'Contemporary Concepts' opens May 1 with four artists' fanciful creations in Council for the Arts

CHAMBERSBURG >> Two talented sisters, a ceramics sculptor and an illustrator will combine their artistic whimsy in Council for the Arts of Chambersburg's latest exhibit, "Contemporary Concepts: Artworks by Erin Gillespie, Lauren Gillespie, Skyler Purvis and Hannah Stephey."

The exhibit opens with a meet-and-greet from 5 to 7 p.m. May 1 during Chambersburg's First Friday season opener. The Council gallery is at 159 S. Main St. The exhibit will continue through June 12.

Here are the artists:

• Erin Gillespie operates Pretty Yolks Jewelry business nad she is co-owner of Junk and Disorderly, a shop featured during IceFest in downtown Chambersburg. Her work in this exhibit makes use of antique collage material including anatomical textbooks, tintype photographs, and botanical illustrations. "I am inspired by the colors and shapes of the anatomical human form, natural textures, and artifacts from the past that I enjoys hunting for at flea markets and antique shops!"

• Lauren Gillespie is a freelance illustrator/cartoonist who works with ink, watercolor, and cut paper. Her inspiration is drawn from animation, folklore, and old monster movies. "I hope to inspire creativity with my work," she says, "and to transport viewers to faraway lands."

• Skyler Purvis is a sophomore fine arts major at York College of Pennsylvania who has been practicing oil painting techniques in landscapes. "I also enjoy creating sculptural forms, with ceramics being my primary emphasis. When I sculpt, I tend to work around the human form, which serves as my usual subject in paintings as well." His "Too much for nothing" series of portraits depict people in a state of anxiety and stress over an important task. "I want "Too much for nothing" to raise the question of what we all do that either yields a meager reward or even a result that wouldn't be worth the amount of effort," he explains.

• Hannah Stephey, an illustrator, was nominated for the Donald Breter Excellence in Illustration award of 2014. She recently had a comic strip published in World-Eats Digest based in New York City and also recently illustrated Jim Malloy's children's book "The Look Cookers," available this spring. She is developing a new line of greeting cards. "My "Portraits of Rabbits Drinking Tea" series is a collection of illustrative expressions of indulgence," Hannah says. "I dip or brush cold press paper in tea, and the shapes that emerge from the stains dictate the direction of each piece."

For more information, visit www.councilforthearts.net or call 264-6883.