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The Frank L. Melega Art Museum is an equal opportunity provider.

Leonard Mieczkowski -

Mark W. Joyner

A View of Their Own

April 4 - May 10

“A View of Their Own” featured the unique vision of artists Leonard Mieczkowski and Mark W. Joyner.

Leonard. Mieczkowski is a Pittsburgh artist whose paintings are created using a reverse glass technique, and smaller than a postcard. Leonard's paintings are small in size but they pack quite a wallop, more than paintings fifty times larger. The artworks demand scrutiny, and to those willing to look, provide a glimpse into another world. Thirty-two mini-masterpieces are on display.

Mark W. Joyner, a Connellsville resident, has created his own type of iconography. A variety of subjects are explored in a stream of conscience, explosion of color and form. Joyner's paintings and drawings are inspired by distant memories, dreams, alien encounters and a vivid imagination. His oil painting "Evel Kenevel" depicts the 1970's icon flying through the air on his motorcycle, as images of death, dolphins, a pool table, a flashlight, bones, and animals swirl against against a fiery red background.

The following is a newspaper article about the exhibition written by Dave Zuchowski for the

Herald-Standard.

‘Outsider art’ featured at Melega Museum

By Dave Zuchowski

For the Herald-Standard

In a new exhibit opening Saturday at the Frank L. Melega Art Museum in Brownsville, organizers are taking an unconventional stance by showcasing works by “outsider artists”.

“The philosophy of the museum is to present all kinds of art,” said Patrick Daugherty, museum director. “Some is conventional, but, from time to time, I also like to present art that’s more challenging.”

“A View of Their Own” will present works of unorthodox artists who have a passion to create, regardless of the opinions of others, current trends, what is popular or what sells. These artists may or may not have formal training but are immediately recognizable as having their own way of doing things and often challenge the viewer’s concepts and definitions of art. They are not to be confused with amateur artists, folk artists or Sunday painters.

“The works in our current exhibit present a number of new challenges, not only in terms of their imagery and content, but also for the ‘business of art, ‘” said Daugherty. “These featured artists have a passion to create, regardless of the monetary rewards involved.”

Connellsville artist, Mark W. Joyner, 32, likes to refer to himself as an “MWH Splash Painter” with a unique methodology. A full-time artist and grad student at California University of Pennsylvania working on a master’s degree in homeland security and criminal justice, Joyner likes to smear two basic colors on a canvas, let them dry, then see what image form. He then expands on these nascent shapes to delineate them further and make them clearer.

Daugherty compares Joyner’s methods to those of early primitive artist who saw images on walls of caves, the painted on them to form more readily recognizable images.

“Mark paints a variety of subjects that are explored in a steam of consciousness and explosion of color and form, “ he said. “His painting and drawings are inspired by distant memories, dreams, extraterrestrial alien imagery and his vivid imagination. His oil painting ‘Evel Kenevel,’ for instance, depicts the 1970s icon flying through the air on his motorcycle as images of death, dolphins, a pool table, a flashlight, bones and animals swirl against a fiery red background.”

Daugherty first met Joyner when the latter was a student in one of his art lecture classes at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus. When Joyner brought in some of his work, Daugherty said he was amazed by what he saw.

 Marks’ subject matter is challenging, and his imagery is very personal,” he said. “Most of his work is done on a small scale, and some might even be called miniature. It’s the kind of art that requires the viewer to take a close look at.”

Another artist in the show, Leonard Mieczkowski of Pittsburgh, also works on small-scale pieces no larger that a post card. Using a unique reverse gall technique, he applies his paint of a glass plate, and the viewer sees the work from the reverse side.

“The process allows me to do two things simultaneously – protect my painting with the glass and produce a flat effect with a smooth surface that doesn’t show ridges,“ he said.

“Leonard’s paintings may be small in size but the pack quite a wallop, more than paintings fifty times larger,” said Daugherty. ‘His work demands scrutiny and, to those willing to look, provide a glimpse into another world.”

As a young artist, Mieczkowski drew and painted in a conventional style, but soon decided he wanted to do something different. After experimenting with reverse glass painting, he found the media he was looking for.

“My subject matter is predominately landscapes which I paint from my imagination,” he said/ “I’m a hiker and hill runner, so the terrain I encounter influences my work. I’m also and Abstract Expressionist with Realist elements, and my works require viewers to use their own imaginations.”

