The arts centers of Latrobe and Greensburg are more than just geographical neighbors.
They share the same goals and have many of the same members, said Pat Majcher, treasurer of the Greensburg Art Center.
“We both try to promote the arts in our communities,” Majcher said, “and so the communities are often neighbors.”
For the past six years, the centers have alternated hosting a joint exhibition called “Art Neighbors,” showcasing the diverse art styles and media of their members.
This year’s exhibition, on view at the Greensburg Art Center through August 30, includes 130 pieces, from oil paintings and watercolors to ceramics and wood and metal sculptures.
About 140 people attended the exhibition’s opening ceremony on July 13, Majcher said.
“It’s always nice to open the center for people to come in and enjoy the art and the camaraderie,” she said.
The artwork was judged by Danny Volk, assistant curator of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Artists of all ages and experience levels received awards for first through third place, best work and honorable mentions, Marcy Koynok said.
“This is a real arts center for the community,” said Koynok, vice president of the Greensburg Art Center. “We have people of all levels. We have kids coming to classes. We have people who have never had an art class before.”
Artists of all ages receive recognition
Although he was only in high school, 17-year-old Henry Stull received an honorable mention for his pen and ink drawing of a train winding through a snowy wooded area.
“I think that’s pretty cool, out of all the people that were here,” Stull said of the award. “I don’t know what it takes to get an honorable mention, because there are a lot of people here that I would say are better than me.”
Stull, a home-schooled student living in Latrobe, began pursuing his interest in art after the Covid pandemic.
“I was looking for something to do. I’ve always loved drawing, so my mom said, ‘Why don’t you take an oil painting class?'” he said. “I had seen Bob Ross and wanted to learn.”
Stull joined the Greensburg Art Center to participate in the group exhibition.
But for Joseph Schildkamp, the Greensburg Art Center has been a part of life for more than half a century.
“I joined shortly after I graduated from college,” said Schildkamp, 72, of Greensburg, who has a master’s degree in drafting. “Because it was nearby, in the area, I inquired about it.”
Schildkamp submitted an acrylic painting for the exhibition depicting buildings in an alley he noticed behind a pollinator garden in Smithton. The painting won the award for best in exhibition.
Schildkamp’s wife, a Penn State Extension master gardener, is a member of the Westmoreland Pollinator Partners.
“She was doing gardening and I went with her,” Schildkamp said. “This alley is all the way back, behind the garden. I had my phone with me and was taking pictures and stuff, and the perspective qualities of the place just caught my attention.”
Schildkamp used the photograph as a reference and altered colors, contrasts and patterns of the view he saw to create his painting.
“I tried to create an overall impression – a feeling – of isolation,” he said. “That was my intention in terms of the final image quality.”
Award honors mother of local artist
Betty Trout’s artistic inspiration came while watching her brother’s cat, Monte, enjoying the sunlight coming through the window.
“The cat was just laying in this little ray of sunshine,” said Trout, 76, of Murrysville. “So I thought, ‘Boy, that’s cool – the reflection of the red carpet on him.'”
Trout’s painting received the Lucy Pollock Award, which is given to the artist for the best animal portrait.
Pollock, who hosted a Facebook livestream series called “Baking With Lucy” during the pandemic, died in November 2020 at the age of 98 from complications of Covid.
Pollock’s daughter, local artist Mary Ellen Raneri, donated the Lucy Pollock Award at the Art Neighbors Show to honor her mother’s love of animals.
Trout was delighted to receive the $100 prize.
“It means a lot to me, first of all because it’s my brother’s cat,” Trout said of the painting. “But the lighting in this painting is just exciting to me.”
“Honored” by the recognition of other artists
Although Johanna Sheppard won first place with her sculpture of an African wild dog, the fox sculpture she submitted is one of her absolute favorite sculptures.
“He’ll probably never leave my house,” said Sheppard of New Derry, northwest of Derry Township.
Sheppard fired the African wild dog sculpture using a method called raku, which involves removing a piece of ceramic from the kiln and placing it in a material such as sawdust or newspaper. This technique removes oxygen from the piece and creates a glaze with unique color and patterning.
Each piece Sheppard submitted for the exhibition took about 20 hours to sculpt, she said.
Sheppard began making ceramics in high school but stopped making art while working and raising her children. When her children gave her a retirement membership to the Greensburg Art Center five years ago, she returned to the pottery studio.
Sheppard never imagined that her art would lead to an award.
“When it comes from a fellow artist, it means so much to me – the recognition that they think my work is admirable,” she said.
Pamela Cooper showed the same reaction when she received third prize for a blind contour line drawing – an abstract representation of a professor’s face.
“I like to make faces,” says Cooper, 60, of Greensburg. “They call me ‘the woman who makes a thousand faces.'”
In addition to her work with the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Cooper creates and sells art through her Greensburg-based company, Studio One Creations.
But one of Cooper’s favorite pastimes is educating the next generation of artists.
“I know when I see the artwork of the students I’ve worked with, I see them. You can’t miss them,” she said. “They’re a part of them. And so the art is a part of me.”
Quincey Reese is a TribLive reporter covering the Greensburg and Hempfield areas. She also reports for the Penn-Trafford Star. A native of Penn Township, she joined the Trib in 2023 after spending two summers working with the company as a Jim Borden Fellowship intern. She can be reached at [email protected].
