Artists in Residence

After 43 years as an electronics field technician for Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies, Don began woodworking as a hobby during his retirement. Inspired by making wooden toys for his grandchildren, he began exploring the use of a lathe (a machine for shaping wood that turns the piece being worked on against changeable cutting tools). With his first finished bowl, he was hooked, falling in love with the technique of bowl making. He has since expanded his lathe toolkit, studied under other wood turners, and spends every day possible in his woodshop “puttering.”

With plein air painting, I’m interested in the intersection of the observable world in a moment of time, in a particular location. I’m interested in the craft of realizing my experience with paint: mixing color, creating space, pushing paint. The poetry and romanticism of building form, constructing space, and finding my way through painting calls to me again and again in an effort to fully realize my sensations, and my thoughts and feelings about light, atmosphere, time and place.

With no training in art, my process is experimental. I break all the rules because I don’t know them. Acrylics and oils — yes. Spray enamel, foam brushes, and found objects — why not? What I do know is that all things have roots, roots provide nourishment, and painting nourishes the roots that support my growth in my art.

I make mixed-media paintings that connect people with the weird, wonderful parts of the natural world. Typically, I start with a subject from the real world and stretch it to something more abstract through layers of acrylic, oil paint, and collage. The added layers of color allow for some parts of the early layers to show through, while others remain obscured. Creating things by hand allows for imperfections and gestural marks to show through, offering clues to the viewer about how each painting was created.

Barbara Yerace has been a glass artist for over 40 years operating a hot glass studio, but the last few years she has turned her attention to the exploration of Native American Spirit Animals and the lessons they bring us. The pieces created with glass beads are a culmination of research and love for the animals she studies.

It was at the age of 63 that Wendy Warner decided it was time to attain life’s dream. “I grew up enthralled by my grandfather’s art and calligraphy,” Wendy says. “I never understood how lines and shapes could jump off a surface and appear to come to life. Art has always fascinated me.” Originally from the Boston area and now from Dillsburg, PA, Wendy works in oil, with a particular interest in both portraiture and plein air. Picking up the brushes and palette later in life has given Wendy a more mature perspective on her craft. She takes a patient and meticulous approach to painting, allowing her to produce her finest works.

I believe that beauty will save the world. Even if not, it certainly makes it a better place. Whether painting portraits of animals or people, landscapes or still life compositions, my goal is to celebrate the beauty that surrounds us. My oil painting technique can be described as traditional all prima. I employ bold, powerful brushstrokes. I often exaggerate colors and find shapes that create rhythms. In my recent body of work, animals play an important role. I love adding a healthy dose of humor to my paintings. When I see people smile as they look at my works, it makes me happy. Of course, the animals can be silly and amusing, but we all know they are also super smart. Animals always have a story to tell, and I’m trying to do my best transcribing their stories and capturing their souls.

My work largely expresses an exploration of color harmony and figurative expression. Aesthetically, I work with pattern and surface from an interdisciplinary approach as a way of appropriating material matter into new forms of visual translation.

Sarah is an artist based in Utopia Beach, specializing in screen-prints and etchings. Sarah’s work is a representation or a reflection of life experiences. “My art documents a moment in time. It is a visual representation of my life experiences.”