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- Works of art can come in many forms.

in many forms.

Through the expression of skill and imagination.

the visual arts can evoke emotion, tell a story, or simply convey a message.

On this episode of Lehigh Valley Rising, we look at the businesses that create the tools used to bring imagination to life.

Be it boosting a child's creativity, designing school projects that pop, or crafting one-of-a-kind works of art.

All here in the Lehigh Valley.

Our first featured segment focuses on ArtSkills, a company located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Founded in 1987 by Steven Golden, ArtSkills is now led by his daughter, a former Broadway actress who went from commanding audiences on the Great White Way, to commanding this multimillion dollar company.

- When your child says, "Hey, Mom," or "Hey, Dad, "I have a project due."

And you say, "Oh, yeah, when?"

And they say, "Tomorrow."

And it's, all of a sudden, a quick trip to your favorite retailer.

ArtSkills definitely makes arts and crafts.

And we don't just make one type of product.

We make all types of art-and-craft products, and we happen to make all types of other products.

ArtSkills makes fitness and novelty, and baking and jewelry, and toy and STEM.

So, we make a lot of products that we make for the mass market.

ArtSkills is a family-owned company, and it was established by my dad, Steven.

In my early career as an actress, I would go to a show and then between shows I came back and worked for the family business.

Art Skills is a business that has grown up in the Lehigh Valley.

We started in Easton, on Cattell Street, and then went downtown to Ferry Street, and then, went up to Forks, to Sullivan Trail.

And now, we're here in Bethlehem.

The Lehigh Valley has an art aura about it.

I feel like I've watched the Valley grow its creative roots.

It's important that we're here.

It's home to me.

What's different about ArtSkills is that we believe art is not something that you need to be talented at.

We make sure that all of the products have instruction behind it, that everybody is successful.

This is the nucleus of ArtSkills.

This is the art department.

It's separated into two sides.

This is the comping craft side, and over there are the amazingly talented graphic designers.

We know that the hard part about doing a project is being able to come up with a piece of art that goes on a 22x28 piece of poster board.

So, all of our products help you do that much easier.

- When we found a way to a category of poster board accessories, which was a little niche, we developed a whole line of products around making that process easier, faster, better, and then developing the products, but more importantly, developing the where do they go?

Retail, there's no free space anywhere.

So we basically created little wire fixtures that snapped on top of existing fixtures.

It sort of led to what makes us who we are today, because when we had developed that category, found that category, developed the merchandising and sold our first fixture at actually Rite Aid, which is a local Pennsylvania company, was our first customer that gave us the chance, and from there, it just exploded.

- At ArtSkills, we welcome everyone.

The one rule at ArtSkills is you have to be nice.

- The secret to our success is the human beings that are under this roof.

- We just kind of make some magic out of everybody working together and everybody gets a say.

- In the past ten years, ArtSkills' workforce has grown from 25 employees to 75.

I actually joined ArtSkills in 1988, so I was here when there was only one employee, and now I'm here when there's 70+ employees.

And the changes have been all positive.

- My dad and I are big proponents of all skills, especially art skills.

It's a family business, and I want more of those family people to be here.

- ArtSkills has been doing a backpack-fill for many years as part of the national foundation called Kids in Need Foundation.

And we've been supporters for almost 20 years.

- It gives free school supplies to underserved children.

- Let's do it.

Woo!

- All of those kids start their first day of school with a backpack full of supplies.

- We've donated over $1 million of supplies and money, and we feel really strongly about that because it goes with our mission about helping people.

One pack of markers, crayons...

The last piece is a little handwritten note that was written by one of ArtSkills' employees as a little motivational note to each child.

- So it levels the playing field.

So, whether your mom went to her local store and said, "Here's all your new stuff," or Kids In Need gave you a backpack, and here's all your new stuff.

Both those kids are set to go.

- We also spent some time at the Crayola plant in Easton, PA. With products and millions of homes throughout America, this globally-known company has succeeded by living up to its founding principles.

Innovation, education, and creativity.

- I used to want my dad's car.

Now, he was mine!

- I know where the cow is!

Right here.

- Crayola creativity sets are more than fun.

They help your child grow.

- I'm going to Mars!

- Crayola is a brand that is really grounded in inspiring kids to express what's in their minds.

- Crayons first rolled off the line in 1903.

Today, Crayola still stands for all of those things.

Creativity, innovation, chemistry and, of course, education in kids.

