Joan K. Shaver: Lincoln's Rockingham County Roots

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Lincoln's Rockingham County Roots

Had a great time at the new exhibit at the Heritage Museum...a MUST see if you are anywhere close to Dayton, Virginia.This was opening day and the museum hosted the Lincoln Society. They had just been to the Lincoln family cemetary on Rt 42 for ceremony in honor of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Come and discover Abraham Lincoln's Virginia roots!

Joan K. Shaver

Welcome to my Blog Site!
I am a Virginia artist from Dayton-specializing in the style of the Pennsylvania Germans.

My art work reflects my Shenandoah Valley heritage or as our Lancaster cousins refer to us-Valley Deutsch.

I love all the arts of the early PA Germans but my favorite are the Frakturs. Fraktur is a folk art form practiced by Pennsylvania Germans principally from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. The name derives from that of a distinctive German script marked by "fractured" pen strokes and the form has clear roots in European folk culture. Fraktur blossomed into a uniquely rich, colorful and iconographic form of expression in the United States, tied to rites of social life.

I have a degree in Fine Arts from VCU and worked as a graphic artist and TV video editor. I use all the tools of both disciplines to create my art. No surface is out of bounds for me-from my distressed hand made paper to blanket chests--and anything in between. One of my favorite surfaces is antique coffee pots. I have done art shows throughout the state and displayed in galleries for the past 20 years.

I also paint local scenes and folks of the Valley.