Dry media

Mark Wolfe is a local West Virginia artist.  He specializes in graphic design, but also works in photography, paints, and pastels.   His works include many different elements and primarily focuses on the contrasts of light and the dark in the world.

Early Life
Mark Wolfe made his entrance into this world one dark and stormy night in Charleston, West Virginia in 1966.   Later that very same year, infant Wolfe was moved to Indianapolis, Indiana.  Four years later, Mark discovered art by drawing cartoons from the local newspaper.  In  his middle school years, he drew cartoons for his school news paper.   His family, being supportive of his gift, sent him off to West Virginia State College to work on photography and painting.   Wolfe had a great educational background, but trained even further through experimentation with various artistic media on his own.

Inspirations/Admirations
Mark draws the most inspiration from creative atmospheres, and often uses art as a way to channel frustration or relieve stress.   He draws upon his love of religious art often in his work, sometimes juxtaposing these images unexpected characters or landscapes.  He enjoys listening to music while working in his studio. 

He began his career as graphic designer and illustrator at West Virginia State College’s Graphic Design Resource Center, worked successively, 1987-94, for Charleston’s Perry Productions Advertising and Charles Ryan Associates. He was Art Director and Illustrator for Willard & Associates until shortly before its dissolution in late summer, 1995.

From that time to the present, he has supported himself, his cats and his hobbies as a graphic designer/photographer/ illustrator, offering his skills and experience in design, display, multimedia advertising and publication through Mark Wolfe Design, his home-based studio and office.

His clients have included The Grand Ole Opry of Nashville, Tennessee and the K-Mart chain, as well as a variety of local and statewide businesses and organizations.

In 1999 Mark jumped into the fine arts field with his one-man show titled, “Graven Images”. These works were the artist’s first foray into the fine arts since his student days, and the one-man show was his first public exhibition outside the graphic arts field. “Graven Images” was comprised of a selection of pastel drawings and black-and-white photographs, some hand-tinted. -All of his photographs, which include landscapes as well as still life and macro studies, were taken in natural light and are not digitally retouched or manipulated in any way.

Current and Future Work
His current works are the “Stations of the Cross”, random scratchboard pieces and, some other works for his new exhibit “Dog Days of Summer”.   Wolfe is also working on a piece for the Stations of the Cross exhibit at Christ Church United Methodist, an installation for FestivALL, and an interactive photography exhibit that will be part of a touring musical performance by the rock band Cordis.  Mark and his girlfriend, Amy Williams have also launched a line of cloth dolls called “Kreeture Comforts,” which can be bought at the Annex Gallery at Taylor Books.

Susan Petryszak is a local artist who paints impressionist landscape paintings.  Susan uses oil based paint and paints on canvas or sometimes wood.  She uses a wide range of colors in her paintings. The colors vary in her artwork, she sometimes uses warm colors and then in other paintings she uses cool colors.  The paintings that she makes are picture of a landscape but if you look really close you will notice many colors are used to make that one painting.  Her art makes you use your imagination to figure out what the painting is of.  It’s not cut and dry, you have to think a little.

Susan Petryzsak says painting is problem solving exercise for her (www.wvculture.com 3/16/09).  She says that her early years of painting were frustrating for her because she could not get her paintings to express what she was feeling or thinking.  West Virginia is her inspiration for her paintings (www.wvculture.com 3/16/09).  She says West Virginia captures what she is trying to say.  West Virginia is a good influence for her art.

Susan Petryzsak went to Marshall University from 1976-1980.  While she was there she got her B.A. in education/biology-general science and was Magna Cum Laude of her class.  Then in 1992-1996 she went back to Marshall University and got her M.A. in painting.  Petryzsak’s art is represented by Keny Galleries, Mcjunkin Gallery, the Art Store, and Gallery Camino Reel.  Susan’s art has been in many different selected juried exhibitions in the past such as The Selected Artist Group Show at Sunrise Museum in Charleston, WV, the Cultural Center in 1995, 1997, 1999, and 2000, the Salmugundi Club 18^th Annual Art Exhibition in New York, and she won the Award of Excellence-purchase in 1999 at the West Virginia Juried Exhibition.