Artists Present “Gathering The Elements” AT AHACC

Roanoke artists Susan Egbert and Gina Louthian-Stanley will present “Gathering the Elements at the Alleghany Highlands Arts and Crafts Center for 2022, beginning Tuesday, January 18, and continuing through February 25, 2022.

This exhibit includes work in several different media by Susan Egbert: mono-printing, acrylic batik, mixed media collage, and traditional acrylic painting. Gina Louthian-Stanley offers encaustic, cold wax & oil, and mixed media work. Both artists celebrate the elements of the natural world while exploring design and compositional elements as they investigate the creative process in their media.

Gertie and Uncle Bert by Susan Egbert

Susan Egbert says, “Creating art has always been a part of my life. My father was a well-known artist in upstate New York, and I began showing my work with him at the age of 12. I received a BA in fine art from New York State University at Oswego and have been a free-lance artist ever since. While I am known for mixed-media portraits and landscapes, I also enjoy working with more abstracted images, collage, and printmaking.”

In “Gathering The Elements” Egbert includes some traditional acrylic paintings, several monotypes, and some delightful acrylic batiks: places she’s visited, lovely outdoor spaces and even some family portraits. Looking at these images is a bit like a grand hike, without the gnats or the cold. Egbert ’has lived in the Roanoke Valley for more than 30 years and says, “as an artist, I can’t help but be influenced by the beauty of our area.” A summary of the monotype and acrylic batik processes can be found in the gallery.

While slightly more abstract, Egbert’s mixed media pieces are filled with interesting materials: old rulers, vintage photos, old accounting pages, interesting artist papers, and odd bits that were tucked away in scrapbooks for years. Viewers can enjoy the sly sense of humor and solid design in each of these—or just explore what materials she has used.

Her work can also be found in Black Dog Salvage, in her studio at Left of Center Art Space on Campbell Ave in Roanoke, and The Cabell Gallery in Lexington, VA. Egbert is a member of the League of Roanoke Artists and was a founding partner of Gallery 108 in Roanoke. She earned her Signature Status with the Virginia Watercolor Society in 2015 and continues to exhibit in their events. She has won awards at Lexington’s Art on the Green, several League of Roanoke Artist exhibits, and won the Warm Spring Gallery Award at the 2021 Bath County Art Show. Her work is included in corporate collections including the Boy Scouts of America, Carilion, Hotel Roanoke, and The Heir, Roanoke, VA. Her work has also been published in American Art Collector, Artemis Journal, and the Carilion Art Collection.

Blue Moon by Gina Louthian-Stanley

Gina Louthian-Stanley who has been creating for as long as she remembers, explores other ways of “Gathering the Elements” in her works. She has studied with and been mentored by some of the area’s finest artists. A multi-media artist, writer, and workshop instructor living in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, she earned her B.A. Degree from Hollins University, followed by a Master’s Degree from Radford University. She created her thesis works in monotype and has been a monotype printmaker since the late ‘70s. In 2006 she began her “wax” journey, mastering the versatility, permanence, and textures of wax, both hot (encaustic), and cold wax (medium), which allows for the deep layers found in her work. She also utilizes these mediums for printmaking, building up layers to create luminous color and textures to enhance her ethereal works. Each work usually begins without a preconceived image.

Her most recent works are explorations that combine printing, painting, and mixed media on alternative surfaces with various inks, oils, solvents, hot wax (encaustic), and cold wax using various techniques. They establish an “atmospheric” quality in her work. The assembly of these bits and pieces of her lifelong inspiration creates an identifiable yet ever changing artistic style. Louthian-Stanley’s work represents physical and emotional sensations that carry the viewer into an intimate visual narrative that typically relates to the nature around her.

She has received many artistic honors and awards. She has been recognized and published in several books and publications, including Cold Wax Techniques and Conversations by Rebecca Crowell and Jerry McLaughlin. Most recently she was featured in the inaugural January 2019 edition of The Woven Tale Press along with a 2018 website review on the WTP site by Richard Malinsky, and was highlighted in the Spring (June) 2019 edition of Encaustic Arts Magazine. Her works have been included in the Encaustic Art Institute Permanent Collection, Cerrillos, New Mexico, Pierre Daura Gallery Permanent Collection in, Lynchburg, VA, and the Virginia Western Community College Living Gallery’s Permanent Collection in Roanoke, VA. Her work is also included in national and international private and corporate collections. Her work can be seen at Market Gallery in Roanoke, VA and Matrix Gallery in Blacksburg, VA., 310 Art Gallery in Asheville, NC, and The Copper Fox Gallery, Franklin, TN.