- There is no manufacturing facility in the world like the Crayola plant.

70% of what we sell globally, we manufacture here in the Lehigh Valley.

We have a wonderful and skilled workforce here in the Lehigh Valley.

Hardworking people able to come to work every day, and have a great pride that they can manufacture here in the USA and service our customers.

Our latest piece of automation, which is the high-speed 24-count Crayon packer.

You can pack 75,000 boxes in a shift.

The automation here has been so significant.

The first human that touches one of our Crayons, and 75% of our Crayons, is a child.

- We're here today at the Crayola Creativity Tent, here at Musikfest, in Bethlehem.

Our volunteers have been doing this for many years.

Because those kids who are creative as children, they go on to be creative thinkers and solve big problems, and they're going to become adults doing the same thing.

- You can see it on a piece of paper with a red and a blue line that a child might paint and, they might tell you that's their house.

But it also is having that open-mindedness to tell that story and be creative in thinking that that could be a possibility for a house, or thinking about that there's new ways of doing things every day.

- Crayola started with an inspiration about how to help kids in schools.

- The predecessor to Crayola LLC was a company called Binney & Smith.

- Joseph Binney was an inventor who really was chemical, at the heart of what he did.

His son, who was also an inventor, who partnered with his cousin, C. Harold Smith, who was really the salesman, the entrepreneur.

In the late 1800s, they came here to make slate pencils.

And if you look around Pennsylvania, you'll find oil, you'll find slate, pretty rich resources.

So they moved down here right on the banks of the Bushkill Creek water mill there helped their operations.

And then, eventually we have Edwin Binney's wife, Alice Binney, who was a teacher, and really brought some of the insights to her husband and her cousin, asking them to invent products that would help kids in the classroom.

It's a brand that is really found virtually in every home in America.

And for us, education has been at the core of what we have done from the very beginning.

- At the same time, at the end of the day, kids just want to have fun, as well.

- The Crayola Experience is really about creative play.

Children get a chance to unleash that imagination without the boundaries of what is here at the house today.

"Who's going to clean up after me?"

And they can do things that they just physically can't do at home.

We're the stewards of the language of color.

That's why teachers want their children to all have Crayola crayons in the classroom.

So as they ask them to take out a color, they can say the color name, and they know that all the children have the exact same crayon in their hands.

Something that everybody does want to know, where Crayola colors come from?

Believe it or not, we do not have a secret naming department here at Crayola.

They come from a few different places.

Probably one of our favorites is consumer naming.

My favorite crayon is Razzmatazz.

It's a little bit pink, it's a little bit purple.

It's also one of the first colors made by a consumer, and it has all those Zs, it's pretty fun to say.

Colors of the World started with this very, probably a basic conversation.

Hey, kids should be able to color the world exactly as they see it.

How do we do that authentically?

We worked with the founder of Matte Cosmetics, who provided some wonderful business and chemical knowhow in that space, and the teams did an amazing job, 24 colors representing about 99% of different shades on a global shade palette around the world.

And really, the conversation that started, both inside the building and with kids, and teachers and parents, and the colors themselves are just spectacular.

We were in a pretty tough year where kindness, mental health were top of mind for kids and parents.

So we launched Colors of Kindness, a beautiful, soft color palette with wonderful names like Breathe Deep.

And this color palette launched in the form of crayons last year, and colored pencils and markers this year.

- What we will have done is we will take the 24 color names and color palette, and turn them into unique pieces of art.

That art will be used on products, everything from infant wear to bracelets, to consumer goods.

- Our products and our brand are really just a key.

And that key unlocks what lives in a child every day.

- And our products are the tools that allow a child to achieve her greatest potential.

And we're very proud as we see the production that we're able to do here in the US that we're achieving that end.

- It starts with the child.

And the fact that that conversation starts with a child is universal, and is truly global.

And I think that's why the brand has endured all these years.

- As the creators of exquisite craftsmanship with eye-popping colors, Warner Art Glass, in Allentown, came to the Lehigh Valley in 1980 and became one of the leading art glass supply stores in the world.

It offers classes, workshops, and seminars for just about anyone eager to try their hand at this old-world artistry.

We took a tour of the store to experience it for ourselves.

- Glass is unlike any other material I've ever worked with.

It challenges me.

- Glass is one of those things that's unique.

There's just a lot of different uses for it.

- Cups, bowls, bottles, vases.

