The gallery opening is Wednesday April 24th from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and the show runs from April 24th to May 9th.

All gallery events are free and open to the public. For more information about upcoming shows in the Nutting Gallery see our gallery pageand you find The Nutting Gallery on Facebook. Questions can be directed to gallery director Robert Villamagna at (304)336-8370

By Caitlyn Johnson, Contributing Writer

The City of Wheeling’s Mayor and West Liberty University alumnus Andy McKenzie recently went on the record about how the arts, education, and the economy are an integral part of a successful community.

“A community must embrace the arts in order to succeed,” McKenzie said. “The arts create opportunity, education, and economic development.”

One program that is currently working to integrate arts into classrooms from Pre-K to 12th grade is the Center for Arts and Education at West Liberty University. The center is a collaborative effort between the Appalachian Education Initiative and WLU’s College of Education and College of Arts and Communication.

The efforts of the center coincide with programs within Wheeling, such as the Arts and Cultural Commission, which is a committee that works to offer a profusion of arts and cultural activities to the local community just as larger cities are able to do.

West Liberty students have already worked with the commission to decorate one of the bridges that leads into downtown Wheeling in an attempt to make the city aesthetically pleasing for residents and visitors.

McKenzie explained that the arts, education, and economic development go hand-in-hand. He explained that a community that implements the arts is a vibrant community that attracts students to stay within the area.

“The Center for Arts and Education serves as an advocate for other schools that are considering ways to further implement the arts into the educational world,” he said. “The efforts of the center could lead to a collaboration among local higher education schools.”

The center has raised $1 million in funds from a combination of private partnerships and donors. The funds will be applied to programs aimed at expanding curriculum development and fostering economic development through the center’s efforts.

Lou Karas, director of the Center for Arts and Education, explained, “Our goal is to build and maximize the Center for Arts and Education’s public-private partnerships not only to expand upon curriculum offered at WLU by integrating the arts in all classrooms, but to also expand students’ exposure to the strategic, private-sector partnerships we have built.”

This coincides with McKenzie’s thoughts on the correlations among the arts, education, and the economy.

“The arts are a key component to economic development. Through the Arts and Cultural Commission as well as organizations like the Stifel Center and the Oglebay Institute, the community can be educated about the arts as well as take advantage of programs that utilize the arts as part of a strategic focus for growth.”

This article originally appeared in the April 17th edition of The Trumpet

This design will forever be a part of our national history. His other recent design projects include the 2013 Downtown Pittsburgh Light Up Night, the Pittsburgh Steelers Merchandising Catalog, PizzaRev Web Site and Marketing Materials along with others.

In fact, he’s now celebrating 20 years of award-winning graphic design and creative solutions in the Pittsburgh region, where he most recently began his own design firm.

But back to the Friends of Flight 93 logo, which is the pinnacle of his graphic design effort. The meaning behind the design elements in the logo, include meaningful details and serious thought, according to Price.

“The rolling hills in the logo represent the environment and scenic views at the crash site. Stonycreek Township, located in Somerset County, where the plane crashed, is a high tableland between two mountain ridges – the Laurel Mountains to the west and the Allegheny Mountains to the east.

Visitors to the memorial are struck by these mountain vistas, so I wanted to represent that in the logo.

Another important characteristic of the memorial is the wide views of the sky. This is so appropriate since the courageous actions of the passengers and crew on Flight 93 transpired in the sky. The contrails in the sky are probably the most important part of the logo, in my opinion. The presence of this small detail makes it clear that the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial is about remembering and sharing the story about Flight 93—not simply supporting a nature park with beautiful fields and mountain views. The contrails are a way of representing the presence of Flight 93 crossing the sky. While we didn’t want to use a plane image, per say, use of the contrails allows us to represent the plane and, by extension, the passengers and crew who were on-board, in the logo.

The black base of the logo calls to mind the black concrete and black granite benches and walkways at the memorial.”

To view images of the new memorial plaza, visit the website nps.gov/flni. For more information on Price and his graphic design business, visit RobertPriceDesign.com.

Read more here, Huffington Post coverage of the Flight 93 Memorial in a recent article that reflects an increase in visitors.

APRIL 11, 2013 BY MZAMBITO

Photo by poster designer Matt Myles

The 2013 WV MAdfest (Media Arts and Design festival) will take place on the Campus of West Liberty University on Friday, April 19, from 8:30 AM until 5:30 PM. It will be a day filled with hands on workshops, professional presentations, and a student media arts awards competition and ceremony.

REGISTRATION: You must register for sessions on this site in order to participate in the festival.

The MAD Festival competition is open to all West Liberty University students. There is also a separate competition for high school students from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Entries will be judged by a panel of professionals in the media arts. Online entries will be accepted from March 1 – 25. See the Competition FAQ for more details.

Questions about the event or competition should be directed toward MAD Festival Director Jim Haizlett at festival@westliberty.edu

It will open with a reception from 5:30- 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 19. Both the exhibition and the reception are free and open to the public.

