Barbara Strawser Sold at Auction Prices

Folk artist Barbara Strawser has been painting for most of her life. The third generation self-taught artist and mother of three was born in West Reading, Berks County, but for the last 27 years she has called Lebanon County her home. She lives in a large Victorian-era house just off the square in historic Schaefferstown. Primarily noted for her variously-themed folk paintings, including local farm scenes and gardens, Barbara is also known for her furniture decorating, cooking, baking and extensive vegetable and flower gardens.

The folk life is a way of being for Barbara, and its roots run deeply in her family. The daughter of June and Walter Gottshall, both 92 years old and folk artists themselves, Barbara has been influenced by her Pennsylvania German heritage. Barbara's great aunt was Hattie Klapp Brunner (1889-1982) a well-known antiques dealer and folk artist from Reinholds, Pa. She is referred to today as the Pennsylvania German Grandma Moses. "I can remember taking a painting by my great aunt under my arm to class one day to show my teacher in art class," she recalled. "The painting was of my grandparents' house." Her grandparents were Luke and Fannie Gottshall. Luke Gottshall (1899-1993) was known for his wood carvings, namely horse-drawn wagons, as well as his paintings and his cut-out fabric collages. His wife, Fannie Klapp Gottshall (1891-1976), was Hattie's sister and made fabric birds.

"My great aunt's (antiques) shop was called The Tulip Shop," Barbara recalled. "Tulips have always been important to me." One of Barbara's favorite recent works is a four-paneled painting depicting Pennsylvania German scenes and images. The first is an interpretation of a fraktur motif of potted tulips; the second, a farmer working in a field with deep red-oxide earth; the third, a panel from a paint-decorated chest; and the fourth, a stone farmhouse with gardens.

In the late 1970s, five of her large paintings were including in an exhibition at Kutztown University, Pa. The show served as an instrumental moment in her career. "It was important in my mind to be accepted because I was self-taught and had not gone to college," she stated. The paintings were all later sold to Boscov's Department Store. Strawser's work has since been included in numerous exhibitions. One of her early customers was the late Earl Jamison, the founder of Peddler's Village in Lahaska, Pa. Today, much of Strawser's work is done on a commission basis, and she does a select number of shows a year.