New artist group paints a picture of community
You know what they say about people who need people.
Whether Melanie Rosenberger or Sharon Schafer qualify as the luckiest people in the world is hard to discern over the course of a 45-minute interview.
They are, however, most definitely two of the chief organizers behind the Meetinghouse Art Collaborative, which seems like a good enough time in its own right.
It creates deadlines that we need to adhere to and forces us to practice our art.
Melanie Rosenberger
The basic thrust of the whole venture is artists banding together to sell their work during seasonal sales at The Meetinghouse, located on South Atherton Street in State College.
“It’s in sort of its infant dream stages right now,” Rosenberger said.
Which begs the question: What sort of mad dreams does a ceramicist/fiber artist/painter have at night?
The collaborative was formed in compliance with the age-old wisdom that there’s strength in numbers.
Romance might favor the notion of a solitary artist locked away with a potter’s wheel somewhere — but it’s tough to move a lot of ceramic cups that way, now isn’t it?
Aside from some cash flow, the periodic sales — another is expected to be held in December — are also good for productivity.
“It creates deadlines that we need to adhere to and forces us to practice our art,” Rosenberger said.
Schafer, meanwhile, is quick to point out that all artists need a venue to show their work. She just happens to own this one and is happy to share with other enterprising artisans within the community.
Thus far, the collective boasts only a handful of regular members, but there’s always room for more.
“There’s other artists in other groups that I think we can definitely wrap into this,” Schafer said.
This just flows right from that because I’m such a lover of art.
Sharon Schafer
The Meetinghouse is also home to Taproot Kitchen, a culinary program for people with intellectual disabilities that Schafer co-founded with Anne Rohan.
There’s already been some cross-promotion between the two programs. Taproot’s homemade Popsicles provided a cool counterpoint to the collaborative art sale held earlier this month.
Facilitating new connections and bolstering networking opportunities is important to Schafer.
“This just flows right from that because I’m such a lover of art,” Schafer said.
Frank Ready: 814-231-4620, @fjready
This story was originally published July 28, 2017 at 2:49 PM with the headline "New artist group paints a picture of community."