York Town Square

You might call this the largest cardboard recycling project ever in York County. It means Wayne White’s ‘FOE’ exhibit will live to fight another day.  Earlier this week, York College of Pennsylvania students carried the dismantled cardboard-and-wood exhibit or installation from MarketView Arts on West Philadelphia Street to LSC Design on North George. The exhibit by the noted White showed everyday life for the two days that the Confederate Army occupied York in late-June 1863. The exhibit ended, and its figures will reside in storage at LSC for display at yet undetermined places in York County. For more on the move, check out FOE. More photos below. For a review of the installation, check out: ‘FOE’ in old F.O.E. lodge is no foe of York, Pa.

Some artists have come to York County, performed their good work and then left. Wayne White is in that category. Others lived here most of their life. Think Lewis Miller. Others grew up here, left to make their mark and have kept strong ties here. Jeff Koons is in that category.

The current movement in York City to attract and promote artists – ‘Creativity Unleashed’ – has a strong body of such work to grow from. The artists pictured below and others – Horace Bonham, Henry Barratt, Stephen Etnier, Margaret Sarah Lewis, Walt Partymiller, Rob Evans, Marion Stephenson, Lorann Jacobs and Brett Greiman, among many others –have unleashed their creativity in York County or beyond.

The question is: Who’s next to make a lasting contribution locally, regionally or worldwide?

See a sampling of York County’s notable artists below … .

FlipsidePa.com’s story on the move of ‘FOE’ summed it up: ‘Using corrugated containers, wood, paint and pulleys, White and a team of volunteers re-imagined the scene from June 1863 when York was invaded by the South… . Now the massive pieces will live at LSC Design on North George Street until they can find a more permanent home.’ This piece portrays commanding Gen. Jubal Early, the towering figure who ‘greeted’ the estimated 4,500 visitors to the installation. For more photos, check out this YDR MediaCenter gallery.

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This scene gives a straight-on view of  the York Barbell mural on the side of the MarketView Arts building. It was the work of another visiting artist, Max Mason of Wynnewood, Pa. This mural, with description, and others in the Murals of York series, can be found on the York County Heritage Trust’s historypin.com page. A walking tour of all the murals can be found on the YDR’s history page. For more on MarketView’s past life as the Fraternal Order of Eagles Lodge, see: Obscure F.O.E. building to become colorful beacon of York, Pa.’s renaissance.

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The works of Ophelia Chambliss  are popular around York County and beyond. This mural, a project for Planned Parenthood of Central Pennsylvania, is titled ‘Health, Happiness and Humanity,’ Chambliss has been involved in York’s Arts District, on Beaver Street and the surrounding area. The arts community also has reached the neighborhoods around King and Queen streets, the aptly named Royal Square District. Chambliss was the 2014 featured artist at Yorkfest Fine Arts Festival in August. 

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Artist Cliff Satterthwaite lived and worked in York for many years in the last half of the 20th century.  Here, he captured the scene at the Glades Auction in 1963. You can see more than 50 of his drawings documenting York County at: Cliff Satterthwaite.

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William Falkler’s work in the last half of the 20th century hangs in places throughout York County and the world. This piece on Railroad borough is one of 3,000 original pieces from his long career. For more: Reader fascinated by William A. Falkler’s skill and ability.

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Jeff Koons is the most widely known artist to come from York County, compared in the pop art category with Andy Warhol. He lives and works in New York and owns property in southeast York County. Here is a Koons artpiece, ‘Kiepenkerl,’  rendered early in his career at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.

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William Wagner’s work is often overshadowed by his better-known contemporary Lewis Miller. His work, some of which is found in a York County Heritage Trust-published book on the artist, effectively documents scenes around York, circa 1830. For more on Wagner and Miller, see:  William Wagner, Lewis Miller made York, Pa. ‘one of the most highly depicted communities in the early nineteenth century United States.’

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Lewis Miller is the grandfather of all York County artists, homegrown or visiting. The work of this 19th-century artist is widely studied today. Donald Shelley, of the Henry Ford Museum, wrote in ‘Sketches and Chronicles’ that the 1966 work would provide a service for students and historians in opening up a new field of study in American social life, customs and art. This cover of a new book of Miller’s work, below, shows the artist at work.

 

*Top two photos, York Daily Record/Sunday News

**Edited, 6/19/14