Shaffer lives and works in Brooks, W.Va., located in the New River National River area. He produces high-fired stoneware and porcelain pottery, mostly wheel thrown, and fires reduction cone 10 in three kilns – one for glaze ware, one for salt firing and the third for wood firing.

Shaffer began making pottery in a high school program in Wellsburg, W.Va., and went on to Glenville State College studying ceramics under Charles Scott. Upon graduation, Shaffer taught junior high and high school art and mathematics in Wirt County, W.Va. In 1982 he began making pottery on a full-time basis.

Functional pottery is the focus of Shaffer’s work. It is where he has always found great satisfaction. Using a wide variety of glazes and brushwork designs, he sometimes refers to himself as a “multiple personality potter.” Shaffer does not hesitate to jump into new techniques in clay.  Slip-decorated salt fired ware and large, sculptural wood-fired vases and lidded jars are major current interests. These wood-fired pieces are thrown and altered using just the hands and sculpted into their final shape by pushing in and out on the clay. The result is a dramatic yet harmonious piece expressing grace in movement.

Shaffer is a frequent juror for the Tamarack Art Center, Beckley, W.Va., and has been involved in the artist-mentoring program there. He also participates in local education in the arts efforts, as well as local arts councils. He also helped build the wood-fire train kiln located at Concord University.

He attends workshops or conferences each year, finding inspiration and enjoyment discussing technique, art and lifestyle with ceramic artists from all over the world. For more than 30 years he has exhibited his work at regional fairs and festivals including, Mountain State Art & Craft Fair in Ripley, W.Va., Waterford Home Tours and Craft Demonstrations in Waterford, Va., Augusta Heritage Festival in Elkins, W.Va. and the Vandalia Gathering at the State Capital in Charleston, W.Va.  His work can be found at Tamarack, the Charleston Cultural Center, Plants, Etc. in Lewisburg, W.Va., and the Artisan Shop at Pipestem State Park.

His recent gallery exhibitions include Best of West Virginia Juried Exhibition, Cynthia Bickey Art Gallery, West Virginia Potters Show in Pittsburgh, West Virginia Art & Craft Guild Competition and Vasefinder.com International Exhibition. Recent awards include Tamarack Foundation Artisan Fellowship, Best of West Virginia Juried Exhibition (Second Place), Vasefinder.com International (Third Place), Mountain State Fair (Best of Show), West Virginia Guild Competition (Award of Merit).

Shaffer also enjoys working with wood a month or two each winter. He has built his own kitchen cabinets from local cherry wood and has made several musical instruments: guitars, mandolins, bouzoukis and mountain dulcimers. In 2012 he began carving wooden spoons, knives and spreaders, spatulas, soup and gravy ladles and salad sets.

Teeter was born in Keene, N.H., and raised in Provo, Utah. He received his Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Utah Valley University in 2007, where he studied under Joseph Germaine, Mark Talbert and Brian Jensen. From the advice of his mentors he attended West Virginia University and attained his Masters of Fine Arts degree in May 2011.

In 2008, he received a grant through the Luce Foundation to study in Jingdezhen, China for the Fall Semester. In 2009, he assisted Professor He Chinese visiting artist Professor He on a stone sculpture for the upcoming West Virginia University art museum. He also received the Global Education Opportunities Grant through West Virginia University to study Talavera ceramics in Guanajuato, Mexico.

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Teeters’ work has been shown throughout the United States in juried exhibitions and invitational exhibitions. He also exhibited his work in Jingdezhen, China during his study abroad in 2008.

Currently, he is working with Susan Ting at Zenclay in Morgantown, W.Va. as a studio manager and resident srtist. At Zenclay he teaches the art of ceramics to people who look to the arts as a release from the everyday tasks. He also organizes exhibitions in the three galleries at Zenclay.

“Utilitarian pottery is about connection. Pottery connects us to our daily needs through a means of service. A cup serves as a vessel to partake essential to life liquids, a casserole serves as a vessel to share a cooked meal with family or friends, and a pitcher serves the purpose of serving others with drink. These aspects of servitude and connection are why I feel pottery is so important in our contemporary culture where the digital revolution has all but taken many of these connecting aspects of life from our existence,” Teeter stated.

Geometric Pattern Jar by Kurt Teeter

“My pottery is a canvas that is separated into two different facets; first, the facet of floral, second, the facet of pattern. Both of these styles offer something different in the means of rendition, yet both have a common aspect of life and our daily routines. The floral work is derived from Chinese Qinghua (cobalt oxide and white porcelain) to characterize vitality and life that we strive for as a species. I use but a piece of the peony from these Ming Dynasty Chinese pots to characterize these aspects of life.”

“The patterned facet is based on repetition of similar geometrical shapes. I find that repetition of pattern is associated with daily routines. I find that we all have some sort of routine in our daily lives: the way we begin our day, the route we take to work, or the means of entertainment in the evening. Pots fit into this idea as they are the objects that hold our routine consumable needs in daily life.”

