Lenore Fiore-Mills of Dunmore, PA

Inside the Ice House
Dunmore, PA
fiber art: batik painting
20″ x 26″

Northeastern Pennsylvania is rich in venues that reflect the various industries that contributed to the growth of our nation. The Ice business, right here in Tobyhanna, PA, was a booming business in the early 1900’s. Before refrigerators, the blocks of ice were used and shipped to major cities from ice harvesters locally. The Leonard family operated an ice business and, after it became obsolete, the family reenacted the lost art from 1994 until present.

I attended several reenactments and began painting the tools and activities surrounding the event. So, in this “Inside the Ice house” batik painting, I chose the dye colors that represent metal, gritty rust, and the railroad car’s boarded walls in which tools are housed.
The harvest actually stirred me to a deep connection to my grandfather’s blacksmith shop and a nostalgic era when immigrants honed their skills for the benefit of all. I visit his shop on my property and imagine the fire and the clanging of metal and I imagine water in a cup and pail hanging on a nail for the thirsty laborer.

The actual process of batik is done on cotton with a pencil drawing and alternate layers of wax and dye to completion.

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