Odd-O Show
Schaefer’s Auto Art
An Art Review
With an art gallery that I was supposed to check out unexpectedly closed, I asked myself Now what?
As I headed back to my car, I started googling Erie art galleries, hoping to find a nearby site to review”so the GURU wouldn’t be reviewing my employment status with ErieCulture.Guru.
(Gulp!)
That’s when I found Schaefer’s Auto Art, which was not only an outdoor art site, but also only a few miles away headed towards home.
Even without navigation the place is easy to locate once you’re on Hershey Road, with its large, odd sculptures that seem to be guarding the site. (Or marching toward drivers on the road?)
While Schaefer’s Auto Art doesn’t appear to have its own website, information gleaned from several websites state that the place was created by Dick Schaefer about 25 years ago. And while I’m not exactly Mr. Man-About-Town, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of the place.
Approximately 10 creations are within the sculpture garden, mostly fashioned from automobile parts. A green skeletal dinosaur (none of the art pieces are labeled), greets visitors as it sticks out of the soil near Schaefer’s entrance.
An approximate 50-foot gray-and-red spaceship pointing towards the stars is the center point for all other sculptures that radiate from it on an acre of land.
Off to the site’s edge is a very large bumblebee. (Imagine its stinger!) Painted yellow and black and produced with the front of a car as its face and the barrel of a concrete mixer as its main body, six legs of unknown origin sprout from its body and plant themselves in the ground.
A spider (see above) formulated from a black Volkswagen is jacked up from the rear, showing off pincers near its mouth, while eight multi-colored legs radiate so far out that they almost seem to guard the spider’s body.
A local landmark of Outsider Art, Schaefer’s Auto Art is a cool diversion not far from the City of Erie. It always warms my heart to see someone create unique art from recycled or abandoned parts that others may term as junk.
The sculpture garden is open everyday 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. for visitors to enjoy.
**GG
Schaefer’s Auto Art is located at 3705 Hershey Rd, Erie, PA 16506. Admission is free. For more information visit https:// www. Facebook /SchaefersAutoArtEriePA/
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