T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Missy Sharer Pieters of rural Laurel, a Marshalltown High School and Marshalltown Community College alum, debuted her new exhibit “A Feast for the Eyes” at the Ray Frederick Gallery on the MCC campus Friday afternoon.

Between farming, her catering business Pitchfork Primitives and her art, Missy Sharer Pieters of rural Laurel does a little bit of everything, and those interested in viewing and purchasing her paintings can come to the Ray Frederick Gallery on the Marshalltown Community College (MCC) campus between now and March 27.

An opening reception for the new exhibit, titled “A Feast for the Eyes,” was held on Friday afternoon, and Sharer Pieters, an MCC alum herself, said she had been in conversations with Art Professor Tim Castle for at least a year about putting her work on display.

“At the time, I really didn’t give it a lot of thought. I just kind of said ‘Oh, sure,’ I’d love to do that. And as the time has gotten closer and now we’re here, it’s really gotten way more emotional for me than I thought just because I’m back at MCC and all the people that I grew up with are still here and supporting me,” she said. “It makes you realize how old you are.”

Sharer Pieters graduated from Marshalltown High School in 1987 and played two years of basketball at MCC, and the opportunity to see her acrylic painting works in a collection has been especially enjoyable.

“These span a long variety of years here. These aren’t necessarily all just absolutely recent pieces. These are ones that I kind of still had access to or have done recently, and it kind of spans almost a decade of my work,” she said.

As she and her husband John are preparing to sell the Pitchfork Primitives brick and mortar location in Laurel and focus on catering, Sharer Pieters has no plans to slow down on her creative endeavors and finds a particularly strong sense of inspiration during their trips down south around the Gulf, from New Orleans to Mobile, Ala.

And though she loves to travel, Marshalltown and Marshall County will always be home for Sharer Pieters, who has completed multiple murals in the community and remains active with the Arts + Culture Alliance’s various offerings.

“I think Marshalltown is way ahead of the curve on promoting, and especially for local artists.That’s what I really appreciate is how well the Arts + Culture Alliance gets us local people involved in projects when it’s appropriate,” she said.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.