For several months now, three artists have been creating up a storm at Oglebay Institute’s Stifel Fine Arts Center. Kellie White, Diana Laura, and Frances Metcalf are the three artists-in-residence hosted by Stifel, each with their own unique art form. They have spent their time honing their own art and learning about each other’s. Now, they are getting the opportunity to bring their work outside of their studios, and outside of Stifel. Friday June 14, the artists will take their work to Clientele Art Studios with a show called “One Off”.
“One Off” will have dedicated space for each artist and their discipline. Frances Metcalf focuses on printmaking and hot wax painting called encaustic. Diana Laura works with copper, wood, and stone sculptures. Kellie White creates stained glass work. The artists developed the theme “One Off” when they realized that within their art, they can never create the same thing twice—every piece will be slightly different. “That’s the uniting theme here,” Kellie said. “We’re not mass producing anything. With our disciplines, you can’t just churn things out.” The three artists bonded over this similarity, while acknowledging that stylistically their art is all very, very different.
Kellie White
So far, during the residency, they have learned from each other’s art and techniques. Kellie talks about how rewarding that has been, “I’ve seen the skill sets the other artists have, and I’m like…I want to know more about that!” This all came to a pinnacle with the centerpiece for the show, a collaborative art piece, titled “Moving Pieces.” All three women incorporated their own discipline, leading to a textually beautiful piece. Collaboration is a recurring theme for the show, as they also made a playlist together!
The artists are excited to bring their work somewhere new, especially Kellie, “I was really happy to get to be an ambassador to Wheeling and Clientele, as the only local.” The women got into Clientele, and got planning, enjoying the “blank canvas” to work with, as Kellie put it. They are eager to show their work in another venue and to reach new audiences.
Diana said audiences at Stifel have responded positively to her, and she hopes to find the same energy at Clientele. “A lot of the people who come have already seen a lot of our work. We have an open studio; a lot of them have taken our classes or even stopped by to see what we’re doing.”
The focus of Stifel’s artist-in-residence program has been on engaging with various parts of the Wheeling and Ohio Valley arts community— as Kellie puts it, “a marriage of vibes.” How perfect a description as artists working in different mediums come together with the community in different gallery spaces.
If you want to experience the vibes, the gallery opening kicks off at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, June 14. The opening reception, with small bites provided by Melissa Rebholz, will continue till 9:00 p.m. “One Off” will remain on display at Clientele until the end of June. To learn more about the artists, you can read our article all about them here, or stop by and see them working, like Diana said!
