SOUDERTON HEADLINES
Where Maps Meet Public Art
In a new initiative, the Souderton Business Improvement District repurposed vintage newspaper vending machines and have given them a new lease on life.
They are fulfilling 2 great needs here: beautification through public art and providing maps of our businesses. Watch for these machines to pop up in their permanent locations throughout Souderton. Make sure to take a look at the map and check out all of our great businesses. Maps will be inside the machines, mounted permanently to the top, and you can download the map through our QR code.
MEET THE ARTISTS
HARRY BOARDMAN
I live and work in a former cigar factory in Souderton PA with my wife Heather (a glass & jewelry artist) and our dog Crusher. We took it from a rough dirty shell and turned it into a warm inviting space full of art. Most of my work is done in oil pastels: messy, rich, and a unique blend of drawing & painting. I also paint in oils and draw in ink. Stop in to check out my studio and lots of paintings of skies, trees, rolling fields, barns, and industrial sites. I like to focus on the everyday scene that might go overlooked but is totally worth acknowledging as a painting.
Oil pastels are a perfect choice for me. They are like a lush waxy crayon allowing me to create a piece of art that feels like a painting but is applied like a drawing. The brand I use was originally manufactured for Picasso and they remain the same today.
My work is known for dark outlines, unique views of the world around me, and great mark-making within strong compositions. I also make my frames and try to handle as much of the process of creating & presenting my work as possible. When I'm not painting, I enjoy my fish tank (the best studio mates!), being involved in Souderton's revitalization on multiple non-profits, and working on our factory building.
KATIE BRUBAKER
I am a freelance artist working and living in Souderton. I graduated with a degree in Illustration from Moore College of Art and Design and am an in house artist at Souderton's Art on the Hill, where I sell prints and original art. My work is whimsical, colorful, and always incorporates graphic shapes and movement. Traditional drawing and painting are my true passions, but I also enjoy digital painting and graphic design. My latest project is a mural that is being installed in Small Batch Kitchen's new Cafe and Storefront in Lansdale.
SEAN CARNEY
I am forever a student of painting. I have been painting for almost my entire life and I have created paintings with almost every medium imaginable. As a painting teacher for 20 years in the New Jersey public school system it has been my responsibility to learn about all of the different types of paints and how to apply them. This journey that I have taken with paint has led me directly to my medium of choice wood stain.
I enjoy painting with water-based wood stain and a Dremel, it is a process that is mine and mine alone. I mix dozens of colors in advance from primary red, yellow, blue, white, and black stains; these stains when contained have a fantastic shelf life. My process has developed over time, I have learned that if I allow some of the water to evaporate from the stains that they gain more body and their coverage improves vastly. For this reason, I have a set of full-body stains and a matching set of stains for washes. I use my Dremel rotary tool to create texture. I carve and gouge out bricks, clouds, grass blades, and sand. I have also learned about the many different Dremel attachments and how they can create different textures and effects. These nuances are not noticed from afar, but upon closer inspection, you gain a realization that they are not traditional paintings at all. It is that moment of contemplation that drives me to continue my growth and development.
I paint the places I love. The buildings, the boats, and shorelines are just place markers for memories that I share with special people in my life. I enjoy taking in my surroundings and imagine painting them. These paintings are my connections to the past and an unbreakable bond to my work.
Souderton Newspaper Box description:
My vision was to create a Newspaper box that felt historic or at least reminded people about the history of Souderton. I asked the townships permission to use some historical photographs of Souderton for the mural and I also took some photos of houses in the township that felt had a historic story to tell. Unfortunately, I could not use wood stain in the creation of this project because metal and wood stain do not work well together, instead, I decided to use acrylic paint, a medium that I also have some history with. I hope that you enjoy the end result, this project was definitely challenging and rewarding.
TIM GIBSON
Creator and Lead Artist of the Ten Thousand Flowers Project, Tim Gibson has spent the last 2 years creating over 40 community based flower murals with the help of more than two thousand volunteers. With the goal of eventually painting 10,000 flowers across all 50 states, Tim kicked the project into gear in the summer of 2019 when he toured down the East coast from Allagash Maine to Asheville North Carolina in a blue flower bus dubbed "Petunia". As each mural is completed, it connects to the previous installation like a puzzle, creating 1 giant flower mural, spread out over more than 300 towns across America.
