Inspire Your Heart with Art

Events for the day include demonstrations and hands-on projects by Art Guild members from 10am-noon in the Village Park. John Dolan will offer watercolor demonstrations. Jessica Fehrenbach will demonstrate paper cutting art. Flo Rice will demonstrate Diamond Art.

In addition, Evie Hershey will offer a Zentangle art project. Marie Diehl will offer card making and Liz Givens will offer Haiku. The morning also features soothing landscape art, set to music, in the Theater.

PCAD instructors will offer a series of short, 15-minute artist talks in the Theater. Participating instructors include Justin Phillips, Matthew Lester and Leah Limpert Walt.

Justiin’s work explores meanings and nuances that are embedded in his formalist mixed media works where he incorporates elements of drawing, painting, and collage. He employs a range of creative methodologies such as chance elements, intuitive mark-making, conjuring rhythms, erasure, as well as personally established rules and systems. Justin’s work ranges from drawings created in one sitting to deeply layered works where he explores sustained and deep efforts to form complex and contemplative works. He finds inspiration from the energy and dynamics of daily life and the inner workings of the world in which we live. He is fascinated with the connection between visual language and the human experience and he often describes his works as meditations or physical embodiment of meditation rituals or routines. Justin’s practice is a never-ending survey of the connection between one’s self and their surroundings.

Matthew is a visual storyteller and lifelong learner who loves education, he creates images that capture a sense of place and the spirit and energy of the students. Images that are real. Lester’s photography work focuses on education in addition to freelance work for Mennonite Central Committee. He’s traveled to more than 30 countries, to places like Afghanistan to document girls’ education and to Eastern Congo to tell the story of refugees from the country’s decades-long conflict. This work has made him incredibly adaptable to changing situations and able to work quickly… getting the most value possible for the client. As he’s looking through the lens, he’s thinking about layout, negative space for type, images that will work for different mediums… creating images that will have added value and additional usages. Outside of work, he likes being out in the woods, in the kitchen, and working on a 120 year-old row house in Lancaster city.

Leah is a painter and sculptor from York, PA. She studied at the University of Delaware and Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia and received her BFA from Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in Lancaster, graduating Summa Cum Laude with awards. She has exhibited in New York City, Philadelphia, Bethlehem and throughout the lower Susquehanna Valley. Leah’s artistic explorations through imagery almost always begin with reflections on both external and internal landscapes. They’re honest evaluations of trauma, mental health, and philosophical ponderings on purpose, meaning and the mysticism tied to those facets. They are the results of a constant effort towards healing, understanding self, and placement of self in the physical world.

All three artists will be available for questions and answers in the Village Park, following their presentation. Justin will demonstrate his watercolor art as well.

Additional PCAD staff will be available in the Village Park with demonstrations, children’s craft activities information on upcoming classes at Garden Spot Village and more.

Throughout the day participants may stop and participate in the community coloring page, which will be available at the long table in the Village Square.

This collaborative celebration of art kicks off a series of classes available to residents and the public. To learn more, visit the events page.