- There's stained glass, there's mosaic, there's torch work.

- You literally can make art with a sheet of colored glass and a hammer, and a bottle of glue.

You're limited by your imagination, which is limitless to most of us.

- When I was a child, when we'd go to Tijuana, I'd make a point of seeing the glass blowers.

In my later, teen years, I picked it up doing stained glass.

My first place in San Diego was a tiny little stand-alone thing, which now is an annex to a bar.

- I met Charles back in the 1980s, when he first came into the valley.

He wanted to drop a million-plus into the art glass community, and I just didn't think there was that kind of a market for it.

But inside of three years, the store blew up, and then, suddenly we had millions to play with.

- We do a variety of glass, stained glass, cutting glass.

We also do mosaic, where people can assemble things.

And then, we also do blown glass.

- All of our classes here, glass cutting, assembly, soldering, they're all free.

That's all at Mr. Warner's expense.

But all of it is a trap.

We do it for free, but it's one of the best marketing things that we got, I mean, if we show you how, you're going to want to do it, and we know exactly where you can get your supplies.

- We sell all of the supplies, sheet glass, tools to do stained glass, mosaic glass, and fused glass.

It's just filled with everything the imagination can think of and dream of.

We have everything down to the $5 knickknack dust bunny catchers, all the way up to the $100,000 range for certain pieces.

- We do pewter castings, which is several of our product lines.

We also do blown glass where we make anywhere lamps, figurines, ring holders, variety of stuff in the hot shop.

- I am the hot shop manager here at Warner Art Glass.

I oversee everything that happens here in the studio, from the classes to production.

A little bit hotter this time.

The glass cools off rapidly.

So, we have to kind of do this dance in between the bench and the hole to keep it hot.

There's just something about glass that's so mesmerizing.

And you're making lava into this beautiful piece.

And there it is.

- If you take a look around the store, it's mind-boggling.

The colored lights, the colored glass, the art, the sculptures.

- It's an experience, because our customers come from a considerable distance, and we want to give them something that's worthwhile, rather than just someplace they could find anywhere.

Sitting in the middle of our showroom is a 12-foot mosaic giraffe.

Life-size, three-dimensional.

The store is indescribable, and it's constantly evolving.

At Warner Art Glass, we're really connected with the community in a couple of different ways.

One would be the philanthropy that Mr. Warner offers to the community.

The Pediatric Cancer Society of the Lehigh Valley was one organization where we shut down the entire store, and all of the patients, as well as their siblings and their mothers and fathers for an entire weekend, full exposure at our glass.

There's so much talent that just resides in the valley, and most don't know they even have the talent.

When they come in here, we'll get them plugged in, and they'll bloom and blossom just like everybody else.

- Seeing people participate and get excited, and sign up for the classes gets me all excited.

Warner Art Glass is a mecca for the glass artist.

If it's something you think you want to do, or you're trying to find out, you walk into this store, you'll know.

We got something for everybody.

- PBS39's own education outreach specialist Amber Emory sat down with the top Crayolian himself, Rich Wuerthele, the CEO of Crayola.

This colorful conversation touched upon creativity, community responsibility, and what the future holds for the stewards of color.

- Rich, thank you so much for joining us.

- Amber, thanks for having me, and it's always great to be here at The Crayola Experience.

- You're an incredibly trusted brand worldwide, from parents and kids, you really have a great following.

Do you feel like your responsibility to those kids and families that really trust in you is reflected in any way in your corporate responsibilities?

- That's a great question, Amber.

And, you know, it's interesting.

I've never worked with a brand as magical, as pure, as revered as Crayola.

And the brand is almost 120 years old.

And we are as vibrant and as popular, and as well-known as we've ever been in that whole ten years.

But to your question, there's a little bit more, because the brand, who it caters to, and who, you know, it's children and parents, and educators.

So, yes, there's a little more onus there.

- So, speaking of creativity and keeping that alive, we've got lots of playful things here in front of us.

So, I am loving this Model Magic.

So, I'm going to create over here as we're talking.

- So Amber, we make 177,000 pounds of that a day here in Easton.

- Okay, great.

So I can use all the colors.

- You can use everything.

- With all the responsibility that you were talking about, do you feel like that has any influence on where you place your charitable efforts?

- You know, we're very proud of the fact last year, in our United Way campaign, it was the first year that we eclipsed $1 million.