Social Media: @TenThousandFlowersProject
HAWK KRALL
Hawk Krall is a Philadelphia-based Artist and Illustrator with a focus on food and eclectic street scenes, whose work can be seen everywhere from murals to magazines, galleries and restaurants, locally and all over the world. Notable projects include the menu for the late great Hot Diggity, a backyard mural for Pizza Brain (both in Philadelphia), and illustrated food columns for both Serious Eats and Saveur.
I always love to explore a new area in terms of food history -through art but also just eating- and the Souderton Headlines project was a perfect opportunity to check out some foods and places that were new to me, like Funny Cake or Jesse's BBQ. And some that were familiar, having family from the Lebanon / PA Dutch area, it was cool to explore that food and visual language in my own style with this piece. Happy to be a part of this awesome project, thanks to Harry for bringing me in!
LIZ PEITZMAN
Elizabeth Peitzman is a watercolor artist and surface pattern designer living in Telford, PA. She studied art and design at Millersville University, where she developed a love of painting, pottery, and the beautiful landscape of Pennsylvania. Her heart is filled with plants, making art, and being a mom. Ochre Nest Art Studio features her botanical and landscape watercolor art prints, decor, and accessories. Her work is composed of delicate colors, organic lines, and celebrates the translucence of watercolor.
I love plants! After visiting, Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, I was very touched by their mission to educate our community about the importance of using plants native to our region. I hope that my art will get others excited about preserving our local wildflowers and inspire you to get out and experience nature. Some of my favorite native plants that I included in this mural are toadshade, bee balm, iris, field thistle, butterfly weed, ironweed, pitcher plant, ferns, and milkweed. Remember to grow native!
JEFF SHALLER
My newspaper box is based on one of the best Dad jokes ever - “What is black and white and red all over” …the newspaper. Badda Bing! Using this as my inspiration, I then start assembling some free association thoughts. I ask myself what kind of news do we want to read…”Good & Plenty” make sure there is lots of “good news" stories out there. We usually read the newspaper in the morning over a delicious cup of coffee, so, I needed to include that in there. Come early and get caught up on your daily news! The zebra is on there because he is also black and white. There is always lots of dots in my work, thus the dots! EXTRA EXTRA There you have it!
I paint in the unique medium of encaustic, creating textural art pieces which incorporate representational form with the printed word. In essence, the visual and written symbols merge to create a unique aesthetic language that is both provocative and whimsical.
Jeff Schaller. b.1970. Manchester, Connecticut; education: 1991, Bachelor of Fine Arts City of London Polytechnic, London, England; 1992, Beaver College, PA; Schaller (pronounced shay-ler) defines his oeuvre with uniquely sophisticated compositions. Provocative and whimsical, Schaller propels the viewer into scenes of seemingly unrelated subjects, his own captivating and complex sonatas. Simultaneously, they are pop and edgy, esoteric and direct. Using encaus -ticpaints, Schaller uses lost and found images, words and language, to paint with a precision and intricacy not normally found in encaustic paintings. His approach is expressionistic, contemporary, and painterly, with powerful brush strokes that are set instantaneously. Schaller’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States. He is frequently published in magazines and newspapers, chosen for juried art exhibitions and selected for special projects, commissions and murals. He has worked on a 30 feet mural for the Philadelphia Arts Com -mission placed in their transportation centers. His work can also be seen on the set of “Friends” for the 2002 and 2003 season. In 2002, Schaller received a highly coveted fellowship from the Common Wealth of Pennsylvania. In 1998, Schaller was the recipient of the prestigious Philadelphia Museum of Art Purchase Award. Recent juried exhibitions include ‘’Encaustic works ‘01 and ‘03’’ (he was one of 15 artists selected for the exhibit from a field of 200). Schaller is a philanthropic and committed artist who lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and three children.
RYE TIPPETT
Open skies, fields, and water—this is the world of Rye Tippett, a Bucks county native. Like the Pennsylvania Impressionists, Tippett is intensely observant, representing familiar land and clouds with visible brushwork. What separates his landscapes from others, however, are the hard-to-explain elements like ships, whales, and open railway cars hovering in the sky. Largely a self-taught artist who scoured art history books and visited museums, he calls upon the Symbolist painters, among others, for inspiration. Like Arnold Bocklin and Edvard Munch, Tippett paints haunting and dreamlike scenes, from shorelines to foreboding woods. Of his spectres, Tippett says, “I feel them in certain woods, or rooms in old places and wonder who they were, what they are waiting for. That is what I try to paint, a perspective with a spirit involved in the landscape, I want my paintings to have a presence, not necessarily a heartbeat, but a ghost.”
Are you interested in collaborating with Souderton Connects on a creative project? Learn more about our Artist opportunities.