Berks Now: Linda Heberling

April 28, 2005, Reading, PA - In response to visitor and Member requests to see more local art, Berks Now is an exhibition program that was launched by the Reading Public Museum to feature the work of local artists, many from Berks County. The next featured artist will be a Bethlehem native and oil painter, Linda M. Heberling. The show will be displayed in the Museum’s auditorium hallway from May 8 through June 12, 2005. Berks Now gives local artists the opportunity to display their work to the Berks County community, and is supported by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.



Originally born in Clearfield County, PA Heberling has lived in Bethlehem for 27 years. She currently works as an ESL aide in the Tulpehocken School District, and is a member of West Reading’s Gallery 20. A 1978 graduate of Kutztown University, she has been creating art with oil paints since the fifth grade. Heberling’s Berks Now exhibit will feature various oil paintings including a reproduction of Rembrandt Peale’s original portrait of Timothy Matlack, the man who first penned the Declaration of Independence. “When I do portraits…I seek to capture their essence,” explains Heberling. A descendant of Matlack herself, her reproduction was highlighted in an article about her ancestor in the March/April 2005 edition of Pennsylvania Magazine.

Heberling has been gathering specific paintings together for the Museum’s Berks Now exhibit. She explains, “This show…is about putting things in perspective through history and inheritance. Americans are spending more time ‘cocooning,’ spending their income on the home and family.” In her work Heberling takes antiques found in her two-story log home built in 1820, and paints each in various light settings from sunrise to late afternoon. “The therapeutic study of light gently falling across an object passed down through generations has a calming effect. I enjoy the impartial dogs-eye-view. At times, I’m obsessed by an object with an ancient design,” states Heberling. Also included in her exhibit will be Silla Para Mi Ancestro (Seat For My Ancestor), which Heberling has attributed to those historical people who succeeded in creating the US government against great odds.

The Reading Public Museum’s regular hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11a.m. to 5p.m.; Wednesday 11a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday Noon to 5p.m. Entrance to the Arboretum is free. Regular Museum admission is $7 for adults (ages 18 - 60) and $5 for seniors/children/student (with ID). Museum Members and children under 4 are free.