Honestly, we had never gotten over the $800,000 threshold, and the whole company rallied to donate over $1 million here locally in the Lehigh Valley.

So we're very, very excited about that.

Historically, we've always been very focused on our local community, so the majority of our efforts here go towards the Lehigh Valley, again, go towards education, go towards children.

We're working...just made a significant donation to a park near Paxinosa Elementary, more green space downtown, so we're very focused locally, and we have a very active employee base.

We refer to our employees as "Crayolians," and it's very common to see Crayolians throughout the community participating, engaging throughout the Lehigh Valley.

And we certainly contribute funds, but we contribute a lot of hours of...

I actually, just last week, painted the foursquare a new foursquare, the game, rubber ball.

I wasn't very good at it, but I painted the foursquare court at Paxinos Elementary last week.

So, we do a lot of that activity.

There were people that were doing far more creative work.

They said, "The foursquare court's good for you."

- As you can tell... - Straight lines, boxes, I like it.

You know, I...

I got a little creative, and I gave my little cat rain boots with the Model Magic because they don't like water, right?

So, I made him some rain boots.

- Or salt in the winter.

- There you go!

Yes.

For if they need to take a trek outside, it's too cold... - Amber, and you said you weren't creative!

I mean, I'm drafting off somebody else's work, and you're creating.

- I am creating with the skills, my creativity, which is like, how do I make this interesting?

- It's awesome.

I love it.

- Thank you!

Thank you.

So, we heard from one of your Crayolians, those employees that you have, which, by the way, I love that title.

Please tell me that everybody writes that on their resume.

- On their business cards?

- "Crayolian at Crayola."

- I'm going to anoint you a Crayolian.

You're in the club.

- Yes!

Oh, my gosh.

I'm so excited.

I'm not sure where that goes on my resume.

Probably "special skills".

I hope somebody asks.

I am curious.

We heard from one of those Crayolians that you were the stewards of color.

How does that... how do you relate to that?

How does that land for you?

- Yeah, it lands very well.

We take it very seriously.

So we see ourselves as stewards of color right from the very onset, because that's how children learn colors and learn how to express themselves, and learn creativity.

But we also grow up with the child, as well.

We launched, two years ago, Colors of the World, and in its first annual year of sales, we did the most product sales of any launch in our company history, and our 120-year history.

So, it was an amazing product launch.

And again, stewards of color for older kids to better represent themselves, better represent their friends, because they've got a range of coloring tools that reflect 99% of the skin tones in the world.

- I love that.

And I can say, we at PBS39 use them, because we have such diverse characters, like Alma, from Alma's Way, Molly of Denali.

They all have these really unique skin tones.

And honestly, without those crayons, without those markers, we would not be able to color those characters in the way that they were designed.

I can say, from my own behalf, I really appreciate... - No, it's unbelievable, the outreach we've had from our consumers talking about picking their skin tone, how great it feels to have a color that represents them and they can represent their kids.

And it's, yeah, it's just been wonderful.

So with this new incredible stuff that you're doing, World of Colors, what's next for Crayola?

What do you have coming up?

Can you give us any tidbits?

- How much time do we have?

- I know!

Limitless.

- Limitless.

- We are doing more with Crayola experience.

We currently have five Crayola Experiences across the US that we own and manage, and we just signed a contract with a company that runs family entertainment centers, which is what we refer to this, and they're opening seven more over the next three years.

And then, we're actually looking at getting into, with our friends at Hallmark Media, you know, we have a Hallmark Media, which is the Hallmark channels and all the Hallmark movies.

With Hallmark Media, we are working towards potentially having a Crayola element to what they do from a media standpoint.

So, we've got a lot of great initiatives.

- You got a lot going on.

- We have a ton going on.

- Well, I'm going to let you get back to work, then.

- I have to finish my scribble-scrubby.

- Oh, yes, definitely do that.

And as you're coloring, can you tell us what is your favorite Crayola color?

- I am, as you can tell, a big blue guy.

- So, Cornflower blue is my favorite blue.

- Cool, I love that!

- I love it, too.

- Thank you so much.

Let's finish up our designs.

- I think, go for the ear tips.

- Oh, yes, yes!

- That's the boots.

- There you go.

- Thank you, Amber and Rich.

And thank you for tuning in.

You can find this, and every episode of Lehigh Valley Rising, on...

I'm Grover Silcox.

And for all of us here, see you next time.