Different strokes for different folks - artistry and creativity can be expressed in countless ways. The Gallery Hop at Artworks Around Town which will take place Friday evening, June 5 from 5:00 to 8:00 will introduce the work of two of the member artists in the Studio Gallery, clay artist, Betsy Cox and photographer, Pat Temple.

While it might appear that these are very different approaches to art, there are some surprising similarities. Both require imagination, skill and the mastering of certain techniques plus the desire to strive for improvement and growth in the pursuit of their chosen media.

Betsy Cox might have chosen an entirely different path artistically. Multi-talented, she showed an early interest in painting and suspects that art is inherent in her genes. She describes her father as skilled in such crafts as mosaic, painting and woodworking while her mother came from a line of Austrian artists.

As a child, Betsy recalls two happy childhood memories which had a profound influence on her work. Playing and making sculptures in the mud was one of her favorite pastimes which she describes thus, "Mud was great! Approachable, moldable, cool and fun". The other memory was of the chickens which they raised and frequently dined on for Sunday dinner. Her mother operated a restaurant called "The Red Rooster" and collected chicken memorabilia. When she lost her mother in 1994, old memories were triggered and she felt the need to be closer to the "hands on" feel of her childhood days when she would play in the mud and watch the chickens strut about.

Betsy now works happily in the studio constructed for her by husband, Ken, and which she has named "Echo Valley Pottery". From her studio she can watch her neighbor's chickens and many of her pieces portray different varieties of her favorite bird. However this is far from the sum total of her output. Constantly reinventing, innovating and experimenting, it is impossible to describe her work in any simple terms. The author of a feature article about Betsy in the magazine "Art to Art Palette" had this to say, " Most artist's work had a distinct, recognizable signature that sets them apart from others. Cox's unusual pieces throw all of this logic right out the window by varying to extremes. The creativity just seems to keep changing and growing giving the impression that a group of artists have been at work".

One of the decorative techniques Betsy has developed involves placing strands of horse hair (incidentally, from her own horse!) on a piece of pottery about to be fired. The resulting designs are fascinating and unpredictable. Upon viewing them, most people immediately ask, "How did you do that?" Her newest decorative scheme involves the incorporation of Wheeling Steel cut nails into her pieces. Cut nails are a true aspect of Wheeling's history. Once widely manufactured throughout the country, Wheeling Steel has the last remaining plant in the US and the nails are produced by the same method and with the same machines used in the 19th century. Betsy explained that she found a bunch of the old nails in some leftovers of her father's, and, with her usual imagination, she found a use for them.

Betsy's work has been entered in many juried shows and exhibitions and won many awards. One of the latest was the "best in clay" award from the Wad Clay Institute. Her piece was that of a chicken -no surprise there, and has been placed in the Institute's permanent collection in Pittsbugh. Her work will also be featured in the latest of a series of books from Sterling publishing on ceramics from all over the world. "Five Hundred Tiles" features a handmade collection of ceramics and Betsy created a type of abstract, handslabbed tile about 12 inches square, a type of free form design with a free floating ball in the middle on a wire.

One fellow artist compares Betsy to a Renaissance woman with her drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics and mixed media work. "Everything she touches just automatically turns to art".

Pat Temple picked up a Kodak Brownie box camera at the age of 12 and set off on the longest and most exciting trip of her young life to that time; Rochester, NY to Chicago for the World's Fair, and she was immediately hooked on two things which would be important elements in her life from that point forward, travel and photography - often pursued in tandem.

Pat arrived in Wheeling with detours to Cleveland, Ohio (college, marriage); Washington DC(the war years); back to Cleveland (children). The whole family quickly fell in love with their adopted state, its beauty and abundance of wilderness and nature. Pat embarked upon a quarter century career as a junior high teacher, and there were many years of family camping trips in West Virginia and throughout the US always accompanied by her faithful camera, though no longer of the Brownie variety.

Trips extended to Canada and Mexico as Pat and husband, Fritz became empty nesters and, eventually to South America, Europe and Africa.

Pat chose to use slide film for her photography, and, during her teaching years, prepared many programs for use in schools and to present to numerous civic, educational and nature oriented organizations. For three winter seasons, she gave a series of slide lectures entitled "The Armchair Explorer" at the former Oglebay Institute A.B. Brooks Nature Center. Viewers of some of the programs would compliment the photographs and suggest it would be nice to see them for more than a few seconds on a screen. This led to the next phase of her photographic endeavors, as she had retired from teaching.

The original plan was to do 2 or 3 years of outdoor, summer arts and crafts festivals. Slides were converted to framed prints, and applications were made to juried shows in WV, Ohio and PA. The 2 or 3 year plan eventually stretched to 15 with forays as far distant as Alexandria. VA and Cape Cod, MA.

Visitors to the shows often wanted to talk about photography. As Pat tells the story, "The first question they always asked was, 'What kind of camera do you use?' Which usually meant, 'If I had a camera like yours, I could take pictures like yours.' I always replied that the camera is an impersonal instrument, and the photograph is the product of the eye and mind of the photographer. The old statement, 'the camera doesn't lie' is really a lie. Like all art media, a photograph is a representation of a three dimensional world on a 2 dimensional surface, and the same elements that the artist must consider: composition, light, texture, color etc. must be considered by the photographer. If you want to be a good photographer, study art."

"Outdoor shows are fun, but they can be physically arduous, and you are always at the mercy of the weather. After 15 years, we were tired, and it seemed time for another change." Pat remarked in explaining her decision to jury for admission as a member of the Artworks Around Town Gallery where her work is now on permanent display.

Pat's work has been exhibited in several one man shows, most recently at the art gallery at Ohio University Eastern, and it has been accepted in a number of juried art shows. She has won awards for her photography in the Zanesville, Ohio May Show, at the Crosscurrents show at the Stifel Fine Arts Gallery and the WV Arts and Crafts Guild Annual Show.

The newly named North Gallery at Artworks will host the work of students who are studying under the tutelage of Gallery member Greg Siegwart.

The Artworks Around Town Gallery is located in the North end of the historic Centre Market at 2200 Market St. in Wheeling. The Hop is free and open to all. There will be refreshments and music throughout the evening. For more information access the website at artworksaroundtown.org. or call (304)232-7540.