Huntingdon artist creates art and keeps reusable materials from landfills
“I have been an artist for over 20 years, starting with drawing and painting, moving to woodworking then back to painting,” said Erich, owner of Erich.Breimhurst_Art.
Based in Huntingdon, Erich has shown his work at a local gallery and has sold wooden spoons and rings as well as custom-made shelving units, tables, and benches.
On the Alleghenies Marketplace, shoppers will find his vibrant paintings, including abstract and still-life works featuring colorful shapes and flowers. Erich said he prefers to use materials he finds, which serves to save on costs and also to benefit the environment.
“The materials I use are typically whatever I can find: leftover or mis-tinted house paint with thrown away colorant, saturated colors from hardware stores, old fabric from thrift stores stretched on handmade frames, cardboard, ceiling tiles, plywood and drywall,” he said. “I am passionate about reusing materials not only for cost savings but also to keep them out of landfills.”
He uses the same approach to woodworking, using branches and any type of discarded wood, or cutting his own boards from fallen trees. “I have worked in construction since I was young for my father’s company and have apprenticed with a carpenter and a woodworker,” Erich said.
Above all, Erich wants to make art accessible to everyone. “I want to bring beauty and color into people’s homes and show that art has a place in rural and small towns, not just kept in museums in big cities. Art can be accessible to everyone,” he said. “And I’d like to pass on my love of art to those who might not have access to it.”
Check out Erich’s work, available for purchase on the Alleghenies Marketplace
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