Shelley Thorstensen's printmaking exhibited at HACC's Rose Lehrman Art Gallery

Exhibit opens Feb. 27 with artist reception March 7 at 4:30 p.m.
HARRISBURG –“Since the River Spoke,” a printmaking exhibit by artist Shelley Thorstensen, will be on display from Wednesday, Feb. 27 through Wednesday, April 3, 2013, at the Rose Lehrman Art Gallery at HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College.

Thorstensen’s printmaking has been described as a “romantic abstraction” that is“for the most part palpably emotional effusions,” by Edward Sozanski of the Philadelphia Inquirer.The artist uses a variety of techniques in her work, from relief printing to lithography, and from silk screening to etching. Each printing method produces unique results, and she switches techniques depending on the need.  

In Thorstensen’s book of her collective work, “In Other Words,” Michelle Wilson writes that “the artist creates layers in her work that enable viewers to navigate between our agreed-upon reality.” She also writes that Thorstensen is motivated by the spiritual and mystical, including years of meditation practice.

Of her art, Thorstensen says, “I see my work as a direct expression of consciousness... I see it as a method to look at myself in a mirror, a psychological means to literally face myself while making work.”

The artist also teaches drawing and printmaking at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and she is the president of the Society of American Graphic Artists. Her recent solo shows include “In Other Words,” at the Oxford Art Alliance, Oxford, Pa. in 2012; “This is the Smoke from when the Horses Left,” at the Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia in 2011; and “Counterpoint – The Leap from Vision to Print,”at Woodmere Art Museum, Chestnut Hill, Pa. in 2010. Her work can be seen at dolanmaxwell.com and printmakersopenforum.org.  

Thorstensen earned a bachelor’s degree in experimental studies from the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University in New York and a master’s degree in printmaking from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia.

The Rose Lehrman Art Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday, 5-7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday or by appointment. For more information, call 717-780-2435 or email Kim Banister, gallery curator, at kebanist@hacc.edu. Visit the gallery on HACC’s website at www.hacc.edu under the Rose Lehrman Arts Center and on Facebook.

The Rose Lehrman Art Gallery receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.