Meet some of the brand-new artists at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts

The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts is officially underway, with hundreds of artists and thousands of visitors descending upon downtown State College.

Of the 344 artists selling their work, many are fan favorites who return annually. But about 40 are brand-new to the festival this year.

The Centre Daily Times scoped out the new artists coming to town this year and picked out four that we think you’ve got to see.

Muddy Duck Designs (R-29)

Kathie Kammerdiener and her husband run this charming ceramic and turned wood business. But just Kathie’s ceramics are on display this weekend on Fraser Street — they were only allowed to sell one medium. Kathie got started working with ceramics just before the pandemic, and stayed with it after realizing her work-life balance was “completely out of balance.”

The name of the Pennsylvania company comes from when Kathie used to call her daughter a duck when she would walk behind her — the “muddy” part of the moniker comes from the clay that flies when Kathie crafts her wares. Kathie’s work is largely hand built.

“I do a little throwing too,” Kathie said. “But the hand building just seemed so it kind of put me into a niche where no one else is doing anything like that.”

Caleb Barnaby Designs (R-13)

Caleb Barnaby of Florida has been making jewelry since he was “a little kid,” he said. He draws his own mandala patterns that make their way into his jewelry.

“I tend not to look at other art,” Barnaby said. “Just because I don’t want to be influenced very much. So I really try to have my own style and creative flair.”

Barnaby lives a nomadic life, traveling from show to show with his wife in an RV. A self-described “mad tinkerer,” Barnaby also creates larger pieces with recycled and reclaimed items.

Steve Szynal Designs (M-31)

Steve Szynal, from New Jersey, is a Penn State alum who works as an architecture lighting designer in New York City — but he uses his artistic talents to create themed and sweeping landscapes that are full of color and details and that you have to see in person to capture.

“We would take our drawings and sort of cut them out and make a relief from them,” Szynal said. “So it’s kind of halfway to being a model, but it doesn’t take as long as making a whole model from scratch.”

Be sure to check out Nittany Nation, Steve’s Happy Valley based collage.

Moments in Time (B-28)

Bill Schafer, from Baltimore, does long exposure photography of the natural world — mainly focusing on American National Parks. His wife, Cheryl, also helps out, picking places to shoot and framing shots.

Some of the canvas prints are actually made up of four or five photographs that Schafer pieced together in Photoshop. He took two classes — one of which included a trip to Death Valley. Be sure to check out the prints from that trip — and try to find the hiker in the hills!

This story was originally published July 14, 2023 at 6:00 AM.