(soft upbeat music) - Up next on Keystone Stories, "The Arts are Alive."

(bright upbeat music) The arts are alive all over the state in all kinds of places like here at the Art Alliance of Central PA, located in Lamont.

Art can be created and discovered almost anywhere.

Look around your hometown, you might be surprised on what you find.

(bright instrumental music) When you think about the arts in Pennsylvania, you probably think of some of the bigger cities like Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.

But if you take a closer look, you'll see that from the festivals to galleries, to maker spaces art is embedded in virtually every community throughout the state - Monet wasn't working in cities, van Gogh wasn't working in cities.

Art is not limited to any one particular area.

(bright upbeat music) - There's creativity happening all over the place.

It can be as simple as people gardening or someone painting a mural.

There's art all around us all the time.

(bright upbeat music) - This abundance of art speaks to the need we all have to create and connect.

- Art has always resonated with me.

I just think it's a great opportunity for people to have a communal experience.

And one that celebrates you as an individual expressing yourself.

- One example is the Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center in Johnstown, nestled in the Laurel Mountains of Cambria county.

This might not be a city you think of as a place to seek out arts and culture but places like the Bottle Works are working to preserve Johnstown's rich ethnic heritage and give a new generation of artists a chance to discover their talent and hone their skills.

(soft ethereal music) - At the Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center, we want to inspire artistic passion.

And you can discover your creativity through our workshops and classes.

A lot of the programming here that we do with our youth, like I really try to push it as vocation training.

So not just looking at art as a hobby, art is a valuable industry.

(soft instrumental music) - I grew up in Johnstown and just kind of chose to live and work and teach and make art in Johnstown 'cause it's kind of a great place.

(soft instrumental music) I think part of it is because it is somewhat isolated from what's considered to be, oh, the art hubs you have this push to sort of make your own thing happen.

(indistinct) I've been a part of the artwork's Bottle Works seen almost from the beginning but just have been a part of- - To do something with a cardboard.

- Participating in building the classes and making and showing art here.

- Of like, of working.

- We try to make art accessible to everybody.

We do a lot of exhibiting of local and regional artists and we do special events.

- Yeah, that's a big one because it's a really beautiful space.

They can have a wedding reception here.

They can do events and then people that aren't normally connected to looking at art like, "Oh, I'm here for this wedding, but like, wow, that's a great painting" or "that's a great sculpture," or, or, or, and they connect that way.

(soft instrumental music) - One of our missions is to support the working artist and we wanna provide platforms where they can sell and promote themselves.

And so the gift shop is one of the ways we do that.

(soft instrumental music) The gift shop is comprised of about 60 regional artists spending from the Johnstown area down to Bedford, even out to Pittsburgh.

We have a hodgepodge of different people from metal artists to painters, to wood carvers, all types of art and disciplines can be found in the shop.

(soft instrumental music) I think that through the pandemic, we really found that the Bottle Works was a connecting place.

And through the programs that we hosted, the outdoor things that we did, it was just a safe place for the community to come together.

And, it's our hope to continue to provide those spaces where it's safe and welcoming for the community.

(soft instrumental music) - Another place you might be surprised to find a vibrant arts community is the unassuming town of Mount Union located in Huntingdon county.

- The Art Guild was started by amateur painters in 1972.

They just really enjoyed doing their artwork and thought they would get together and they can learn from each other and share their ideas.

- Art can be a great way to build a sense of belonging especially when you're new to a community.

- I moved here in 2010 and I had always done art on my own and wanted to meet people in town and so I found the Art Guild.

(soft instrumental music) Whenever I have my classes, I have local people at class and they'll reminisce about what was down the street and that little restaurant was there, and do you remember when we were a kid and this happened and I learn a lot about town that way.

That's the stuff you don't get in books.

(bright ethereal music) We have all kinds of things, we have people that paint an acrylic, we have watercolor.

People crochet, they do felting, some people write poetry, so you don't have to be a painter or what you may think of as an artist to be in the Art Guild.

Some people just like to come in and look at what we're doing and we welcome that.

There's a lot of talent, there's a lot of talent in this town and a lot of people don't appreciate their own talent or even realize that they have it.

I think it changes how people feel about themselves.

And then I think that also helps them interact with other people in a more positive way.

Helping people realize that they might have a talent that they didn't know they had is important.

