Richard Huck, CPSA

Edwardsville, PA Patch Town, 16 x 15" (41 x 38 cm) AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT

Sponsored by: Colored Pencil Society of America District Chapters Artist Statement

My environment influences my work. Patchtown is a result of this approach; I live in the coal regions of Northeast Pennsylvania. Much evidence of that industry has become a permanent mark on the landscape. Patchtown is an interpretation of a company town existing on a culm pile. Culm is the unwanted materials from the mines. By using simple houses of cast plaster (made by an artist friend as a statement about prosperity), along with a piece of Anthracite sited atop a dark hillside, with a typical February cloudy sky, I am bringing past and present into critical view.