A Work in Progress

Hagerstown Cultural Trail Continues to Grow and Dazzle

Written by Linda Harkcom

The Hagerstown Cultural Trail began as a way to help revitalize the city’s downtown. It has done that and much more. The trail has not only become a tourist destination, but also soon be the main conduit for visitors to the new baseball stadium.

Mary Anne Burke, Executive Director of the Washington County Arts Council, says the Hagerstown Cultural Trail, a half mile area in the center of Hagerstown, has brought visitors and residences together.

“It is a path where new artwork along with fresh landscaping, a water feature, lighting, and sound, has rejuvenated a central downtown location and has connected the Downtown Arts and Entertainment District with City Park and the Museum of Fine Arts—Washington County. Building on all of this, we have found that the trail, which is easily accessible and free to the public, has become a destination for photo opportunities such as proms and weddings; art classes; as well as outdoor music and craft events,” Burke says.

“Moller’s Sustained Wind,” located in front of the “Mural of Unusual Size”, is artist David Gibney’s contribution to the Hagerstown Cultural Trail. He says the piece is an ode to one of the largest and most notable manufacturer’s in Hagerstown’s history, the Moller Organ Factory.

Retired City of Hagerstown City Engineer Rodney Tissue agrees with Burke that the trail has become its own destination within the city.

“Beautiful open, public spaces, are leading contributors to how attached you are to a community, especially for young people. I think the trail has done that. It has created some landmark spaces in the downtown. It’s created places you can take people from out of town to see some exceptionally good public art. They are all unique pieces created for the places they are at,” Tissue says.

Before his recent retirement, Tissue’s department was responsible for all design, construction, and art acquisition for the trail. Tissue said in 2014, the City of Hagerstown hired an outside firm to make recommen- dations on how to revitalize the downtown area. One of the recommendations was a walking trail linking the downtown to City Park. Tissue said the idea to make it an art trail came from a public meeting on the trail.

The first phase of the trail was completed in 2017 which linked City Park to Antietam Street. The second phase, linking Antietam Street to Washington Street, opened May of 2021.

“It was only a block, but it was the hardest for sure, due to the land acquisition. We got a piece of land from the State of Maryland which took four years, and it was also just a tight, confined site to build,” Tissue says.

Phase two of the project included the creation of Hatters Plaza behind the Maryland Theatre. Tissue said the plaza is a multipurpose space used for school bus pick-up and drop-off for the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts. It is also used for load-in for productions at the Maryland Theatre, and it has also become an outside event space as well.

Tissue said the construction of the new baseball stadium, at the corner of Baltimore and Antietam Streets, is changing the trail and creating a new opportunity for more visitors to use it. He said the trail will be rerouted to go East from Antietam Street and for around the stadium to reconnect with Baltimore Street.

“It will become the main walking trail to the stadium from the downtown and North, as well as from the South. With the new parking deck on Antietam Street, people will park there and walk the trail right to the stadium,” Tissue said.

There are 12 pieces of art along the trail. Tissue said a 13th piece is in storage, due to the stadium construction. More art is planned for the trail. Tissue says there is a statue of Clara Barton, created by artist Toby Mendez, slated to be installed this fall on a triangular piece of land at the corner, North of Park Circle. Tissue said, as of this interview in May, the city has also applied for a grant in hopes of having a second piece commissioned to put beside the Barton statue.

“We have art from some world-class artists, some nationally recognized artists and some regional artists,” Tissue says.

One of those artists is David Gibney, also known as DeGibinio, of Smithsburg, Maryland. Gibney studied art at the University of Indiana in South Bend and then later in life at the Maryland Institute College of Art while he ran his company, Historic

Restoration Specialists. Since retiring in 2016, Gibney says he has been able to focus more time on his art.

“I consider myself an assemblage-ist. I am drawn to items that others see as trash, particularly building materials like rusted roofing, and smashed pieces from the ground at a local junkyard, which I assemble into interesting compositions,” Gibney says.