(soft instrumental music) - About an hour north of Mountain Union, there's another hidden hub of art and culture to be found.

(soft instrumental music) - It's a super rural, super small town, single traffic light town of like, I don't know 1,000 people but it has an incredible fine arts gallery, a micro brewery that has art in it and amazing live music and other really incredible venues.

But there's just so many artists and musicians.

It has a really high talent per capita ratio.

I think different artists have come for different reasons but they're attracted to the fact that there already is an artistic community here.

It's a really special place that you find a lot of things that you would not expect to find in a place that small.

But the benefit of having all of that culture in a rural place is that it's just stunningly beautiful.

Everyday driving around, you just see incredibly beautiful landscapes.

So it's a perfect marriage of culture and nature.

(soft upbeat music) - If you look at different communities throughout Pennsylvania, you'll see that galleries are not the only place where you can take in a beautiful work of art.

There are even ways you can be part of creating it.

- My art practice involves my fine art and community art.

So, I bounce back and forth between those two things which is really wonderful for me because one is social and one is pretty isolated.

I've been doing community mural projects since I was 18 and I've done them all over Pennsylvania and outside of Pennsylvania, but the Millheim project was very special to me because I took this idea of working with community and talking with community members about what the identity of a place is and translating that into a big mural project.

And I took that into my own community.

So it was really special.

It was a really wonderful and amazing way to get to know my own community.

So the way that I do community mural projects is, I get people involved in brainstorming for the design itself.

So, it's all about what is special about that particular place.

And then I also make the mural to be entirely paint by number and have lots and lots of people involved in helping to create the mural itself.

(soft dramatic music) - Millheim is far from the only place community art projects are happening in Pennsylvania.

- I'm a big believer in the role of not just public art, but community-engaged public art as a way to strengthen social fabric, to improve connection to place and to make people feel engaged with objects that they might be walking by every day for 15 years like I was looking at this mural and thinking that it could be something different.

People came out of the woodwork to give feedback, ask questions, to participate in the projects.

All told there'll probably be upwards of 100 volunteers working on the projects.

- The movement to create opportunities for artistic expression continues to grow.

- It's gonna be a cafe here in the front, hmm, with art gallery, art library.

- Take for example, Artery.

- Layout area.

- A new collaborative art space coming to Phillipsburg.

- Yes.

- When I went to Italy to visit my family, I was so overwhelmed by the sense of community and how the folks would gather to make music, to share meals together.

There was always that connection and I was so inspired.

I thought, "Wouldn't it be great to bring people together and to center around art?"

- Like- - I have always gravitated towards those spaces.

I've found people were very accepting and encouraging and that's the kind of space that we would really like to have.

- The coffee shop vibe in the front I think is not as intimidating as just having this intense art space where people might not feel comfortable to come in and just try their hand at it.

So I thought, "Oh, they can come in, we're gonna have an art library, or just a space where people can take refuge and relax and just want to kind of be a part of the energy that's going on in here."

- It's something that's outside of your normal space.

So it's not school, it's not work, it's not home, it's a separate place that you go and the whole point of it is to kind of build community between different kinds of people.

I would say that everyone is an artist.

I know that people don't feel that way and that's one of the things I find to be, I don't know if it's a tragedy exactly, but everybody wants their kids to take art classes.

And then somehow that all like goes by the wayside.

Maybe not everyone can do it all the time but there should be spaces for people to kind of pursue parts of themselves that they're not otherwise able to do.

And we would really like to be that space for people.

(machine sound) (soft upbeat music) - What lights you up?

What brings you joy?

We are all creative beings, we truly are.

When people say to me, "Oh, I'm not an artist."

I said, "You just haven't given it the time yet."

That's what's in my heart.

That's what I want people to know about Artery.

We are gonna be the life force of our community.

We really want this to be the place that will start a movement in town.

- That is just the small sample of the creative opportunities this state has to offer.

Throughout Pennsylvania, people are finding all kinds of ways to add beauty to their towns and inspire their neighbors to be open to new experiences.

So, the next time you're looking for a way to engage with the arts, chances are there's something just around the corner.

(soft upbeat music) - Art can inspire a lot of things in a community like the restoration of an old building.

This next piece features a building that used to be in Mill Hall and is now in Lock Haven and has been reborn into something entirely different.

- I'm Carol Suluhan.

