Art comes in all media at Artisan and Vendor Show
Andrew Leitmeyer sometimes suffers for his art. But when you are working with molten glass and intense heat sometimes you get burned.
“It happens all the time. Hot glass and cold glass looks the same. It’s a lesson learned,” Leitmeyer, of Kittanning, said as he fired his oxygen/propane torch to 2,200 degrees in order to begin to bend a glass rod into plasticity before working it into a colorful decoration.
Fortunately, there were no mishaps during Leitmeyer’s demonstration of his glass-fusing technique on the sidewalk outside the Butler Art Center, 344 S. Main St., during the center’s Artisan and Vendor Show on Saturday.
He starts with glass rods and tubes heated until he uses gravity and centrifugal force to bend the glass into the shape he wants. During the process, he introduces metal or ground glass to add color to his creation.
He makes pendants, figurines and a host of other objects. “Anything you can do with wood you can do with glass,” he said. “I learn something new every time I pick up glass.”
“The key is to make sure everything is melted in. If it’s hot enough, two pieces become one piece of glass. It adds stability,” Leitmeyer explained. “Usually, when you are working with glass the saying is ‘The hotter the better.’”
Leitmeyer spun the melting glass rod in his hand, creating a circle to which he added ground glass for color. He was curious to see how his latest creation would turn out.
He wasn’t nervous about creating art in front of onlookers.
“The thing about glass is even mistakes can be a good thing,” he said.
With his torch, glass rods, a few tools and the techniques he has learned during the past four years, he has created objects d’art that find buyers in the shows and fairs he attends.
Inside the art center, Butler’s Diane Kemp, a retired art teacher, offered paintings done in a more traditional medium, acrylic.
“I wanted to do some flowers for spring. I like to do portraits in nature,” said Kemp, who said she has been creating pictures since she was 3 and old enough to hold a pencil.
Kemp said she likes to paint in bright colors in a style she called similar to Matisse, a post-Impressionism.
“Art is my life,” she said. “If I’m not painting, I’m looking at art or thinking about art. I’ve just always loved art, I suppose. You never get tired of it.”
Ben Hughes of Butler uses a Sony SLR digital camera to create the photographs he had for sale.
“It’s been my hobby for over 20 years, all self-taught,” Hughes said as he stood in front of wall of his photographs.
His subjects ranged from giraffes to owls to snow scenes and water caught in mid-drip.
He said he goes out most weekends looking for subjects and scenes to photograph.
“I like to dabble in a lot of everything,” he said. “It’s all about the bird’s-eye view and the worm’s-eye view.”
James Roxbury, of Butler, brought his wooden kitchen caddies, cutting boards, tub caddies and beer totes to the show.
He said he always has worked with wood, but in the last three years what started as a hobby took over the garage.
“My wife has finally accepted she’s never gong to get her garage back,” he said.
That’s because the garage is now filled with power and hand tools that he uses to craft walnut, oak, pine, cedar, maple, cherry and juniper into his woodworking projects.
He also makes a mineral oil/bee’s wax sealant to apply to the cutting boards he sells.
His wife, Lori Roxbury, gracefully concedes that their garage is a woodshop now and pitches in putting the finishing touches on her husband’s handiwork.
“I do the staining and painting. He does all the imagining and planning. I get to play with the paint and stains,” she said.
James Roxbury said, “I come up with the ideas, and she does the sanding and finishing. I don’t have the patience to make it look nice.”
Shirley McCauley, director of the art center, said she plans to have another Artisan and Vendor Show in November.
“We had a great response,” she said. “We had over 30 vendors. It was on Small Business Saturday and it was right before Christmas. I think that’s going to be our big one every year. ”
