Paintings donated to historic Popodicon

ISSUED: 9 October 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: Hans Fogle

SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV - Popodicon, the business residence of Shepherd University President Dr. Mary J.C. Hendrix, received a special donation from two artists connected to Shepherd on October 5.

Members of the President's Club gathered at the historic mansion for a breakfast celebrating membership gifts made during the 2023-2024 academic year.

During the event, professional artists Lynn and Jennifer Boggess presented President Hendrix with two original paintings inspired by the gardens surrounding the historic property.

Lynn and Jennifer recently moved to the area after spending 30 years in Fairmont, West Virginia. Lynn retired as a professor at Fairmont State University in 2006 to become a full-time artist, and Jennifer followed suit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lynn said they decided to move to Jefferson County after making trips to visit their son, Evan Boggess, a lecturer of art at Shepherd, and his family.

"We have been coming over here for years, and we just fell in love with the place," Lynn Boggess said. "We felt like we were on vacation."

Lynn said one of their neighbors first brought them to Popodicon, where he and Jennifer were immediately inspired.

"I had been working on a painting that stalled, and when we saw the gardens and the hummingbirds visiting the [Popodicon's] flowers, I knew that was the solution."

He said Jennifer, who works in watercolors, painted directly from photos of the garden and finished her work in about two days.

Lynn used oil paints and cement trowels to create natural scenes and asked Evan to include the hummingbirds.

"He is highly skilled at that," Lynn said. "The subject of my work is the trees and landscape. Wildlife is really an accent in my paintings."

Evan credits his parents with exposing him to art at a very young age and said he enjoys collaborating with his father.

"It's a lot of fun," Evan said. "I grew up around it [painting]. It was what we talked about at the dinner table, so I picked it up through osmosis."

While no specific plans have been set, Lynn said he and Jennifer would be open to doing more work for Shepherd and Popodicon.

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