I'm here to talk to you about our wonderful gem of North Central PA, the Station Gallery.

This building was an old train station in Mill Hall, PA which is up the road like five miles.

An owner was trying to get rid of this building but he didn't wanna demolish the building 'cause it was a historic rail station.

They ended up taking down the building and drove it five miles into Lock Haven.

Nobody really knew what to do with it.

Finally, the city offered it to a lot of people and they came to the Arts Council.

We walked in there and we looked around and we said, "Oh my gosh this could be a great urban contemporary gallery."

The Arts Council did all the interior.

The exterior was renovated by the city, so the outside of the building is historic train station, but you walk inside and all the artists and all the people who come there say, "Oh my gosh this is this perfect urban contemporary gallery."

So it's the perfect blend of two things.

(bright upbeat music) We want to connect art with people.

We have a photo show that's juried.

We have a 2D, 3D exhibit that's juried.

We have themed things like recycled, repurposed.

We've had a graphics show that was juried.

So people from the entire region can actually join in with people from the city and now we have this connectivity with other communities, which is great.

We also have a lot of scholastic shows.

We try to have an opportunity for each grade level, elementary school, middle school and high school of the Keystone Central School District all have the opportunity to show.

We provide an opportunity where they can be in a professional space where they can say that, "Oh my art is important, my family can come.

They have a real reception.

They're in a professional gallery.

Everything is well lit."

So they get that experience and they get that confidence of being there.

We also connect with Lock Haven University and that's really important to us.

So we have university students, Fine Arts Society comes in once a year, shows their work and part of the permanent collection from the university.

We've been fortunate in the fact that the community has embraced us.

We have a pig rose, we have the historical society come and join us, so again, connecting with other organizations.

It's become a place to connect and it's really great.

The great thing about Lock Haven is, we can have an amazing cultural center, we can have a outstanding university but we can also have this beautiful rural setting.

It's just an amazing conglomeration of things.

There's good food, there's good people and it has that wonderful small town personality that makes everything affordable, affable, likable and a place you wanna live.

And art makes everything better in Lock Haven.

- Public art projects are popping up all over the state.

There are cows around Harrisburg, frogs and Erie and book benches here in Center county.

And now there's a flock of geese landing in Mifflin and Juniata county.

(bright upbeat music) - We're standing here looking at navigator and he's one of the first in the flock of the community partnerships Wild Geese Flock Together Public Art Project.

And he's a five foot high fiberglass goose.

And he's gonna have company in the flock around town and around the Juniata Valley as the project gets going.

Each goose has its own artist concept that they brought to the project, so they all imagined it in a different way and brought their unique skills and experiences into the project.

So their vision is realized on the finished product.

The project covers the entire Juniata Valley.

So, although a couple of the initial geese are visible here in the county seat of Lewistown in Mifflin county, the tradition doesn't recognize boundary lines and it's celebrated far and wide in the Juniata Valley, so, we wanted to recognize that with the project and we're not putting strict limits on how far that can expand and we've had interest from all over.

The really great thing about public art in our opinion is that anyone can enjoy it.

So not only have the artist done an amazing job and it's a fun thing to see, kids have loved it, but it's also something that anyone can really enjoy.

And there are also some benefits that have been shown of having projects like this in your community.

So people will come in and maybe they'll go grab a cup of coffee or eat locally while they come to see it.

And we have seen already some people coming out to view them, so we're excited about that.

And we've had a lot of great feedback and it's a way to celebrate the area, celebrate our community.

(bright upbeat music) - Our next two pieces come from WPSU's Our Town Series.

In 2017 we shared stories from Curwensville and Sheffield, stories of the positive effect the arts have in those communities.

- My name is Sue Lemo.

I am an art teacher.

This is my 26th year teaching at the Curwensville School District.

And my students and I have been working on a mural in a pedestrian underpass under the railroad bridge that takes you into town as you enter Curwensville.

(soft upbeat music) we started the project in April of 2016.

We were asked to do it by the Curwensville Revitalization Committee.

And I was given free reign with the idea.

And I came up with the idea of using vintage postcards and travel postcards and advertising postcards as a way to show snapshots of Curwensville history.

The tunnel, when we first went down was painted curb yellow.

It was a really neat space and it was a space that a lot of people used, but it really needed, it needed something to show the love.

