FACES ARE MY JOY ART EXHIBIT HONORS AILEEN ORTLIP SHEA

HOUGHTON, N.Y. —The Houghton College Ortlip Art Gallery presents Faces Are My Joy, an art exhibit honoring the life and works of Aileen Ortlip Shea, on display until Sept. 8.  

Shea was the first of seven children of artists H. Willard and Aimée Ortlip. Aileen studied for seven years at the National Academy of Design in New York City where she was awarded the 1935-36 Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship in Art. During this year, she traveled and painted in Spain, Switzerland, and France, completing a Diplome d'Etudes de Civilisation Française at The Sorbonne, University of Paris.  

She returned to the U.S. in 1936 accepting an invitation to pioneer the art department at Houghton College. In 1938 she married the Rev. Alton J. Shea, and the two served New York Wesleyan churches for many years. They also spent seven years of missionary radio, teaching, and art service in Sierra Leone, West Africa.  

Over a span of 60 years Shea painted and sketched hundreds of portraits. She also illustrated numerous children's talks, books, and teaching materials. A dozen presidential portraits at Alfred and Trinity International Universities and Houghton and Roberts Wesleyan Colleges attest to her artistic productivity. Her 1961 portrait of evangelist Billy Graham hangs in the Graham Library at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville.  

In 2004 Shea was designated a Woman of Distinction by the New York State Senate. Her professional memberships included The Portrait Society of America, the Allegany, Wellsville, and Olean Arts Associations, and Christians in the Visual Arts.  

A closing reception for the Faces Are My Joy exhibit will be held on Friday, Sept. 5 at 7 p.m.

The Ortlip Art Gallery is located in the Center for the Arts.  Regular hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.