Art has long been a component of diplomacy, allowing nations to promote their culture abroad. A West Virginia University faculty member will be a part of that grand tradition.

Amy Schissel teaches painting in WVU’s School of Art and Design. Two of her paintings have been selected by Canadian Foreign Affairs to hang in Canada’s embassy in Brussels.

“The Foreign Affairs Fine Art Collection contains Canadian work for use in embassies and official residences abroad,” Schissel explained. The collection is selected by a jury.

“When I was in graduate school at the University of Ottowa, I had a colleague working as an intern at Foreign Affairs who suggested my work be considered,” she said.

One of the directors of the collection had seen Schissel’s exhibitions in Ottowa, Toronto, and Montreal. “My work was selected to undergo a juried process to select works for the Canadian Embassy in Brussels,” she said.

“I’m so proud to have Amy on our faculty,” said Alison Helm, director of the School of Art & Design. “She brings a vibrant inspirational enthusiasm for our students and serves as an excellent role model for them. The experience of exhibiting internationally brings a unique set of experiences to our students.”

Schissel’s works are acrylic on canvas, which she describes as “imaginative reinventions of our contemporary landscape. They envision otherwise invisible internet connectivities and telecommunications, showing new cartographies for a digital era.”

A recurring theme in Schissel’s current work is the contemporary state of painting and drawing in the age of digital image making.

“I examine how abstract painting and drawing can be coaxed out of being ‘old media’ with the application of digital and electronic language to the painterly field,” she said.

Schissel’s work is also included in “Here to There,” an ongoing exhibition featuring work by School of Art and Design faculty members at the Huntington Museum of Art. “Here to There” runs through June 12.

She’s also been commissioned to create a painting to hang in WVU’s Evansdale Library.

-WVU-

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CONTACT: David Welsh, WVU College of Creative Arts
304.293.3397; David.Welsh@mail.wvu.edu

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