Entertainment

By Mary Therese Biebel mbiebel@timesleader.com
Features Writer
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Class, meet Ivy and Emma.

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Above: Art instructor Gwen Harleman helps Elizabeth Thomas of Forty Fort spin wool. Below: Mary Pat Spellman picks out some wool for her latest creation at the Verve Vertu Studio in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

Clark Van Orden photos/The Times Leader

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As Myrtle Chamberlain of Lehman Township brought two sheep into her spinning room, art students from the Verve Vertu program gathered close to stroke the soft brown and white wool.

It’s even thicker than it used to be, Chamberlain explained, since she added turnip greens to their diet. “Nutrition counts,” the farmer said.

That’s just one of many things you can learn at “Ewe and I,” an offshoot of the Lehman Nursery on Idetown Road.

Here Chamberlain sells homemade woolen rugs and hunting socks as well as the wool the Verve Vertu students are using in their ongoing fiber-art projects.

One of those projects – a colorful, 2-by-2-foot quilt fashioned by student Mary Pat “Patty” Spellman of Wilkes-Barre will be available for bid Nov. 6 during an “Under the Sun” art auction at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Plains Township.

The quilt is one of dozens of art objects that local and national artists have donated to the Wyoming Valley Art League. An auctioneer will make the bidding fun, Art League board member Kimberly Hughes promised, and proceeds of this second annual event will benefit the Art League.

As for the Verve Vertu quilt, event chair Katie Larson-Lick predicts it will be one of the stars of the show. “It’s absolutely serendipitous that Patty was working on a piece with the sun in it.”

The artist herself will attend the auction and expects to tell people why and how she made the quilt. The sun is one of her favorite motifs, she explained.

Earlier this week, she and other members of the Verve Vertu program, who are developmentally disabled, paid their most recent visit to Chamberlain’s shop, where they met some sheep and took turns using an old-fashioned spinning wheel.

“You’re doing it, Liz. You’re doing it,” art instructor Gwen Harleman said, encouraging Elizabeth Thomas of Forty Fort as she worked the treadle of the spinning wheel with her foot.

Thomas’ face dimpled as she smiled.

“I love it,” said Erin Dougherty of Dallas, who’d had her turn earlier.

This is the kind of work young girls would have done ages ago, Chamberlain said. Often, they began at age 8 to fill “hope chests” with linens they’d use after they got married.

Weaving cloth the old-fashioned way is labor-intensive, she said, and begins with shearing the wool. Chamberlain expects to do some shearing in January, before the adult ewes have lambs. That way, their coats will be as short as the babies’ coats, and the mothers will be motivated to work hard to keep the little ones warm.

Back at the Verve Vertu studio in the Downtown Arts building in Wilkes-Barre, the artists continued last week to make wallets, scarves and greeting cards from wool and felt.

“They’re pretty much in charge of what they want to do,” Harleman said, pointing to some wool that had been dyed with “red and orange Kool-Aid.”

Spellman’s quilt, which boasts a similarly cheerful rainbow, could well be purchased at auction by one person. But many people will have the opportunity to receive a poster image of her handiwork in return for a donation of any size, Harleman said.

The posters are available at Marquis Art & Frame on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre as well as the Verve Vertu studio on North Franklin Street and will be available during the “Art Under the Sun” auction.

IF YOU GO

What: ‘Art Under the Sun’ auction

Where: Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, Route 315, Plains Township

When: Nov. 6 with preview at 4 p.m., reception at 5 p.m. and auction at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets: $30

More info: kyra1027@msn.com