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Pastels by Donna Whitford Housel and Raku ceramics by Helen Gorsuch are featured at the Bedford County Arts Center through Sept. 26. A reception to meet the artists will be held 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7, at the center.     A Bedford County native and resident of the Buffalo Mills area, Housel said art was her favorite pastime growing up and that it “kept me out of trouble.”

But art took a back seat while she and her husband, Ben, raised their son, Aaron. Then, when Aaron was old enough to get his driver’s license, Housel had time to turn to her art full time. She now works at least five hours a day creating graphite and pastel works among others.

 This self-taught artist took a few workshops and classes to get back into the groove, noting that “a lot of things I had forgotten.”

 While watching as her pieces were placed on display Tuesday afternoon at the arts center, Housel said she’s been seriously working at her art since 1985, and finds inspiration in nature around her.

 “When I get awake in the morning it comes to mind what I’m going to do,” she said. “I have a lot of ideas and that keeps me motivated.”

 Since she can’t work on all her ideas at once, Housel keeps a list of ideas as they come along.

 Much of her work features the animals she loves, including dogs and big cats.

 Living on a mountaintop near the Somerset County line, Housel has had a few encounters with black bears and admits they are a passion right now, too.

 In addition to animals, some of her works on display feature landscapes, flowers and fantasy.

 A snow scene on display is actually the view of “our driveway after the storm,” Housel said. Another painting depicts a 1949 truck she passes every morning. She sketched it in the owner’s yard, took a digital photo for color, and then painted the truck in a setting “where I thought Œhe’ should be.”

 Recently, Housel has added portraiture to her repertoire as she has been studying the discipline with a portrait artist in Pittsburgh.

 In addition to creating art, Housel teaches others as an instructor for Allegany College of Maryland at the Cumberland campus and at the Cumberland Senior Center. She also teaches at her studio.

 Housel’s work is on display at the revolving gallery at Rocky Gap, the Garrett County Arts Council and at the Marjorie Rose Gallery at Mark’s Daily Grind in Cumberland, Md. She will have 15 pastels on display at the Iris and Ivory Tearoom in Pittsburgh in October, and has been invited to be part of a group show by Lynn Baney’s art gallery in Roaring Spring.

 Housel’s husband, Ben, makes frames from American Chestnut to offset her artwork. “He just retired and needs something to do,” she said with a laugh, but added he’s a bluegrass musician, too. “That’s his creative outlet,” she said.

 When traveling to see her son and his family in Tennessee, Housel will take light drawing materials and her digital camera. She also takes her supplies when attending bluegrass festivals with her husband, noting that inspiration can strike anywhere and “I think it’s always better to sketch it if you can.”

 Always on the lookout for ideas, Housel said “I love what I do. That’s the bottom line.”

 Complimenting Housel’s pastels and graphite drawings are the sculptures of Altoona artist Helen Gorsuch.

 Animals, myths and literature have been great sources of inspiration, Gorsuch said, and her imagination shows through in her works which include pigs dancing for ethanol, a Culture Vulture and Aesop’s Marathon. A bunch of guinea pigs was inspired by a pet she had as a child.

 Gorsuch designs and creates her clay sculptures using the techniques and kiln firing processes employed by earlier potters. She may buy her clay by the ton, but she doesn’t just grab a handful and begin to work. Instead, she sketches out each piece and decides how to make it. The large pieces weigh about 20 pounds, Gorsuch said, noting they are hollow.

 Much like an architect, Gorsuch said she builds forms or buttresses to support her design. “You have to structure it,” she said, or you’ll end up with a blob of clay.

 Working with clay also requires patience as “you have to build up slowly.”

 Posts act as supports for smaller pieces, while larger pieces, like Aesop’s Marathon, require a complete plan so the rabbit doesn’t squash the turtle.

 And even with 30 years of experience, Gorsuch said the guinea pigs were difficult. “I had to make a lot to get the guinea pig looking right.”

 With their four toes in front and three in back, the sculptures are very lifelike and nearly the same in size as their living counterparts.

 Gorsuch uses Raku, a low-temperature technique of firing porous, low-bisque fired pottery. The technique involves placing the pottery in the pre-heated kiln and removing the piece from the kiln ‹ with tongs ‹ while it is still glowing hot.

 The Raku kiln is outside and can get rather smoky, so Gorsuch can be found creating her sculptures in the cooler months and firing up the kiln in the spring.

 To complete a piece, Gorsuch fires the sculpture in an electric kiln until most of the impurities are burned away. The piece is then glazed with a lead based formula and made ready for the Raku kiln. The glaze is applied at least a day before firing so the piece isn’t too “wet.”

 With its Japanese heritage, Raku comes from a background of universal human experiences and is said to offer the potter spiritual insight into himself as well as his craft.

 Once the sculpture is removed from the red-hot kiln, the Raku piece must be reduced by placing it quickly into an airtight enclosure containing some dry combustibles. Sawdust, shredded paper, leaves or straw are often used and only a few handfuls of the material is needed. The reduction process produces the smoky gray “Raku” effect and is considered to be the spirit of raku: the final moment of intimacy between the pot and the potter that culminate the creative experience.

 A Florida native, Gorsuch is self-taught and said she’s learned a lot by reading and from experimentation. On a side note, she said the noticeable cracks on her pieces are what makes them Raku. The cracks are part of the process and don’t harm the pieces.

 Her work has been exhibited in the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in State College, the Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh, the Pen and Brush Society of New York and the Blair County Arts Festival in Altoona, as well as at various group shows.

 To view, and perhaps purchase, the sculptures by Gorsuch and the pastels of Housel, visit the Bedford County Arts Center, in the Anderson House, 137 E. Pitt St., Bedford, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 623-1538 or send an e-mail to artsinbedfordpa.net. The Web site is www.artsinbedfordpa.org.