McKeesport Art Group

McKeesport Art Group hosts Gail Bodkin tonight at its monthly meeting. The meeting at 7:30 is in the art room of McKeesport Area High School, 1960 Eden Park Blvd., and is free and open to the public.

Bodkin began her art career in 1972 when she began painting in oil. This flowed into other mediums, watercolor, acrylics, mixed medium, etc. She was at one time the owner of several arts and craft stores and a paint studio.

Bodkin traveled the country representing distributors and manufactuers of art mediums sold in her stores. Her tour included teaching art using those products. She aligned with local TV personality Josie Carey in producing a series called, “Lunch, Learn and Diet.”

McKeesport Art Group is inviting interested artists in the Mon-Yough area to become members. For more information, contact Jan Catalogna at jacat99@aol.com or (412) 469-2710.

Fabric artist Martha Ressler is the featured speaker at McKeesport Art Group’s next meeting, 7:30 p.m. Monday in the art room at McKeesport Area High School, 1960 Eden Park Blvd. The public is invited and light refreshments will be served.

Ressler, of Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood, works in oil paints and art quilts. A graduate of Oberlin College, Ressler also holds a master’s degree from the University of Michigan in art history. She is a member of the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Society of Artists and the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh.

A student of Ron Donoughe and Patrick Dougherty of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Kessler also studied under fabric artists Sandy Kephart and Lorraine Glessner. Her work often draws its inspiration from the industrial facilities around the Pittsburgh area.

On Monday, Ressler will give a short slide show of her work followed by a “hands on” demonstration to show how her art translates into pictures on her sewing machine.

Artist and teacher Pat Salopek visits McKeesport Art Group on Tuesday to demonstrate the “wet-on-wet” oil painting technique championed by the late Bill Alexander and Bob Ross.

The meeting at 7:15 p.m. will be held in the art room at McKeesport Area High School, 1960 Eden Park Blvd., and is free and open to the public, said Jan Catalogna, president of the art group.

Salopek, who works in all media, is one of only three instructors certified in the Alexander method in the Pittsburgh area. She currently teaches at churches, schools and craft stores and is also affiliated with the L.S. Hoffman Gallery in Munhall.

A resident of Pittsburgh, Salopek describes herself as “interested in art as far back as her memory allows” and also enjoys music, floral arranging and embroidery.

For more information about McKeesport Art Group, call Catalogna at (412) 469-2710.

Award-winning watercolorist Nancy Deckant gives a discussion and demonstration at 7:30 p.m. Monday to McKeesport Art Group. The event is free and open to the public.

Deckant is also a musician whose first CD of original country and pop songs, Life Jacket, was released in June.

A juror at the Three Rivers Arts Festival for years, Deckant is also a member of the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society and the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, and her work hangs in many corporate headquarters and galleries in Pittsburgh. She was recently nominated as the “Emerging Artist of the Year,” says Jan Catalogna, president of the Art Group.

The meeting is in the art room of McKeesport Area High School, 1960 Eden Park Blvd. For more information, email Catalogna at jacat99@aol.com.