Published September 24, 2008
The works of two Overton artists, Bernice Breedlove and Maria Wurz will be on display at the Valley of Fire State Park visitor center throughout the month of October. The works being displayed will be there for pleasure of for purchase, said Wurz.
Bernice Breedlove has been involved in the arts for many years and has served several terms as the president of the Moapa Valley Art Guild.
She worked for many years in oil, watercolor and acrylic. But she was never very comfortable with any of these media.
In 1977, she began working with fiber arts. She enrolled in a weaving class at Southern Utah University and she realized that s he had found her medium. She not only learned the weaving art but also spinning, dying and eventually even papermaking.
Breedlove is now working with dyed handmade paper as a painting medium that she calls painting with paper.
Her weavings and handmade paper have been in juried exhibits and have won numerous awards. Her paper can be found in national and international collections.
Maria Wurtz was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois where she garned a scholarship to the Chicago Art Institute.
Although she put art on the back burner to raise her family, it was never far from her heart.
When her children were grown enough, she attended night classes nad returned to art.
After a trip out west to the Valley of Fire State park, Maria decided to relocate to Overton.
Her paintings on display are watercolors in vibrant hues, reflecting the colors of the desert.
She has had paintings exhibited in the rotunda of the Los Angeles City Hall, a one woman show at Walt Disney Productions, and she has won several awards nad had numerous shows in Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Green Valley, Moapa Valley and at the Lost City Museum.
