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\u201cWhy did Don Shoffstall shroud his messages to the community in complex graphic strokes?\u201d Greiner asks in a description of the exhibit. \u201cAlso, why did he post his unique work on telephone poles? Don combined his messages, graphic style, and method-of-display into a form of expression\u2014but did people recognize this as art? Did Don?\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, that answer can\u2019t be known. Shoffstall died in Dauphin County in 2014.<\/p>\n
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Donald Shoffstall stands with one of his works in an undated photo.<\/p>\n
Submitted<\/p>\n
Born in 1946, Shoffstall attended Manheim Township schools and attended Penn State University. Soon after, Sylvester says, Shoffstall dealt with “a mixture of personal tragedy and emotional problems.\u201d Sylvester didn\u2019t give details, but according to newspaper archives, Shoffstall was involved in a 1973 crash that left someone dead and left him facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and driving under the influence.<\/p>\n
For much of Shoffstall’s adulthood, he was homeless, Sylvester says, which led to “a lot of unfortunate encounters with society.\u201d But, it was when Shoffstall was homeless that he created his art.<\/p>\n
“Shoffstall was a man of the streets. He was both well-known and an invisible person. He would talk at everyone and spoke with no one,” a description of the exhibition says.<\/p>\n
They met shortly after Shoffstall attended Penn State, Sylvester says, describing him as \u201ca big personality.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Today, he would be perfect for shock radio, talk radio,” Sylvester says, “That booming voice. Very outgoing, very, ‘I want to be heard. This is my point.'”<\/p>\n
IS IT ART?<\/p>\n
Out of 26 people who filled out surveys during April\u2019s First Friday event about whether Don Shoffstall\u2019s works are art, 23 concluded that his works were art. Three people answered maybe, or kind of.<\/p>\n
Here are anonymous comments that some attendees left:<\/p>\n
\u2014 \u201cThe art of the visionary is hard to define, but easy to recognize. \u2026 Shoffstall is art unfiltered.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 \u201cRepetitive compulsive line drawings with a consistent message is often representative of naive outsider art. Since I experienced Don many times in person, I always knew he was consistent visually and in audio (talk) with his message.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 \u201cThe man had an amazing sense of the world as he knew it, and he expressed himself accordingly, in chaos and his own reality. Wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 \u201cThe thoughts of a man lay bare for the world to see. Perhaps a warning or prophecy! Very nicely done.\u201d<\/p>\n
His art wasn\u2019t his only avenue to be heard. Greiner recalls stories of Shoffstall attending Quaker meetings, in which attendees are encouraged to stand and talk. Sometimes Shoffstall would talk for 20 minutes, uninterrupted, even if they didn’t understand what he was trying to say, Greiner says.<\/p>\n
But in this exhibition, Greiner and Sylvester wanted to focus on Shoffstall’s art, not necessarily who Shoffstall was as a person. Most of Shoffstall’s closest relatives have died, and more distant relatives did not want to be involved with the process, Sylvester says.<\/p>\n
“The fact that (Shoffstall) was on the fringe of things is 10% of the story. Ninety percent of the story is art,” Sylvester says. “Van Gogh, that man was as nutty as a fruitcake, but nobody talks about that part of life. They talk about his art.”<\/p>\n
Sylvester and Greiner say they wanted to offer a different setting for the art \u2013 to bring the street art into the traditional gallery setting \u2013 to explore reactions.<\/p>\n
“Seeing it on a telephone pole, do you react differently to it than when you see it in a gallery with some wine and cheese?” Sylvester asks.<\/p>\n
They’re trying to see where they may be able to take the exhibition after its run at Mulberry Art Studios.<\/p>\n
“He was trying to send a message,” Sylvester says. “If you’re just scratching on paper, it’s trash afterwards. But this was consciously meant for display.”<\/p>\n