!["Maria" by Stephen March](/newsroom/2009/images/MarchVictimMaria_1265_4694_519532.webp ""Maria" by Stephen March")
Aug. 3, 2009
Spring Grove resident and artist Stephen March will present pieces from his painting series in “From the Shadows” for an art show at the Lancaster Campus of HACC Sept. 1-Oct. 2.
“From the Shadows” includes selections from March’s “Heroes,” “Victims” and “Tribes” series and will be on display in The Art Space in the East Building on the campus, 1641 Old Philadelphia Pike. A reception for the artist is scheduled 4-6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10. Both exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.
March’s “Tribes” was prompted by a desire to visually explore groups of people with different or opposing interests, beliefs, and agendas existing in conflict. The works consist of two or more humanly scaled rectangular panels, and involve surfaces of natural and/or manufactured materials including soil, cowhide, sheepskin, and carpet, in addition to traditional acrylic paint and mediums.
“Heroes” is a series of monochrome paintings based on military photographs of American troops from Pennsylvania killed during the “War on Terrorism.” These works question the notion of “hero” in the context of war, examine the anonymous nature of sacrificing a life for a country, and explore the meaning and definition of patriotism.
The “Victim” series of works are based on photographs of victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. As mournful art they celebrate as well as grieve the dead. Coal ashes of different tones have been mixed into acrylic medium to evoke the horrifying cloud that choked Manhattan, but unlike the images made on that day, the works reveal expressions that belong to other times. They are faces of everyday happiness, warm, hopeful, intimate—and ghostlike, lively faces suspended in a haze of grief.
Spanning more than three decades, March’s work is known for addressing contemporary political, social, and spiritual issues and events, especially in the context of crisis. March has been, and continues to be, interested in creating visual art that can transcend the physicality of the material surface and be a vehicle for emotional, spiritual, and intellectual contemplation, as well as a metaphor for human existence during his lifetime.
March, a native of York County, received his bachelor’s degree in fine art from Penn State University and his master’s degree in fine art/painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. He is the upper school art instructor at York Country Day School.
Solo exhibitions of his work include 55 Mercer Gallery, New York City; Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, N.Y.; Keystone Art & Culture Center, Lancaster; Bradley Academy for the Visual Arts, YorkArts, Penn State York Campus and York College of Pennsylvania, all in York County; Resurgam Gallery, Baltimore; and the University of Delaware.
His work has been selected for numerous national and regional group exhibitions, including Critics’ Picks, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore; The Chautauqua (N.Y.) National Exhibition of American Art; the Annual Midyear Exhibition, The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; Small Works, Washington East Galleries, New York City; National Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association; Images Exhibition, Robeson Galleries, Penn State University; Art of the State: Pennsylvania Exhibition, The State Museum, Harrisburg; and Yorkfest National Juried Exhibition, York.
Among March’s numerous awards have been the Best-of-Show at the Yorkfest National Juried Exhibition, the Images Exhibition, and a First Prize at Art of the State: Pennsylvania Exhibition. The most recent award he received was the Revington Arthur Award for Excellence in Painting at the Images 2009 Exhibition of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, Robeson Galleries, Penn State University.
March's work is in public and private collections including the Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, La.; The Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum, LaGrange, Ga.; the Fine Arts Collection of The State Museum of Pennsylvania; and the York Hospital/Apple Hill Center, York.
Public hours for the art show are noon-3 p.m. Monday-Friday and 5-7 p.m. Thursday. For more information, contact Judith Johnson, art show coordinator, at HACC’s Lancaster Campus, at 717- 358-2201.
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