By Yvonne Wright • Studio YNW • The Current Contributing Writer
Truly, there may not be another visual artist currently living and working in Jim Thorpe, PA, so organically inter-connected and intuitively perceptive of this town’s Victorian past, the existence of the magical, the mythology of the fairies and mythical gnomes, and whose love for the natural world produces the all-encompassing framework for his creations, like Robert (Bob) Ewashko.
As a budding artist, Robert always loved to work with his hands, making 3-dimensional works his early vocation. Hence, while studying at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania he chose pottery and salt glazed stoneware mediums over painting. Woodworking craftsmanship the artist learned from his father, who also instilled in him a reverence for the environment and a love of wood, especially if gathered from untamed forestry. In time, Robert perfected the art of make-believe and story telling through his 3-dimensional architectural constructs. Works inspired by the 19th century stylistics of Jim Thorpe and built with an intricate attention to detail that blends the artist’s romantic mysticism with his unique interpretation of the Victorian era.
Deeply philosophical, Robert Ewashko’s miniature houses tend to reveal the artist’s fondness for a world of tiny beings roaming the land at night. There are Gnomes, the earth dwellers; Fairies, the little winged-spirits of rivers and woods, buzzing around invisible; along with a host of other supernatural dwarfs, leprechauns, fauns, pixies, nixies, and elves. Written about for centuries in Irish and German mythologies, these good-luck-bearers can also be dangerous if offended, but mostly they are benevolent, known to help people in need with their special powers.
The Houses of Good Fairies seem mischievously alive with their crooked façades, protruding balconies and darkly reflecting windows, as if their inhabitants intend to lure the onlooker in, as it once happened to Alice in Wonderland, making us step into a miniaturized world of dreams from which one may not return.
All made from natural materials readily available and hand picked by the artist during his walks in the woods, The Houses of Good Fairies are painstakingly constructed with weathered wooden sticks, battered tree brunches and a broad selection of dry shrub shavings to simulate walls, roofs, and verandas; garnished with sheets of tree bark and mushrooms, the exteriors are texturized to resemble buildings one may find in the fantasy world of JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien or John Ruskin.
These miniature houses are often finished with thin sheets of mica stone placed in windows, to give them a more mysterious and animated appeal. Known for its healing properties, Mica stone is the only building material Robert has to purchase commercially, as it cannot be found locally. Brilliantly used by the artist are carefully preserved grape vine tendrils, whose slender curls, coils and ringlets take on a variety of architectural accessories, from cast iron fences, and roof top cupolas, to balconies and doorknobs, in an effort to simulate Victorian architecture. Indeed, over the years, the abundance of nature that surrounds Jim Thorpe has provided Robert with a wealth of organic materials for his art, inspiring and nourishing his soul in the process.
Upon arriving in Jim Thorpe in 1995, Robert and his wife Sheila fell in love with a Victorian fixer-upper that seduced them with its atmospheric artistic potential. Located at 40 West Broadway, in a historic part of town where a budding artistic community with two art galleries already making their strides, promised an exciting lifestyle for the imaginative couple with a zest for life in a bon vivant style.
The idea formed to create a guest house as a sanctuary for artists and writers, where free-spirited and creative minds visiting Jim Thorpe would be most welcomed. Both inventive and hard working, Robert and Sheila have transformed their house into an Arts & Crafts Victorian jewell filled with authentic vintage furniture, antique housewares, and Robert’s art – intuitively combining the magical and the historical, to become The Gilded Cupid B&B – today a well known Jim Thorpe landmark.
It is within this picturesque framework that the upcoming art exhibition of Robert Ewashko’s miniature houses will be held, the Mid-Summer’s Eve Art Exhibition, during which many Houses of Good Fairies will be displayed in their natural habitat, placed in the garden among the flowers, where mystical gnomes and fairies dwell. For more information about the event visit Robert’s Facebook https://www.facebook.com/robert.ewashko.1 or call the Gilded Cupid B&B. You don’t want to miss it.
Yvonne Wright is the owner of STUDIO YNW at 100 West Broadway in Jim Thorpe. She can be reached at studio.ynw@gmail.com
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