“Moller’s Sustained Wind,” is Gibney’s contribution to the trail. He says the piece is an ode to one of the largest and most notable manufacturer’s in Hagerstown’s history, the Moller Organ Factory. It is located in front of the “Mural of Unusual Size” and composed of salvaged organ pipes, ranging from 3’ to 20’ tall, that are sprouting from the ground. He says it was inspired by a small installation of organ pipes he composed in the sculpture park at his home, and a visit to the abandoned Moller factory during renovations.

“A pipe organ produces sound by driving wind, pressurized air, through a combination of pipes, which each have a specific pitch and are selected via a keyboard. Unlike pianos, whose sound begins to dissipate as soon as the key is pressed, the organ has a sustained supply of wind,” Gibney says. “Moller’s Sustained Wind represents the cultural spirit of Hagerstown, which has been a constant presence in Washington County despite the loss of industry and population. The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts and the Maryland Theater are two examples that have sustained the tests of time, fad, and fashion.”

Artist Alison Sigethy of Alexandria, Virginia, has been a full-time, professional artist for 20 years. She says she creates custom kinetic glass cultures she calls “Sea Cores” for clients all over the world. Although Sigethy works primarily in glass, she says her public art has been in many different materials.

“I have two pieces of public art in Hagerstown — The Fantastical

Garden on the cultural trail, and the Grand Chan, an art chandelier in the Maryland theater,” Sigethy says.

Her sculpture called The Fantastical Garden is located along the trail located between the rock fountain and Ellsworth Electric.

“When designing this piece, I had several goals: I wanted to make a work that would be fun and approachable for visitors of all ages; it needed to harmonize and complement the Mural of Unusual Size; and it needed to look attractive and inviting from both sides of the trail. My favorite thing about the sculpture are the silly scientific names for the plants in it,” Sigethy says.

Mark Schwenk of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, has been a gallery artist for over 25 years as a metal sculptor, and more than 40 years as a photographer. His primary medium is steel but he also works in aluminum, stainless steel, wood and acrylic. He does public and private commissioned work that can be seen regionally, throughout the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore area as well as along the east coast.

Schwenk has two pieces along the trail. The first, “A Butterfly Dreams of the Garden,” is the 20’x50’ overhead sculpture in Hatters Plaza. It is created from laser-cut aluminum and acrylic.

“Its butterfly and flower elements represent the beauty of nature and life around us and our struggle to find that in our own personal lives. We are all butterflies dreaming of the garden,” Schwenk says.

The second, “Windswept,” is a 7’ tall by 22’ foot long windswept tree sculpture located on West Lee Street along the trail. It is created from steel and stainless steel and is brightly painted with multiple colors.

“Our lives are often windswept by forces we cannot control, but there is beauty in the flow that nature sweeps us along with,” Schwenk says.

For more information on the Hagerstown Cultural Trail, visit www.hagerstownculturaltrail.com.

Because of your programs, staff, and services, I have been able to accomplish goals I never thought possible.

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Written by Paulette Lee

You’ve done the “Merlot and Monet” (or something similar) wine-and-paint event, and now you’re hooked. You want to discover, nurture or improve the artist in you. You’re in luck: the tri-state Cumberland Valley is fortunate to have numerous opportunities to learn how to make art (without the alcohol, though).

Washington County, Maryland, is home to several arts organizations, including the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) (wcmfa. org), and the Valley Art Association (VAA) (valleyartassoc.org), both of which are based in Hagerstown City Park, as well as the Washington County Arts Council (washingtoncountyarts.com) in downtown Hagerstown. All three organizations offer a variety of arts programs and opportunities for local artists to exhibit their work, and the MFA and VAA both offer classes.

Kellie Mele, Museum of Fine Arts Director of Education, says most of their adult classes are offered in conjunction with the museum’s special exhibits. This summer, one such exhibit will be “Landscapes and Legends of Norway” (May 27-Sept. 18), in honor of the museum’s founders who moved to Norway and befriended many of the artists there. In line with that exhibit, two well-known local artists/teachers will be offering classes that complement the exhibit: David Bottini will be teaching a multi-class series in traditional landscape painting in acrylics, and because many of the Norway pieces are on paper, Nicole Troup will invite participants to “Draw Your Pet,” using charcoal and pan pastel on paper.