“My work continues to change as I change. My work is my timeline that shows my feelings, my attitude and my dedication to the concept of artist. The day my work becomes repetitive in execution of the same idea over and over is the day I am no longer creative as an artist. I am not who or what I was three years ago, and I hope that I am not the same person 40 or 50 years from now. My work will continue to be a progression of my development, not only as a ceramic artist, but as a person over the course of my life.”

The Nutting Gallery is located in the Hall of Fine Arts. Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Hours for weekends and other times are by arrangement only. For more information, please contact Villamagna at rvillama@westliberty.edu or 304.336.8370.

She grew up in Knurów, Poland in a communistic multifamily apartment building surrounded by hundreds of multifamily buildings identical in structure. Straight lines, sharp angles, lack of color, and lack of green space, in addition to the small mining city rhythm, influenced her point of view and sensitivity. She often wonders if that’s why her own art is often monochromatic and uses repetition—at least for now.

Every semester she is eager to meet her new students, when after the first demonstration of a specific technique in the cherished print lab, a student says: “Wow! That’s like magic!” her day is truly made, because she also thinks that way. Students keep surprising her with amazing work and creative ideas, and she always strives to get the best out of each of them.

She recently became a mama to a wonderful boy, Olek. He pretty much changed her life. He is her new companion in the studio, and in life. He is the best thing ever happened to her, and she will let you know about it, as she can really talk about him a lot.

You can follow the activities and images of WLU’s Printmaking program on their Facebook page.

Layout from the 2013 winter issue of Artworks

Robert Villamagna is featured in the current issue of “Artworks” published by the WV Division of Culture and History. In the spring of the 2012 semester Professor Villamagna conducted a class in Public Art for WLU’s Honors Program. Part of that class was a mural located in the city of Wheeling. Working closely with the Wheeling Arts Commission and arts supporter extraordinaire Susan Hogan, Professor Villamagna and his team brought the area surrounding the Fort Henry/I-70 Bridge to life with large, colorful representations of fairy tales.

“This year the art faculty selected the theme of oddities,” said Robert Villamagna, gallery director. “The dictionary defines oddity as an odd person, thing, event or trait. Odd is an adjective denoting the quality of being unpaired, occasional, strange or unusual, or a person who is viewed as eccentric. In other words, the work in this show will focus on the strange and unusual,” he said.“The works in Oddities will cover a wide range of media including drawing, painting, mixed media, digital, construction, photography and installation,” he explained.“Having a new theme for the exhibition each year does a number of things,” Villamagna said. “It brings a freshness to the annual exhibition, it challenges the members of the art faculty and it shows students how a diverse group of artists each approach a single problem or idea, each in their own unique way and in a variety of media.”In talking about his work for this exhibition, Professor Brian Fencl explained, “I used the theme as a catalyst to revisit old ideas and work that I put away because I either lost interest in the image or the piece wasn’t successful. I approached those pieces with the mindset of ‘What else can I add to it?’ Of all of the themes we have worked with over the last five or six years this one is the least confining. It naturally fits my work and people’s expectations of it.”Associate Professor James Haizlett looks forward to the annual exhibition.
“For me, the faculty show is a chance to take some risks, do some experimenting, and generally have fun with the theme,” Haizlett said. “Last summer I bought an old mig welder and have been teaching myself how to weld. For this show I gathered up a bunch of old used car parts and broken farm equipment and laid them out on the floor of my barn. Then I started moving them around and piecing them together to see if I could come up with some interesting shapes that seemed to fit together. ‘Mechanical Bird’ is the first piece I created. The name pays homage to some of my students who formed a short-lived company with the same name. I always liked that name, and when the metal bird started taking shape I thought ‘Mechanical Bird’ fit the piece pretty well.Assistant Professor Martyna Matusiak states, “There is nothing funny about pulling someone’s leg. Incompossible is about being placed in between a joke and an insult and the moment of hesitation to decide which one it is. While thinking of the theme Oddities, our odd behaviors came to my mind. I am intrigued by our fragmentary way of reading the world and how our sarcastic flashes of cruelty somehow turn to be innocent jokes, or jokes that elevate to be heartbreaking moment. Constantly balancing between black and white, positive and negative where weird hands pull tiny legs – I construct an environment of repetition that makes us forget why we really laughed and causes us think … ‘Uhm…that’s odd.’”‘I think that when an item is presented from a perspective that is new to the viewer, what is presented could be seen as odd,” sayid Associate Professor Nancy Tirone. “For the topic Oddities, I’ve chosen to not create or invent something strange or peculiar but, rather, to take a common, well known item and present it from a different perspective. One might call it an odd perspective. The item is not odd at all.”

JANUARY 23, 2013 BY MZAMBITO

The show runs from November 28th to December 13th.

All gallery events are free and open to the public. For more information about upcoming shows in the Nutting Gallery see our gallery pageand you find The Nutting Gallery on Facebook. Questions can be directed to gallery director Robert Villamagna at (304)336-8370.