Susan McDaniel, JoAnne Schiavone and Karen Paust
The Three Musketeers, protagonists of the Alexandre Dumas novel published in 1844, focuses on the exploits and adventures of this legendary trio as protectors of the King of France.
King Street in York is home to a vibrant art scene as an anchor of the Royal Square District, joined by Queen Street, forming a vanguard of variety ranging from galleries to shops, restaurants, bistros, taverns and breweries. It is home to an eclectic courtyard and even boasts a grand hotel, the Yorktowne.
If you’re looking for a jumping off point, start at Venture, a unique fortress of “craft.art.design” led by York’s version of the Three Musketeers. Only this trio of gendarmes is female, with Susan McDaniel, Karen Paust and JoAnne Schiavone comprising this modern-day version of the Gascon swashbucklers. It was Susan who enlisted Karen and JoAnne, all friends for years, to join her in a pop-up shop in 2018 at the space where Venture is found today. The genesis for that project was an offshoot of the Parliament Art Organization in York, encouraging Susan to “go for it.” Together, the three “wunderkinds” were all in for the adventure.
When one enters Venture, a portal to the “World of Art Imagination” flings open far and wide. Taking in its Technicolor vista of beauty, what the eye beholds first is not always what it appears to be upon closer inspection. Trompe l’oeil is at play throughout this art salon, tickling the senses. Prolific flowers are actually made of paper, yet one swears they are real; logs for the fireplace are actually knitted out of wool. Wall art, wearable art, jewelry and more float into the ether of fantasy unbound. There is so much to drink in at Venture that it may trip sensory overload.
As the founder of Venture, Susan’s philosophical approach encompasses “gathering dreamers in the area to craft and share in a communal hand-making process, all in the name of art, while providing an environment where people can come and appreciate and participate equally.”
Power couple, Susan McDaniel and her husband, award-winning furniture-maker, Peter Danko, Venture forth together in their artistic endeavors. Susan is a fiber artist, weaving worlds of wonder, whimsical and wild. Peter’s contributions to the interior’s mix include chairs and tables unmatched yet united by a certain flourish of fantasy. Danko is not physically a presence in the gallery and yet his touches are ever present. His works are represented in major museums like the Museum of Modern Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Boston Museum of Fine Art.
Multitalented Karen Paust dabbles in so many mediums and art forms that, at times, it seems that she invents them as she goes. Her forte as a “bead artist” is recognized throughout the United States. Her repertoire includes jewelry, fiber scarves, art cards and a panoply of products from A to Z. She also has a fine art gallery, Mobilia, in Cambridge, Mass. She shared that, “The key ingredient to life is the ability to make something out of nothing.” Growing up in rural America, she confessed, “Childhood remembrances of the best kind were imagination’s thrall, leading to creativity unbound. Using so little in way of materials somehow sprung forth wondrous treasures.”
JoAnne Schiavone sculpts magic out of paper by turning wood pulp, cotton fiber, wasp nests, mulberry tree bark and wastepaper pulp into art. As the paper sculptress queen, JoAnne adds pixie dust sprinkles, sweeping the gallery’s nooks and crannies with her magical creations. Paper flowers adorn a desktop defying the laws of nature as they are crafted artisanally and not grown in a garden. Books of all sorts made by the artist’s hands beg to be handled with care, as each page is a treasure to behold. Exquisitely buoyant bound books become collectibles with closures of twine and button and others sleeping in their own slip box. From her college days, JoAnne was eco-conscious before it came into vogue. Her paper looks as if she threw the best of nature in a blender and hit the “dream” switch, surreal as dreams become, in pieces and fragments begging to coalesce and make sense. What may not seem clear in the subconscious mind comes into crystal clarity with her paper presentations fully realized.
Expanding the trio’s diverse creations, the picture’s completed with collaborators that include the arresting acrylic paintings of Andi Simpson and the unique jewelry of silversmith Patty Kline Green. April Moon Peacock (an artist name like none other) fashions fantastic baubles from industrial found objects while Laurie Brooks of Spool in Columbia, Pa., creates fiber pendants detailed by depth of color rich and saturated. Venture is a gateway to dreams and imagination, a land of enchantment, energy and enlightenment.
For five years, these “Queens of King” have joined forces to establish the corner square of E. King, taking it by storm. Heroines brandishing art mediums with aplomb, no parapet too high to scale, their grand design of an adventure turned into Venture, a gallery worthy of a king’s ransom. Collectively, the ladies bring a certain Zen to their gallery that visually paints an ever-changing backdrop of seasonal sensuality. One cannot help but be moved when taking in the beauty surrounding the interior.
Venture forth to partake of each vignette created by an ever-changing roster of artists to find the appeal in the level of craftsmanship brought to everything they create. Swords are sheathed and muskets mounted as tools of their trade supplant weaponry for beauty’s charms. This venturous threesome with derring-do bravado, like the Musketeers of yore, shares the motto: “All for one and one for all.”
Venture is located at 128 E. King St., York. For more information, visit www.ventureroyalsquare.business.site or their Facebook page.
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