Hear the birdsong break through the waning days of winter! Celebrate spring with the Fanciful Fraktur Bird workshop at the Mennonite Heritage Center (565 Yoder Road, Harleysville) on Mar. 8 from 9:30 AM- 12:30 PM.
Instructor and Artist Emily Smucker-Beidler will introduce students to fraktur through the history and creation of one of its most popular motifs: birds. Smucker-Beidler is passionate about fraktur and teaching the art form to all ages and ability levels. She was an Art Educator for all ages for over thirty years.
Smucker-Beidler brings together history and art in her classes. At this three-hour workshop, participants will learn what birds were prevalent here in southeastern Pennsylvania in the 1700s and find connections through fraktur images. They will learn where the polka-dot, checkerboard, and various striped patterns came from that we now enjoy in fraktur. Then, participants will be shown some “tricks” to drawing fanciful birds in the fraktur style, as well as adapting patterns from original, historic works using light boards. They will then complete a small, five-by-seven fraktur bird. Ages 13-100 and all ability levels are welcome.
In colonial America, schoolmasters introduced an artistic teaching tool known as fraktur. The term comes from its broken or fractured German lettering style. The designs of fraktur draw upon medieval manuscript illumination and nature. It flourished in this area from roughly 1750 to 1840 and waned before experiencing revivals in the 1930s and 1970s.
The cost is $60 for members ($65 for nonmembers) and includes all materials. Students can also bring watercolors or buy a set from Smucker-Beidler for $20. Preregistration is required and class size is limited. Register here or call 215-256-3020.
Programming at the Mennonite Heritage Center shares Anabaptist-Mennonite stories in order to educate, inspire, and witness to the church and community. For more information, visit the Mennonite Heritage Center.
Stay up to date on all the upcoming events, attractions, and family-friendly locales in the Montgomery County and Valley Forge areas at Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board (VFTCB). VFTCB is a private, non-profit membership sales and marketing organization that actively promotes the Valley Forge area and Montgomery County as a convention site and leisure visitor destination by promoting patronage of its member hotels, restaurants, attractions, and services.
