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Friday, February 21, 2003

By Mary Thomas, Post-Gazette Art Critic

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Friendship takes artists to new places in an exhibition opening tomorrow evening at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Related stories Berenice Abbott and Hank O'Neal: Fresh ideas develop Robert Qualters and Mark Perrott: Combining talents. 'Points of View - A Shared Vision' WHERE: Westmoreland Museum of American Art, 221 N. Main St., Greensburg. WHEN: Opening reception 6-8 p.m. tomorrow; Meyers continues through April 13, others through June 8. HOURS: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and until 9 p.m. Thursday. ADMISSION: $3 suggested donation; free, 12 and under. EVENTS: 2 p.m. Sunday O'Neal will discuss his work and experiences with Abbott. At 7 p.m. Feb. 27 Pittsburgh photographer Karen Kaighin will give a slide illustrated lecture on "Talking Photography;" April 10 Perrott will lead a gallery walk and discuss his collaboration; and May 8 Silver Eye Center for Photography Director Linda Benedict-Jones will lecture on "Berenice Abbott as Trailblazer," emphasizing her impact upon women photographers who followed. Free with museum admission. INFORMATION: 724-837-1500 or www.wmuseumaa.org.

The artwork in the exhibition "Points of View -- A Shared Vision: Photographs of Berenice Abbott and Hank O'Neal; Collaborative Portraits by Robert Qualters and Mark Perrott" gains energy from the camaraderie each pair of artists felt as they worked together.

The show at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art is about collaboration and the influence of friendship and shared experience, which translates as two separate bodies of work that are simpatico in spirit from Abbott and O'Neal, and more normative collaboration in the case of Qualters and Perrott, who both contributed to each work exhibited.

But the juxtaposition of such different results also invites an expansive consideration of portraiture: Qualters and Perrott combining talents to form a new vision of their subjects, Abbott creating a portrait of the place she chose to spend the last quarter-century of her life, and O'Neal revealing Abbott through his selection of her photographs complemented by his own of Abbott and her land.

Mary Thomas can be reached at mthomas@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1925.