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Forty Fort woman reflects on 60 years of ‘a fairy tale romance’

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Times Leader P.M. Update: Monday, Jan. 25

One of Terese Rogers&rsquo; young relatives was wearing a costume, complete with a wand, and taking a walk near her home when &ldquo;all of a sudden this black cat showed up and started walking beside her.&rdquo;
				The little girl&rsquo;s mom snapped a photo of the whimsical moment and when Rogers, an artist and art teacher from Wilkes-Barre, saw it on Facebook, she was enthralled.
				&ldquo;I said, &lsquo;Oh my gosh, I love it,&rsquo; &rdquo; Rogers remembered, explaining she &ldquo;just had to paint it.&rdquo;
				The resulting oil painting, which Rogers named &ldquo;Fairy Tails,&rdquo; is one of many pieces you can see when the Luzerne County Community College Schulman Gallery presents its 2021 Faculty & Alumni Virtual Art Exhibition from Jan. 29 to March 5.
				Similarly to Rogers, other participating artists also chose subjects they love &mdash; from nature scenes to cuddly animals to a charismatic character from the comics.
				&ldquo;I fell in love with all the Batman movies and (the TV show starring) Adam West. I just felt alive seeing those when I was growing up. And I fell in love with pin-ups,&rdquo; said artist and art instructor Omar Rodriguez Jr., from Clarks Summit, whose pin-up style painting &ldquo;Catwoman Returns&rdquo; pays tribute to Michelle Pfeiffer in her shiny latex catsuit.
				Another artist, Michele Geiser, was driving about a mile from her home in the Back Mountain, when the sight of snow-covered branches fairly shouted to her to pull over.
				&ldquo;I just had to stop,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I think I was late to work that day.&rdquo;
				Geiser shot a photo and later &ldquo;used computer software to create the magic&rdquo; of a candy wrapper effect surrounding the branches. She calls the resulting artwork &ldquo;Winter Woods.&rdquo;
				While Geiser professes love for all four seasons, artist Kathleen Whiton from Mountain Top admitted she prefers spring and she found herself intensely longing for a dose of it last year.
				&ldquo;I had been taking (art) classes just for fun and we were sent home for the quarantine, the original shutdown in March,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We originally thought it was going to be for two weeks.&rdquo;
				The isolation lasted much longer, and Whiton missed the camaraderie of her classes.
				&ldquo;Just to make myself feel better,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I ordered tulips for Easter.&rdquo;
				She used oil paint to recreate the bouquet, and calls the painting &ldquo;Spring Jewels.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;I&rsquo;m hoping to go back in the fall,&rdquo; said Whiton, who is retired after working as assistant bank vice president, decorative painter and author. &ldquo;I love the kids in the class, even though I&rsquo;m old enough to be their grandmother, and I love the teacher, too.
				The virtual exhibition, which you can access at luzerne.edu/schulmangallery, will include diverse works by many local artists.
				Whiton&rsquo;s offerings also include a crock with sunflowers and a still life of a copper teapot with a little green cup and a jar of mustard. &ldquo;You&rsquo;d never put them together for any other reason,&rdquo; she said with a laugh, &ldquo;but the colors kind of went together.&rdquo;
				In addition to &ldquo;Fairy Tails,&rdquo; Rogers will be represented by a painting of a gorge she admired when she and her husband traveled to Germany for their 25th wedding anniversary. &ldquo;It was so beautiful the way the light was hitting the water,&rdquo; she said, explaining she called it &ldquo;No Signal&rdquo; because cell phones wouldn&rsquo;t work at the remote location.
				She also painted &ldquo;Le Lapin,&rdquo; a pet rabbit that belongs to one of her private art students, who happens to be a French major. &ldquo;She showed me a picture of Peggy and I said, &lsquo;Oh, can I paint her?&rsquo; &ldquo;
				Rodriguez&rsquo;s contributions to the exhibit include a graphite sketch of Master Yoda as well as a painting of a woman dressed as a flapper &ldquo;with a beautiful fur coat,&rdquo; who reminds him of his mother, the late Maria Rodriguez, who always encouraged him to follow his heart.
				It&rsquo;s a message he wants to pass on to his own art students at LCCC, he said.
				&ldquo;My mother always said, &lsquo;Do what you love.&rsquo; She would always say &lsquo;Just do it, and do it with great drive and passion.&rsquo; &ldquo;

Artists showcase what they love in LCCC virtual exhibition