Alburtis shop blooms on growth of renewed friendship
While the spring tease is in full swing there are still a few days mixed in that are cold and damp and demand a dose of warmth and comfort. Add some original artwork, some vintage clothing and jewelry, and it’s a great place to get warm.
Folkwerks, at 121 S. Main St., Alburtis, has it all and then some.
Owner and artist Peg McCormack bought the house a few years back, and it was perfect for her purposes: part studio, part store. Previously only open by appointment, the shop is now open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and when the weather gets warm, porch sales will roll out on Saturdays.
The change came about when McCormack recently renewed a friendship with Sandy Perose, owner of the former La Galleria in Allentown’s 19th Street shopping district. The two old friends put their heads together to see what they could work out. It would be easier with the two of them to cover the store hours, it would be good for the revitalization effort in Alburtis. It would be fun.
Folkwerks contains a few of McCormack’s bronze sculpture pieces, but many more animal and human figures in her preferred medium, chalkware. The labor- and time-intensive process has Pennsylvania German roots that evolved around the time of the Industrial Revolution when some potters were forced to stop using their kilns. Plaster was cast in molds and after drying, the figures were painted, usually in bright colors.
McCormack did a series of Santas — a different mold cast every year — that she stopped doing a few years ago. It was too intense and involved, she says, though she has been thinking of starting up the tradition again.
