Sharpsburg library exhibit shines light on Pennsylvania's women trailblazers

Journalist Nelly Bly, union organizer Mother Jones and artist Mary Cassatt are among the female trailblazers showcased at the Sharpsburg Community Library for Women’s History Month.

“We wanted to highlight sung and unsung women of Pennsylvania and educate people on their contributions,” library Director Sara Mariacher said.

The Trailblazing Pennsylvania Women exhibit is open during library hours and runs through April 6. It features 20 pieces of art solicited through a public call. Paintings, collages and other mediums fill the library’s fiction and nonfiction rooms for visitors to browse.

Among those being honored:

• Queen Aliquippa, a leader of the Seneca Tribe of American Indians living on Pittsburgh’s three rivers in the mid-1700s.

• Ona Judge, an enslaved woman owned by George Washington during his time in Philadelphia.

• Rachel Carson, famed conservationist from Springdale who educated the masses with her book “Silent Spring.”

The borough’s historical commission also included an archival piece featuring Anna Schmidt, the mother of H.J. Heinz.

“She is mostly significant for being the matriarch of the Heinz family, whose famous son started his company here,” Mariacher said.

Part-time artist Kristen Postava participated in the inaugural exhibit, creating a finger-painting of Mother Jones — a notable figure who fought for the rights of children to go to school.

Her story captured the attention of Postava, a special education teacher at Penn Hills Elementary School.

“Mother Jones was once called the most dangerous woman by a West Virginia District Attorney due to her using her time to unionize workers, including child workers,” Postava said.

“She was sick of seeing children getting injured and abused, and wanted them to have an opportunity to learn.”

Art has become a passion for Postava and her preferred method is finger-painting because she feels it creates movement on the canvas.

“I do not use brush work for the majority of my work,” she said. “I find that using your fingers to paint is incredible for blending. I normally do not go into a painting with a huge idea. I

go in with a thought, and then I allow my mind and hands to create as I am going through the process.”

A unique local piece of the exhibit features a retrospective collection of work by the late artist Grace Morrow, who is best known for designing the former Civic Arena logo.

A graduate of Fox Chapel Area High School, Morrow was a longtime teacher at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

During her time in the district, she played on the school’s championship basketball team as well as playing in the Parkview neighborhood’s softball league in O’Hara. At the same time, Morrow began selling her oil paintings, according to library volunteer Pam Bruno, who curated the show.

After graduation, Morrow attended a two-year art program at Bradley University in Illinois, then went on to earn a degree from Carnegie Mellon University and also attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

“Her first job out of college was with Boise Cascade Paper Products, and she then went on to teach at the Art Institute for 25 years,” Bruno said.

A highlight of her career was an award-winning design for the Civic Arena, which she earned through a competition among more than 200 artists.

Morrow battled a brain tumor in her early 30s and then cancer again later in life, Bruno said.

“Despite that, she accomplished all these things in her lifetime,” Bruno said. “She never gave up or lost hope and never let these setbacks stop her from being a productive and creative artist.”

Sharpsburg Community Library is at 1212 Main St.