2025 Preview: Chalk Talk with Elva Interview
Name: Elva Hurst
Hometown: Ephrata, PA
Current Town: Lititz, PA
Favorite Food: Pickled Beets & Ice Cream
Thank you for sitting down with us, Elva. Tell us a little about yourself, your family, your upbringing?
I grew up Old Order Mennonite and lived on a dairy farm in Ephrata, PA, and I was educated to the 8th grade in a one-room Amish and Mennonite School. I was number 8 of 9 siblings, and we kept busy working on the family farm. In my spare time as a teen I began to paint and my art journey took off from there. Later in life, I discovered Chalk Talk, and it has brought me to where I am today. Today, I own and operate the Barnyard Art Studio in Lititz, PA, where folks travel from far and wide to see Chalk Talk and shop our Gift shop and gallery. I have written books and even have a short film published sharing about my life stories and adventures growing up Mennonite on a farm.
Tell us about your journey as an artist.
The beauty on my dad’s farm inspired me to try painting pictures when I was 14 years old and finished with school. Between chores on our dairy farm, I began practicing with enamel model paint on slate and stones and discovered I loved to paint!
What inspires your art and why?
Life is a gift. I like to capture moments and memories in my pictures; it’s the way I express and share the beauty I see around me. When I study a subject to paint, the more I look, the more I see the beauty of God’s creation.
How does your faith play a role in your work overall and in the day to day?
God brings purpose and beauty into our lives, and I aim to make Him the center of what I do whether its my art or tending to the family farm!
What experience do you hope your audience will walk away with?
That they connect with God and feel uplifted and inspired to seek, find, and follow God’s plan for their lives.
What is the central message of your art?
Life has purpose and meaning and beauty. I hope my pictures help people to not miss that beauty.
Where do you see yourself as an artist in five years or more?
Continuing to do what I’m doing—only better and more efficiently!
If you could write your legacy, what would you say?
Don’t be afraid to try something that looks and feels too big to accomplish. Look to God in all things and watch the impossible become possible.
Three words…
Faith, Art, Nature
Chalk Art with Elva Links:
Join us for the 2025 BNT Tour Preview
January 11, 2025 at Calvary Church in Lancaster, PA.
Doors open at 1 PM. Program is free and begins at 2 PM!
Light refreshments, Tour Preview discounts, Prize drawings, and more!