Mennonite Life, 2215 Millstream Road, Lancaster, will offer a workshop on Friday, July 28, from 1 to 4 p.m. The class will be hosted by Emily Smucker-Beidler, a resident of Centerville and an art teacher at Landisville Primary Center. Smucker-Beidler will explain how to create art pieces in the early American fraktur style, as well as delve into the history of the art form. Preregistration for the workshop is required and must be completed by Tuesday, July 25, at https://mennonitelife.org/events.

When Swiss-German immigrants first came to Pennsylvania, they didn't bring much; often the settlers only had a few items, such as birth certificates and family Bibles. Although they didn't have any physical mementos from their homeland, they remembered it fondly and regularly created what became known as fraktur art pieces.

The word fraktur means fractured writing, and it referred to a specific type of embellished font. The term now refers to the specific style of art created by Pennsylvania settlers between 1740 and 1840. It is one of the oldest forms of American folk art, it draws inspiration from illustrated manuscripts in medieval Europe. Fraktur art often depicts three core symbols from Europe: birds, hearts and tulips. However, the settlers began to incorporate aspects of their new lives in America into the art.

During the workshop, Smucker-Beidler will offer a presentation on birds that were depicted through fraktur art, many of which were native to Pennsylvania and are now extinct. Participants will compare old art pieces and analyze which parts of the environment the settlers were integrating through the images. Participants will then be able to choose from three templates of fraktur drawings, which they will trace onto Bristol board and redefine with ink pens. After the template has been traced, participants will complete the piece with their materials of choice. Workshop attendees are invited to bring their own paints or colored pencils, but materials will also be available to purchase during the class. At the end of the workshop, each artist will be able to take home his or her finished fraktur art piece.

"Fraktur art is a great portal to understanding so many things," Smucker-Beidler said. "These were normal, everyday people that at the end of the day just wanted to make something beautiful." Often, fraktur artists would not even sign their names on the finished piece. Many fraktur artists were schoolteachers who gave out the artwork as a reward to students.

Smucker-Beidler first learned about fraktur art in Montgomery County, where she was raised. In eighth grade, she was mentored by Roma Ruth, a prolific fraktur artist. Smucker-Beidler also learned from her neighbor Mary Jane Hershey, a fraktur art collector and researcher. After attending college to study fine art, Smucker-Beidler was sought out by people requesting fraktur art pieces, due to the fact that few artists still create it. "I've fallen in love with the history of it," Smucker-Beidler said. "It speaks to people's basic need to make something beautiful."