Samaritan is proud to host the Art of Healing exhibit, featuring the work of local artists who want to provide a calming presence and healing environment for Samaritan patients, families, staff, and guests.
We invite you to enjoy the beautiful artwork of the following artists currently on display from October 2019 to Current.
If you’re interested in purchasing artwork, please reach out directly to the artist. A portion of all proceeds — 20% — benefit Samaritan patients and their families.
Stock photo pictured above.
Nancy Barch has evolved from illustration, to watercolor and finally in this last decade, mixed media.
Nancy has garnered a number of coveted awards for work in a variety of media but has decidedly focused on of mix of acrylics, collage and image transfers. She’s been featured in 100 Artists of The Mid Atlantic, a book published by Amazon.com. Her work is in corporate collections such as Morgan Stanley, Liberty Properties, AIG, etc.
More work can be seen at https://www.nancybarch.com
Artist Statement
I try to allow the viewer to relate to my art on intimate terms if they like, or just enjoy the view from afar, as would a visitor. Creating my art is an ongoing compulsion, a need for self expression. My technique of mixed media allows me to add or subtract elements on a continual basis throughout the creative process. I employ digital technology by use of my photos and incorporating them into my paintings. It allows me to connect with reality in a fleeting manner since I really like abstraction. Abstraction is not only non-representational, it is a distortion 0t the known, technology allows me to blur that line.
Chris Curchin lives in Philadelphia. He studied animation and film at the University of the Arts. He co-runs an arts- based non-profit preschool in Philadelphia where he teaches music and art. He started painting in 1985.
Artist Statement
My work, primarily oil on canvas, involves faces and figures decorated with dots of color in motifs of flower, rosette, teardrop, scroll and line. For me the paintings express an allusion to mortality, matter and energy fields. The dots are painted completely freehand in a slow almost meditative process, the designs unfolding and revealing themselves.
There are dot elements in decorative techniques used around the world in various forms and in fine art as well, from Pointillism and Aboriginal art to Lichtenstein and Kusama. Mine developed out of restoration work on Moroccan painted furniture when I was working as a housepainter, but later evolved in connection with my experiences with meditation and Reiki. I began to apply the dots to portraits of first imaginary and later real life subjects and in the last few years have focused primarily on eyes. I enjoy the quality of eyes in isolation because they are highly individualistic and anonymous at once.
Peter Ehlinger is a Haddonfield, NJ artist who works in watercolors with pen and ink. He has been exhibiting works since the 1960’s with showings in Philadelphia, NJ and upstate NY.
The majority of his works are Asian influenced. He uses liberal applications of gold, bronze and copper water-based paints for dramatic backgrounds. His designs are very detailed and bold with color. Subjects range from pottery to geishas to intricate florals, integrated with earth, air and water themes. Peter describes his work as “heavy handed”, meaning that there are no simple brush strokes. He uses multiple washes and attempts to disguise the medium. Originally an oil painter, Peter decided to give his watercolors an ‘oil feeling’. He has produced a large number of works for business enterprises and private homes.
Peter was active in the art community at Gardner’s Basin in Atlantic City. He maintained a shop there a few years ago where he was able to paint all day and develop new styles incorporating Asian design with undersea residents. These paintings are especially pleasing to younger fans. His designs and illustrations have won numerous awards and he continues to explore new ways to create “something so beautiful, you can’t resist it.”
Follow Peter’s work at: www.peterehlinger.com
Artist Statement
The detail is accomplished with pen and ink and then the watercolors are applied. Backgrounds often look like tapestries with flowers peeking through fields of twisted grass and branches. Often the detail is in the foreground, on a ginger jar or a kimono. Or they might be presented in an interesting collage.
Peter also has an affection for stained glass works and his portfolio includes some Tiffany inspired subjects. There are storybook themes and Nouveau inspired designs surrounded by dark borders. He combines classical ballet figures with flora and fantasy to create whimsical flights of imagination.
Jessica Manelis is an award winning photographer, who has been creating art since grade school. Her passion for the arts took her to Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, where she began her pursuit of a career in the professional arts. Following a “creatively stunting” career as a graphic designer she left to pursue her true creative passions.
Self-taught, she fell into photography as a means of generating reference photos for future art projects. However, She found the photo process was more fun. Manelis’s photography has been exhibited in several group shows in New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Florida. Reviews of her work has been described as “wonderful”, “brilliant”, “gorgeous color and detail”, “great perspective”.
Artist Statement
I am always looking for that unique perspective or “special something” in an image. My work embraces various styles from clean crisp well-defined images with an interesting and vital point of view to compelling composition and fresh simplicity. My aim is to entice the viewer to look at the details to become aware of the color and form of the subject. Even when using textures to enhance a photo, the viewer is drawn in and the subject maintains its focus and importance.
I am very excited to share my views of the world through my images and I look forward to you enjoying this voyage of mine …just as much as I do myself! I’d love for my journey to become just as much yours – so jump on and let’s enjoy the ride!
In 2018 I started J Mane Gallery, an online art gallery that exhibits and supports fellow artists, both emerging and established.
Follow Jessica’s work at: www.jessicamanelis.com