“As a Virginia native, I engage with the enchantment of the ephemeral landscape. I work intuitively going where the elements direct me. I surrender to becoming fully present by listening to what wants to emerge, piece-by-piece, layer by layer. These pieces are translations of place, of the mood, and of the ‘feel’.”

“As an artist, I am forever enchanted with Earth. I stop to watch the sky, a murmuration, or a river flow. Constantly distracted by earthy edges, light and color, structure, and intuition, seeing beauty in all things. The cold wax and oil and encaustic works are mere whispers of the beauty around us, fleeting moments of the earth’s breath.

‘‘My newest mixed media collage pieces (ink, watercolor, rust, collage) begin without intention, focusing on the elements of art to create an experience’ something known.”

These small, intimate works are intensively process-oriented. Her technique includes dying papers with inks, stacking them in layers, interspersed with bits of rust, and allowing them to “marinate” for several days. As she unpacks and allows the papers to dry, the work begins in earnest. Markings begin to suggest a flow of color and tone that will lead to more intensive visual imagery and ideas. To this she adds bits of collage paper, delicate line drawing, fiber, torn shapes, and collaged papers that direct the viewer’s eye through the composition and feel of each piece. It’s as though they are dreams, with otherworldly microcosms to explore. Working in an extended series encourages the connection between pieces. These relate to one another but are also glowingly independent, contemplative, and engaging, microcosmic worlds for the viewer. They can be mixed and matched and re-aligned in endless combinations, expanding the imaginative experience.

“Perhaps the piece represents something untold, a mystery, an unspoken language, or a memory that comes back to the forefront. Maybe it’s a visual search of the elements that evoke your imagination. What do you see? What does it evoke within you? “

GATHERING THE ELEMENTS opens Tuesday, January 18, and will close Friday, February 25, 2022. The Alleghany Highlands Arts and Crafts Center is supported by its members, contributors, the Town of Clifton Forge, the City of Covington, the County of Alleghany, The Alleghany Foundation, The Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Virginian Review

The Virginian Review has been serving Covington, Clifton Forge, Alleghany County and Bath County since 1914.

Roanoke artists Susan Egbert and Gina Louthian-Stanley will present “Gathering the Elements at the Alleghany Highlands Arts and Crafts Center for 2022, beginning Tuesday, January 18, and continuing through February 25, 2022.

This exhibit includes work in several different media by Susan Egbert: mono-printing, acrylic batik, mixed media collage, and traditional acrylic painting. Gina Louthian-Stanley offers encaustic, cold wax & oil, and mixed media work. Both artists celebrate the elements of the natural world while exploring design and compositional elements as they investigate the creative process in their media.

Gertie and Uncle Bert by Susan Egbert

Susan Egbert says, “Creating art has always been a part of my life. My father was a well-known artist in upstate New York, and I began showing my work with him at the age of 12. I received a BA in fine art from New York State University at Oswego and have been a free-lance artist ever since. While I am known for mixed-media portraits and landscapes, I also enjoy working with more abstracted images, collage, and printmaking.”

In “Gathering The Elements” Egbert includes some traditional acrylic paintings, several monotypes, and some delightful acrylic batiks: places she’s visited, lovely outdoor spaces and even some family portraits. Looking at these images is a bit like a grand hike, without the gnats or the cold. Egbert ’has lived in the Roanoke Valley for more than 30 years and says, “as an artist, I can’t help but be influenced by the beauty of our area.” A summary of the monotype and acrylic batik processes can be found in the gallery.

While slightly more abstract, Egbert’s mixed media pieces are filled with interesting materials: old rulers, vintage photos, old accounting pages, interesting artist papers, and odd bits that were tucked away in scrapbooks for years. Viewers can enjoy the sly sense of humor and solid design in each of these—or just explore what materials she has used.

Her work can also be found in Black Dog Salvage, in her studio at Left of Center Art Space on Campbell Ave in Roanoke, and The Cabell Gallery in Lexington, VA. Egbert is a member of the League of Roanoke Artists and was a founding partner of Gallery 108 in Roanoke. She earned her Signature Status with the Virginia Watercolor Society in 2015 and continues to exhibit in their events. She has won awards at Lexington’s Art on the Green, several League of Roanoke Artist exhibits, and won the Warm Spring Gallery Award at the 2021 Bath County Art Show. Her work is included in corporate collections including the Boy Scouts of America, Carilion, Hotel Roanoke, and The Heir, Roanoke, VA. Her work has also been published in American Art Collector, Artemis Journal, and the Carilion Art Collection.