“Treasures of State,” featuring artworks belonging to the Maryland State Art Collection, will also be on display at the museum over the summer (June 24-Oct. 22), so keep an eye out for possible classes related to that exhibit. Costs for the adult classes vary; the museum’s Saturday and summer art classes for children are underwritten by the Bowman Foundation.

Artist Elaine Wolfe has been organizing art classes for the Valley Art Association since 2017, beginning with life-drawing workshops that continue to this day at the VAA’s Mansion House Art Center & Gallery in City Park. These uninstructed, three-hour sessions use professional models and are held year-round. Wolfe explains the VAA also offers, both to members and non-members, a variety of courses and workshops.

“In general, a course of classes permits the teacher to guide the student through a step-by-step absorption of the elements basic to, for example, watercolor painting, and it allows the student to build on their knowledge and skill in consecutive lessons. Plus, the teacher may give homework between classes. A workshop is usually a one-day event, and suited to learning a specific area for study, for example, how to create an alla prima painting in oils. It often involves learning to think about how to approach a task, in addition to the fundamentals

of its practice.”

Workshops offered by the Valley Art Association have included techniques of oil painting, portrait painting and portrait drawing, still-life and flower painting, acrylic glazing techniques in landscape painting, watercolor painting, life-drawing, scratchboard and clay sculpture. Courses have included annual summer six-week watercolor classes, oil painting classes on landscape, and painting classes geared to responding to individual students’ needs. The VAA also has members who are artists and teachers who provide classes in their private studio and sometimes at the Mansion House.

Typically, the VAA offers four to six workshops a year, along with an ongoing series of classes. The average cost of a workshop is $80 - $90 per six or six-and-a-half hours.

Many art classes require students to bring their own supplies, and a local source for those supplies is Howard’s Art & Frames (howardsarts.com) on Dual Highway in Hagerstown, which also offers classes in acrylic painting, airbrush illustration and watercolor, as well as various workshops, including paint pouring and Ukrainian egg dyeing.

Owner Sarah Kersting says she doesn’t solicit instructors; she’s usually approached by them.

“They come to me and tell me what kind of class they’re interested in teaching. If they have good credentials, a good portfolio, and we are in need of that type of teacher, I work with them to set up classes. Our acrylic painting class and our airbrush class run about every eight weeks so we have maybe five-to-six per year. The other classes are less frequent.”

Most of Howard’s classes cost $125$150. The airbrush class is less, at $70.

Stephen Wright is also based in Hagerstown. A clay artist and percussionist who taught art at Hagerstown Community College for almost three decades, Wright teaches five classes weekly at his Wright Hand Studio (wrighthanddrums.com/wright-handpottery-classes) in Hagerstown’s North End.

“I provide a clean, fun, community environment where students can learn and explore the endless possibilities of working with clay,” Wright says. “The studio is fully equipped with more than 1,200 square feet of working space, eight electric potter’s wheels, a slab roller, a clay extruder and two electric kilns. All clay and glazes are oven-safe, lead-free and suitable for functional use. My students come from all walks of life – they’re seekers of knowledge.”

Adult classes are offered Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings 5:30-9:00 and Tuesday and Wednesday days from 10:00-1:30. The cost for the seven-week adult session is $230 and includes one 25-pound bag of clay and glazing and firing costs. The facility also serves as Wright’s personal studio, where he fabricates and sells his original creations, including the clay drums he makes – and plays. The Wright Hand Studio is also on the Washington County “Pottery Trail”, a map of which can be found at participating studios, or online at visithagerstown.com/pottery-trail.

