Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 12, 1995                   TAG: 9507120036
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-8   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BECKY HEPLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT                                LENGTH: Medium

ARTISTS RENEW FRIENDSHIP AND PUT TOGETHER A SHOW

She had a show scheduled in the summer and she had to work to do. So she moved a table into the smaller office of her studio at the Newport Community Center, rigged up PVC piping and sheet plastic to cut down on the area she would be heating and brought in several space heaters so she could work through the winter.

You can see the fruits of her labor at the Piedmont Arts Association in Martinsville, July 15 through August. The museum, which is affiliated with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, chose Schwab and Gloria Heath, another New River Valley sculptor, for the summer show. "I love sculpture shows and they're not always available because it's so expensive to ship the pieces," said Kathy Guest, assistant director for exhibitions and programs at the museum. "So finding good, local sculptors is always exciting. Besides, I like their work. It's very thoughtful."

Both artists came to sculpture because they preferred its tactile nature. Heath works in wood and found objects, while Schwab's metier is copper, a holdover from her days of jewelry making. "I found my later jewelry pieces getting more abstract and I figured they would look better in a larger scale," Schwab said.

Schwab wanted other changes in her art as well. She didn't want to inhale soldering fumes or rose dust, the result of buffing copper, so she started working with a very fine gauge of copper and came up with what she called "cold connections," punching holes in the copper and joining the pieces with a sewing technique.

"I was fascinated by quilts and quilting techniques," Schwab said. "I love the textured surface of old quilts and I wanted that in my metal work."

Heath and Schwab are old friends who had lost touch, then renewed their friendship last summer. In catching up, they compared their latest works and found them compatible. "I was amazed at how her work resonated with mine," Heath said. They decided to apply for a show at the Piedmont and got it.