Out & About: Latrobe Art Center show walks the wild (animal) side

Latrobe Art Center promises to take visitors on “A Walk on the Wild Side,” via its current exhibition of animal artwork by Becky Mormack and June Drexler Robinson.

Prior to an Oct. 17 reception in the downtown Latrobe art space, executive director Lauren Buches said, “We’ve already sold several of the pieces. That tells me (the show) is speaking to people who come into the center.”

The artists approached center staff about doing the joint exhibit, Buches says.

“They said, ‘We think our art displays well together,’” she said. “They have very distinct styles, but they complement each other. If you look from a distance, it’s easy to tell what piece belongs to who.

“That’s the nice thing about it — though I’ve been tripped up on a few of them.”

“Wild Side” continues through Nov. 9.

Latrobe resident Mormack is mostly self-taught and has been painting animals for nearly 30 years. She says she finds it to be a “great reward” to capture the spirit of an animal in her work.

Her pieces are in the Greater Latrobe Senior High School art collection and in two of the district’s elementary schools. In 2017, the Latrobe Art Center also featured her work in a joint exhibition with her then-10-year-old neighbor, Maddie Morrison.

Robertson of Greensburg also has been painting for most of her life, primarily in oils. Her commissioned animal portraits usually feature dogs and cats, but she says she is open to painting just about any furred or feathered creature.

She contributed portraits of her late parents to Greensburg Art Center’s recent “People, Places and Plants … OH MY!” exhibition.