A watercolor titled “Chicken Plucking” by self-taught Appalachian artist Cher Shaffer will be the subject of the Art Museum of WVU’s next “Art Up Close!” event, to be held Tuesday, Sept. 20.

Rosemary Hathaway, associate professor in the WVU Department of English, and Joyce Ice, director of the Art Museum, will consider Shaffer’s narrative painting depicting a scene inspired by her childhood memories growing up in rural northern Georgia. The presentation, titled “The Lure of Nostalgia: Cher Shaffer’s ‘Chicken Plucking,’” begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Museum Education Center Grand Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

The painting is on view in the Art Museum’s current exhibition “Independent Vision: Self-taught Artists from Appalachia” and those attending will have the opportunity to see it up close.

“This work of art is nostalgic, visually appealing and problematic at the same time, in its portrayal of regional and ethnic identity,” Dr. Ice said.

Hathaway and Ice will discuss aspects of the painting in terms of cultural identity and representation within the artist’s body of work.

Cher Shaffer (b. 1947) grew up in rural Georgia and also lived for a time in Parkersburg, West Virginia, before moving to North Carolina. She began creating narrative paintings in the late 1970s. Many of her pieces spring from memories of her childhood, depicting everyday rural life, church and community gatherings.

Rosemary Hathaway has been teaching at WVU since 2007, after spending eleven years at the University of Northern Colorado. She received her doctorate in English from The Ohio State University. Her areas of specialty are folklore, American literature, young-adult literature and English education.

Joyce Ice holds a doctorate in Anthropology and Folklore from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to coming to WVU, she was director of the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has taught courses in folk culture and curated exhibitions on folk art and faith, textiles and festivals.

Art Up Close! events are held several times each year and present WVU faculty and guest artists from various disciplines discussing a single work of art from the perspectives of their disciplines. The events are co-sponsored by the Friends of the Museum, a membership group for people who enjoy the arts and social, educational and cultural activities revolving around art.

For more information about the program on Sept. 20, contact the Art Museum of WVU at (304) 292-4359.

-WVU-

cl/09/13/16

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, Art Museum of WVU
304.293.4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUtoday on Twitter.