We tried to highlight a little bit of industry, business in the community, families in the community, a little of the school spirit in it.

The kids helped pick some things.

We picked some scenes.

We were looking at things that people who grew up here but maybe moved away if they came back it would bring back a lot of good memories for them.

We did the Curwens Coat of Arms.

We did the native American tribe that were in this area first.

We have the railroad bridge over the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, which was done with stone from the quarries in Curwensville where my great-grandfather worked.

The postcard I did with my family was a group of young women from the Catholic Daughters of America for Memorial Day, 1917.

Students helped to devise the images, once I kind of gave them the general idea they got to pick what they wanted to do.

So they did things that they were interested in and liked to paint.

It was some fun, collaborative project.

What I was hearing from the community, we were surprised.

I mean, it's a pedestrian tunnel.

While we were working, people were walking through and then I would be out walking in town and people would say," Oh, we're gonna walk by the mural again later this week.

We want to see what you got finished."

And, "Oh, my grandfather worked there."

Or, "Wow, we used to go to PeeWee's nest all the time when we were kids."

So I think it brought back a lot of memories for people.

And it was an opportunity for families to share those memories with younger members of the family.

I've been blessed to teach here for 26 years.

I have had some of the most remarkable young people.

It's been a gift.

Anybody who doesn't work with teenagers doesn't understand how great so many of them are.

It's a great community because we have such good kids and they have great families that they come from and yet that's what makes the community.

(bright upbeat music) - My name is Bill Sim Beck.

I am from the Main Street Artisans store in Sheffield here and I would like to talk to you about the store.

The Main Street Artisans is a non-profit store.

There's 11 of us and 11 different types of artists in there like photography, pottery, rug weaving, oil paints, water or like stain glass, woodworking.

There's 11 of us and it's been in existence now since September of 2010.

We each pay $45 a month for our rent.

We have to each work four or three hour shifts a month.

And then in return we get to keep 100 percent of our money.

We all get along really well.

90 percent of us are all retired people.

So we're really not all of us are in for it to make money or our business out of it, it's more for pleasure and meeting new people.

I think it's very important for a town, it all helps bring in tourism here.

And I think it's important for any town to have the arts 'cause I think there's a lot of talented people out here that would like to have an outlet someplace to display their stuff.

I got into photography probably about 15 years ago when Eagles was first starting to come around in Pennsylvania, around the Kinzua dam.

So I started taking some pictures and next thing I know, I was buying more cameras and starting to take everything and I found it very enjoyable.

Basically all my photography is like nature photography or outdoor type photography.

I also like to do like railroads, old trains.

It's my hobby.

If I would probably check everything out, I'm probably losing money.

It really doesn't matter, it's just a good hobby in my retirement.

I like living in northwestern Pennsylvania, the Sheffield areas because of the nature that's all around here.

I'm an outdoors type person and this gives you a lot of outdoors type of opportunity for whatever.

(bright ethereal music) - Our last piece comes from the WPSU series, Pennsylvania Makers and features a type of art that you definitely shouldn't try at home.

(intense dramatic music) - When you walk in the front door, you feel the heat, just the molten nest of the fire.

I found a 17th century master who was working in Lancaster at the time.

Then I worked for him for four years.

So, I kind of did a four year apprenticeship.

(bright dramatic music) My name is Ben Agram and I'm a glass blower.

(bright dramatic music) It is a process, it doesn't just happen right away.

(bright dramatic music) When you're taking glass in its molted form and you form it and you make a vessel of some sort.

(bright dramatic music) The only thing that's really changed with this type of glass blowing is how we achieve the heat, (bright dramatic music) but all the tools, how everything's done it's all pretty much been done the same way in the past 800 years or more.

(bright ethereal music) I think it's the most pure form of glass blowing.

(bright ethereal music) You always have to be kind of liquid, you can't just be set in one thing.

So it's constantly changing, trying new things.

If we don't know how to do it, we'll figure it out.

(bright ethereal music) Whatever you can think of in glass, we can do it.

(bright ethereal music) Favorite part, probably producing something, just making something from start to finish and kinda being able to use your hands and getting that satisfaction of like you actually made something and have a three dimensional thing you can actually hold.

(bright dramatic music) - Thanks for joining us.

Remember, art can be created and discovered almost anywhere.

See you next time on Keystone Stories.

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