The Cleveland-based Bonfoey Gallery is presenting an exhibition of new watercolors by painter and Cleveland State University art professor George Mauersberger. The exhibit, entitled Modern Botanicals, will be on view in Bonfoey’s street level gallery from March 3 - April 1, 2017. An opening reception with the artist will be held Friday, March 3, 5pm to 8pm. Mauersberger will also be giving an artist talk on Saturday, March 11 beginning at 10:30 am.

Concurrently, Mauersberger will have a retrospective of his pastel work presented by The Butler Institute for American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. The retrospective, George Mauersberger - Pastel Drawings - 1991-2016, will be shown from March 5 - May 14. The Butler opening reception, which will include a talk by Mauersberger, will be held Sunday, March 5 from 1pm to 3pm.

Mauersberger finds the immediacy of drawing and its elemental nature the most attractive feature about working on paper. He is highly skilled in many mediums including charcoal, graphite, pastel, and watercolor. The works in the Bonfoey exhibition were influenced by antique botanical prints and illustrations, the summer light, as seen in Ohio and Florida, and his desire to work with color. He has taken the traditional art form of botanical illustration and expounded upon it and pushed it in a distinctly modern direction. His deft use of watercolor and his handling of light, form, and composition has created a series of works that portray flowers in all their beautiful grandeur.

Mauersberger has been a professor of drawing at CSU since 1987, serving eight years as chair of the Art Department. In1999 he received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Ohio Arts Council and has also won awards in a variety of national exhibitions, including the Best in Show Award in the 2006 Rockford National at the Rockford Art Museum (IL) and the Best Drawing Award at the 2006 National Prize Exhibition in Cambridge, MA.

For more information about George Mauersberger – Modern Botanicals or other upcoming exhibitions, please contact The Bonfoey Gallery at 216.621.0178, or visit our website www.bonfoey.com. For more information about George Mauersberger - Pastel Drawings - 1991-2016, please visit The Butler Institute website at www.butlerart.com.

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