Oct. 19, 2016
For Immediate Release

By Kasey Ricketts, students writer

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — Mara Pollins Costello, an instructor at The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center of Frederick, Md., will be exhibiting in the Campbellsville University Pence-Chowning Art Gallery, 205 University Drive, Campbellsville, until Nov. 11. There will be an artist talk in the art building on the opening day of the exhibit Monday, Oct. 24 at 3 p.m. with a reception to follow.

Everyone is invited to attend free of charge.

Costello is a graduate from Kent State University with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Art Education. She later earned her Master's of Fine Art in studio art from the Maryland Institute of Art.

Costello finds inspiration for her works through nature and earth.

“I am interested in the universality of forms created by natural processes. My work attempts to capture a perspective of our shared primal experience of existing between the earth and sky and the intermingling of the two. We are not simply on earth; we are enmeshed in the sky and the earth becoming each other,” Costello said.

Costello has been a part of solo shows, group shows and juried shows. Her solo show was held at the Scott Center at Carroll Community College in Westminster, Md. titled “Interregnum.”

“I employ perceptual devices such as mirrors, color and light to draw attention to the unexpected while creating an awareness of our perceived surroundings. I attempt to reveal the effect of gravity's force on the fluidity of the paint, revealing the inherent habits and forms of the fluid material. These movements reference the materiality of the substances making up the earth and the sky,” Costello said.

Castello has been teaching art since 2007 after getting her start as a Children's Studio instructor at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Penn.

She was an art teacher at Kings Park Elementary School for seven years.

The gallery is open during the following hours: Mondays and Fridays, 9 a.m. until 5:50 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. until 3:50 p.m. except 12 to 12:50 p.m. and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,500 students offering over 80 programs of study including 24 master's degrees, seven postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.