Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 17, 1993                   TAG: 9310150201
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BECKY HEPLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SCULPTURE, SHE SAID

"It's Sculpture, She Said: A Show of 17 Southwest Virginians" opened in the Virginia Tech Perspective Gallery in Squires Student Center Oct. 5 and will run until Oct. 24. In November, the show moves to the Fine Arts Center in Pulaski.

When Darcy Meeker, sculptor and chief organizing force for the show, moved to the New River Valley two years ago, she was amazed and delighted at the large number of artists she found working in the three-dimensional realm. And most of them were women. It seemed to her a reasonable theme for a show.

"I network as a matter of course, but without even trying I immediately came up with a long list of artists who live within a two-hour drive," she said. Expending a little more effort, Meeker found 17 women who joined the exhibit.

The show opened this summer at the Lynchburg Fine Arts Center. Meeker hopes it keeps traveling, ultimately to the National Museum of Women in Art in Washington, D.C. Other possible show sites are Martinsville, Danville and Charlottesville. Meeker also hopes the contents of the show continue to evolve, adding artists as the show moves around and more women artists learn of it.

The heart of her efforts is to create a cooperative of artists who can share in the marketing of their work.

"Like a lot of things you do, 50 percent of your efforts go toward marketing, which is the hard work in sculpting. Carving is the fun part," she said. "Working together multiplies your efforts, and out of that someone should find a customer."

The seventeen artists represent a wide array of styles and media. Linda Atkinson, director of Olin Hall Gallery at Roanoke College, works with polychromed wood in what she calls "visual poems." Anna Fariello, director at the Flossie Martin Gallery at Radford University, combines photography, wood and cast ceramic in architectural-looking pieces with a story.

Nell Frederickson, coordinator of the Gallery of Local Artists in Christiansburg, uses precious metals such as silver in delicate chalices adorned with garnets and other stones.

Gail Geer, Roanoke, carves soapstone or alabaster into smoothly abstract shapes. Gloria Heath, Blacksburg, creates mixed-media constructions that look like houses on stilts.

Sandy Jordan, Shawsville, shapes black soapstone into raven pipe bowls. Raku and stoneware are the media of choice for Blacksburg artist Alison Limoges.

Sally Mook, Blacksburg, usually is a painter, but she turns to her mixed-media sculptures for humorous expression.

Annie Moon creates soft-sculpture figures that reflect her Floyd County surroundings. Donna Polseno, also of Floyd County, makes earthenware female chalices.

Sharon Shawver carves wood and alabaster into historical figures. Her Geronimo has the venerable chief on one side, a buffalo on the other.

Pam Tyrrell, Radford, strikes a recycling theme, using found items as disparate as an old door and strings of audio tape in her art work.

Jackie Wall, art professor at Longwood College, also works with "found" items to comment on the culture, creating works such as "Roadkill: Serving the Lord of the Highways."

Pat West, Pembroke, uses sculpture as an excuse to get out of the studio and into the woods to find material. The maternal half of her "Mother and Son" strikes a jaunty note in ruby slippers.

Mona Williams, coordinator at the Lynchburg Fine Arts Center, creates female figures of earthenware and wood. Laurie Zuckerman, Blacksburg, found the canvas too confining, so she works with cutouts of gessoed and painted wood.

Meeker came to sculpture recently, giving up a writing and public relations career because "my hands were hungry." The physicality of working with alabaster and other stone is the chief delight of sculpture for her. She also enjoys the play of light on the finished pieces.

Both the Tech gallery and the Pulaski gallery are sponsoring Sunday afternoon receptions for the show that are open to the public. Oct. 17 is the date of the Blacksburg fete; Nov. 14 is Pulaski's.