By Claire Chow ’26

Mercersburg Academy presents Elaine C. Wolfe and her exhibition “About Face” from Wednesday, September 25, to Tuesday, November 19, displaying paintings in the Cofrin Gallery and drawings in the corner gallery of the Burgin Center for the Arts. After a day spent with Mercersburg students in studio classes, Wolfe will attend the Sips and Nibbles reception on Friday, October 4, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The Mercersburg community and local art enthusiasts are all welcome to attend.

Wolfe is an artist born in Scotland who views painting as a way to form the images in her mind and express the feeling and presence of her subjects. Born of Polish and Scottish descent, Wolfe pursued an education in the history of fine art and English literature at the University of Glasgow, and received a James McNeill Whistler scholarship, which provided three months of study in galleries and museums around Europe. Her art is also exhibited in the Mansion House Art Center in Hagerstown, MD, near Berkeley County, West Virginia, where she lives with her husband, Alan.

Wolfe has had varied life and work experiences, including 12 years in the oncology research field; years helping her husband create a vineyard and vinery; four and a half years of experience working in a nutrition program to help pregnant women, infants, and young children; and time spent in the world of breeding and training horses. Throughout those years, she drew and she painted. She believes that there is “poetry in life, both beautiful and terrible,” and that her work in the cancer research field and her work as an artist both have roots in a “deep interest in humanity, how we function and reach for a sense of what our place in the world is–the world of being.”

Syd Caretti P '24, '26, director of galleries and arts faculty member at Mercersburg Academy, said, “The depth of her skill, technique, and talent invites viewers not only to see but also to feel the subjects she portrays, making her work an integral source of inspiration for our students as they learn to express themselves through art. There is an ethereal beauty in the nuanced realism of her work.” The exhibit will include work by Wolfe that has not been previously exhibited.

The Burgin Center for the Arts is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Visitors should contact the Office of Campus Safety using instructions at the front door to be admitted to the Burgin or make an appointment with Caretti at 717-328-6206.