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The Gmeiner Art & Cultural Center is currently displaying an exhibit by artist, Chad Andrews. Mr. Andrews felt inspired to name his present exhibit “Soil, Plows and Flowers” to celebrate coming out of the winter season and looking forward to spring!

In 2006, Andrews, along with his family, moved back to his wife’s family farm to live. This environment provided the perfect source material for the many tractors and spring-related themes of the exhibit. Mr. Andrews wants those who come to view his show to see them “as pages out of my sketch book.” The pages come to life as silicone pinned across the Gmeiner walls. (In the video feature above Chad demonstrates the process by creating a flower.) Some of the silicone pieces hanging on the wall took 10 hours to place. “I love getting lost in the process,” says Andrews, which he attributes to his training as a printmaker. (M.F.A. Printmaking University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA and B.F.A. Studio Art Kutztown University, Kutztown.) Andrews also stated that he is the only artist he is aware of that uses silicone to do this type of art.

He enjoys the silicone art because he is only limited by the size of the wall and his imagination. Chad commented that “I look at this act very much the same way that I am giving you my best performance. I edit it, I spend all this time with it and when it is done, it is done just like a musician or an actor would go through.” Similarly, once the a silicone piece is unpinned from the walls, it can never be displayed again. His solo exhibit at the Gmeiner Art and Cultural Center at 134 Main Street in Wellsboro will be showing until May 24th.

Hopefully you’ll have the opportunity to go and experience this artist’s capture of life – you will not regret it!

For more information on the artist please go to his wed site at http://chadandrews.com.

Mr. Andrews explains how he chose silicone as a medium in the following video: