working index

RUTH BERNARD resume JOHN HERTZLER resume
Ruth Bernard paintings John Hertzler sculpture, wood and stone November 2004 Lynden Gallery presents the work of Ruth Bernard paintings, and John Hertzler sculpture, opening Friday November 5th with an Artist Reception from 5:00 until 8:00. Local collectors throughout the central Pennsylvania area recognize Ruth's work, while John's is relatively new. This exciting juxtaposition of 2 and 3 dimensional work is not to be missed! RUTH BERNARD's luscious paintings of fruit, interiors, and abundance are misleading. In viewing the work, one thinks immediately of 1800's expressionism, replete with Victorian over-abundance. But dig deeper… Ruth says, " the opulent depictions seem particularly timely now, in today's extravagant and hedonistic atmosphere. Rather than the fullness of earth's riches," we are challenged by her work to see instead " a world of decadence and abuse." Her unique vision begins with the canvas painted in brilliant red or yellow ground, and literally pulsates through the work as it develops. A twisting, turning, distortion of space, strong color and textural layers of paint takes even the most peaceful scene and riddles it with inner turmoil. Exaggerated to the point of surrealism, it's not unusual to find still life's toppled, chairs floating and figures sitting in their precarious surroundings seemingly unaware of the chaos around them. Rather true to the nature of our society today. Ruth attended the School of the Worcester Art Museum, Worchester, Massachusetts, received her BFA in painting at the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts in 1987, and her MFA in painting at Queens College, The City University of New York in New York, New York in 1998. The Art Association of Harrisburg, Lancaster Museum of Art, Washington Art Association, Washington Depot, Connecticut, Maryland College or Art and Design, Silver Springs, Maryland, Hewlett Packard Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware, Cosen and O'Connor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have exhibited her work, among others, over the last 30 years. In 1998 and 2001, Ruth received the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, Special Opportunity Stipend and in 2000, the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, Professional Development Grant. She also received the Fellowship for the Vermont Studio Center in 1993 and 2000. Her work has been recognized and reviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Suburban Philadelphia, the Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, the Sunday New York Times, Connecticut Addition, Connecticut and other publications throughout the mid-Atlantic and new England states. Held in many public and private collections, including Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA, the Program 4 Engineering, Christiana, PA, The Susquehanna Bank Shares, Lititz, PA, Buchanan and Ingersol Attorneys, Harrisburg, PA, Cozen and O'Connor, Philadelphia, PA, Wheat, First, Butcher and Singer, Philadelphia, PA, Ruth's work promises to remain worth watching! JOHN HERTZLER was raised on a dairy farm in Elizabethtown. In 1964 he graduated from Elizabethtown College as an English major and was drafted into the army to serve in Vietnam shortly thereafter. Upon return to the states, John enrolled in Union Seminary in New York City and graduated in 1972. Verbal expression proved frustratingly limiting to John, and he began during this New York period to seek expression through sculpting. The response to his work was immediate and gratifying, and he spent the next decade sculpting and driving taxi in the big apple. John's work was exhibited in a dozen small shows and gallery exhibitions throughout the 1970's in New York City, Pennsylvania and Maryland including the Doshi Gallery, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1973, and the Hagerstown Art Museum, Hagerstown, Maryland in the mid-seventies. The Pennsylvania State Museum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania accepted work in the juried Art of the State exhibit three consecutive years. He exhibited work at Messiah College in 1991. In 1977 Hertzler returned to Lancaster County to work the family dairy farm and pretty much put sculpting on hold. In 2000, he began again in earnest above the heifer pen on the second floor of the bank barn. "It just feels good to be sculpting again," says John. Now semi-retired, this is his first body of new work, and along with some re-worked older pieces, there are a total of 13 pieces in this exhibit of marble, alabaster and wood. Through the satisfaction of finished work and the public response to it, John continues to "discover his voice."