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This past weekend, the new exhibit opened at the Gmenier Art and Cultural Center in Wellsboro. Many came to enjoy the work of three artists: Mike Biddison, Dale Witherow, and Tucker Worthington. The last time they exhibited together was thirty years ago, also at the Gmenier. Mike met Tucker when he was in his teens, and later met Dale at college. Since that time, the talented artists have encouraged and supported each other in their different pursuits of art.

Tucker’s part of the exhibit includes landscapes of Stony Fork, Mars, and a wonderful depiction of a barber shop then and now, just to mention a few highlights. His work is rich in color and expression. Of his time at Stony Fork, he says, “When I go to the creek it is almost like going to church. You walk into a place and feel everything that is going on.”

Dale, formerly an art professor at Mansfield, has enjoyed painting a variety of subjects ranging from his landscapes to his many abstracts. When asked how we should view an abstract piece, he responds, “It is your relationship with the work, it has nothing to do with me. It has more to do [with] what you bring to it. My byline for all of these is everything is a self-portrait, and it is also one of you when you look at it. You are telling us what you see and what you feel, more on what you feel than what you see.”

As for Mike, growing up in Wellsboro he loved going to the dump with his father and brother, and he would often bring home more “trash” than what they left. Now, many years later, Mike comments, “Things that we throw away, that is what my art is made of. It feels like some kind of a holy mission to pull things out of the dumpster that should not have been in the dumpster to begin with. We have vanishing things that I want to let sing again.” Mike’s art starts small and he adds to it until it is complete.

When asked what he thinks about art today, Mike replied, “I am pretty optimistic that art has the basic tools to make us create a life that feels worth living, having fun with and making community happen. I don’t think there is anything on the ropes about the arts. I think we have barely scratched the surface of what can be used for, and it is minimized in its importance.”

This exhibit is definitely worth your time and maybe even your money. Many of the pieces are for sale, making it possible to add them to your own collection in your home or business. For more information on the featured artists and their personal lives, check out a copy of Mountain Home Magazine.