Educated at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Mieczkowski’s career was largely invested in the field of commercial art. His resume lists him as a member of Pittsburgh Progressive Artists, and his work has been exhibited in libraries, businesses and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

“While planning the exhibit, I first came up with the underlying concept of Outsider Art, the picked these two artists whose work I knew,” said Daugherty. “I’m leaving the exhibit open to other artists as well, so museum patrons shouldn’t be surprised to find a few additional surprises.”

“A View of Their Own,” an exhibit of Outsider Art, is at the Frank L. Melega Art Museum in the historic Flatiron Building, 69 Market Street, in Brownsville from April 4 to May 10. A “Meet the Artists” reception will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. The reception is open to the public and free of charge.

The museum is open Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.

For additional hours or group tours by appointment, phone 724-785-9331 or visit website www.melegaartmuseum.org.

Click here to visit the Herald-Standard website.

Click here to view photos from the opening reception.

Mark W. Joyner

Leonard Mieczkowski

Exhibition Postcard

Christopher D. Decker (1941-2008)

2009 Artist of the Pike

May 16 - July 25

Collecting art is also an art. The creative demands to appreciate art can match those needed to create the art. For the first time, the Frank L. Melega Art Museum had chosen an art collector as the 2009 Artist of the Pike, Christopher Decker (1941-2008), area businessman, community supporter, and collector of regional artists. The exhibition makes a statement about the accomplished artists from our area and the importance of collecting their art.

Exhibiting Artists:

Helen Alt John Buxton Ray Dunlevy

Ray Forquer Robert Griffing Charles Kovach

Marie Lint William Marsteller Frank L. Melega

Nadine Reposky Joan Ricks Tonye Sharp

Sybilla Spurgeon Hank Stairs James Sulkowski

Gerald L. Shuttlesworth

Images of Paris

August 29 - December 13, 2009

The path to being an artist is a varied and unpredictable one. It is doubtful that if anyone had told Gerald Shuttlesworth ten years ago that he would be having a one person exhibition of his paintings in an art museum that he would have believed them or even thought it was possible. Yet on August 29, at the Frank L. Melega Art Museum this is exactly what happened. Shuttlesworth’s exhibition is titled “Images of Paris” and features paintings and photographs based on his experiences in the world’s most visited city.

A native of West Virginia, Jerry, as he is known to friends and family, lived in Morgantown until earning an undergraduate degree at West Virginia University. Following college he married and moved to North Carolina for graduate studies at Duke University. He and his wife, Pamela, have two children: a daughter, Anne, born in North Carolina and a son, Thomas, born in Kansas City. After living in the Midwest for a little over two years, they moved to Pennsylvania, where Jerry and Pamela have remained ever since, living in Hopwood since 1998.

Throughout his career Shuttlesworth has worked in a variety of administrative positions. For the last twenty-eight years of his working life he was the CEO of Albert Gallatin Home Care and Hospice, a regional health care provider serving patients throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. As time went on in that role, he found it increasingly important to develop non-work-related activities. One of those was photography.

Jerry became interested in photography in the mid-1980's when he purchased his first SLR camera. Work-related international travel to China, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Hong Kong and Indonesia created opportunities for him to pursue that interest. In those and subsequent travels, a camera has been constantly in his hand. In recent years he and his wife, Pamela, have spent time in New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Slovenia and, especially, France. “Several years ago, we were fortunate to be able to buy a small apartment in Paris, and we now split our time between Hopwood and Paris,” said Shuttlesworth.

“I came late to the world of painting. A year or so before I retired, on a whim I decided to purchase an oil painting set for myself while buying a Christmas present for my wife. Painting is something that had always interested me, but I never seemed to have time to explore it. After my first attempt, however, I was hooked, and since my retirement in 2006 it has become my passion.” the artist explains.

In addition to being an enchanting place to live, Paris provides a unique opportunity for Shuttlesworth to combine his interests. “I like to wander around the city with my camera looking for subjects that I think would translate well onto canvas. Most often, my eye is attracted by people involved in everyday activities with Paris as a backdrop. “ Many of the paintings included in this exhibit are the result of these photographic explorations.

The majority of the artworks in the exhibition are paintings. Shuttlesworth works in oil paints on canvas in a realistic style. “Paris provides a wealth of subjects for those interested in the human condition, little moments that have universal meaning and appeal. But, it takes an artist like Jerry to recognize these moments. After seeing his incredible artworks, I would like to think the viewer may take with them a new way of viewing the little moments they encounter in their own day to day life,” said Melega Art Museum Director, Patrick Daugherty.