Gallery Hours:
 Thursday and Friday 10-6
 "First Friday" 10-8
 Saturday 10-5
 "Second Sunday" 12-4

Other Hours Available
by Appointment

Presenting

Mariko Swisher and Charles Swisher have separately distinguished themselves as artists, but they are exhibiting their creations together for the first time at Isadore Gallery during the month of May.

Born in the seaside town of Sendai, Japan, Mariko Swisher was educated in calligraphy, kimono wearing, and the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. She studied ceramics in New York City after immigrating to the United States twenty years ago to be with her husband, painter Charles Swisher.

Her work springs from a reverence for the symmetry and rhythm inherent in the natural world. It is for me as Ezra Pound wrote, “What thou lovest well shall not be gone from thee; what thou lovest well is thy true inheritance”. With each new form, Mariko strives to synthesize nature’s calligraphy with her own calligraphic training. Organic and calligraphic wildlife forms are meticulously embroidered and contrasted with hard-edged geometric patterns on terra cotta and white earthenware forms. The artist has found inspiration for her work through the study of worldwide folk and ethnic cultures.

Mariko, who now lives in Lancaster, has won the Best of Show and the Collectors Choice at the Washington (DC) Craft Show (2003, 2007) and Best of Show at the St. Louis Art Fair (2003, 2005) and the Reston, Va., Fine Arts Festival (2003). She is included in many corporate collections such as MBNA, Raymond James Financial, and the Republic of Tea.

Oil and Gouache landscape paintings from Pennsylvania comprise Charles Swisher’s exhibition at Isadore Gallery. The work displayed relies not so much on the specifics of the place as on the way the light and weather conditions affect a few particular motifs such barn buildings and silos. Indeed, it is Swisher’s interest in “hard edged geometry enveloped by nature’s more organic quality, bathed in her light” that remains his consistent motif. He works on several canvases, switching them when the light fades to a paler hue or as the clouds roll in. Thus these paintings become slowly realized, idealized landscapes frozen in a specific time or light.

Charles Swisher earned his MFA from Parsons School of Design in NYC. He continued his education in England and Austria. He met his wife Mariko while studying sumi-e painting and literature in Japan with painter Tetsuo Ando. Charles was honored with residencies and fellowships in France, Germany, Virginia and Vermont. Selected Exhibitions include the Bowery Gallery and Synchronicity Space, NYC, and the Demuth Foundation and Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA.

Ceramics by Mariko Swisher and Paintings by Charles Swisher will be on exhibit May 1-31 at Isadore Gallery, 228 N. Prince Street in Lancaster. The artists will be present at the First Friday reception on May 2 from 5-9 PM. Normal gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays 10-6, Saturdays 10-5, and by appointment call 717.299.0127.