Page 16 - SUSQUEHANNA TIMES : ‘An artist is a product of his environment’’ Where are you going to be Saturday and Sunday, August 21 & 22? Richard Huck of Mount Joy knows where he will be. Richard is one of 300 artists who will be exhibit- ing and selling his artwork at the 2nd annual Mt. Gretna Chautauqua Out- door Art Show. Richard is entering the art show to gain exposure and also to sell some of his work. The art show is held in the Mt. Gretna Boro and is open to all spectators. The show is in session 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and from 12 noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. Richard, who teaches art at the Ephrata Junior High School, will be exhibiting p-ncil drawings, his favor- ite medium. He uses graphite pencils of different softnesses to produce the various shades of black and gray in his pictures. Many of his drawings are based on photographs he himself has taken of var- ious subject matter, so his work is completely original. Richard has always had an interest in art. As a child in kindergarten, he was already drawing de- tailed forms and shapes, while the other children were still only scribbling. He maintained this interest through high school and college and earned a B.S. in art education from Mil- lersville State College in 1973. Since his graduation from college, Richard has continually been working at developing new techniques and refining old ones. “I look upon art as a challenge to my ability,” says Richard. ‘‘At times being an artist gets frus- trating, but I take it in stride.” Richard Huck spends an average of forty hours on a drawing and sometimes may spend as much as sixty hours on a particular- ly difficult project. Al- though he hates to part with the fruits of his Richard Huck with ‘self portrait’. efforts, Richard sometimes. will trade pictures with his artist friends. He feels ‘‘an artist is a product of his environ- ment,’’ and he is constant- ly attuned to subject matter surrounding him. Richard prefers to draw inanimate objects to por- traits. He uses even the simplest of objects as subject matter. He espec- ially enjoys drawing old mechanical pieces, such as weathered antique cars. In addition to pencil, Richard enjoys dabbling in other mediums, such as ceramics and acrylics. He enjoys experimenting with colors and series drawings. In developing a series, the artist does one drawing of a particular subject and then completes several others following ‘‘the orig- inal line of thought in a certain direction.” Richard’s long range goal is to someday exhibit in New York City, which he Harry Becker caned first chair in 1936 Thirty years ago, Harry Becker picked up a new hobby - caning chairs. How did he start this unusual avocation? ‘‘l just made up my mind to see if I could pick it up’’, Harry told us. After caning his first chair, he stood back to appraise his work. ‘‘This here chair doesn’t look too bad,”” he mused, ‘‘I think I'l do another one.’’ After that he did another...and another. Thirty years later, he’s still at it. Harry uses only a few simple tools: an awl, cut- ting pliers, needle-nose pliers, a knife, and wooden pegs. With these he weaves rattan strips into beautiful geometric shapes. At his home near Donegal High School, Harry showed the Susquehanna Times report- er a chair with a “‘six step weave’’. Rattan strips are laid down in three layers, one on top of the other. Then three more are inter- woven to produce the characteristic pattern of roundish holes. Harry orders his raw material from the ‘‘Peer- less Rattan and Reed Mfg. Co. Inc.”’in New York. It consists of fine strips of the bark of rattan, a vine that grows in Eastern jungles. Harry wets the strips with water to make them more pliable. Harry had to stop caning for a while, following an accident last autumn. But he’s back at it again, and plans to work at it full-time from now on (Harry retired from his job as a foundry worker several years ago). Mrs. Becker also likes to work with her hands. She paints local landscapes in oil, and has painted scenes on old milkcans for various people. ‘One woman want- ed a picture of Wheatland on a can’, she told us. ‘“The front on one side and the back on the other.” This particular milk can later weathered a typhoon on Guam. Harry is caning a few chairs of his own in between working on other people’s chairs. He plans to give one to each of his five children. Harry Becker also repairs baskets and does other caning jobs. His price for chairs is 25¢ per hole (counted around the perim- eter of the seat or back). Harry enjoys caning. As his wife put it, ‘“‘He’d rather do that than eat.” feels is the mainstream of the gallery world. He feels he is slowly getting estab- lished locally, and has gained the respect of many local artists who have already become establish- ed. ‘““An artist has to be terrific to make it,”” he states, ‘‘and there are a lot of terrific artists around. It’s really hard to make it as an artist.” Maybe so, but Richard is giving an all-out effort to July 28, 1976 says Richard Huck " Broadwing “ by Richard Huck develop as an artist. In addition to the art show at Mount Gretna, he will be exhibiting his work at the Lititz Art Show at the end ne ees LR HS of July. Richard Huck resides at 84 E. Main St., Mount Joy, with his wife, Sue, and their dog, Hobo. Harry Becker does “his thing’ - caning a chair.
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