The Art Gallery at Lancaster Arts Hotel

Lynne Grubb Hockley

Labyrinth of Linkages

Breaking free of the measured geometric shapes and repetitive patterns, Hockley creates “a journey for the eye with meandering, connecting pathways,” weaving and winding intricate details within the lines.  Materials are pulled from generous friends offering up old and worn clothing or scraps of fabric which are then “cut and ripped, stitched, embroidered, wrinkled or ironed flat.” Affixed to the substrate, they are “stiffened with layers of acrylic medium, paint, and glazes allowing the colors and patterns to peek through while adding shading, depth, and movement to nonrepresentational compositions.” 

Worn clothing is “the veneer in which we choose to present ourselves to our social environments,” the echo of which slips familiarity and interconnectedness into the imaginative, nonrepresentational scenes portrayed in the finished work.

Fran Williams Wagner

Curvaceous and daring, Fran’s sketchbook imagery includes mostly nude studies exploring abstraction geometrically, which often translated into her hand-glazed, tile mosaic designs for murals and wall hangings.

A master of proportion and scale, these works began as sketches on paper, each tile hand cut, textured, glazed, and fired typically in bright oranges, yellows, turquoise and green, the language of the 1960’s. Large mural pieces were laid out on the ground, like puzzles at her feet, before being hoisted up to Fran on scaffolding for installation. Smaller wall pieces and tables were commissioned for office buildings, clubs, and private residences, and her work was often published in décor magazines.

Originally from San Francisco, Fran studied in Oakland at the California School of Arts and Crafts, and in San Francisco at Rudolph Schaefer School of Design before moving to Miami, Florida. She spent the mid-century in Miami, a mecca for style and architecture, and became well known for her work.

Her commissions included Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida, First Federal Savings and Loan Association, Key West, Florida, Bacardi Pavilion Bar, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Rockefeller Center Ticket Office, New York, New York, among numerous others.

For more about Fran Williams Wagner and other artists or to inquire about a purchase, please visit call 717-367-9236 to speak with Lisa Clemens, Director, Arts Hotel Gallery at the Lancaster Arts Hotel.

David Zimmerman

Artist Statement:

“As a boy, I would spend days in my dad’s workshop making things. I learned the basics of woodworking in a commercial cabinet shop. Then I tried college; I tried truck driving; I went back to woodworking. While working with an architect, I was intrigued by the notion of designing and engineering my own work. After years of learning and perfecting the craft, and the rules of traditional woodworking in hand, I’ve given myself the freedom to break them. Opening myself to be creative and pushing to the edge, I’ve found joy in my work – each vessel a play in light and shadow.

Warton Eshrick’s work was inspirational to me and I was fascinated by Wendel Castles layered and laminated work. In 1980, I discovered a way to make wooden bowls with layered and laminated expanding concentric rings of wood, and I became obsessed with the process – still finding new ways to create with it. My design is not a mental process. It is not a planning process. My best work comes by surprise – it happens while I am making it. My wish is to communicate deeply in the non-verbal language which is beyond words.”