Exhibition Title Plaque. (Photo by William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
By William Oehler, Director of Photography
“Dreams are really ineffable, weirdly hard to penetrate. You can ask what a dream means, but it is hard to penetrate your subconscious to figure out [what they mean].”
Ethan Hartranft, a studio artist of Waldo’s and Co’s, described his interpretation of the non-profit, community art space and café’s new studio artist exhibition titled Dreamscapes, which opened on Nov. 7th.
Waldo’s & Company, located below Lark at 17 Lincoln Square, offers its walls and floor space routinely to artists and their works, often housing a new exhibition each month. Friday, Nov. 7, however, was specially reserved for artists who rent studio space in Waldo’s. As part of the Gettysburg Area Retail Merchant Association’s (GARMA) First Friday initiative, Hartranft and almost a dozen other studio artists created works that aligned with the theme centered around dreams and imagination.
Shannon Palmer, Waldos’ new Tradeshop Manager, featured her Little Monstrosity ceramic sculpture of her self-described alter-ego inspired by European folklore. While first a printmaker and photographer, Palmer turned toward pottery and ceramics upon beginning her position at the Tradeshop, saying, “I didn’t even know I was interested in ceramics until I got here, it’s a totally different [experience], I’m usually a 2-D artist, and now I’m a sculptor!” Palmer intends to practice the throwing wheel to best serve new artists joining Waldos’ community of ceramists.
Shannon Palmer’s “Little Monstrosity” (Photo by William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
Sharon Birch, Board Member and Treasurer for Waldo’s, submitted her work titled Living the Dream. Birch described her work as an “abstract village-scape… an environment where one might live that’s completely surrounded by color.”
She also commented on how her piece offered a different interpretation than that of her fellow artists: “I don’t usually title my work but… that is kind of what it is, a dream that is so vivid and you’re actually living it.” Her work stands out with its use of bright, almost neon acrylic details, in contrast to other works that use darker palettes. Birch also expanded upon what art inspires her, citing her younger self finding Georgia O’Keefe and Keith Haring. Currently, Birch finds curiosity in street art, both in Philadelphia where “murals are hodgepodges of shape and color,” and in Paris where “they’re really into stencil work.”
Tucked into the typically couch-filled stage in the corner of Waldo’s café space, Hartranft combined his love of math and art to create his exhibition piece. Based on an idea he had to create a work inspired by Császár’s polyhedron, Hartranft used a technique called Lino block, where a print design is carved from a block of linoleum. “You get to make many [copies] which slots into the concept of recurring dreams, images you see multiple multiple times… that’s what printmaking is, the power of repeated images.”
Printwork by Ethan Hartranft. (Photo by William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
Courtney Billow featured her untitled work that used the idea of “metaphysicism, and how we connect ethereal elements and representational images that we see every day with the emotional stuff we can’t quite describe.” Two halved flowers mirror each other against an almost sunset-like background of oranges, browns, and blues, all mixing to create what Billow described as the ethereal aspect of her work. As almost decade-long studio artists, Billow and Molly Fenbie graduated from Shippensburg University in 2015, and they now collaborate under MCFB Ceramics studio at Waldo’s.
As one of the first studio holders, Tim Smith recognizes Waldo’s work bringing together “local artists, creativity, and great people, [in a place] to share ideas.” He touched on the fact that he typically does not create work in tandem with a theme, but he chose to include aspects from everyday life, including a sunset scene in D.C. He chose to use what he called “dream bubbles” to work with the theme of Dreamscapes. He described, “as I sat with live music, I would draw [what came to mind], and it is really just ‘life as a journey’”. Smith’s work, titled Golden Dream, was created using watercolor pencil.
Waldo’s typically hosts a new exhibition each month, highlighting a local artist’s work. Each year, the non-profit turns its focus to its studio holders: “once a year, we love to show them off to the world in the studio holders gallery exhibit.” Alongside the rest of the featured artists, the rest of the studio holders’ works will be on display until the end of November. To best appreciate their work, you can visit Waldo’s & Co., which is open every day but Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
This article originally appeared on pages 8 and 9 of the November 2025 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine.
