Celebrating 26 years of outsider art at ‘Outsiders Outside Art Fair’

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

For the 26th year,

those who were on the hunt for art that is different – art that is of the whimsical When she landed up north, she opened a gallery in Lakeside (in the building next to the church). Even in the gallery’s living variety – converged outside of the Judith Racht Art Gallery at 13689 Prairie Road in Harbert for the annual Outsiders Outside Art Fair, which took place Friday through Sunday, Sept. 2-4.

Artwork included paintings, woodcuts, sculptures, and fiber art, created by artists who use many non-traditional materials to make their art.

No matter how much one piece of art differed from another artists’ work, though, there was one common thread that ran through all the work that was on display throughout the Labor Day weekend show: It was all created by artists who have not been formally trained – hence the term “outsider artist.”

It’s the rawness that emanated from each piece that is what draws Judith to that type of art, she said.

“I always bought one of kind things when I go to the auctions - I liked it because it was made by somebody’s hands,” she said.

She drew attention to the paintings in her gallery, which were made from clay and pennies that were mixed and then house paint.

Judith added that she attributes her love of artwork made by hand, such as quilts, to her upbringing in the south. quarters, whimsical items abounded. In her children’s bedrooms upstairs, quilts were draped over their beds. “People would say, ‘I want to see your upstairs’ and I would say, ‘That’s just where my family stays,’” she said. Soon, she gave in and started letting her guests wander upstairs. “They’d say, ‘I want that chair and painting and I want that quilt’ and other things before I just gave in and said, ‘Okay,’” Judith said.

As for the art show,

Judith said that artists and dealers come from near and far.

“As long as dealers are doing well, I’m happy…Some of them come from a long way - Texas and New York and Virginia - so it’s a long drive,” she said, noting the rising gas prices.

“Everybody seems pretty happy so if they’re happy, I’m happy.”

In four more years, the building that houses the gallery will be 100 years old (an emblem on the building states “AD 1926)).

“I’d like to hold onto it to celebrate its 100th year,” Judith said.

Amy Lansburg’s mixed media pieces of driftwood and repurposed items

Pete Maloy stands by his photography featuring a mix of wallpaper and images of bombers

Sumaya Seccurro with her eclectic wood artwork from Kokomo, Indiana

Matt Swenson poses by one of his paintings, Piggy

Visitors view artwork from Creative Onward, which supports creative growth of visual artists with mental and developmental disabilities

Replica of country’s first steam locomotive debuts at Hesston during Steam and Power Show

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

Thanks to Rick

Weber’s hours of research, engineering, design and engine was built.” The original Tom Thumb was built in 1830 to run on the Baltimore and Ohio horse drawn wagon railway. construction, Hesston Steam Museum now has a replica of the first steam locomotive in the United States. Weber said he put 2,300 hours into the fully operational, steam powered scale replica of Peter Cooper’s Tom Thumb.

Visitors could see the replica, which was made to operate on the museum’s 3-foot gauge railroad, during the museum’s 66th annual Steam and Power Show, which took place Friday through Monday, Sept. 2-5.

Weber said Cooper was the industrialist who had the Tom Thumb built.

“It was kind of a proof-ofconcept engine – it wasn’t built to actually do any work, just to show that this new-fangled steam engine could actually replace horses that were pulling wagons at the time on the rails,” he said.

Weber said his replica was built as a little bigger than half scale model, adding that it’s “basically the first time a truly authentic version of this “The industrialist that conceived the idea proved that this was better than horses and from this point on, people actually had some idea of what a steam locomotive was,” Weber said, adding that people “started building locomotives and railroads in this country like gangbusters.” As for Weber, he started building the replica 15 months ago. “That was due to Covid… I’m immune compromised, so I didn’t have any place to go, and I went out in my machine shop and started building,” he said. The process involved making wood patterns of the iron castings and machining those castings as well as several other parts.

Water in the

five eight scale model goes into a boiler, where a fire at the bottom heats it up and turns up the steam, The steam runs the engines and “it goes back and forth,” Weber said.

Rick Weber stands next to his replica of Peter Cooper’s Tom Thumb The Shay locomotive returns to Hesston

The Electric Power Plant in action at Hesston Guests flock to the flea market

John Deeres ride down the main drag of Hesston

The Porter No. 2 carries passengers The double header of the Shay No. 7 and Porter No. 2

John Deeres were aplenty at Hesston Riley Seifert and Mya Adams hang out inside one of the displays at Hesston

The threshing demonstration has begun on The Minneapolis Elwin Bender with his model 1915 Case one-third scale

Drivers of all ages rode the John Deeres during the Parade of Power A 1917 Russell makes an appearance during the Parade of Power Guests check out the different models and replicas at the museum Both Weber

and his wife are degreed engineers, with Weber having sold his engineering publication company in 2008. He and his wife then became involved in philanthropy work, which led them to Hesston.

