This weekend I took a trip with my mom, and I got to explore the art of Penn State. Usually, when I visit, I go to sporting events like basketball games and football games. This trip I got to walk around downtown and experience the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

On my way to the festival, I saw a stand with a children’s book about their first trip to Penn State. I wasn’t able to talk to the illustrator Walter Policelli, but I was able to speak to the author. The author writes under a pen name, Nate N.E. Lyon and he graduated from Pennsylvania State University, he studied business and became a lawyer.

Walking around town and going to the local art gallery was another treat. I went to the Douglas Albert Gallery at State College. The owner of the gallery is an art dealer, so the gallery has a very diverse collection of art. The gallery is full of paintings and sculptures, all of the art showcases a variety of styles. One of the new editions to the gallery is a set of tribal sculptures.

The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts was spread over the town and had lots of tents set up. There were a lot of artists showing off their talents. One of my favorites was this metal work that I saw. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take a picture of the booths name. But the artist did let me take photos of their artwork. A lot of the artwork in the tents of the vendors were more expensive then I was expecting, and many of the artists at the festival didn’t allow photos taken of their work. The festival had live music, and at the end of the day, my mom and I stopped to watch an A cappella group RamaLama preform 1950s doo-wop music while eating Penn State’s best ice cream from the Berkey Creamery. What a perfect way to end the day at Penn State.