For over 20 years, local artists/designers Barbara Pierce and CJ Hurley have striven to bring their mission of “Artful Living” and personalized design touches to their clients. Their studio, located in the National Transit Building, is dedicated to the creative work that each of them do.
Barbara is known for her expertise in color for architecture, which she uses in her color consultations for home owners and building owners around the country. CJ is an artist who concentrates in painting, and is known for his “fantastical landscapes” of places that are “part real; part imagined”. Together they implement their “Artful Living” philosophy into clients’ homes through the design and decorating segment of their business.
New fine art print offering
In the fall of 2024, their business, Century Arts Design and Fine Art Studio, LLC, launched a new line of Limited Edition Giclée prints. These prints are made from CJ’s original paintings, then hand-signed by the artist. Additionally, they expanded their existing line of Open Edition prints, which are a great way for those new to buying art to get started. In 2025, the couple have a new marketing strategy for the prints, and plan to reach new markets, in addition to adding these to the offerings at shops and galleries that currently carry their work. Barbara says of this venture, “Customers have been asking us to make new prints, from CJ’s landscape paintings in particular, for years now. But it was in 2023 that we noticed a sharp increase in the frequency of the requests.” She adds, “We spent much of 2024 determining which paintings to reproduce, and we worked very hard on the product development, testing proofs for clarity and color accuracy before pulling the trigger on the editions.”
To get the best quality prints, the couple looked to regional resource, Meadville Fine Arts, LLC, operated by Tim and Mary Kirk. CJ says, “We really like working with Meadville Fine Arts. Tim is very good at what he does, and went the extra mile making sure that the coloration of the prints meets our expectations in comparison to my original paintings. Providing a quality product to our clientele is important to us, and sub-standard prints simply wouldn’t do.” Formerly, Barbara & CJ worked for many years with a printing outfit located in Canada. While the quality and customer service were excellent, “We wanted to work with someone local and we’ve been trying to find the right resource for several years,” Barbara said. “We’ve been working locally with Best Printing to make our fine art greeting cards since we moved here 8 years ago. But, finding a Giclée printer required casting a wider net. Keeping businesses flourishing in our area is vital, and there is a convenience and ease to standing side by side with the people you are working with when making color corrections.” CJ adds, “It was very laborious shipping color proofs back and forth, repeatedly, with our Canadian resource. Even if it requires regular trips to Meadville, working regionally is so much better!”
Spiritual Art
Another new venture for the couple in 2025 is launching a line of prints based on CJ’s studies of Far Eastern spiritual traditions. Although these prints will be available to their regular clientele, the couple are targeting this line of prints at religious stores, metaphysical shops, yoga studios and healing sanctuaries. “Our marketing plan is encapsulated largely through our participation in the 2025 ACRE Program,” Barbara says. The Alliance for Creative Rural Economies (ACRE) is an initiative sponsored by Pittsburgh’s Bridgeway Capital offering opportunities to rural areas across Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia through creativity-driven economic and community development. “The ACRE program helps to support entrepreneurial creatives by developing intentional cohorts of creative businesses that learn, grow, and connect over a one-year period,” Barbara said. ACRE Cohorts are based in each ACRE “Place” and offer business education programs for creative entrepreneurs who are driven to achieve lasting growth. Barbara continues, “CJ & I are excited about the possibilities to expand our knowledge and grow our business through the ACRE program. We have several goals for our participation, and developing and implementing the strategy for growth in our print business is a key one!”
Art exhibits in the east and west
More in store for Century Arts Design and Fine Art Studio in 2025 includes, the wrap-up of CJ’s participation in the Northwest Pennsylvania Artist’s Association 50th Anniversary exhibition. The exhibition, held at Mercyhurst University’s Cummins Gallery, ran for three months beginning in October of 2024, and just ended on Jan. 17. “I am proud to be a member of NPAA and have had wonderful exhibit and sales opportunities since I was juried in to the organization in 2023. Although the group is based in Erie, it represents artists regionally in NW PA and we are within their region. Since joining the organization, I have invited fellow members to Oil City for exhibits and now artists up there are discovering what we have going on down here. There is a good synergy! I encourage my fellow Oil City artists who are working professionally to apply for membership.” NPAA is a longstanding Western Pennsylvania arts organization dedicated to creating opportunities for established, emerging, and student artists through exhibitions, education, and scholarships.
CJ also has plans to send new work to the Portland Art Museum where he has been represented for about 15 years. “I have had a good number of sales at the Museum’s Sales Gallery this past year,” says Hurley, “I need to replace paintings that have sold, and there is a Spring Exhibition that I will have the opportunity to participate in as well.”
Roycroft Renaissance Master Artist
CJ enjoys national recognition as a Roycroft Renaissance Master Artist in Painting. 2025 marks the 20-year anniversary of CJ’s application and acceptance as a juried member of this group. The Roycroft is the oldest surviving Arts & Crafts colony in America dedicated to traditional handicrafts. The colony was founded in 1895 by publisher, philosopher and entrepreneur, Elbert Hubbard, in East Aurora, New York, and was a key player in the Arts & Crafts Movement (1850-1925). During the Industrial Revolution, the world’s craft traditions were in rapid decline due to the de-humanizing effects of factory production. The Roycroft’s goal was to preserve age-old American and European handicraft skills before they were lost. The Roycrofters sought to bring humanity back into America’s workforce, with the understanding that people content in their work are happy, active and positive participants in society. While Roycroft Renaissance artists honor the legacy of the original movement and hand-craft tradition, they all create their own unique work in their studios located all across the United States. “It doesn’t feel like it has been 20 years”, says Hurley, “It’s an honor to be a long-term member of this American Arts & Crafts institution that is such a vibrant force in upholding skills dedicated to true artistry.”