Blue Moon by Gina Louthian-Stanley

Gina Louthian-Stanley who has been creating for as long as she remembers, explores other ways of “Gathering the Elements” in her works. She has studied with and been mentored by some of the area’s finest artists. A multi-media artist, writer, and workshop instructor living in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, she earned her B.A. Degree from Hollins University, followed by a Master’s Degree from Radford University. She created her thesis works in monotype and has been a monotype printmaker since the late ‘70s. In 2006 she began her “wax” journey, mastering the versatility, permanence, and textures of wax, both hot (encaustic), and cold wax (medium), which allows for the deep layers found in her work. She also utilizes these mediums for printmaking, building up layers to create luminous color and textures to enhance her ethereal works. Each work usually begins without a preconceived image.

Her most recent works are explorations that combine printing, painting, and mixed media on alternative surfaces with various inks, oils, solvents, hot wax (encaustic), and cold wax using various techniques. They establish an “atmospheric” quality in her work. The assembly of these bits and pieces of her lifelong inspiration creates an identifiable yet ever changing artistic style. Louthian-Stanley’s work represents physical and emotional sensations that carry the viewer into an intimate visual narrative that typically relates to the nature around her.

She has received many artistic honors and awards. She has been recognized and published in several books and publications, including Cold Wax Techniques and Conversations by Rebecca Crowell and Jerry McLaughlin. Most recently she was featured in the inaugural January 2019 edition of The Woven Tale Press along with a 2018 website review on the WTP site by Richard Malinsky, and was highlighted in the Spring (June) 2019 edition of Encaustic Arts Magazine. Her works have been included in the Encaustic Art Institute Permanent Collection, Cerrillos, New Mexico, Pierre Daura Gallery Permanent Collection in, Lynchburg, VA, and the Virginia Western Community College Living Gallery’s Permanent Collection in Roanoke, VA. Her work is also included in national and international private and corporate collections. Her work can be seen at Market Gallery in Roanoke, VA and Matrix Gallery in Blacksburg, VA., 310 Art Gallery in Asheville, NC, and The Copper Fox Gallery, Franklin, TN.

“As a Virginia native, I engage with the enchantment of the ephemeral landscape. I work intuitively going where the elements direct me. I surrender to becoming fully present by listening to what wants to emerge, piece-by-piece, layer by layer. These pieces are translations of place, of the mood, and of the ‘feel’.”

“As an artist, I am forever enchanted with Earth. I stop to watch the sky, a murmuration, or a river flow. Constantly distracted by earthy edges, light and color, structure, and intuition, seeing beauty in all things. The cold wax and oil and encaustic works are mere whispers of the beauty around us, fleeting moments of the earth’s breath.

‘‘My newest mixed media collage pieces (ink, watercolor, rust, collage) begin without intention, focusing on the elements of art to create an experience’ something known.”

These small, intimate works are intensively process-oriented. Her technique includes dying papers with inks, stacking them in layers, interspersed with bits of rust, and allowing them to “marinate” for several days. As she unpacks and allows the papers to dry, the work begins in earnest. Markings begin to suggest a flow of color and tone that will lead to more intensive visual imagery and ideas. To this she adds bits of collage paper, delicate line drawing, fiber, torn shapes, and collaged papers that direct the viewer’s eye through the composition and feel of each piece. It’s as though they are dreams, with otherworldly microcosms to explore. Working in an extended series encourages the connection between pieces. These relate to one another but are also glowingly independent, contemplative, and engaging, microcosmic worlds for the viewer. They can be mixed and matched and re-aligned in endless combinations, expanding the imaginative experience.

“Perhaps the piece represents something untold, a mystery, an unspoken language, or a memory that comes back to the forefront. Maybe it’s a visual search of the elements that evoke your imagination. What do you see? What does it evoke within you? “

GATHERING THE ELEMENTS opens Tuesday, January 18, and will close Friday, February 25, 2022. The Alleghany Highlands Arts and Crafts Center is supported by its members, contributors, the Town of Clifton Forge, the City of Covington, the County of Alleghany, The Alleghany Foundation, The Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Virginian Review

The Virginian Review has been serving Covington, Clifton Forge, Alleghany County and Bath County since 1914.