Completed Location #07
LOCATION
Traders Alley
ARTIST STATEMENT
My favorite time of year in Buckhannon is Spring and Summer. In this mural, I wanted to reflect the careless, happy feeling you have when the weather starts to change and the world starts to come alive again. In my mind, the question arises: riding bikes, hanging out with friends, and being outside – what could be better?
Throughout my work, dynamic historical figures are often set adrift against backdrops of contemporary society, creating a powerful commentary on the predicaments of modern life. Each painting touches on an important person or idea I have recently discovered in my constant need and search for understanding of how the past shapes the present. I choose to create my work in oil paints and mixed media on board, using rough brushstrokes to accent elements of collage and give my art a purposefully childlike quality.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Liza Brenner was born in South Western New York. She received a BFA in Drawing at Clarion University of Pennsylvania in 1998 and an MFA in Painting from Edinboro University in 2004. She has exhibited her work regionally and nationally and is currently an Associate Professor of Art at Glenville State College in Glenville, West Virginia, and resides in Buckhannon, West Virginia.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
| 2015 | Gallery on 43rd Street. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: “Spello Italy Landscapes” |
| 2014 | Black Sheep Brewery. Charleston, West Virginia: “Series Red” |
| 2013 | Apartment Earth. Charleston, West Virginia: “Series Red” |
| 2012 | Espresso a Mano. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: “Series Noir” The Bookstore. Buckhannon, West Virginia Market Bistro. Buckhannon, West Virginia.: “Fishing Around” |
| 2010 | Fusion. Butler, Pennsylvania: “Recent Work” |
| 2009 | Michelle’s. Clarion, Pennsylvania: “Paper Herds” The Fine Arts Center Gallery. Glenville State College, West Virginia: “Paper Herds & Things” |
| 2007 | The Defoor Gallery. Atlanta, Georgia: “Appetizers” The Jill Celeste Gallery. Atlanta, Georgia: “Compositions 1-28” |
| 2005 | Weyers-Sampson Gallery. Thiel College. Greenville, Pennsylvania: “Recent Paintings” |
| 2004 | Bates Gallery. Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Edinboro, Pennsylvania: Master of Fine Art Thesis Exhibition, “Immortalization of the Chachka” |
| 2002 | Slaughterhouse Gallery and Studio. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: “Recent Works” |
| 2000 | Michelle’s Café. Clarion, Pennsylvania: “Recent Paintings” Ebenezer’s Gallery Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: “Cowboys, Flamingos and Housewives” |
| 1998 | Sanford Gallery. Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, Pennsylvania: “Senior Thesis Show” |
SELECTED GROUP, JURIED AND INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS
| 2014 | Galleria D’Arte Michelangelo. Group Exhibition Plein Air. Spello, Italy. Warm Streets Gallery. Wild, Wacky. Witchy Woman. Lynchburg, Virginia Esprit de Corps Invitational Exhibition. Nelson Gallery. Lexington, Virginia Monmoth Museum. 35th Annual Juried Exhibition. Lincoln, New Jersey Arts Monongahela Gallery. Shady: Our Neighbors the Trees. Morgantown, West Virginia Blackwater Falls State Park Lodge. Shhhh….Listen! Charleston, West Virginia Apartment Earth. Charleston, West Virginia. “Earth Day Invitational.” RCCAC. Elkins, West Virginia: “13th Annual Gala & Juried Exhibit”. Juror: Leslie Wright |
| 2013 | Agora Gallery. Chelsea International Fine Art Juried Competition. New York, New York. Juror: Anthony Haden-Guest Open Studio Competition. Volumes 23 and 24. Barbara O’Brien, Executive Director, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art Huntington Museum of Art. A Sense of Place: The West Virginia Sesquicentennial Artist Invitational Nelson Galley. “4th Annual Paint Out Invitational.”. Lexington, West Virginia. RCCAC. Elkins, West Virginia: “12th Annual Gala & Juried Exhibit”. Juror: Lynn Ferris Apartment Earth. Charleston, West Virginia. “Earth Day Invitational.” |
| 2012 | Nelson Galley. “3rd Annual Paint Out Invitational.”. Lexington, West Virginia. 9th Annual WV Art & Craft Guild Competition, Parkersburg, WV Burlingame’s Celebration of the Arts. Sapphire, North Carolina: Group Show Nelson Gallery. Lexington, Virginia: “13th Feast on This Exhibition”. Juror: Members RCCAC. Elkins, West Virginia: “11th Annual Gala & Juried Exhibit”. Juror: Michael French Frostburg Museum. Frostburg, Maryland. “Play in the Streets”. Juror: Derek Meeter |
| 2011 | RCCAC. Elkins, West Virginia: “75th Annual Forest Festival Exhibition”. Juror: Naijun Zhang Nelson Gallery. Lexington, Virginia: “12th Annual Juried Exhibition”. Juror: Members Frostburg Museum. Frostburg, Maryland. “Play in the Streets”. Juror: Randall Rhodes RCCAC. Elkins, West Virginia: “10th Annual Gala & Juried Exhibit”. Juror: Jo Gasto Tamarack. Beckley, West Virginia: “The Best of WV 2011 Juried Exhibit”. Juror: Randall Reed |
| 2010 | Tamarack. Beckley, West Virginia: “The Best of WV 2010 Juried Exhibit”. Juror: Randall Reed RCCAC. Elkins, West Virginia: “9th Annual Gala & Juried Exhibit”. Juror: Jo Gaston RCCAC. Elkins, West Virginia: “Women’s Art Juried Exhibition”. Juror: Chica Brunsvold J. Box. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: “Group Exhibition”. |
| 2009 | Upstream People Gallery. Omaha, Nebraska: “10th Anniversary Best of the Best Online International Art Ex”. |
| 2006 | Upstream People Gallery. Omaha, Nebraska: “8th Annual International Painting & Drawing Competition”, Juror: Larry Bradshaw. |
| 2005 | Michelle’s Gallery. Clarion, Pennsylvania: Alumni Show Clarion University of Pennsylvania”, Curated by Kiersten Colvin. |
| 2004 | Andy Warhol Museum. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: “Amp Group Show”, Juror: Warhol curatorial staff. |
| 2003 | Rockefeller Center for the Arts. SUNY Fredonia State College, Fredonia, New York: “Great Lakes Emerging Artist Competition”, Juror: Dr. Vicky Clark. T.W. Wood Gallery. Vermont College, Montpelier, Vermont: “Contemporary Drawing Competition”, Juror: Manford Williams. Trahern Gallery. Austin Peay University, Clarksville, Tennessee: “Border to Border National Drawing Comp.”, Juror: Dave Wright. Moss-Thorns Gallery. Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas: “Great Plains National NINTH ANNUAL”, Juror: Ben Strauss. |
| 2002 | Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts. New Castle, Pennsylvania: “Mid-Atlantic Juried Show”, Juror: Howard Benson. Montpelier Center for Arts. Montpelier, Virginia: “Celebration of the Arts Annual Juried Exhibit”, Juror: Christopher Robeers. |