News Release

Art exhibit features work of midstate women

January 3, 2008

Original hand-pulled prints created by two midstate women are on public display through March 31 at Penn State Harrisburg.

Entitled "Two Women, Two Cultures," the exhibit featuring the work of Rizqana Sohail Riarh and Sarah Anne Frotscher is free and open to the public in the main central hallway of Olmsted Building.

A native of Pakistan, Riarh addresses the human figure in natural and abstract environments in both her etchings and drawings. Her highly expressive etchings reflect a masterful use of the technique of aquatint. The artist often incorporates the use of collage in her intricately composed drawings.

A Hummelstown resident, she earned a master of fine art degree from the National School of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan and has exhibited her work in her native country as well as locally at the Art Association of Harrisburg.

A native of Columbus, Ga., and currently a resident of Newburg in Cumberland County, Frotscher holds a bachelor of arts and a master of fine arts in printmaking from Penn State and a master’s in education from Shippensburg University. While an undergraduate, she studied printmaking at the Slade School of Art, University College in London, England.

Frotscher has exhibited extensively in both invitational and juried shows and employs the intaglio process in her etchings which typically reflect surrounding landscapes and frequently describe the way of life of the Amish who are her friends and neighbors.