Snyder County artist delivers painting to board
Apr. 17—MIDDLEBURG — Beaver Springs artist Valerie Moyer delivered an acrylic painting of the Snyder County Courthouse in Middleburg on Tuesday to the county commissioners.
"It shows how good Middleburg looks," said county board chairman Joe Kantz as the painting — commissioned by the commissioners — was unveiled in the board meeting room at the courthouse where it will be displayed.
The artwork took a year to complete.
"I did a lot of sketches, took a lot of photographs and looked at a lot of references," Moyer said. She even enlisted a friend who was replacing windows on a building across the street from the 9 W. Market St. courthouse entrance to take a photograph from the rooftop.
"I wanted to capture the grandeur and the architecture," she said, with particular attention to the brick buildings' decorative moldings. To keep the focus on the building, Moyer did not include utility wires and the traffic signal at the intersection of Market and Main streets in downtown Middleburg in her work.
A professional fine artist who specializes in landscapes, Moyer's art has been displayed in the Capitol Building in Harrisburg. Several of her prints are also hanging on the walls throughout the Snyder County Courthouse.
"I enjoy showcasing Central Pennsylvania and want to use my gift to present history through artwork," she said.
The county paid $2,935 for the framed 24-inch-by-40-inch canvas painting and the copyright to the courthouse painting, with plans to sell prints to the public.
"Nothing like this has been done before," said Commissioner Adam Ewig of the board's decision to commission a piece of art to showcase the recently expanded and renovated courthouse.
For more information about Moyer's work, visit valeriemoyerfineart.com.
