May 4, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, please contact:

Tina Lehman, SAMA-Johnstown Coordinator

(814) 269-7234

Travis Mearns, Public Relations Coordinator

(724) 238-6015

Johnstown – The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Johnstown’s latest exhibition features 25 works culled from the Museum’s vast permanent collection. Featuring works by several noted local and national artists, Expressions of Color: Paintings and Sculpture from the Permanent Collection will remain on view through August 5.

The styles and movements portrayed in these works vary from magic realism to abstract to surrealism, but are unified by the artists’ use of color as a primary vehicle of expression. Whether it is to deliver a message or manipulate an emotional response in the viewer, these artists exemplify how color can serve as an effective aesthetic device. Joseph Holston, Peter Calaboyias, Clifford Lamoree, Robin Grass, Jo Owens Murray, Aileen Zollweg and Willie Lee Atkyns are a few of the artists featured in the exhibition.

"The works chosen for this exhibition display a wide variety of representations of color, from dark, fully-saturated canvases to light expressions fused in glass," said SAMA-Johnstown Coordinator, Tina Lehman. "A lot of these pieces haven’t been shown for a while, so I hope everyone will take the opportunity to come and view these beautiful works. There is something here for everyone."

When SAMA first opened its doors in 1976, its permanent collection consisted of 47 paintings, sculptures and drawings and a collection of 20 etchings by John Sloan. Since that time, the collection has grown to number more than 3,000 works by some of the nation’s preeminent artists, such as Mary Cassatt, Andy Warhol, Herman Maril, Grant Wood, and Norman Rockwell.

The Museum will host two gallery tours open to the public free of charge. On June 13 and June 27, Lehman will lead visitors through the exhibition on an in-depth tour designed to provide greater information about the artists and styles featured in the exhibition. Both tours begin at 2 p.m.

The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Johnstown is located in the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. Hours of operation are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Museum is a handicapped-accessible facility and is open to the public free of charge. For more information, call the Museum or visit www.sama-art.org.