The "Art In The Heart Of Lancaster County" Story

My boss and friend Keith waves as he sees me taking a photo
of his stand which features his photography and framed pieces.

It was an ordinary day.  Just parked the car and headed in the direction of all the white tents.  First building we came to looked rather familiar.  "Hey, I did all those," I said to Carol and our friends Ron and Marg.  We are visiting the "Heart of Lancaster Arts & Craft Show" near East Petersburg, Pennsylvania in the heart of the Pennsylvania Amish.  The show began in 1987 at the same location, Root's Country Market and Auction, and has been held at the same spot for the past 29 years.  This year there were 200 juried artisans and the show was voted in the top 20 Best Shows in the country by Sunshine Artist Magazine.  The work was amazing with 47 of the artists and craftsmen demonstrating their talent at their stands.  

This artist stands behind his wood carvings of various sizes.

Most everyone seemed to have a white or light colored tent and the site of all these stands was amazing.  As we began our venture today, the first stand we saw was the stand of Keith Grebinger who was a photogra- phy student of mine in high school and who I began working for part-time after retirement from teaching in 1999.  Just about everyone of the framed pieced in his exhibit I had matted and framed over the past 17 years. Looked good and had quite a few visitors when I stopped in to say Hello.  As we walked throughout the show I photographed a few of those that I found rather unique so I could share them with you.  A few of the artists who were giving demonstrations are part of my photo show today so you can see how they create their artwork.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

These wooden puzzles are cut out on a small jig or scroll say. 

Wooden icicles featuring names of people.  Rather unique and time-consuming to make.  They sell for $8 each.

These are bean bags which are sold with a large wooden game board to play bean bag toss.  Many sport teams are featured in the collection of bean bags he offers. 

This is artist Cindy Schlosser who paints wooden bowls.  She holds a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology who taught Human Biochemistry and Nutrition at Temple University Dental School for 8 years.  She first painted on wooden eggs, bowls and antique panels and shutters after leaving teaching.  She now has a gallery to display her work next to Lancaster Market House at 15 West King Street.  She enjoys spending time at her gallery painting, playing music and loving people. She was also voted Lancaster City's very first "Queen of Happy".

This is a sample of Cindy's work.

This is Tracy Dietrich who plays the flute and recorder and who, along with friend and harpist Cindy Wittenberg, have a stand titled, "Silver, Wood & Ivory - Two Women, 19 flutes and Recorders, Piano, Keyboard and Celtic Harp, and a Whole Lot of Friendship."  The two have made 13 CDs which they sell and I took this photo of Tracy as she was performing on one of her recorders which are for sale as well as the CDs that fill the stand.

A few more of the instruments that are for sale at Tracy's booth.

I just loved the vibrant colors of this acrylic painting done by an artist from Washington D.C. 

Part of a design made in stained glass.  Made me think of the years when I did the exact same thing with objects and stained glass.

Another unique stand that sold boulder designs.  These two feature spigots to release beverages and carry designs on them.  You can see more boulder designs at www.LutzBoulderDesigns.com 

This is Bob Weaver who is working on a pen and ink drawing.  His stand was covered with his artwork done in pen and ink.  Bob was an art teacher at Yough High School for 37 years.  He also was an athletic coach which explained many of his pen and ink drawings which featured sports events and scenes.  He also does mural painting, caricature art, portrait art, book illustrations, fine art painting, scenery production, acrylic painting and watercolor.  I loved watching him work on his latest pen and ink of recently departed Gene Wilder.  You can see his work at www.bob weaverartattack.com.

Just one of quite a few beautiful glass vessels that were remarkable.  The colors are so bright and brilliant.

This stand featured metal work that was welded.  This particular sculpture was made of silverware which was welded to form a human figure.  The artist is a remarkable welder, since I had a very hard time seeing his welds on the sculpture. 

This stand was titled "American Roadtrip Vintage Pennant Handmade Pillows."  Very unique and something I had never seen before.  The story behind the stand was: While digging through a vintage store in Florida, the artist found pennants of National Parks, roadside attractions and cities and small towns.  She took them home with her and made them into pillows.  Each pennant carries a story and she loves to meet people who share their memories of places shown on the pillows.  She has many more pennants at her studio and you can order one to match just about any memory you may have.  Talk about being different and unique.  You can see more at: www.etsy.com/shop/americanroadtrip

This is a photo of Marcelle Fozard, who is from Washington, D.C., who is stitching together a pennant pillow for a customer.