Stephen Binasiewicz, Joel Le Bow, Ed Meneeley, Hans Moller, Leonard Nelson, Florence Putterman, Shirley Thomas, and Jim Thorpe natives Martee Levi and Howie Lee Weiss Exhibition open May 28 - July 10, 2005 JIM THORPE ART SHOW FEATURES NOTED LOCAL ARTISTS The Anita Shapolsky Art Foundation announces the opening of its 2005 exhibition season with Pennsylvania Artists, a show of paintings and sculpture by 9 internationally exhibited artists from eastern Pennsylvania – Stephen Binasiewicz, Joel Le Bow, Ed Meneeley, Hans Moller, Leonard Nelson, Florence Putterman, Shirley Thomas, and Jim Thorpe natives Martee Levi and Howie Lee Weiss. Exhibition dates are May 28-July 10, with an opening reception (free and open to the public) on Saturday, May 28, 3-6pm. Foundation hours are Saturday and Sunday, 11am-5pm, and by appointment. Work in the exhibition includes a full range of Abstract Expressionist works created by the artists in the early days of Abstract Expressionism in the late 1940s and continuing through the early 1950s. Present day abstractionists who were influenced by the Abstract Expressionist movement are also included in this exhibition. Presented work includes: - Stephen Binasiewicz’s motorized moving sculpture made of humorously recycled and custom machine parts and flashing lights. - Earth-toned Abstract Expressionist works from the early 50's, painted and exhibited in New York by long-time Jim Thorpe resident Joel LeBow. - Martee Levi’s collaged canvas on canvas paintings inspired by jazz. Martee is a real “Chunker,” whose father was Ken Smith from East Mauch Chunk and whose mother was Betty Swartz from Upper Mauch Chunk. - Ed Meneeley, originally from Wilkes-Barre and now a Lehighton resident, friend of former Lehighton resident and artist Franz Kline, first exhibited in a solo show in New York in 1961. His Moon River at Night, from that show, is included here, as are abstractions from later periods. - Allentown artist Hans Moller experimented with Abstract Expressionism in the early ‘50s, later turning to pointillist abstractions of landscape and nature. Included in the show is a self-portrait, exhibited in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Moller’s birth. - PAFA graduate Leonard Nelson’s small early abstractions from 1948, 1949 and the 1950s, leading to large colorfield paintings of the 70's, 80's and 90's, all with a rare mastery of color, Nelson’s hallmark. - Florence Putterman’s bold use of color and texture, combined with imagery based on primitive art evoke a sense of whimsy, adventure and joy. - Softly gleaming gold and silver paintings on cracked sheetrock, repaired with staples and fragments of wire mesh, cloth and wallpaper from Lehighton resident Shirley Thomas. - Howie Lee Weiss, another “Chunker” whose family still lives on Broadway in Jim Thorpe, is widely known for his large charcoal drawings, four of which are included in the show. “Our aim is to achieve poetry within the space of the Anita Shapolsky Art Foundation, located in a church built in 1849 in Jim Thorpe,” says Anita Shapolsky, “and in the nature around hoping that viewers will experience an adventure for both the spirit and the heart.” ##### PHOTOS, SLIDES AND JPEGS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION. CALL (570) 386-2105 OR EMAIL ARTSITE@PTD.NET. Stephen Binasiewicz The Fool Fiberglass, wood, copper, canvas, 72" x 48" Joel Le Bow Black Birds, 1954 Oil on masonite, 36" x 48" Martee Levi Criss Cross I Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24" Ed Meneeley Moon River at Night, 1961 Oil on canvas, 52" x 39" Hans Moller Positano Remembered (Self-Portrait), 1986 Oil on canvas, 36" x 28" Leonard Nelson Towards Red, 1951 Oil on canvas, 26" x 30" Florence Putterman Conjuring Spirits Oil on canvas, 42" x 38"  Florence Putterman Spirits and Essences Oil on canvas, 60" x 48" Shirley Thomas Painting with Minor Cracks, 2004 Mixed media on sheetrock, 60" x 48" Howie Lee Weiss Buds Charcoal on paper, 50" x 32"