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Dear Friends:
It had been more than twelve years since my last visit to State College, Pennsylvania, home of Penn State University, and I received such a warm welcome-back during my two-day visit to Old Main Frame Shop and Gallery last Thursday and Friday. What fun to be back, and just in time for the 40th Annual Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts! My daughter Patty and I managed to find a few minutes to browse the exhibits and got to see all the beautiful pottery and jewelry. I even bought myself a ring.
Marie Librizzi, owner of Old Main Frame Shop, made sure that everyone in town (State College, PA) knew that Pat would be at her gallery.The gallery show was a joy, and everyone was in good spirits. Their show print Centre County Round Barn was a big hit, too. My thanks to gallery owner Marie Librizzi, sales associate Nicole Book, and the rest of Old Main’s wonderful staff, family, and friends!
Pat was kept busy signing at Old Main Frame Shop.After Old Main’s show ended Friday evening, Patty and I drove over to Hanover, Pennsylvania, for my show with Martin’s Gallery. Even though it was 9:30 at night when we got into town, we stopped by the gallery, where the whole Martin family was hard at work doing last minute show preparations. Les, Pat, and their sons T.J. and Adam put the “family” in “family business.” Even their dog Mattie was there, providing moral support. Mattie is such a sweet dog and serves as a sort of gallery mascot.
Patty and I stayed with dear friends Sally and Bill Gobrecht while we were in Hanover. They live near the gallery, and Sally serves as secretary on the P. Buckley Moss Society’s Board of Directors. Before the show started Saturday morning, we all had breakfast together at the Dutch Country Restaurant with members of the Lake Marburg Chapter of the P. Buckley Moss Society. It was great camaraderie and a perfect way to start the day.
Perkins Restaurant on Sunday morning. Pat and daughter Patty enjoy a leisurely breakfast with the Martin family and the volunteers who helped run the show and sell raffle tickets.In addition to serving on the Society’s Board of Directors, Sally is also president of the Lake Marburg Chapter. Sally has so much knowledge about and enthusiasm for the Society, and she’s a great sport, too! She sat out under a tent in 90+ degree heat during the show and recruited new members for the Society and sold raffle tickets for Lake Marburg’s fundraiser. Lake Marburg’s month-long fundraising event cleared $4,530, half of which was donated to the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education and the other half to the Martin’s Gallery Scholarship Fund in Honor of P. Buckley Moss. Thank you, Sally and the members of the Lake Marburg Chapter!
Sally Gobrecht, Joyce Zimmerman, Pat Moss, and Pat Martin with the check for the Martin's Gallery Scholarship Fund, raised by the Lake Marburg Chapter of the P. Buckley Moss Society.I always enjoy my visits to Martin’s Gallery. I’ve been going there for years, and the Martin family seems like part of my own family. Their show print this past weekend was Star Barn Winter. Martin’s framed the prints so beautifully! We’re all interested in history and restoration, and every once in a while I’ll do a new Star Barn piece. This particular one includes one of my favorite symbols, a pair of geese.
This weekend I’ll be in Berlin, Ohio, for a show with Berlin Creek Gallery. It’s been a long time since my last visit with Nancy Tarzan and her family and friends, too, and I’m very much looking forward to being with them again. Nancy has a busy, fun-filled weekend planned, starting with a dinner Thursday evening at Grandma’s Alpine Homestead Restaurant in Wilmont, where we’ll unveil the original of Berlin Creek’s show print Der Weiss Homestead. Larry D. Miller, a descendent of Der Weiss, who was the original owner of the property on which the farm in the painting is located, will be at the dinner to tell us the history of the farm.
Der Weiss Homestead will be released at Berlin Creek Gallery's show for Pat, in Berlin, Ohio, July 21-22. For more information, call (330) 893-2686.For those of you who won’t be able to attend the dinner and hear the story first-hand, I’ll give you a brief version here, taken from Larry D. Miller’s written history. In the summer of 1809, an Amishman by the name of Jonas “Der Weiss” Stutzman hiked five miles daily to build a log cabin and thus plant the seed that has grown into the largest Amish community in the world. That historic spot, marked by a state historic marker, is currently part of the Ivan Miller farm (which appears in my painting). Ivan’s wife Mary (Schrock) is a great, great, great, great granddaughter of Der Weiss, although she was unaware of her bloodline connection to the area’s first settler until after she and Ivan purchased the farm.
After finishing his cabin, Der Weiss married, fathered nine children, and built the nucleus of a community that continues growing to this day. In the ensuing 197 years, the farm has passed through the hands of many Der Weiss descendents. Much of the acreage remains intact, as it was when the first Amish settler marked its boundaries and started cutting logs for his cabin.
’Til next week…
Love,
Pat
The Moss
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©P. Buckley Moss 2005