to Teaching Nineteenth-Century Poetry (forthcoming from MLA Press).

Julie Beth Shinaberry
Julie Beth Shinaberry is a jewelry designer, flamework glass bead artist and multi-media artist. She likes to paint, play music or just have fun with her two sons, Quinn and Ryder Shinaberry. She is a home health aide, licensed massage therapist and owner of Studio for the Healing Arts. She is a Reiki master and an ordained minister with The Universal Life Church. She resides in the hills of Barbour County. This is her second year for the Art Expo. She has also participated in the Augusta Festival in Elkins, Mountaineer Week in Morgantown, The Mountain State Forest Festival and various music festivals and health fairs. She has also sold her work through Tamarack in 1998 and to other gift shops throughout the state. She donates her work to Hospice and other local organizations in need in her community.

Carol Tannous
Following is her artist's statement in her own words:
"I take photographs through the lens of my eyes long before I ever use my camera. All around me shades of light, color and form catch my eye and "snapshots" are created. My photographs reflect a spontaneous, fleeting moment, a connection with the world around me that others often do not see. Capturing that image, before the light disappears or a shadow moves, before the form changes its shape or an emotion is gone, is both challenging and rewarding. Photography is like playing an endless game of hide 'n' seek with the world around me."

Monica Wilkins
Following is her artist's statement in her own words:
"I have been painting since I was 12 and have never stopped. My formal art training was in Illustration and Advertising Art and Design. Now I enjoy all the endless possibilities of freedom of expression that the fine art field allows. I continued to paint while raising my children but went back into full swing within the last 10 years. I try to visualize and paint the emotional responses that occur daily from gestures, shapes, colors or any number of things. I try to capture that element visually and hopefully, this visual experience lifts you in a positive way. I am currently President of the Morgantown Art Association, a nonprofit group that also has a Gallery in Morgantown at the Mountaineer Mall on Green Bag Road. At the Gallery and at BoParc Senior Center, I teach watercolor and acrylic classes. I am also a member of the West Virginia Watercolor Society. Recently I had a solo show at Slight Indulgence Café and Gallery on Collins Ferry Road in Morgantown and plan another there in November."

Alissa Wilmoth
Following is her artist's statement in her own words:
"I began making jewelry about a year ago out of necessity. I couldn't find the right necklace to go with an outfit. After that first necklace, I was hooked. I've never had a lesson. I just figured out how things worked by looking at the different tools. I have been pursuing some type of artistic endeavor since I was a little girl: music, writing, theatre, painting, drawing, sculpture, pottery, sewing, wood working. I've had formal training in some, and others I fly by the seat of my pants. I think my philosophy of art these days is "break the rules." I more or less believe anything goes. I'm always trying to come up with the unexpected. I feel that the only way you can stretch as an artist is to take risks. I also make what I like. If others like it too, that's a bonus."