ASPIE held an open house in December 2023, and at the event, nearly $3,000 in donations was received for artwork from 10 ASPIE artists whose mediums ranged from wood craft to jewelry to paintings to photographic canvases.

ASPIE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating supplemental income for adult artisans with disabilities. The organization helps the artisans generate income through donations for their original artwork through http://www.aspiesartists.com and its Lancaster gallery.

At the December open house, ASPIE board member Phil Whitebloom of Maryland was fascinated by artworks by Steven Georges and Kate Manners, both of whom have cerebral palsy.

Georges learned how to weld years ago and made adaptive equipment like grab bars and custom furniture to aid him at his home in Mount Joy. He now also sculpts metal art from recycled steel. His pieces are primarily inspired by animal and plant life but also include wine bottle racks, classic car part lamps, furniture, replicas of heavy machinery such as tractors and bulldozers, spacecraft replicas, and garden ornaments.

Manners primarily creates acrylic pour paintings on canvas. Her longtime interest in art stemmed from family members such as her grandmother, who was an artist and art teacher, and was encouraged by her elementary school art teacher and the robust art program in her school district. When her day program was shut down during the pandemic, she started exploring crafting and painting with the help of her parents, with whom she lives in Lancaster. By 2021, she discovered the pour painting technique, which now dominates her work.

Whitebloom enjoyed both Georges' and Manners' artworks displayed at the open house so much that he decided to commission artwork for himself. He asked Georges to create a junk-metal sculpture of a telescope and gave the artist pictures of his own solar telescope for reference. He commissioned Manners to create a pour painting of the sun based on any creative mix of pigments and design.

The requests reflected Whitebloom's interest in astronomy, specifically solar astronomy. After receiving the finished artworks, he displayed them at the annual Winter Star Party in Big Pine Key, Fla.

ASPIE will host open houses on Saturdays, May 18 and 25, and Sundays, May 19 and 26, at its gallery, 1905 Barton Drive, Lancaster. Artworks by a dozen people will be available to view and to purchase by donation. The gallery may also be visited at other times by appointment; to learn more, call ASPIE president Jerry Buckwalter at 207-412-8090.