101. New Art Show at the Murrysville Public Library - EXPLORNG THE MOON - The Legacy of Apollo - October 1-31, 2019

My original press release:

Announcing an exhibition of fine oil paintings entitled "EXPLORING THE MOON - THE LEGACY OF APOLLO : An artist’s interpretation of the exploration of the lunar surface by Apollo 11 and the missions that followed” by Murrysville, Pennsylvania artist (and space enthusiast) Bob Bickers from October 1 - 31, 2019, at the Murrysville Community Library in Murrysville, Pennsylvania. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Working mostly in oil and acrylic, Bob Bickers has created a series of paintings that depict the Apollo astronauts exploring the lunar surface. From the first step by Neil Armstrong more than 50 years ago, to the final excursion by the crew of Apollo 17, Bob has created a vision of what it must have been like to explore the hostile environment of the moon.  By extracting detail from the astronauts' damaged, overexposed and misaligned photographs, and using an artist's eye, he has recreated scenes and vistas of stark beauty that are largely unknown to to the public.  Most of the artwork is available for sale.  The exhibit

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lasts throughout the month of October.

Old Glory on the Moon

Bob Bickers has been creating art professionally for over 40 years but he has been a committed follower of the space program for over half a century.  While he has celebrated prior anniversaries of the Apollo 11 mission with his art before, this show represents new artwork inspired by not only the first manned lunar landing, but the subsequent five Apollo landings on the moon that followed. 

With a background in photography and working in acrylics and oils, most of Bob’s work is a balance between realism and expressionism that can resonate with almost any viewer. Preferring oil or alkyd on canvas, and sometimes digital photography, Bob’s art includes rural and urban scenes of Western Pennsylvania as well as images from his varied travels across America. Besides landscapes and portraits, his other paintings are as varied as his many interests, including ancient American Indian artifacts and pottery as still lifes, aircraft, astronomy and paintings of manned and unmanned spacecraft.

Originally from Tennessee, Bob has lived in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, the last 25 years.  A retired attorney, he produces art from his studio there with the help of his wife, Diane.

He Who Orbits Alone Also Serves

More about Bob Bickers can be found at his website, https://www.bobbickers.art and his art blog, https://bobbickersart.blogspot.com.

Directions to the Murrysville Community Library:  The Library is located on the second floor of the Murrysville Municipal Building on Sardis Road and is directly across the street from Sloan Elementary School. The Library is 3 miles north of the intersection of Sardis Road and Route 22.  The address is 4130 Sardis Road, Murrysville, PA 15668.  Library hours during the exhibition are: 9:00am-8:30pm Monday-Wednesday; 9:00am-5:00pm Thursday, Friday & Saturday; closed Sundays.

 

Additional posts related to this exhibit in Monroeville, PA and one in Murrysville, PA can be found in my art blog posts 101, 100, 99, and 98.

Below are two local news articles about this show.

 

100. ON THE MOON - Artist's Reception Makes a Soft Landing!

July 20, 2019 and all systems were go for the reception -- and it was an unqualified success!  We had a large crowd that showed up and kept showing up through the two and one half hours that we were entertaining guests. Many old and new friends were there and a number of new faces, including a pair of Chinese exchange students who were visiting one of our guests.

I wore my Apollo 11 50th Anniversary cap and a t-shirt with a full moon on it, but the real star of the evening was my wife, Diane (aka "my Moonshadow") who wore a dress covered with phases of the moon.  Diane was the perfect hostess and everyone loved the moon cake and our refreshments, which included Cheddar Rocket Crackers, Moon Pies and, to wash it all down, servings of Tang, the traditional breakfast drink of astronauts! 

The mood was light, the cake and other refreshments were tasty and everyone had a smile on their face.  I could not have imagined a better way to celebrate this evening than spending it with all of these fine people!  I will remember and cherish this event as a 63-year-old as well as I remember the first moon landing that summer evening as a 13-year-old. 

