THE LINCOLN COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION AND LINCOLN CULTURAL CENTER SHOWCASE WORKS OF ROGER L. STEELE AND GAIL M. LITTLE Lincolnton, North Carolina - The Lincoln County Historical Association and Lincoln Cultural Center will host a joint art show featuring the works of Roger L. Steele of Beaufort, North Carolina, and Gail M. Little of Lincolnton, North Carolina that opens on March 8, 2008 at the Lincoln Cultural Center in downtown Lincolnton. Sponsored by Fatz Café of Lincolnton, Rusty and Company, First Federal Savings Bank, Town Square Ford of Lincolnton, Spring Hill Galleries, the Last Picasso, and Mary and Don Whisonant, the show will showcase prints from master printmaker Roger L. Steele and stick creations entitled "Stick Women" from Lincolnton artist Gail M. Little. Roger L. Steele is an adjunct professor in painting, printmaking and painting at the University of South Carolina, Beaufort/Hilton Head, and a member of the Southern Graphics Council and the American Print Alliance. He is a graduate of Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas with a MFA from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth in graphics and sculpture. He has presented workshops and lectures on chine colle and colorblend techniques in printmaking for the Southern Graphics Council and for Wash Art 79 in Washington, DC. The techniques Steele uses for his prints are influenced by the nineteenth century Japanese woodblock prints, and his work embodies many characteristics of the techniques found in Japanese prints such as Hiroshige's famous prints "The 100 View of Edo" (Tokyo). His work is in permanent collections in the Sun Oil Company of Houston; Omni International, Atlanta; Chase Manhattan Bank, New York; The South Carolina Arts Commission; Southern Living, Birmingham; Bank of America, Charlotte; The Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Brooks Museum, Memphis, TN; New Orleans Art Museum, New Orleans; Biggs Art Museum, Charleston; South Carolina State Museum, Columbia; and, the Corcoran Museum, Washington, DC. Gail M Little began creating her "Stick Women" while relaxing outdoors during the mid-1990s. These women began as small figures that ranged in size from four to six inches, and some have grown to five feet in height. She collects driftwood, coconut fiber, and hand-dried fabrics for her figures while visiting her daughter in Maui. She maintains a workshop in the yard of a Maui rental house where the figures hang, in addition to being displayed on porches and lanais. Now her stick creations are exhibited in galleries in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Hawaii. Artworks exhibited in the show will be for sale, and the Lincoln County Historical Association will receive %15 of the proceeds. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on March 8th from 6:30 to 8:00 at the Lincoln Cultural Center and is open to the public. The works will be on exhibit until March 28. PLEASE RSVP BY MARCH 1 AT (704) 748-9090 or lcmh@bellsouth.net.