(Continued from Pago B 2)
Elva quit school to work on her
parents’ dairy farm. In her spare
time, she and an older sister con
tinue to draw pictures. They saved
their pennies to purchase a book on
landscape drawing. Then they met
an artist, Arlene Stauffer, who
lived nearby and who painted
scenes on milk cans.
“I adored her work and spent
hours watching her paint,” Elva
said.
Elva was told, “There are three
things an artist needs to do. Num
ber one practice. Number two
practice. And, number three
practice.”
Elva took the advice seriously.
“I made myself practice every
day,” she said.
She practiced on glass milk
jugs, stones, and wherever she
could find materials.
Neighbors who saw her work
asked her for gift items.
Before crowds of people, Elva uses chalk to draw a large
picture illustrating a story that is presented with prere
corded music and narration. She receives as many as 24
bookings a month to give chalk talks at churches, senior
citizen center, campgrounds, banquets, and outdoor com
munity celebrations. She has developed a selection of
chalk talks related to history, patriotic, holiday, and Christ
ian themes.
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Rural Scenes From Elva’s Art Shanty
Her parents began to see that
their daughter’s artistic talents
were more than mere entertain
ment or a passing phase.
“My father look an interest in
my work and encouraged me to try
drawing cows in the meadow,”
Elva said.
At first, Elva was hesitant.
Drawing landscapes was easier for
her than drawing animals. But with
her father’s critiquing. Elva per
fected her animal drawing skills.
When people asked where Elva
got her talent for drawing, her
father replied, “Not from me. I still
have mine.”
When she was IS years old,
Elva's father drove her to gift
shops to offer her work for sale.
“I discovered all I had to do was
put a horse and buggy on a scene
and tourists would buy it,” Elva
said.
The family had neither televison
nor radio to entertain Elva, who
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spend long hours painting. Instead
her mother read books aloud to
Elva as she painted.
“I really missed that after I mar
ried,” Elva said.
She and Ray married 10 years
ago and have a 3-year-old son
Josiah and a 3-month-old daughter
Bethany.
Elva has long since stopped sell
ing her work at gift shops and tour
ists shops. She has more work than
she can handle painting special
orders. In fact, she has trained a
niece to help with the special
orders.
Elva said, “A lot of farm owners
bring me pictures of their farms
and ask me to paint them.”
She mostly paints farm scenes
on saw blades, slate, and on milk
cans. Her father goes to a lot of
public sales to find milk cans and
saw blades.
In recent years, another form of
painting has become her primary
focus; chalk talks.
Before crowds of people, Elva
uses chalk to draw a large picture
illustrating a story that is presented
with prerecorded music and
narration.
“I like the chalk talks, because
they allow my husband and I to
work together. He does the narra
tion while I draw,” Elva said.
Tm amazed at the amount of
invitations,” Elva said of bookings
she receives from churches, senior
citizen center, campgrounds, ban
quets, and outdoor community
celebrations. During the recent
Memorial Day month, she had
more than two dozen invitations.
She has developed programs on
history, patriotic, holiday, and
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Christian themes.
Elva said that her interest in
chalk drawings developed when
she and her husband Ray moved to
Tulsa, Okla. to attend Bible School
for two years. During that time, she
was mentored by a chalk artist
from Pittsburgh and began using
that technique in Sunday school
teaching. Word of her work spread
and she was soon asked to perform
chalk talks for other gatherings.
When people express amaze
ment that an untrained artist has
had full-time work for more than
IS years, Elva responds, “I give all
the credit to God. He opens doors
and things keep expanding. I am
really blessed.”
In fulfillment of their dreams,
the Hursts bought a 20-acre farm
about two years ago.
“It was really a rundown farm
that my husband and I are having
fun in the process of getting it in
working order,” Elva said.
Ray farms the land in addition to
working as a flight instructor at
Lancaster Airport.
! “Ray loves coming home and
climbing on a tractor,” Elva said of
his diverse careers. The Hursts
have some goats and chickens. In
the bam, they house ostriches for
Hammercreek Exotic, which is
located nearby.
A little shed connected to the
house is the ideal spot to hang the
shingle for Elva’s Art Shanty.
Inside the building she stores milk
cans, saw blades, and slates.
While the secluded fields and
woodland surrounding the farm
provides inspiration, Elva mostly
paints at her kitchen table where
she can care for the children and
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717-532-7261
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717-762-3193
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 13, 1998-B3
fulfill household duties.
Elva has painted Eifo’s Bridge at
Mill Way on a milk can. This will
be auctioned off at 12:30 p.m. at
the Lititz Area Mennonite School
benefit auction on June 27.
Lititz Area Mennonite School’s
21st annual benefit auction and
chicken barbecue will be held Fri
day, June 26, and Saturday, June
27.
Friday’s activities begin with a
chicken barbecue dinner, with
drive-thru and eat-in services,
available from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Winross bucks and collectibles
will be sold at the Friday evening
auction between 6 p.m.-8 p.m. A
special program for children will
be held from 7:15 p.m. with Ryan
Bombgardner, a ventriloquist.
Quilts, artwork, and many other
items will be display Friday
evening.
Saturday begins with an “all you
can eat” country buffet breakfast,
served from 6:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m.
Enjoy eggs, pancakes, sausage,
tater tots, fresh fruit, muffins, and
juice for $4. Children 6-10 years
are $2, and 5 and under are free.
The auction begins at 9 a.m.
with a wide variety of items,
including crafts, baskets, pottery,
American Doll clothes, Lissi Doll,
Beanie Babies, Wooden items,
sports cards, lawn and garden
items, plants, and flowers. '
At noon a large and diverse
grouping of artwork will be sold.
Special features such as a 3-D
handcrafted painting by Lorraine
Reiff, a Sam Martin wooden cattle
truck, and a handpainted milk can
by Elva Hurst will be sold at 12:30
p.m. Quilts and wall hangings will
be auctioned at 1 p.m.
Children’s activities begin a 10
a.m. with pony rides, train rides,
crafts, fish toss, moonwalk, face
painting, and other games.
A large selection of food will be
available throughout the day.
The school is located at 1050
East Newport Rd., Lititz. For more
information about the benefit sale,
call the school at (717) 626-9551.
For more information about
chalk talks or Elva’s paintingi, call
the Hursts at (717) 626-65»2.
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