Hanover Arts Guild starts fresh with spring show
When Winter Storm Jonas and other snowfalls walloped York and Adams counties, members of the area's artistic community didn't sleep their snow days away.
They painted, sketched, sculpted, colored, collaged, scratched and photographed.
Now, with spring in the air, local creatives are coming out of hibernation to share their latest work.
The Hanover Area Arts Guild's Annual Spring Show is on display Friday through April 30 at the 32 Carlisle St. gallery in Hanover. Featuring more than 100 works by guild members, the show has given staff an opportunity to repaint, deep-clean, move out the old and proudly display the new.
"This is really a fresh start," said Kim Aspers, president of the arts guild. "We have stuff that's here all year long, but for this show, we literally take everything out and put all new stuff back in. It's kind of like a catharsis. It's like reemerging for the spring."
A long-standing tradition for the arts guild, the spring show features various art media including oil, acrylic and water color paintings, as well as colored pencil drawings, scratchboard, photography, pottery, metal art, jewelry and collages. All pieces in the exhibit are for sale and range in price from $45 to $3,000, Aspers said.
On Friday, an opening reception will be held 6 to 8 p.m. Chambersburg-based artist Jeff Barnhart will judge this year's exhibit, and ribbons will be awarded for water media on paper, other media, photography/digital art, oil/acrylic on canvas, three-dimensional art and youth submissions.
According to Vice President Sara "Sam" Little, the artistic talent in the Hanover area is plentiful. After teaching art in the Hanover Public School District for 38 years, Little has bore witness to generations of creativity.
"What my students would produce was amazing, and I knew that they weren't the only one in the family that was talented," she said. "I still say to this day, in Hanover, there's something in the water. Hanover has a lot of talent here."
Now, Little teaches classes at the arts guild, such as drawing essentials and drawing in color. Some of her students will have their work displayed in the spring show.
"After this long winter ... just seeing what people have been doing while they were hibernating, and we just finished spring cleaning - the building is ready for new art," she said. "I'm just excited. I can't wait to see what comes in."
Mary Moores, who has a degree in art, started taking classes at the arts guild about two years ago. A mother of four, she said she was looking for a way to reinvent herself.
Through Little's classes, Moores is reigniting her passion for art. In the spring show, she has several paintings on display including a view of an off-white boat floating on a placid lake. A red barn and white shed sit in the distance, next to a line of greenery.
"I think the environment is very supportive," she said of the arts guild. "Everybody seems to want everybody to succeed. Instead of feeling threatened, like 'Oh, this person might be my competition,' it's been a place where you can get feedback. Art is about seeing the world, so sometimes when you're attached to it because you created it, you stop seeing it for what it is."
For more information about the Hanover Area Arts Guild, call 717-632-2521 or visit hanoverareaarts.com.
If you go
What: Hanover Area Arts Guild's Annual Spring Show opening reception
When: 6 to 8 p.m., April 1
Where: Hanover Area Arts Guild, 32 Carlisle St., Hanover