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PARKERSBURG – Many local artists took a creative culinary journey with their representations of food in the Parkersburg Art Center’s Regional Exhibition and Competition.
The exhibit, which opened Sunday at the art center at Eighth and Market streets, revolved around the theme of “Yum!,” with food and eating being represented in paintings, sculptures, photography, woodcarving and more.
“This show is open to all artists, both amateur or professional, who live within 100 miles of the art center,” said Abby Hayhurst, executive director of the art center. “This year the theme is food in art.
“A lot of the works have a food-related theme. Some are very clever.”
Although artists are not required to strictly adhere to the theme, many do because it is fun, Hayhurst said. Many of the 96 pieces on display from the 46 participating artists represented variations of the show’s theme.
Dorsey Northrup, of Vienna, did a couple of paintings for the show. One showed a rose while the other was a drink pitcher with various pieces of fruit in it.
“I get into hyper-realism and sometimes I go the other way,” Northrup said. “I like to paint realistic and I love vibrant colors.”
She liked the rose, its flow and how it was opening up.
“There are so many layers of color,” Northrup said. “It is just who I am.
“I like to paint. Every time I paint, I like to paint something different.”
Northrup is also into photography and uses many of her shots for the basis of many of her paintings. The painting of the drink pitcher with fruit was the result of her taking 150 pictures of the pitcher with the fruit in it. She used different light and different fruit until she found something that resonated with her.
The work has generated some interest from some galleries, she said. Northrup said she likes to listen to people talk about her work in a gallery setting.
“It is fun for me to see someone looking at (one of her paintings), talking about it and enjoying it,” she said. “You know you are making an impression on someone.”
Steve Morningstar, a Parkersburg resident and retired high school art teacher, entered paintings of a fish that was laying on some rocks and another of a landscape. Both images came from a fly-fishing trip he took last year to Colorado.
“I go west somewhere every summer to go fly-fishing,” he said. “I take a lot of pictures and then I do paintings.”
Morningstar has participated in past shows at the Parkersburg Art Center, including the Regional exhibit.
“It is a nice show,” he said. “I always try to do something that matches up with the theme of each show.
“I eat a lot of fish because I fly-fish all the time. That is why I did the fish.”
Morningstar likes to participate in the current exhibit because it was a regional show, featuring regional artists, at the local arts center.
“I have always supported them,” he said. “(When he was an art teacher at Parkersburg High School) we have always been involved with the art center and our kids coming down here to do student art shows.
“I have always tried to get something into the center’s shows.”
Lavana Lemley, of Vienna, entered a paper mache/plaster/melted plastic representation of a number of chocolate bunnies that are melting together. The bunnies represent, dark, milk and white chocolate.
“They are kind of melting to make a nice mix,'” she said. “I love chocolate and rabbits are among my favorite things to sculpt.
“It was putting it all together into one piece. I like the idea of the melting, because I think it adds movement and flow.” Lemley said.
Carol McDonough, of Rutland, Ohio, made a ceramic dinnerware set incorporating cave paintings made from a white clay.
“I thought about this idea a long time ago,” she said with a laugh. “It dawned on me a little while ago, the paleo diet is hot right now and paleo pottery should be a seller so I started making some.
“I even made chop-sticks out of twigs.”
It is the perfect accompaniment for the modern caveman’s mancave, she added with a laugh. It takes McDonough about two to three weeks to do the pottery work, make the pieces and fire them in her kiln.
McDonough has participated in the Regional show in the past.
“I really love this gallery,” she said. “It is such a nice gallery.
“I live in the middle of nowhere and this is actually reachable for me. It is important to get a little bit of culture.”
The works were judged in four categories: Three-Dimensional, Two-Dimensional, Photo/Digital and Best Use of Theme. Other awards given included the Dr. Ghassan Khalil Award, United Bank Sponsor’s Prize, Best In Show and a People’s Choice Award.
The show is always popular with the artists who enter it and the public who comes to see it, Hayhurst said.
“This is one of our favorite shows of the year,” she said. “It is an opportunity for their work to go on display in a professional gallery setting.”
The show will run through July 31 at the art center, located at Eighth and Market streets in downtown Parkersburg.