Out & About: WCCC student artist’s work evokes the surreal
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For the title of her exhibition in the Greensburg Garden and Civic Center, artist Stephanie Oplinger of Hunker borrowed from the Bard.
She tweaked Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” into “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” shifting the emphasis from the season and setting to the surreal, dreamlike quality of her acrylic paintings.
The artist’s statement says, “She enjoys painting in a surrealistic style, combining the fantastical with the familiar and sharing the narratives and dreamy landscapes from her imagination,” further illustrated with titles like “Pyre Among the Stars,” “Mysteries of the Deep Skies” and “Witness by Fireflies.”
During a July 11 reception, Oplinger also displayed pieces of her wearable art, including upcycled hats trimmed with lace and a hooded velvet cape adorned with peacock feathers and modeled by her mother, Joan Oplinger of Hunker.
The showstopper was a “dragon-scale spoon dress” modeled by fellow artist Sarah Hunter of Latrobe. The mermaid-shaped 15-pound piece is constructed of hundreds (thousands?) of plastic spoons painted in gradients of gold, silver and black. The scales are made from the bowls of the spoons, while the handles make up the spines running down the back of the piece.
Also seen at the reception: Samuel Oplinger, Jim and Becky Cole, Nicole Berry, Erin Waite, Don and Lori Blashaw, Lucille Ross, William Jones, Irene McCune, Daisy Aller, Peggy Smith, Nancy Eck, Letty Bisping, James Bisping, Bev Hindman, Karen Peacher, Londa Ruffner, Carrie Brett, Anita Owen, Jennifer Benford, Pamela Cooper and Andrew P. DeBroeck, who provided acoustic guitar music.
“A Midsummer’s Night Dream” runs through July 31. Exhibitions in the center are presented in conjunction with the Westmoreland Cultural Trust.
Oplinger is studying art and radiology at Westmoreland County Community College. More information on her work is available at stephanieoplingerarts.com.