May 21, 2003

CONTACT: Gordon Ovenshine (724) 738-4854;  e-mail: gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu

PUBLIC INVITED TO NATURE ART SHOW MAY 30-JUNE 1 AT MCKEEVER

           SANDY LAKE, Pa. – Three artists will display and sell their paintings, photography and potteryduring the first “Nature Art Show” May 30-June 1 at McKeever Environmental Learning Center.A classical guitarist, Julie Harris, will perform May 30. Visitors may walk the wooded grounds, andrefreshments will be available at the espresso bar.

             Slippery Rock University manages McKeever, a state-owned facility for environmental education. Admission to the show is free and open to the public.

 The artists:

 •          Painter Jim Bortz’s work regularly appears in Musky Hunter Magazine. He is a Rock graduate who studied  ecology and natural history.

 •          Ceramic artist Robert Isenberg picked up the basics of pottery during his studies at Slippery Rock University.  For the past eight years, Isenberg has been the resident potter at the Pottery Dome in Leesburg, Pa. where he produces a wide variety of work, from functional dinnerware sets to large platters and jars inspired by ancient mythologies and architecture.

 •          Photographer Dr. Gil Twiest was a professor of biology and science education at Clarion University.  He is a founding board member of the North American Nature Photography Association as well as a member of the first, elected board of directors. Twiest has more than 65 filmstrips and slide sets in publication.  His photographs have been published in textbooks, encyclopedias, journals and magazines.

            Show hours are 6 to 9 p.m. May 30; 1 to 7 p.m. May 31 and noon to 5 p.m. June 1. McKeever ison Route 358, three miles west of exit 130 off Interstate 79. For more information, call the center at 724-376-1000 or e-mail info@mckeever.org.