FEBRUARY ART EXHIBIT

CENTER FOR THE ARTS

912 WALNUT

9:30 ? 4:00 Monday ? Friday

Coffeyville Cultural Arts Council, Inc. proudly presents on display at the Center for the Arts the works of local and area artists Elaine Cowan, Valerie Jones, Sylvia Rutledge and Ginger Trotter.

Elaine Cowan of Coffeyville dabbled in painting on and off for years while teaching elementary school in both South Coffeyville and Caney. She had little to no experience working on canvas until she met Sylvia Rutledge in a horticulture class at Coffeyville Community College. Sylvia was instrumental in encouraging Elaine to paint, helping her get started with canvas and acrylics.

Valerie Jones of Bartlesville began her journey as an artist as a teenager, starting with oils, moving quickly to pen and ink, meeting up with pencils in her early twenties. Once she started using colored pencils she was hooked for life.

Sylvia Rutledge, now of Coffeyville, was born and raised in Southern California and started painting a week after she saw the results of her Mother's initial lesson. Sylvia works in oils, acrylics, watercolor and pencil. Her work has been recognized with a number of awards at local shows and has had a very well received one-woman show at the Woolaroc Museum Bunkhouse Gallery.

Ginger Trotter of Coffeyville always enjoyed art and had a great sense for design, color and arrangement.After her husband died in 2004 she began to dabble in drawing in her idle time, drawing mostly family portraits from home photos. Several friends recognized her talent and encouraged her to pursue this talent. Ginger entered a show shortly afterward and won an award that encouraged her to seek some instruction in order to progress even further.