Old School Inside

Short, Lisa

L.T. Short Folkart and Fraktur

Paper

I am a self-taught artist inspired by the folk art traditions of rural Pennsylvania, specializing in hand-inked and painted fraktur and decorative furniture based on historic examples. My work reflects years of study and a deep appreciation for Pennsylvania German art, and I have been listed in Early American Life’s Directory of Traditional American Crafts since 2000.

I create reproduction representations of Fraktur drawings inspired by 18th- and early 19th-century Pennsylvania German reference materials. Each piece begins with a careful pencil sketch derived from period sources. I then outline and embellish the design using a traditional metal nib pen and India ink. For authenticity, I work on laid-finish paper that closely resembles early Fraktur examples, which I hand-antique to achieve an aged appearance. The finished drawings are painted with watercolors in keeping with historic techniques and materials.

The frames are an integral part of each work. They are handmade by a local cabinetmaker and purchased unpainted, allowing me to finish them using traditional 18th-century grain-painting techniques. This process involves applying a glaze over a base coat and manipulating it into wood-grain patterns using tools such as feathers, putty, torn paper, and other simple implements. I use two period-appropriate glaze methods: one made with vinegar and dry pigment, and another using oil paint. Some frames are further embellished with stenciling or hand-painting. Each frame requires a minimum of six layers to achieve the desired depth and character. Whenever possible, I use antique or reproduction glass to complete the presentation.

http://ltshort.com

Kulbeth, David

Columbus Cartography

Paper

I create modern geography maps with a traditional, antique look. My maps are hand-designed, etched, printed and watercolored using traditional 16^th-19^th century copperplate etching and cartographic techniques. I print on custom, hand-laid paper made from natural cotton and abacá fibers. I include illustrations to help visualize the modern places, natural landscapes, and historical influences which give meaning and influence to the local geography. I do my own research and meet with local people making sure what they know and are familiar with is represented on the map.

These maps are originals. They’re not replications of antique maps, but I do try to incorporate similar styles and methods of previous time periods.

columbuscartography.com

Boglioli, Loring

Loring Boglioli, Fiber Artist

Fiber/Textiles

Inspired by Victorian penny rugs and the unpredictable vagaries of sourcing and integrating upcycled textiles, her work merges well-practiced hand-sewing applique fabrications methods and bold color and design opportunities, to reinterpret a popular nineteenth century needle art, into unique fiber art wall hangings and interior design accessories.

Historically important, her work captures and honors the self-taught technical expertise and material-driven philosophy of nineteenth and twenty century needle artists and fosters the preservation of hand sewing techniques, textiles examination and the creativity and frugality of important but, unacknowledged fiber artists. Fusing venerated practices and innovative strategies, manipulating color, shape and dimension, her design aesthetic is unabashedly bold, kinetic, and playful, emerging from bags of cast-off scraps, or scavenged from flea markets, other fiber artists, and yard sales.

From these materials penny rugs are artfully cut, stitched, and layered textile pieces, then arranged in geometric patterns or naturalistic designs and stitched to a backing of stout fabrics. Completely original, unique designs are assembled using various weights and shades of woolens, synthetic fabrics, and felts and two common embroidery stitches to reinterpret color, shape, spatial frolic and primitive sophistication, evident in her compositions. All works are mounted as follows. Wall hangings under 14 -16 inches wide include an integrated stiffener and hanging ring. Hangings over 14-16 inches wide include 1/8^th”thick aluminum bar stock in a hand-sewn cotton casing with strategically drilled holes for hanging.

frugalfiber.com

Steinberg, Lorene

Pottery by Lorene

Clay

My pottery is wheel-thrown stoneware, trimmed with a footring, and bisque fired. The designs are hand drawn in pencil, hand painted with underglaze, then bisque fired a second time. The piece is finally dipped in clear glaze and fired a third time to stoneware temperature. My ideas come from architecture, textiles, stained glass windows, natural forms, wallpaper, and especially historic Italian majolica. Each piece is unique.

The work is food safe and microwave safe. Hand washing is recommended.

Wertheim, Peggy

Mixed Media

Peggy Wertheim

My fifty-year career as a Surface Design Artist, Colorist and Master Teaching Artist began with the artforms of traditional batik & silk batiking. I then continued by develop;ing my techniques of Complex Dyeing and Discharge with my Wearable Art designs including jackets, tunic dresses and shirts. In addition, my colorist’s eye was fascinated by Traditional Marbling using carrageenen and acrylics. I took the incricacies of marbling and applied the techniques and my designs to papers, cottons, silks and ceramic. Throughout my career, color and design create a fascinating palette of interest.

https://www.peggywertheim.com

Oliver, Amy

Monkeytown Pottery

Clay

I love to draw on pots. I throw pots on the wheel with emphasis on form and function and when these pots are leather hard, I mix up and apply, a variety of colored slips to the pots. Once I have done this, the pot becomes my canvas. I usually look at the pot and try to spot an image of something with my imagination, just like one can look at clouds and start imagining images. Once I spot something, whether it’s a turtle, a tree or a bird, or anything else I can imagine, then the picture usually fills itself in, and in a sense I just draw what I see. My pieces tell a story and have some recurring characters like owls and tortoises, they portray in essence, moments in time.

I have been a potter for 30 years now, beginning my journey at James Madison University with my first ceramics class when I was 21. I was lucky to Apprentice with Hawksbill Pottery, during and after College. I moved to Loudoun county in 2001 and officially opened Monkeytown Pottery in 2005, where I make pots and teach others how to do so.

All my pots are food safe and functional, I fire an oxidation to cone 7.

www.MonkeytownPottery.com

Banker, Ellen

Hannah’s Whim

Mixed Media

Everything in life is art. That has been true in my life ever since I can remember. Currently, I am working in mixed media—acrylic paint, vintage paper and, sometimes, found objects. However, for years I worked in textiles, specifically I hooked rugs
and am the author of Hooked on Words, published in 2018 by Ampry Publishing.

Once in a while, some textile form appears in my current work—an actual piece of wool or an image of a quilt or a rug or a sheep. I am drawn to antiques and images
of anything vintage but my great love is for Windsor chairs. I’m very lucky to live in Williamsburg, Virginia, with inspiring history all around me, but I once lived in Waterford which will always be in my heart.

Helberg, Kristin

Kristin Helberg Artworks

Mixed Media

Helberg has always been interested in history and a portion of her artwork reflects that. Whaling paintings and whaling scenes on boxes, as well as sea monsters attacking ships are part of Helberg’s artwork.

She enjoys creating tavern signs that depict imaginary places in Early America. Having spent most of her childhood in York County, PA, Helberg was immersed in the painted hex signs on barns and fraktur art and uses those images on the decorative boxes. Years ago, she mastered the technique of Early American vinegar graining and she always features some grained boxes at the Fair.

Helberg has also created a line of Memento Mori paintings and chests, featuring the dancing skeletons and Plaque Doctors of the late Middle Ages, as well as Halloween paintings and portraits of Edgar Allen Poe and Nosferatu.

Helberg’s paintings are in the permanent collections of The National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian, the Clinton Presidential Library, the Reginald Lewis Museum of African American Art, Musee D’Art Naif in Quebec and the Carter Center of President Jimmy Carter.

KristinHelberg.com