Dauphin County Edition
May 2013
Vol. 15 No. 5
The Abstract Eye Never Ages Octogenarian Painter Inspired by Nature, American Southwest By Lori Van Ingen Eighty-nine-year-old Etta M. Schreiner’s most rewarding experience is to just sit and paint. “If there’s a dish of pears or grapes, instead of eating them, I’d paint them,” Schreiner said. Over the years, Schreiner has produced more than 200 paintings. In September, Schreiner’s lesser-known Back of the Canvas series will grace the walls of Mulberry Art Studios’ Louise Gallery. Last summer, a retrospective of Schreiner’s work was exhibited. Schreiner has always painted. When she was 2 years old, she would “crawl up to where Mom was working at the kitchen sink. To keep me out of her hair while she was cooking, she gave me a piece of paper and a pencil. That’s what started the whole thing. I sat on the floor since I couldn’t walk yet, and I’d be painting away.” While she enjoyed painting, Schreiner didn’t go into art as a career. Instead, she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from Lebanon Valley College and master’s degree from Penn State. “I taught farm kids in a one- or two-room school. It was a great experience to teach,” she said. After marrying her husband, Jack, in 1950, Schreiner didn’t go back to please see ABSTRACT page 32 When not on display in a gallery, much of Etta Schreiner’s abstract artwork is on display in her apartment. Clockwise, from bottom left, Three Sisters, Cosmic Event, Fanned Out, and, in Schreiner’s hands, Third Quartet.
Inside:
Special Section: Dauphin County 50plus EXPO page 13
Special Focus: Better Hearing & Speech Month page 31