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Boiling Springs farm wife and artist Debbie Cornman displays some of her work,
including her design for the logo for the 1995 National Holstein Convention.
Artist And Farm Wife
BETH MILLER
Cumberland Correspondent
BOILING SPRINGS (Cumber
land Co.) If you went to the
1994 State Holstein Convention in
Gettysburg, chances are you saw
some of Debbie Comman’s work.
You really couldn’t miss it
because Debbie, who lives near
Boiling Springs, designed the logo
for the convention. That symbol
consisted of a cow’s head with
some picket fences.
Debbie’s work was so well
received that she has been com
missioned to do the logo for the
1995 National Holstein Conven
tion scheduled for June 25 to 28 in
Pittsburgh.
That logo wdl again feature a
cow’s head over an outline of the
state of Pennsylvania, Debbie
said. She said the whole thing will
have the word “PRIDE” written
across it.
Her work on the logos is really
symbolic of her life as an artist and
a farm wife. There also is a good
deal of natural talent in the mix.
Debbie’s art started in 1973
when she took calligraphy, which
is a form of decorative writing.
She learned how to do it on her
own.
“Basically, I am self-taught,”
Debbie said.
In 1978, she began adding oil
painting to her range of work and
maintained her focus on doing
portraits of animals.
She finally took her first paint
ing lessons in 1980 when she and
Debbie Common
her husband, Steve, were living
and farming near Fresno, Calif. It
was during that time that Debbie
was introduced to tole and decora
tive paintings, which she enthusi
astically added to her list of skills.
Debbie, Steve, and their daugh
ter, Becky, returned to work on
Steve’s family farm near Boiling
Springs in 1981. A son Aaron was
born later. Debbie began teaching
art classes for local adult educa
tion programs and area craft
shops.
Throughout all this, Debbie and
her family have been very active
in local farming and Cumberland
County 4-H activities.
On their dairy farm, they man
age 70 head of animals, with a mix
of Milking Shorthorns, Jerseys,
Brown Swiss, and Holsteins. They
farm approximately 100 acres.
Becky, who is 13, and Aaron,
who is 10, are members of the
Cumberland County 4-H Dairy
Calf Club and own several ani
mals themselves. They show at
several local fairs and also at the
All-American Dairy Show and the
State Farm Show.
Debbie is the organizational
leader of the 4-H Flying Fingers
Club in the county. The group is a
multi-purpose club that can take
on a variety of projects. She orga
nized it five years ago.
Debbie also has been a Sunday
School teacher for 10 years and
has been a member of the Farm
Women Group 23 for 11 years.
She has been a president and vice
president of that group, and is cur
rently its corresponding secretary.
All those duties have not kept
her away from her art, however.
She still teaches art classes
during the spring, fall and winter
sessions of the South Middleton
Township Park and Recreation
Department.
She taught decorative painting
and calligraphy last year and
started youth drawing classes.
Debbie said she has a lot of repeat
students who really enjoy the
classes and want to keep improv
ing on their painting skills.
Her calligraphy classes seem
to be particularly popular since
they draw many new students
each session.
Not all of her artwork is tied to
agriculture. She has taken her tole
paintings to local craft shows add
has a home calligraphy business
doing documents like wedding
certificates, graduation certifi
cates, and birth announcements.
She gained some added notice
in her community in 1993 when
she did pen and ink drawings for
sale during the well-attended
Foundry Day festival held every
year in Boiling Springs.
Debbie’s time has become
even more limited in recent
months because she has returned
to working full time off the farm.
That can put a crimp in her
schedule at times, but Debbie said
she will always find at least a few
moments to do what she enjoys
the most —drawing and paintings.
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