My thanks go out to Kim Frankenfield, Curator of the Elaine Biondi Gallery Space, the volunteers and staff of the Monroeville Public Library, for making all of this possible, and to my wife, Diane, whose encouragement and faith in me made this possible as much as anything I may have done.

The exhibit will continue to hang in the gallery until July 30th, so if you haven't seen it by now, there is still time! 

NOTE: If you miss my show entirely, most of my paintings will be exhibited again the month of October, 2019 at the Murrysville Public Library.  More about that show will be posted soon.  Also, I do intend to post larger images of the paintings here and on my website in the near future.

Finally, I must say something about our experience earlier Saturday morning when Diane and I went to the town of Apollo, Pennsylvania, where they have been celebrating the Apollo missions and specifically, the Apollo 11 mission, for over 50 years.  They had a town festival going on and we were able to buy the Post Office's commemorative stamps, Apollo's commemorative envelopes and had them and a couple of my own postcards cancelled with a special Apollo, PA stamp.  While we were there, Diane and I also stopped the the Apollo Area Historical Society and took a look at their Apollo 11 museum which had numerous artifacts!  It was a blast and I am glad we went.  I will have to write more about our little adventure at another time, but this day and the entire week, actually, has been remarkable.  I am hoping that this much interest in Apollo might be rekindled someday whenever we go back to the moon.  Plans are to do that in the next 5 years.  I wish that would happen.  Just in case, I think I will do a few more paintings. After all, the 60th anniversary of Apollo 11 is only 10 years away!

 

Additional posts related to this exhibit in Monroeville, PA and one in Murrysville, PA can be found in my art blog posts 101, 100, 99, and 98.

Click here to see the ON THE MOON exhibit!

99. ON THE MOON - Lecture Given July 11, 2019 a Success!

My presentation at the Monroeville Public Library on July 11, 2019 went extremely well. Over 30 people showed up at a time when severe weather promised to keep people away.

I started at 7:00pm and talked about an hour and a half, and then the audience asked me questions for an additional 20 minutes.  The post-lecture discussions continued until the library staff almost had to throw all of out at the 9:00pm closing time!

The audience was quite interested and very engaging.  I was glad to see both old friends and a number of new faces.  One individual even donated to me various Apollo 11 memorabilia she had accumulated as she knew that I would best appreciate these items.  They included a company brochure on how GE Engineering materials had been used on the Apollo space suits and spacecraft, a 45 record by Philco called "Voices from the Moon" and a set of Commemorative Postage Stamps for the 25th Anniversary of the first moon landing.

My many thanks for all the people who attended this meeting.  Special thanks goes to Mark Hudson, Director of Adult Programming at the Monroeville Public Library, who asked me to give this talk and made it all happen.  He also was the one who arranged my talk on this very subject 10 years ago (see old poster).

I plan to transcribe my talk and post it on this blog as I did before, but it may take a little time -- of which I have too little right now.

 

Additional posts related to this exhibit in Monroeville, PA and one in Murrysville, PA can be found in my art blog posts 101, 100, 99, and 98.

Below are news articles published recently about my show.

Click here to see the ON THE MOON exhibit!

98. ON THE MOON - Art Show July 3 - 30, 2019 Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the First Landing on the Moon

Announcing an exhibition of fine oil paintings entitled "ON THE MOON : An artist’s interpretation of the exploration of the lunar surface by Apollo 11 and the missions that followed” by Murrysville, Pennsylvania artist (and space enthusiast) Bob Bickers from July 3 - 30, 2019, at the Elaine Biondi Gallery Space in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

 

• A free public presentation will be given at the gallery on July 11, 2019, 7-8:30 pm, entitled “Apollo 11 - Fifty Years a Memory” in which Bob Bickers, will give his observations and reflections on the first landing on the moon in 1969 and what we have learned about the mission in the years since.

• An Artist’s Opening Reception will be held at the gallery on July 20, 2019, 6 - 8 pm, the actual 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.  It is also free and open to the public.

• A display case will also exhibit Bob’s extensive collection of Apollo 11 memorabilia including newspapers, magazines and collectibles from the first landing on the moon on July 20, 1969.