Another three-dimensional artistic experience can be had at Hagerstown Board & Brush (boardandbrush. com), where you can make your own signs. “Pick Your Project” is a popular option, in which an instructor leads a step-by-step, do-it-yourself process from distressing and staining to stencils and painting. They have seven different stain choices, more than 75 colors of paint, and more than 700 designs. Board & Brush offers from three-to-five workshops a week. The PYP workshops are $73 each, while other workshops range in price from $15 to $168.

Beyond Maryland

In Franklin County, Pennsylvania, the Arts Alliance of Greater Waynesboro doesn’t itself offer art classes for adults, but several of its members do.

The Nicodemus Center for Ceramic Studies (waynesboroceramics.org) in Waynesboro, offers wheel throwing and hand building classes for all ages, and they even take special projects on the road to their local senior centers.

Executive Director Jenny Snyder many of the classes are project based, so students know what they are creating when they come in.

“We have one-night, two-hour classes where you can try the wheel and we have multi-week classes for those who are ready to really dive in. After taking a seven-week beginner course, you can apply to become a guild member. Our guild members have access to our studio 24-7 and create work for personal projects as well as to sell at our guild store.”

Classes are taught by local artists (mainly those in their guild) and class dates are based on instructors’ availability. Adult classes run between $40-60 depending on the project. Multi-week classes are normally $250. Currently classes are held at their Waynesboro Studio at 13 South Church Street, but the studio is in the process of moving to the Penn State Mont Alto Campus.

Another Waynesboro art learning opportunity is at the Walnut Street Studios (walnutstreetstudios.com), which offers studio space for potters, painters and other artists; has a retail sales area open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on the first Saturday of each month; and offers both private and group classes in stained glass and pottery.

Joyful Arts Studio in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, focuses on “the exploration of individual creativity and inspiring wellness through art”, a concept that evolved from owner Susan Shaffer’s own work in art therapy, derived from her combined background in health care and art. Although primarily a watercolorist, Shaffer teaches in all media and considers her studio “an artistic oasis for people from all walks of life: established artists, new artists, those who just want a night out to dabble in art, those with cognitive challenges such as autism, dementia, or Alzheimer’s Disease and those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Joyful Arts Studio also offers traditional art lessons in watercolor, oils, acrylics, pastels and other forms of creative expression.

The Chambersburg Council for the Arts (councilforthearts.net) has a program committee that brainstorms types of classes and workshops to offer, which often are tied into their exhibits. Deb Slocum, the Council’s programs coordinator, says the number of classes varies from month to month.

“We’re always looking for more teachers and try to offer a variety of classes at different skill, price ranges, and techniques or mediums… Some of our classes are repeat classes that are ‘fan favorites’, such as the advanced level ‘Oil, Watercolor, Acrylics and Pastels.’ We also frequently offer art journaling, stained glass, ceramics and neurographics classes.”

Costs of classes generally are set by the instructors based on the time and materials involved, though efforts are made to obtain grant underwriting as often as possible.

Berkeley County, in West Virginia, also has an active arts community. The Berkeley Arts Council offers classes in traditional media such as oils, watercolors, acrylics, and pastels as well as in mixed media, collage, and art journaling. They also offer historical arts, such as parchment craft, needle felting, and Pysanky. Most classes occur at Berkeley Art Works in Martinsburg, and are offered in three formats: one-day workshops, full-length courses (a series of classes held over a number of weeks), and intensive workshops.

According to spokesperson Kirstin Lee, “Often, we offer an introductory one-day workshop to give students a taste for a new medium or process before they commit the time and materials for a deeper dive. We will then offer a related four-week course. We also look at how courses relate with each other. For example, a recently offered course covered collage techniques and design. While it’s not a prerequisite, it builds a solid foundation for an upcoming course in Collage for Self-Discovery.”

Berkeley is aiming for 35 or more classes this year. One-day workshops range from $25 to $95, depending on duration. Tuition for the typical 4-week course is $150.

Additional art classes can be found at community colleges and from artists who exhibit in local galleries – so if you’re interested, ask! Artistic techniques can be learned, and in the process you may find a previously untapped talent and unexplored passion.