Art Gallery

When Molly Shortridge lost both parents last year, she suddenly had a monumental task of cleaning out a house full of treasures. Soon it was clear that she had uncovered a story —the evidence of a family tradition of creativity and artistic expression. This exhibition will bring together pieces from at least three generations in Molly‘s family.

A diverse display of creativity that was handed down and encouraged: paintings, drawings, PA Dutch folk furniture, handmade dolls, carved wooden birds, and very fine needlework.

This show is a compilation of work completed by members of my family.  Recently having lost both my mother and my father, I was confronted with the task of cleaning out the family house and attic. One day it suddenly struck me that the most items that the family saved were not commercial items, but items that people diligently and lovingly crafted. Yes, there was the usual boxes of children’s drawings, scrapbooks of musical accomplishments, countless letters, family lineage, and newspaper articles of note in the depths of that attic, but I found treasure after treasure of handmade items. I spent nearly half a year pondering the enormity of it all and how these things and the stories around them shaped my brother and me.

We were always encouraged, by example mostly, to make things (including music), and therefore we did.  We lived on a small 1798 farm and my parents put a lot of energy into renovating the colonial house.  Dad and Mom both did stenciling in many of the rooms, and Dad made the outbuildings by hand.  Mom’s beautiful gardens were the backdrop for our growing imaginations as children, and the property was part of many a local garden tour. There was homegrown food, home-canned fruits and veggies, and I often wore homemade clothing. My parents created a culture where we were allowed to explore all artistic endeavors. My father would bring home large stacks of paper that was going to be thrown out from his government office, and Matt and I were content to spend many hours on the living room floor drawing.

When looking at the things made by my family, I often ponder what the creative process was like for them. How did they conceive of the idea? What excitement did they feel, bubbling up out of them so much so that they had to create what they were thinking of?  How did they choose the patterns they used?  What was it like to be in the middle of the process, and suddenly must fix some mistakes? What was it like upon completion for each person? Did they love the result?

Did it make other people smile? Even though I now cannot ask my family what they were feeling, I do have a sense that we all shared some of these common emotions that were so important to us at the time of creation.

— Molly Probst Shortridge

Advent season 2024 we shared a group of new artwork created especially to explore the themes in the ancient vespers prayers known as the “O Antiphons.” Each of the seven days before Christmas the community gathered in the evening to pray for Christ to come again, using these seven characteristics of Christ’s calling. Works included by Grantham folks such as Sue Lowther, Shirley Groff, Geoff Isley, Gretta Owen, and Miki Howell, and we also displayed the banners of Indiana artist Linda Witte Henke, who writes: “The design for this series was inspired by “The Great O Antiphons,” a collection of prayers dating back as far as the fourth or fifth centuries and intended for use during the final seven days before Christmas.  The prayers, each of which address God using an Old Testament title and express a growing sense of urgency for the Messiah’s coming, give voice to poignant human longings that are as relevant today as they were in centuries past.  The design was executed from cotton fabric, cotton batting, and synthetic felt that were dyed, painted, stenciled, and stamped, then embellished with appliqué, improvisational stitching, hand embroidery, and found objects (metal hardware and plastic stars).”

JORDAN BASHORE’S LITURGICAL PRACTICES 

Jordan Bashore will be exhibiting her artwork this summer in our gallery. Her work will be on display June through August, with a reception on June 9 at 11:45 a.m. Jordan is a fiber artist and art educator living and working in the Harrisburg area. Her artwork possesses a contemplative nature, reflective of monastic practices of intentional and ruminative processes. Common and inexpensive materials are used to create works that surpass the value of the material, giving it new life with a greater value just as believers in faith are made new in Christ. She explores the nature of prayer with elements such as handwritten prayers and humble materials, which reflect the transformative power of prayer. Within the process of creating, she enters into a prayerful state which imbues the final piece with a sacred quality .Jordan is a 2022 graduate from Boston University with her Master of Art Education and a 2020 graduate from Messiah University with her Bachelor of Science, with a concentration on three-dimensional studies.

Finding Beauty in the Discarded

Working with raw materials that were headed to the trash heap has been a focus of artist Geoffrey Isley for over a decade. From making art quilts from upcycled fabric leftovers, to making collages from handmade scraps of papers or prints, or creating stained glass mosaics from fragments of glass leftovers, his work invites you to explore how beauty can be found in brokenness and restoration.

In 2024, Grantham Church is celebrating 20 years of sharing art in the gallery. The visual arts ministry began in 2004 with its inaugural exhibition of community artists as part of the first Worship Arts Weekend. Geoff has been a working graphic artist for over 30 years, part of the visual arts team, and coordinator of the church’s art gallery programs for 20 years. This is his first solo exhibition.

Georges Rouault: A Steadfast Vision was assembled to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth and to introduce this critically important artist of faith from the 20th century. Every Christian should be acquainted with his profound vision. This collection of prints has been traveling across the U.S. since 2018. Georges Rouault (1871–1958), considered the most important Christian artist of the 20th century, knew his calling and stood firm against the tide of current art movements in the early 20th century. Rouault believed that his art was more than just a means of personal expression. He considered his occupation as a calling and felt honored to communicate the message of the Gospel to a troubled world.

This summer the gallery welcomes our own Susan Bailey, in an exhibition she calls “Acrylics with a bit of Gelli.” A noted Harrisburg printmaker and painter for many years, she recently began experimenting with the medium of Gelli to create mono prints. Her work celebrates rich color and the nuances of multiple layers and textures, rather than being about something or telling a story. She also holds an art therapy group with One80 Ministries and has included a collection of these ladies’ prints in this exhibition.

The gallery is hosting a special exhibition of the artwork of two artists with multiple connections to the Grantham area. In 1980 Ted and Catherine Prescott moved to Central PA to launch the new Fine Arts major at Messiah College, and together they taught there for almost 30 years. Cathy is a painter, working primarily in oils, and her commissioned portraits, including PA’s governor Tom Corbett, are in private and public collections internationally. Ted is a sculptor whose large-scale work is installed in locations all over the USA. And for that reason, this exhibition is made up entirely of full-size digital prints of their work.