The Arts and Crafts Gallery of Hamburg hosted a reception for Orwigsburg artist Brenda Binns, a retired Hamburg Area School District art teacher, on Nov. 9.
Her art is on display at the Hamburg Gallery, 335 State Street, through Nov. 30. Binns was also at the Gallery on Nov. 14 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., and will do demonstrations of her work throughout the day. The Hamburg Area Arts Alliance of Our Town Foundation, a non-profit, community revitalization organization, sponsored this event with funding provided by the Berks County Arts Fund of the Berks County Community Foundation.
Born and raised in Bucks County, Binns can’t remember a time when she wasn’t doing art of some kind. Growing up near New Hope, she took art in high school and sold her work through area galleries while still a student. During her college years at Penn State she had exhibits of her work at the Wanamaker Gallery in Jenkintown, at the Kern Graduate Gallery in University Park, and was represented by the Old Main Frame Shop and Gallery in State College. After graduating from Penn State with a degree in Art Education, Brenda and her husband moved to the Hazleton area, where she taught art at M.M.I. Prep School and served as a board member of the Hazleton Art League and Greater Hazleton Fine Arts Council. In 1980 she received the Purchase Award in the juried art show of the Greater Hazleton Fine Arts Festival.
In the fall of 1980, Brenda and her family moved to Schuylkill County, where she worked for a number of years as a freelance graphic designer and substitute teacher. In 1985 she had a show of her drawings at the Schuylkill County Council for the Arts. In June of this year, Binns retired from a 29 year career as an art teacher in the Hamburg Area School District, and embarked on a new career as a full-time artist.
Binns has returned to her artistic roots with the drawings and designs on exhibit at the Art and Craft Gallery of Hamburg. She began experimenting with an ink and watercolor technique while in high school, and exhibited floral designs in that style throughout her college years. While studying under Philadelphia painter Joseph Sweeney, Brenda dabbled with using her original ink and water color style in between “serious” painting with casein. At Sweeney’s suggestion, she focused on the more graphic style of drawing/painting that was used to create all the work in the current exhibit.
While the subject matter of the art on display ranges from floral designs to landscapes to the more abstract Zentangles, it is the ink and watercolor technique that creates unity among the work. Each piece was first drawn directly in ink, and then painted with watercolors or brush markers.
In addition to the framed originals on display, the exhibit also includes a number of reproductions as giclee prints, greeting cards, and ceramic mugs.
Following her November exhibit at Hamburg Gallery, see more of her work on Dec. 1 and 2 at the Walk-In Art Center, Schuylkill Haven.
