Out & About: Westmoreland art museum hosts 'triple feature' reception

A Saturday evening reception at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art was a “triple feature,” according to Anne Kraybill, the Greensburg museum’s Richard M. Scaife Director/CEO.

It served as the opening of the exhibit, “Alone Together: Encounters in American Realism,” featuring works of magic realist and scene painting from the 1930s to the 1950s. The exhibit is sourced from private collectors, other institutions and the museum’s collection, along with works by five contemporary artists.

It also was the opening of the related “Knowing and Naming: Abstraction Beyond Reality,” the first effort of The Westmoreland’s new curator of American art, Jeremiah McCarthy.

Finally, it introduced “Shelter in Place,” an exhibition of works by painter Scott Turri of Squirrel Hill exploring the container as metaphor, with the industrial design of a laundry basket as inspiration.

In a way, the reception also brought to a close a chapter in the life of The Westmoreland, as Kraybill said it was the final public event in her four-year tenure, which will end when she departs in July for a similar position at the Wichita Art Museum in Kansas.

And yet another chapter opened, as museum patrons were introduced to McCarthy, who came on board in April.

“Alone Together” is built around paintings from the collection of Jason Schoen of Boca Raton, Fla., one of the most important private holdings of works of American Realism. Schoen was on hand for the reception, along with Marty O’Brien of Sewickley Heights, another lender and museum board member.

Guest curator Alex Taylor, an assistant professor of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh, attended with his husband, Matthew Sousa.

Featured contemporary artists on site included William DeBernardi of Pittsburgh, along with Mary Henderson of Philadelphia, with her husband, Paul Safier; and Jurell Cayetano of Atlanta, with his partner, Paula Cuevas. Turri also attended with his wife, Stephanie Kral.

Seen: Helene Conway-Long and Tom Long, Al and Sally Anne Novak, Bob and Arlene Kendra, Gene and Barbara Kravits, Kevin and Judy O’Toole, Barbara Jones, Linda McKenna Boxx, Charles and Sally Ann Loughran, Richard and Eileen Stoner, Barbara Ferrier, Karen Douglas, David Steimer and Annie Urban, Brian McCall and Joanna Moyar, Tony Rutigliano and Karen Burns, Jon and Nina Lewis, Erica Nuckles, Doug Evans, Rhonda Madden, George and Ginnie Leiner, Bonnie West, Scott and Molly Hunter.