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Plenty of talent on display at Mt. Lebanon Artists Market

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 2 min read
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Heidi Walsh of Mt. Lebanon reported a successful first venture into selling her art at a show.

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Donald L. Jones displays his robot sculptures at the Mt. Lebanon Artists Market.

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Arion Grzelka shows a piece of her art celebrating the 50th anniversary of the live Grateful Dead album commonly referred to as "Skull and Roses." She calls her collected artwork Ren and Brush.

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Violet Kanche enjoys her visit to the Mt. Lebanon Artists Market.

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Gabriela Ortiz specializes in artistic themes from her native Mexico. The painting at left was selected for the Face Value exhibit at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.

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Harry Funk/The Almanac

Francis Cleetus of Peters Township shows an example of his art4arf paintings.

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Kathy Mazur shows some of her nature-oriented work during the Mt. Lebanon Artists Market.

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Paula Nettleship shows examples of handcrafted jewelry in her designs2c line.

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Mina Martin gets ready to do some coloring during the Mt. Lebanon Artists Market.

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Robyn Vittek, Mt. Lebanon Public LIbrary director, supervises a book sale and children's activity table at the Artists Market.

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Alexia Tsoukalas and Dylan Scahill work on a "Paint a Skull" craft activity offered by Mt. Lebanon Public Library during the Artists Market.

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Rachel Blier shows her "Paint a Skull" artwork as part of an activity presented by Mt. Lebanon Public Library, where she works.

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Kathlaina Simpson shows her product line for the Foxglove Hollow, featuring scented soy candles, natural skincare products and pet sundries handmade from all-natural ingredients.

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Caricature artist Howard Bender sketches a portrait during the Mt. Lebanon Artists Market.

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Pastel artist Linda Barnicott shows a jigsaw-puzzle version of a piece from her "Jolly Old Elf" series.

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Katie Koenig McMurtry specilazes in highly detailed paintings that at first glance can appear to be photographs.

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Eddie Maier shows an Eddie Spaghetti Art print he made during the Mt. Lebanon Artists Market.

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Ellen Paquette often paints stylized images of endangered animals.

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Harry Funk/The Almanac

Amanda Wolf is ready to greet visitors to her Wolf’s Den Pottery booth.

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Mt. Lebanon resident Aillen Lampman greets customers at her Ai Jewelry booth.

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From left are Jaclyn Snyder, Molly Nuri and Roey Nuri, with Atlas.

For her first time ever selling her artwork at a show, Heidi Walsh was doing quite well.

“In fact, I’m at the point now where I’m thinking, oh my gosh. I need some more things to hang on the wall,” she said. “Luckily, I’m local, so I can replenish everything tonight.”

She joined dozens of other talented individuals who were selected for the two-day Mt. Lebanon Artists Market. The event opened on a sunny Saturday, with plenty of participants reporting brisk sales heading into Sunday.

Walsh, a Mt. Lebanon resident, recently started a business called Inkprint Studio. She works in a variety of media, including watercolor and acrylic painting, and was selected by the Community Redevelopment Authority of Hollywood, Fla., to transform nearly 600 feet of sidewalk into an interactive community art piece.

“I saw the call for artists for the mural, and I thought, what the heck. I’ll throw my name into the ring,” she said. “And lo and behold, I got it.”

A lifelong artist who attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Walsh has put an emphasis during the past few years on returning to that type of pursuit.

“I had a wide variety of careers,” she said. “But any time I was creative was when I was happiest, so I thought, I need to keep going for it.”

Her selection for the seventh annual Artists Market meant impressing the three jurors – Mt. Lebanon residents Harold Behar and James Mellett, and award-winning illustrator Mark Bender – who chose the field of participants. This year’s event included a remembrance of Elaine Rosenfield, who founded Mt. Lebanon’s annual Art in the Park event, the forerunner of the Artists Market.

Since 2014, the market has been conducted by the Mt. Lebanon Partnership, a nonprofit volunteer group that works toward maintaining a vibrant community by promoting growth in local commercial districts on behalf of business owners, property owners and residents.

During the event, raffle tickets were sold to benefit the Mt. Lebanon Arts Initiative, a Partnership program that awards scholarships to Mt. Lebanon High School graduates who are studying art. The 2021 winner is Julia Hagins, who is studying at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

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