Gaslight Art Colony in Marshall, Illinois, will showcase the work of Terre Haute artists Jo Anne Perigo Fiscus and Bruce W. Fiscus.

Bruce and Jo Anne are members of River City Art Association, as well as Wabash Valley Art Guild and the artist collective Watermark in Terre Haute.

The exhibit runs June 18th – July 9th in the Gaslight Art Colony gallery, at 516 Archer Avenue in downtown Marshall. An artists’ reception will be June 18^th from 6-9 p.m. Illinois time.

Quelle Est La Question, steel, by Bruce Fiscus

Bruce Fiscus is a native of Indiana, born in Hammond and raised in Crown Point. He studied at Vincennes University and Indiana State University, earning a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education and minoring in art. It was in those art classes, 43 years ago, at Indiana State where he met his wife, artist Jo Anne. Although primarily a ceramicist, Bruce has recently begun dabbling in metal sculpture. His first efforts into the medium netted him three awards in the 2014 Wabash Valley Art Guild Spring Art Show, a first place and two honorable mentions. Bruce has a studio in the Collett Park area of Terre Haute.

“I remember my early life as being surrounded by creative people. Both my mother and father loved to dabble, Mom in oil painting and Dad in wood carving. I was encouraged to try my hand in art making. Later, in college I met my wife in art classes and again, surrounded myself with the spirit of creativity. I love to work in ceramics and other three-dimensional media. Most recently, Jo Anne and I have discovered welding and have taken classes in outdoor sculpture through the Community Arts program at Indiana State University. I enjoy the process of making as much as the outcome and when I enter the studio I lose track of all time. ”

A Corner of the Garden by Jo Anne Perigo Fiscus

Jo Anne Perigo Fiscus is a life-long resident of Terre Haute. She attended Schulte High School and Indiana State University where she earned a master’s degree in Art Education. After college JoAnne worked as an art teacher in Vigo County School Corporation for 35 years and spent most of her career teaching art on the middle school level. Jo Anne retired from teaching in 2010. She is currently working for the Community School of the Arts on a PACE grant project through the Indiana Arts Commission , as a visiting artist for the first grades of Meadows Elementary School in Terre Haute.

Her art work has appeared in numerous regional art shows where she has received many awards. She has painted several murals, including a 50 ft. mural of a coral reef for Exotic Aquariums of Miami, Florida and the Combs Chapel mural for Union Hospital in Terre Haute. During the Year of the River in 2013 JoAnne completed two of the tile stepping stones in Watermark Landing at Fairbanks Park. In March 2015 her table design, An Evening of Art and Wine, was awarded Best Theme at Arts Illiana’s Tablescapes.

“Some artists are visual story tellers. We do in one frame what movie makers do in a couple of hours of film, or authors do in thousands of words. Someone once looked at one of my water colors and told me the entire story behind the picture. It was not the story I had painted but it was the story she saw when she looked at the picture. The artist, compelled to record a moment, a color, the way lights plays on a surface becomes the channel. I love that interpretation becomes a personal interaction between the viewer and the work.

“This creative journey is a way of life. I don’t think the ”art-making” part of my brain ever turns off. When I am not actually working on art I am thinking about what I want to try next or how the current projects are going. When I see something new or different I am thinking about how I would handle it or what medium and format I would use to best capture it. I don’t have one favorite medium or even one favorite method. I love the process and getting my hands dirty. I’ve spent the last year working in printmaking and I am currently working on combining my love of the written word and the visual world in my work.

“I am blessed to have a kindred spirit as my partner on this art/life journey.”

Gaslight Art Colony is a Not-for-Profit organization dedicated to broadening an appreciation of the arts by providing opportunities that promote awareness, participation and understanding through fine arts exhibitions, classes and workshops. You can contact the gallery through the website http://www.gaslightartcolony.com, on Facebook: Gaslight Art Colony, by email at gaslightartcolony@gmail.com or by calling 217-293-1050.