BELLEFONTE —

One of the more than 60 artists listed in the Bellefonte Art Museum’s registry is Marilyn Turner McPheron. Here is her statement:

Craft projects with Captain Kangaroo began my fascination with creating.  To encourage my drawing, my grandmother gave me an old telephone book to draw in with crayons.  I wasn’t in school yet, but I considered myself an artist.

I participated in the “Famous Artists School” program by mail in my junior high years and art classes in high school.   After high school, I enrolled in a two-year program specializing in textile marketing and upon graduation, managed a fabric store for three years.  Then for many years my education was not formal and happened in no regular pattern.   After a course on graphic design for mass production at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I became interested in pattern making and created a line of upside down doll patterns.  I sold these through the mail as well as making one-of-a-kind dolls with molded paper clay mask heads.

In 2005, the opportunity presented itself for me to become a “returning adult student” in the School of Visual Arts at Penn State University.   A beginning course in printmaking intrigued me and I became part of the printmaking program.

Like most artists, I have varied interests and have skills in doll making, stained glass, oil painting, acrylic, watercolors, book binding, artist books and various forms of printmaking.     As a printmaker who uses linocuts, monoprints, solar plate etchings and alternative photographic methods of dichromate and cyanotype to capture details of day-to-day life missed by others as they hurry about. Using an artist’s eye to see beauty in a nuance that others sweep right by, enables me to present surroundings with a fresh view thus encouraging others to gain a new appreciation of their world.

 I find myself interested in utilitarian objects which are given artistic design for no practical reason (manhole covers, bottle caps, keys, pie crust, aprons, buttons).   I am drawn to repetitive elements, both in manmade objects and in nature.   I continue to explore these elements found in my daily surroundings, in my home and also in my travels.

I especially enjoy passing on my skills to others and teach at workshops, camps and in my home studio.  More of my work and my resume can be viewed at marilynmcpheron.com  

The Bellefonte Art Museum celebrates the human spirit through the arts, recognizing the importance of art in our lives. In 2011, the museum experienced a large increase in attendance, private donations and membership and completed refurbishing the historic Linn House. The museum opened three new galleries: the Children’s Creativity Center, the Anna Wagner Keichline Gallery and the new Louise Bloom Sieg Gallery. The museum is opened Friday through Sunday from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Phone 814.355.4280