Clay Glass Metal Stone Cooperative Gallery Present ‘The Art of the Amish-Special Guests Visit Gallery’
Friday, March 2nd – 6-9 PM and Saturday, March 3, 10AM-4PM
Lake Worth Evenings on the Avenue and Clay Glass Metal Stone Gallery will have two special guests visiting town to display and sell their art and their Shoo-Fly Pies. Elizabeth Peachy and Susan Kinsinger are members of an Old Order Amish group from Pennsylvania. They have grown up with no electricity or modern conveniences. At home they ride in their horse drawn buggies. Long time friends of Joyce Brown, president of Flamingo Clay Studio Cooperative, they are visiting the gallery with examples of the art they produce and the unique pies and pastries they bake. Susan and Lizzie will be in Downtown Lake Worth on Friday, March 2nd from 6-9PM and on Saturday, March 3rd from 10AM-4PM. Come visit them and extend a welcome to our area. Please, take no pictures.
Joyce spent most of her life as part of her family’s business, peddlers among the Amish. For twenty-five years she traveled from her home in Philadelphia in a truck filled with fabrics from which the Amish made their clothing. Her routes, from Amish settlement to Amish settlement, took her to states as far away as Montana. She is an authority on the different clothing styles of all the Old Order Amish, Mennonite and Hutterite communities throughout the country. Old order groups are those in horse and buggy and without modern conveniences.
For the last half century, the Amish have been traveling to Pine Craft on the West coast of Florida for retirement vacations. They hire drivers or take buses that make weekly round-trips from communities in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. Over the years, some have become permanent residents. Joyce visits old friends each year. This year, Lizzie Peachy and Susan Kinsinger decided they wanted to visit her. They are bringing their paintings, some on boards, some on canvases, some on saws and some on buckets, as well as their wonderful baked goods. Susan’s family has run an Amish printing press for over a half century. She will be bringing books with her for sale. One book is of songs, both traditional and original, that a group of Indiana Amish (yodelers) have compiled. Folklorists have found songs and verses in this book that have expanded their studies of oral histories.
If Susan and Lizzie make a good impression on Lake Worth and are able to sell their wares, they will be back next year with more friends and a wider variety of Amish art. This will include Amish quilts, dolls and toys.
Clay§Glass§Metal§Stone Cooperative Gallery is sponsored by the Flamingo Clay Studio, a non-profit arts organization whose mission is to provide affordable studio and gallery space for three-dimensional artists. The gallery is located at 605 Lake Avenue in downtown Lake Worth. Hours are Sunday thru Tuesday, 9AM-1PM. Wednesday thru Saturday, 9AM-9PM. Gallery openings are the first and third Friday of each month from 6-9 PM with many special events in-between. For information call Joyce Brown-215-205-9441 or [email protected]. Gallery phone: 561-588-8344.