Show exhibits paintings by Roberta Morgan

An exhibit of oil paintings by Roberta Morgan will open on Friday, March 9 at Bath Bookworks in Berkeley Springs, and will run through April 18.

An artist's reception at Bath Bookworks will take place on March 17, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Morgan's paintings explore her world view of a universe filled with mystery and meaning. In each painting, still life images combine with abstract webs of color and text. Each layer of visual information can be read separately, but the real meaning comes to the viewer by seeing all of the information together.

The work is meant to be explored over time, Morgan said. Important information is deliberately removed from view; what is not seen is a metaphor symbolizing realities just out of reach. This gives the viewer a sense that there is always more meaning layered upon meaning.

A resident of the Great Cacapon area, Morgan has received many honors and awards, including an Individual Artist Award from the Maryland State Arts Council.

In 2000, she served as curator of all visual arts exhibitions

for the Columbia Festival, in Columbia, Maryland. She has written articles and reviews

for local and national publications.

In addition, her paintings were featured in New American Paintings published by Open Studios Press, and she is one of 22 artists from around the world included in Still Life in Oils, a book edited by Theodora Philcox and published in Great Britain in 2002.

The paintings of Roberta Morgan have been exhibited

in museums and galleries throughout the U.S. and abroad, including the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum in Massachusetts; the Fine Arts Gallery and Museum of Florida State University; the Westbeth Gallery in New York City;

Art Forms in New Jersey; Hodgell Gallery in Sarasota, Florida; Mallory Gallery and the Ice House Art Center in Berkeley Springs; David L. Dickirson Fine Arts Gallery at Tamarack in Beckley; The Cultural Center in Charleston; the Sloane Jordan Gallery in Texas; Galerie Lumi