"Dancing Trees"
June 2, 2009
Gettysburg, PA – Spring art exhibits at the HACC-Gettysburg Campus feature local artists, whose work will be on display during the month of June.
The community is invited to view the four free exhibits, including hand-painted artwork, mirrors and frames by Wendy Spicer Heiges of Gettysburg; intricate contemporary basketry by Joh Ricci of New Oxford; colorful handmade quilts by five area friends who call themselves “Sisters in Fibre”; and two sculptures by Walner Edmond of Gettysburg, created from a mismatch of discarded shoes but instantly recognizable as a pair of ducks.
The artists will be available to discuss their work from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11, during the grand opening event celebrating the completion of the recent campus expansion project.
Spicer-Heiges
            Spicer-Heiges uses silk and acrylic as primary mediums to showcase her “Perceptions of Spring,” which highlight spring’s arrival with bursts of color and subtle brilliance. Her work will be on display through June 12.
“I believe color is one of nature’s greatest gifts,” writes Spicer-Heiges. “It surprises and delights the eye and senses to produce endless combinations of mastery. Color’s unique way of marking the passage of time serves as a reminder of what has been and what’s to come. Each season has its own offering of spectacular views and its progress leads us to new choices and adventures.”
Ricci   
            “It’s knot what you think!” writes Ricci, whose work of small woven basketry has been recognized with multiple awards, including “Best of Show” in the Smithsonian Craft Show 2007 and the 2009 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship Award. Her work will on display at HACC through June 22.
 “To create my one-of-a-kind contemporary, sculptural baskets, my primary method is knotting, while netting, crochet and hand-bead weaving may also be incorporated in combination with one another.” She uses materials that she hand dyes to achieve a broad range of unique colors.
Ricci describes says she finds “this form of expression both tedious and time intensive, yet there is a hypnotic rhythm to creating my work. I feel that the combination of positive energy and spiritual thought supports my goals to bring creative life to an idea and to create fiber forms that transcend the boundaries of the concept of a traditional basket.”
“Beyond Basketry” continues through June 22.
"Sisters in Fiber"Quilts
            “Sisters in Fibre” is a group of five quilting friends -- Patsy Hartnett, Annette Ehly, Jill Coleman, Barbara Dombrowsky and Judy Sorensen. In 1992, they gathered for a sandwich and quilting. The plan was to quilt once a month, but soon it became a regular Friday afternoon event. Eighteen years later they still meet every Friday and quilt. 
The five women say that they “have become close, sharing ideas, traveling to quilt shows together and supporting each other through life.” Each one plans and makes her own quilt and brings it along to work on and to share with the others. Occasionally the group creates a quilt together, their most recent one being the raffle quilt for the Adams County Breast Cancer Coalition.
The “Sisters in Fibre” exhibit, an eclectic mix of quilts using traditional patterns, continues through June 25.
"Shoe Ducks"“Shoe Ducks”
Edmond, a fine arts student at Alfred University’s School of Art and Design, works with discarded items from Dumpsters and junk yards and transforms the found objects into sculptures.  He is a Gettysburg Area High School grad, who is attending the HACC-Gettysburg Campus as a summer guest student.
His exhibit features “Shoe Ducks” created from women’s pumps (heels form the ducks’ beaks), flip flops (wings) and other footwear fastened with shoestrings to a metal framework. Edmond’s exhibit runs through June 25.
One of Edmond’s sculptures, a piece created from discarded automobile tires, is on permanent exhibit at Gettysburg College as a memorial to one of the college’s former security officers. The artist is donating another sculpture, a “Self Portrait” composed of discarded scrap metal, for permanent exhibit at HACC Gettysburg Campus.
Through his work, Edmond hopes to make people more aware of the environment, more conscious of the materials we use, more reluctant to discard usable items. 
In addition to a reception for the artists scheduled during grand opening event June 11, the artwork can be viewed during summer exhibit hours: 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8-11 a.m. Fridays. HACC-Gettysburg Campus is located at 731 Old Harrisburg Road, near Weis Markets and Adams County National Bank. For more information, call 717-337-3855.
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