Several years ago on the way to Buffalo, NY, I finally stopped at Olga's Living with Art, a shop I had often noticed while driving Rt. 6 across Pennsylvania. Olga's is in Coudersport and Olga turned out to be a talented Ukrainian woman who makes fantastic knit creations, paints pysanky and glass, holds art classes for local kids, and firmly believes in art as an everyday part of life for everyone. Among the many enticing things at her shop, which takes up the bottom floor of a sprawling old house, were beautifully-painted and -wired light bulbs. Olga had decorated the bulbs in all kinds of colorful, fanciful ways, mostly with paintings of beings and things, then finished them off with sculptural hangers, made from heavy wire embellished with beads and such which she wrapped around the base of each bulb.I came home and promptly started saving burned-out bulbs, which has become harder to do now that most of the bulbs in the house are compact fluorescents. When I started painting them, I stuck to Christmas red and green because I did not want to end up with lots of jars of half-used glass paint. I used whatever wire was around to make simple hangers for them. Mine are a most primitive version of Olga's, but they were a lot of fun to make and they look festive hanging in the downstairs windows at Christmas. This is the second year I've had them up. They are a great art project for recycling old incandescents.
And when in Coudersport, do not miss Olga's Living with Art shop.
