A Fairview Twp. native who went to the Fine Arts Fiesta growing up is coming back, this time as a featured artist-in-residence.
“It’s really lovely to come full circle and return as an artist to the festival,” said potter Kim Allen Gleed.
She graduated from the former Bishop Hoban High School in Wilkes-Barre in 1991 and King’s College in 1995.
The Fine Arts Fiesta on Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, is Thursday through Sunday.
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Kim Allen Gleed
Kim Allen Gleed will be at the Fine Arts Fiesta to demonstrate her art.
(Kim Allen Gleed)
Kim Allen Gleed
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Kim Allen Gleed will be at the Fine Arts Fiesta to demonstrate her art.
(Kim Allen Gleed)
Allen Gleed was chosen “both for her beautiful work and dynamic teaching experience and ability to demonstrate,” Brian Benedetti, executive director of the Fiesta, said via email.
Teaching is Allen Gleed’s full-time career, as an English professor at Harrisburg Area Community College. She also teaches pottery classes at studios in Carlisle.
Allen Gleed took pottery classes as a child and returned to them at different stages of life.
“Pottery really began as a therapeutic and creative outlet, to kind of give me some balance in my life when l was working on my master’s and Ph.D.,” she said.
During the pandemic, she heard people talking about making time for their own interests. That was the nudge she needed to take her art further.
She makes functional items, such as bowls and mugs, and “whimsical” pieces that begin on the pottery wheel and then are built up by hand, such as fish or turtles.
Allen Gleed will be on hand at the Fine Arts Fiesta from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with occasional breaks.
She will be offering demonstrations, answering questions and displaying unfinished work in various stages of creation. She will also have items for sale.