‘Promote art in our communities’: Greensburg, Latrobe art centers collaborate for 130-piece exhibit

Latrobe and Greensburg art centers are more than just geographical neighbors.

They share the same goals and many of the same members, said Pat Majcher, treasurer of the Greensburg Art Center.

“We’re both trying to promote art in our communities,” Majcher said, “and so the communities tend to be neighbors.”

For the past six years, the centers have traded off hosting duties for a collaborative exhibit entitled “Art Neighbors,” showcasing the various art styles and mediums of their members.

This year’s exhibit, on display at the Greensburg Art Center until Aug. 30, features 130 pieces ranging from oil painting and watercolor to ceramics and wood and metal sculptures.

About 140 people came out for the exhibit’s opening reception on July 13, Majcher said.

“It’s always nice to open up 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 for the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Artists of all ages and experience levels received the first through third place, best in show and honorable mention awards, said Marcy Koynok.

“This is a real community art center,” said Koynok, vice president of the Greensburg Art Center. “We have people from all levels. We have children that come in for classes. We have people that never took an art class before.”

Artists of all ages receive recognition

Though only in high school, 17-year-old Henry Stull took home an honorable mention award for a pen drawing of a train winding through a snowy woods terrain.

“I think that’s pretty cool, out of all the people that came here,” Stull said of receiving the award. “I don’t know what it takes to get an honorable mention, because there’s a lot of people here I would say are better than me.”

Stull, a homeschooled student living in Latrobe, began exploring his interest in art after the covid pandemic.

“I was looking for something to do. I’ve always been into drawing, so my mom was like ‘Why don’t you take an oil painting class?’” he said. “I’d been watching Bob Ross and I wanted to learn.”

Stull joined the Greensburg Art Center so he could exhibit in the collaborative show.

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 (college),” said Schildkamp, 72, of Greensburg, who holds a master’s degree in drawing. “Because it was local, in the area, I checked into it.”

Schildkamp submitted an acrylic painting to the exhibit, which portrays buildings in an alley he noticed behind a pollinator garden in Smithton. The painting won best in show.

Schildkamp’s wife, a master gardener through Penn State Extension, is a member of the Westmoreland Pollinator Partners.

“She was doing some gardening work, and I went along with her,” Schildkamp said. “This alley is in the back, beyond where the garden is. I had my phone with me and I was taking pictures and stuff, and it just captured my attention to see the perspective qualities of the location.”

Using the photo as a reference, Schildkamp altered the colors, contrast 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’s what my intent was as far as the final image quality.”

Award honors mother of local artist

For Betty Trout, artistic inspiration struck while watching her brother’s cat, Monte, bask under the sunlight filtering in through the window.

“The cat was just laying in that little ray of sunshine,” said Trout, 76, of Murrysville. “So I thought ‘Boy, is that cool — the reflection of the red carpet on him.’”

Trout’s painting received the Lucy Pollock Award, given to the artist with the best pet portrait.

Pollock — who hosted a “Baking With Lucy” Facebook livestream series during the pandemic — died of covid-related complications in November 2020 at the age of 98.

Pollock’s daughter — local artist Mary Ellen Raneri — started the Lucy Pollock Award at the Art Neighbors show to honor her mother’s love of animals.

Trout was thrilled to win the award, which came with a $100 prize.

“It has a lot of meaning to me, because it’s my brother’s cat, for one thing,” Trout said of the painting. “But the lighting in that painting just excites me.”

‘Honored’ by recognition from fellow artists

Though Johanna Sheppard won first place for a sculpture she made of an African wild dog, the fox sculpture she submitted is one of her all-time favorites.

“He will probably never leave my house,” said Sheppard, of New Derry, located northwest of Derry Township.

Sheppard fired the African wild dog sculpture using a method called Raku, which involves removing a ceramic piece from the kiln and placing it in a material such as sawdust or newspaper. This technique removes oxygen from the piece, creating a glaze unique in color and pattern.

Each piece Sheppard submitted to the exhibit took about 20 hours to sculpt, she said.

Sheppard began practicing ceramics in high school, but stopped doing art while working and raising her children. When her children gave her a membership to the Greensburg Art Center as a retirement gift five years ago, she returned to the pottery studio.

Sheppard never expected her art would amount to an award.

“That means so much when it’s coming from a fellow artist — recognition, that they think my work is something to be admired,” she said.

Pamela Cooper had the same reaction to receiving the third place award for a blind contour line drawing — an abstract portrayal of a professor’s face.

“I like doing faces,” said Cooper, 60, of Greensburg. “I’ve been called or referred to as ‘the woman who does a thousand faces.’”

In addition to working 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 teaching the next generation of artists.

“I know when I see a student’s artwork that I’ve been working with, I see them. You can’t miss it,” she said. “It’s a part of them. And so art is a part of me.”