Mennonite Heritage Center holding Call of Creation exhibit

Montgomery County artist and local art teacher Berdine Leinbach is sharing her original watercolors in an exhibit entitled “The Call of Creation” at the Mennonite Heritage Center (MHC) in Harleysville through September 28.

While Leinbach has been known for over 20 years for her large realistic watercolors of local meadows and streams with wildlife, the exhibit also reveals recent more fluid images in rich color connected to the concepts of peace and love, said a MHC press release.

    Creation is Calling For Peace – a collaborative work (Courtesy of Berdine Leinbach)
  

She also shares a collaborative artwork she initiated with 11 artists entitled “Creation is Calling for Peace.” Individuals were each given wooden hexagons and the task of showing how creation calls for peace – literally, metaphorically and/or aesthetically – using the medium of their choice.

A photo of Creation is Calling for Peace was one of 40 artworks recently selected out of over 1,500 worldwide submissions to be included in the 2024 Hexagon Project’s 20 x 20 Posters for Peace traveling exhibit, which opened at Artworks Gallery and Studios in Scranton on September 6, said the release.

    Collaborating artist Libby Musselman explains her work (Courtesy of Lynelle Leinbach)
  

“Current events around the world make the call for peace intensely urgent,” said Leinbach. “Art has the power to transform our thinking and our world. Linking these diverse hexagons together with fibers was really challenging, but such a joy. Delightful connections were found in colors, lines, patterns, movement, meaning, and metaphor.”

“This piece shows how people, plants, animals, and the earth are all interdependent. We can work together for peace. I intentionally included an interactive component to allow viewers to make connections and participate in the creating process,” Leinbach continued. “The goal of the collaboration is to call for peace, promote mutual respect, and seek reconciliation for the well-being of all. We need to pray for peace and act for peace.”