We will never know why Mr. Shoffstall shrouded his messages to the community in a complex graphic style. Or, why he posted his unique work on telephone poles. The combination of his message, graphic style, and method-of-display is a form of expression—but is it also art?

Is this Art?: the collected works of Donald Shoffstall will be opening at Mulberry Art Studios with a First Friday Reception on Sept 5 from 5-8pm, and will remain on display throughout the month of September. Mulberry Art Studios is located in historic downtown Lancaster at 19-21 N Mulberry St. Please email Stephanie.MulberryArt@gmail.com to set up a time to visit. 

Donald Shoffstall was a man of the streets. He was both well known and an invisible person. He would talk at everyone and spoke with no one. In the late 20th century, he often posted on telephone poles in Lancaster photocopies of unsigned, hand-written pages he had created. Jerry Greiner and Steve Sylvester, the exhibition curators, collected and preserved some of Don’s Shoffstall’s creations that had been posted on poles in Lancaster. Don Shoffstall’s creations followed none of the conventions of writing or graphic design. His postings consist of waves, curls, lines, and words sprawled across sheets of paper—words and phrases that freely flow in random directions. Don’s postings initially appear unintelligible. His scribblings follow none of the conventions of writing or graphic design.  The only unifying element is a distinctive cursive style suggestive of abstract expressionism. 

Greiner said the show raises a fundamental question, “Why did Don Shoffstall shroud his messages to the community in complex graphic strokes? Also, why did he post his unique work on telephone poles. Don combined his messages, graphic style, and method-of-display into a form of expression—but did people recognize this as art? Did Don?

Sylvester added, “Messages, such as these, that come from the fringes of society, are easy to dismiss as meaningless and trivial. When viewing Shoffstall’s creations in a gallery setting will people think society may have overlooked their beauty and failed to grasp their meaning when the postings were encountered hung on telephone poles? 

This haunting and unique exhibit of Don Shoffstall’s tattered and weathered postings will challenge viewers to confront how setting

and context influence their reactions to art.