Public Art
Since 2003 the Huntingdon County Arts Council has played an active role in public art and art in public spaces in Huntingdon County. The HCAC encourages inquiries from communities with an interest in engaging in a public art project. We have successfully secured grant funding in the past and have completed a number of mural projects in Huntingdon Borough and serve in an advisory capacity to the borough of Huntingdon.
Mosaic Mural, Downtown Huntingdon |
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A gateway project at the corner of Penn and 8th Streets in Huntingdon was installed by Joe Brenman of Philadelphia in the summer of 2003. Brenman’s artistic interpretation of Huntingdon’s history is fashioned in tile with much community input. Read more about the Mosaic Mural |
Portstown Park Murals, Huntingdon |
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A section of town that was devastated and removed during the 1972 flood, Portstown is now commemorate by a public park and on the concrete pillars that carry an abandoned railroad track through the park. On three of the pillars artist Matthew D’Alberto painted scenes that depict Portstown and Huntingdon’s history. The remaining pillars were painted in bright rainbow colors, and receive guided ’graffiti’ from elementary school children annually during History Day. |
Huntingdon’s Paper Trail |
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In 2007, the term “Paper Trail” was coined for a number of Huntingdon Public Art installations. Paper Trail is based on the role that paper in its various forms has played in the community. Birthplace of the paper tablet, Huntingdon Borough benefited greatly from the economic impact of the tablet manufacturing plant, and the benevolent philanthropy of its inventor, J. C. Blair.
The Arts Council strived to not only commemorate the invention of the paper tablet, but to link its public art installations with the theme of ‘paper’, hoping to include multiple genres and interpretations. |
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The first installation was a mural by local artist, Don Dietz on the back of Parks Furniture, facing Penn Street in 2007. |
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In 2008, Philadelphia mural artists David Guinn and Phillip Adams created two murals on either side of Penn Street near the 5th Street intersection, duplicating the view of the cliffs in Huntingdon. |
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Also in 2008, the HCAC commissioned photographer Dan Burkholder to create a photographic installation in the radiology department at J.C. Blair Hospital. |
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In 2009, mosaic artist Joe Brenman worked with intern Chris Drobnock, a Mount Union native who just completed his studies in ceramics. The resulting installation is adjacent to the first mosaic mural, but set apart by more muted colors and signage. Orbisonia is the first location for a public art installation outside Huntingdon Borough. Along Route 522 South, Massachusetts sculptor Dale Rogers commemorated the long and significant history and relation of iron with the region. The sculpture will be erected in 2010/11. |
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