Exhibit Saturday, July 22nd
@Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania running till January, 2018
Member of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators Group Show
Art of Facts| Uncovering Pittsburgh Stories has been a wonderful experience for me.
The call to illustrators was to communicate the significance of Western Pennsylvania history in a way that tells a story through one's art. After I began to research all the many amazing facts about Western PA, I found Pittsburgh's roots showed great value.
I became intrigued with one person whom I found quite interesting. A woman who began her young career as a lace maker in a little shop in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. She evolved to be the first woman editor to run the first newspaper in Pittsburgh, "Pittsburgh Spirit Liberty." Jane Grey Swisshelm was the person I chose to illustrate for this exhibit. Her strength and determination were somehow connected to my personal beliefs.
The story of Jane is one of conviction, courage and independence. She was a petite woman, with a pleasant face, eyes radiant with kindness, a soft voice and gracious manners. Her personality, however, was eccentric and abrasive but her intellect and positivity was clear in its principles.
She became a great American journalist, publisher, abolitionist, women's rights advocate, Civil War nurse and first woman Correspondent in the Senate Gallery in Washington, DC when President Andrew Johnson was in office.
Eventually she returned home to farmland east of Pittsburgh, to Swissvale. Here Jane continued to write her autobiography, Half of a Century, which was published in 1881. She passed away on July 22, 1884 and is laid to rest at Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Yes, we should live a life worth living!
'Paper, Pens & Petticoats, Jane Grey Swisshelm', Watercolor, 18"x 24"
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