“There isn’t a museum in the world if they had a printing press in the basement to print enough money to keep them going, so we wanted to see if there were some things we could do to help them out,” Weber said.

Ted Rita, Hesston’s general manager, said that he’s always wanted a Tom Thumb like the replica – and Weber was “intrigued by the idea.”

“This is the first time it’s been running for the public, so I’ve kind of just been watching it and seeing some changes I might want to make, improvements, debug it a little bit,” he said, adding that he’s “run it back and forth about two dozen times” that day.

Adding that the museum was “just thrilled” to have the replica, Rita said the Tom Thumb “really was some of the first steam powered equipment on this continent.” “Up until the day of the Tom Thumb, we only used animals to transport things, there was never a machine to transport things,” he said.

Rita said there was some steam equipment that moved that was used during the Revolutionary War; however, it was unsuccessful and was used in England.

Visitors could also get a sneak peek at The Steamworks, a new museum gallery, throughout the weekend.

Rita said The Steamworks will be expanded as the museum gets grant funds.

“It’ll give us a little more indoor room and give us an opportunity to do smaller exhibits that we always wanted to do instead of living history exhibits,” Rita said.

Rita said the museum isn’t “typical” of other ones because it includes moving exhibits that guests can even take for a ride.

“We try to give experiences - we don’t want to just talk to people with glass cases so even Steamworks would be a very hands-on, very experiential type of museum gallery,” he said.

Visitors could

also celebrate the return of the 67-ton, 1929 Shay Logging Locomotive after a threeyear hiatus, with the Shay No. 7 and Porter No. 2 double heading throughout the weekend. The Hesston Steam and Power Show is presented by the LaPorte County Historical Society, a nonprofit organization/501C3 corporation. Hesston Steam Museum is located at 1201 E. 1000 North in Hesston, Indiana.

The next event is the Hesston Ghost Train, which takes place the last three weekends in October. For upcoming events, visit hesston.org.

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Officer credited with saving life in fiery crash

BY STAN MADDUX

Ahouse in LaPorte was heavily damaged by a motor vehicle and fire in a suspected alcohol related crash. reach Eakins. Wells pulled Eakins into the back seat and out the door with help from La Porte Police Officer Pat Hemphill, police said.

A police officer is credited with saving the life of the driver trapped in the vehicle by fallen debris.

Evin Eakins, 25, is charged with Class A misdemeanor operating while intoxicated.

According to LaPorte Police, the Valparaiso man crashed into the front of a single-story house at 3111 Monroe Street late in the night Sept. 1.

The vehicle went completely through the front exterior wall before crashing into the living room and kitchen.

According to police, the 2017 Ford Escape was sticking partially out the back wall of the home when it caught fire.

Police said Eakins was still in the driver’s seat with the car and house on fire when LaPorte County Sheriff’s Deputy Austin Wells was first to arrive.

Sheriff John Boyd said Wells was not able to get to the front doors of the vehicle because of heavy debris from the crash.

He said Wells managed to clear enough debris from a back passenger’s side door to get that door open and “It really was heroic,” he said. LaPorte Fire Chief Andy Snyder said he believes Eakins would have perished if not for efforts of Wells because of how rapidly the flames were building with firefighters still on their way. “By the time our crews arrived, the vehicle and the house were well involved with fire,” he said.

According to police, Thomas Pajor, 22, and Taylor Hager, 21, in their bedroom at the time were not hit by the vehicle.

They suffered what was described as minor injuries from the debris.

Eakins was treated and released from the hospital before being booked at the LaPorte County Jail. His alleged blood alcohol level was .182-percent. According to police, Eakins said he drank a “quarter bottle” of a beverage containing 36-percent alcohol. No information was readily available on the cause of the crash which remained under investigation, police said.

Jimmie & Mindy Married February 14, 2016

Jimmie was fired from her job as a teacher because of who she loves.

In 31 states in this country, it’s legal to discriminate against LGBT Americans. That means you can be fired from your job, evicted from your home, or even denied medical services because of who you are or who you love. Everyone has the right to marry. Not everyone has basic rights.