Local Residential Design Project
Locally, the pair have been putting their interior design and decorating skills to work for several years with a young couple that have a beautiful Arts & Crafts Foursquare style home. The homeowners are very attuned to detail and they have all been dedicatedly working together on the design and decorating of the home. The owners have taken on all the restoration work themselves and have been slowly doing meticulous plaster repair and painting room by room. “We have designed all of the colors for their home, and over the years have helped them locate period-appropriate furniture and other furnishings,” says Barbara. CJ interjects, “We have also assisted in locating rugs that complement their tastes, and even helped to custom design a specially made rug for their Dining Room. All told, that was a months-long project. Our clients were very patient during the development process, and were quite pleased with the finished results made by specialized craftspeople that have been making rugs for generations.” These Oil City clients have also asked Barbara & CJ for help with their window treatments. After agreeing on the various fabric patterns to be used in the home, Barbara and CJ worked with an Erie based drapery specialist to make curtains from beautiful woven fabrics and Scottish lace. “This workroom is very detail oriented, and has a lot of experience working with many kinds of fabrics,” said Barbara, “she has been a real asset in bringing our visions alive for our clients!” CJ adds, “She is also helping us with other soft goods, like custom accent pillows.” Moving forward with these clients, Barbara and CJ will continue helping with rugs, antique lighting and other finishing touches for the home.
Custom new home in Maryland
Another fun and rewarding project that has captivated CJ and Barbara’s time and creative energy over the past year was a custom designed tile kitchen backsplash for long time clients who live in Chevy Chase, MD, outside of Washington DC.
They have been working with these clients since 2017 on every design detail for a new custom home. “The final icing on the cake for the kitchen we designed years ago has been the tile for the backsplash,” says CJ. Barbara interjects, “But our client, Nina, is not one to make hurried decisions. When the house was originally completed, we had a temporary stainless backsplash installed. We all knew that we wanted something very special, meaningful and personally symbolic for this space that can be seen from many views in the kitchen, living room, dining room, and garden room! Nina is a big cook and we wanted her to live with and use the space for a while before designing the backsplash”
The final design inspiration for the backsplash came about through a combination of brainstorming, meeting at the MD house and spending time in the garden, during all seasons, with Nina and her husband Bob, and exploring the work of various tile makers. The group settled on working with a maker in Pasadena, CA who is unusual in the tilemaking world because she is also has a background as an architect, and painter. Barbara says, “It was a natural choice to work with her. CJ and she both have a passion for Far Eastern art, and they both have the natural inclination to utilize symbolism in their designs. So, it was a perfect match.”
After finding their maker and meeting remotely with her, CJ created the layout of the tile, and did the design for the field tile portions of the backsplash. For the central featured design, CJ developed a concept and rough design, but the finished product was a true collaboration between the homeowners, Barbara, CJ as designer, and the tile maker, who was given the creative freedom to design the hand-carved “feature” for the backsplash and the glazes.
CJ says, “It was such a great experience to work on this project. The tile maker is amazing because she has the architect’s understanding of 3-dimensional space which allows her to envision the total environment in which the tile will be installed, rather than just the 2-dimensional surface onto which it will be mounted.
“It is the perfect fusion of both artists work, and sensibilities, says Nina of her backsplash, I absolutely love it!”
Contact CJ and Barbara
Home owners and building owners interested in learning more about the architecture they own, or receiving professional assistance with color, exterior design, interior design, or want help with the design of their gardens can contact CJ and Barbara at their studios in the National Transit Building in downtown Oil City: 206 Seneca Street, Studio 22D; 2nd Floor. 814-493-8642; barbara@cjhurley.com; www.cjhurley.com.
More about Century Arts Design and Fine Art Studio
CJ and Barbara relocated to Oil City in the summer of 2016. Barbara’s corporate design and product development career moved them about the country in their early adulthood and took them to Portland, OR in 2001. While living in Portland, they were inspired to fulfill their dream of working together, and combined CJ’s art and design business with Barbara’s skills to build the studio they operate today.
As much as they loved the Pacific NW, they wanted to be closer to aging parents, other family and lifelong friends in the east. After searching for a place that met their needs, they settled on Oil City. They were drawn here because of the river that runs through the center of town, the nearby state park, forests and abundant water found in creeks, streams and nearby Lake Erie. Oil City meets their needs for frequent drives to the Buffalo, NY area, North Carolina and Southern Virginia. And, when they need big cities or airports, they enjoy the drives to the metro areas, exploring new sights along the way. Although they are often traveling for work and family caregiving obligations, they have settled in well here and it always feels like home when they return.
In addition to work in their own studio, since the fall of 2022, Barbara has been an advocate for local arts through her part-time work with ARTS Oil City. She took over the management of the program and loves her work helping and inspiring other artists.
