mixed media artist working in Appalachia

My earliest recollection of actually “making art” was at about age five, right after my parents and I returned from a day at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. My parents were not into art, so we did not visit the painting galleries. However, we did view a room filled with knight’s armor, and that had a huge impact on me. When we got home, I began to draw knights in armor, based on the examples I had seen that day in the Carnegie. I didn’t have a sketchbook then, or access to drawing paper. My mom provided me with flattened paper grocery sacks and pieces of white card stock that was part of the packaging of new shirts. Even back then, without my realizing it, I was making art using repurposed materials.

Even at that early stage in my life I was telling people I was going to be an artist when I grew up. However, my idea of what an artist was came from Saturday Evening Post covers, Walt Disney, and a Saturday morning TV show called Learn to Draw with Jon Gnagy. As I got older, my parents supported my art making by buying me art materials on occasion, but never took my artistic endeavors seriously. They looked at the pursuit of art as a hobby, not really a way to earn a living. I can’t totally blame them. In the various Ohio River towns we lived in, we never knew anyone who earned their living as an “artist”. Most of the breadwinners we knew were steelworkers, miners, construction workers.

I am passionate about working with found materials, aka my “trash”. I am especially attracted to those items that show use, wear and even some rust. I love stuff with character. I often find myself wondering about the person who made these materials, who used them, who held them. I like to think that a part or energy of that person is still contained in these things, and now it’s transferred into the artwork. I’m giving that discarded piece of metal, or that old photograph, a new life, a different life. I am thrilled that I can use this stuff and that it becomes part of my creative process. These various materials are every bit as important to my art making as is a tray of oils are for a painter. For me, walking through a flea market is like walking through a well-stocked art materials store. The flea market is my palette.

I primarily work using repurposed lithographed metal (from old signage, product containers, old toys, etc.), found objects, and vintage photoaraphs.

Each piece I make begins with an idea, a spark, a doodle. Once the seed is planted, I take some time to think about what it is I want to say visually. I do sketch a lot, and I keep several sketchbooks or journals close at hand, including in my truck. I sketch out many dof my ideas, but my finished work may not look exactly like those initial thumbnails, and that is OK. I like to leave plenty of room for serendipity.

Next, I decide on a support. I need a sturdy surface or container upon which I will be attaching my metal or objects. Figure/ground relationships and composition are important to me, so as I build a piece I am keeping design elements in my head. Then, I just build until I feel the work is finished. Sometimes, the question of knowing when to stop can be difficult to answer.

Selected Exhibitions:

2021-2022.   Associated Artiists of Pittsburgh Annual Exhibition, Pittsburgh, PA

2021-2022   West Virginia Juried Exhibition, The Culture Center, Charleston, WV

2021    Robert Villamagna,  MIB Gallery at the Colonial Theater, Buckhannon, WV (solo exhibition)

2018     Transformation 10: Contemporary Works in Found Materials,     

             the Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize Exhibition, Society 

              for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh

2018    Three Rivers Arts Festival Juried Visual Arts Exhibition, 

 Pittsburgh

2018     Tin is the New Black, an exhibition of twelve artists working in 

              repurposed metal, Stifel Fine Arts Center, Wheeling, WV

2017     The History of Rust in America  (solo exhibition)

             Dickerson Gallery, Tamarack, Beckley, West Virigina,   

2016      My Latest Attempt to Be Somebody, (solo exhibition) Loft 

              Gallery, Wheeling Artisan Center, Wheeling, WV

2016     The Gift of Art: 100 Years of Art from the Pittsburgh Public 

             Schools' Collection, Senator John Heinz History Center, 

              Pittsburgh,

2015     Life in the Belly of a Dinosaur (solo exhibition) Northern          

             Kentucky University   

Selected Awards:

2019    Governor’s Award, WV Juried Exhibition

2017    Wheeling Hall of Fame Inductee in Fine Arts

2016    West Virginia Artist of the Year

2015    Governor’s Award, WV Juried Exhibition

Selected Collections:

The State of West Virginia

Pittsburgh Public Schools

Bettye Saar