Gallery hours during the exhibition are: 9:00am-9:00pm Monday-Thursday; 9:00am-5:00pm Friday & Saturday; closed Sundays.  The library will be closed July 4, 2019.

The Gallery Space is located at the Monroeville Public Library, 4000 Gateway Campus Blvd., Monroeville, PA 15146, by the Gateway School. A portion from the sale of artwork benefits the volunteer group, Friends of the Monroeville Public Library.

Directions to the Monroeville Public Library: Take Parkway Exit 84A or Turnpike Exit 57 or Route 22 to Monroeville, go south on Route 48 (Mosside Boulevard). Turn right at the 4th light onto Gateway Campus Boulevard. Then turn left at stop sign to the library.

Bob Bickers has been creating art professionally for over 40 years but he has been a committed follower of the space program for over half a century.  While he has celebrated prior anniversaries of the Apollo 11 mission with his art before, this show represents new artwork inspired by not only the first manned lunar landing, but the subsequent five Apollo landings on the moon that followed.

For Additional information on the Elaine Biondi Gallery Space visit:

http://www.monroevillelibrary.org/gallery-space

Additional posts related to this exhibit in Monroeville, PA and one in Murrysville, PA can be found in my art blog posts 101, 100, 99, and 98.

Click here to see the ON THE MOON exhibit!

97. East Suburban Artists League's 2019 Bi-annual Art Show & Sale at the Elaine Biondi Gallery Space in Monroeville, PA

This members-only exhibition will take place May 31st through July 2nd, 2019.  The Elaine Biondi Gallery Space is located at the Monroeville Public Library, 4000 Gateway Campus Blvd., Monroeville, PA 15146,  off of Mosside Boulevard, in the Gateway School Complex.  A wide variety of artwork in many styles and media including photography will be available for viewing and many will be for sale.  A portion from the sale of artwork benefits the volunteer group, Friends of the Monroeville Public Library. Gallery hours during the exhibition are: 9am-9pm Monday-Thursday; 9am-5pm Friday & Saturday; and closed Sunday.

The  Opening  Reception will be Saturday, June 1st, 6:00-8:00pm and the public is invited.

Formed in 1965 to serve artists of the suburban areas east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the East Suburban Artists League (ESAL) is a non-profit association of artists from communities in Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties.  Members include adult artists of all ages who work in all types of media, styles and techniques.  They meet to foster arts and crafts and to educate, inspire and encourage artists and patrons throughout this area.  This is done by lectures, forums, panels and critiques and by League sponsored shows, displays and juried exhibits.

More about the East Suburban Artists League can be found at their website: ESALart.org 

Above is my entry into this show, April Showers, oil / canvas, 16 x 20.

96. Landscape Painting with Oils or Acrylics at the Greensburg Art Center

My class teaching landscape painting went very well with a great turnout! The students try hard and are talented. We had 9 hours of instruction over 3 Saturdays - March 30, April 6 & April 13, 2019.  Here are a few images from each of these sessions. Click on the images for a larger view.

Also, for participating students, you can click here for the materials list, all photos and source materials for these classes. 

 

95. ESAL Art Show at the Latrobe Art Center April 3-30, 2019

The East Suburban Artists League will be exhibiting the month of April at the Latrobe Art Center, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.  The Awards Ceremony and Artists Reception will be Saturday, April 13th, 6-8pm.  Admission is free and the public is welcome.

I have entered two new oil paintings for this show.  April Showers (right), oil on canvas, 16 x 20 and Spring in the Mountains (below), oil on canvas, 14 x 18. Hope to see you there!

94. Acrylic Landscape Class in Monroevoille a Success

The Acrylic landscape Workshop I taught on March 23, 2019 at the Monroeville Library was a complete success.   About two dozen people showed up and had a great time painting a summer landscape.  In addition, we had a number of people sign up as new members of the Monroeville Arts Council!  My thanks to all the people who participated and helped with the class and to the Monroeville Arts Council and Nancy Dalverney who made this event possible.