From Flowers to Sardines: Work by Three Passavant Artists Headed to the Pennsylvania State Capitol

Elizabeth “Betty” Korczynski has a simple reason for painting flowers instead of animals.

“Because animals can’t stand still.”

The joking answer comes quickly.

This summer, one of her floral paintings will hang in the Pennsylvania State Capitol.

Korczynski is one of three artists connected to Passavant Community whose artwork was selected for the 2026 Older Artists of Pennsylvania Showcase, a juried exhibition presented by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging and Pennsylvania Creative Industries.

Nearly 200 artists from across Pennsylvania submitted work.

Thirty pieces were selected.

Three came from Passavant.

Together, they give Passavant Community an artist selected in all three categories of the exhibition.

Passavant Community Art Instructor Sheila Klotz was selected in the Professional category. Passavant resident Jack Herklotz was selected in the Non-Professional category. Passavant resident Korczynski was selected in the Artists Over Age 60 Living with Dementia category.

Their artwork will be displayed throughout August in the East Wing Rotunda of the Pennsylvania State Capitol.

Betty Korczynski: A Lifetime in Art

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Korczynski says about her artwork being chosen to hang in the State Capital Building.

Her selected piece is a painting of flowers. She used acrylic paint, but the finished work has the soft appearance of watercolor.

“All of her paintings look like watercolors,” Klotz says. “That’s the way she paints.”

Asked what inspires her, Korczynski does not search for a complicated explanation.

“Whatever works.”

And why does she enjoy painting?

“Art is fun,” Korczynski says. “It’s a good expression and is fun to do.”

Then comes another answer that feels very much like Betty.

“Digging holes is not as fun.”

Korczynski attended art school on a scholarship. When she finished, she remembers thinking she could finally rest.

“I thought, ‘Oh, now I get to rest and relax.’”

Instead, her father asked for one of her paintings and took it to work with him at Kaufmann’s department store.

An artist in the store’s art department had recently left after having a nervous breakdown, leaving an unexpected opportunity.

Korczynski’s father handed her painting to a secretary, who took it to the department manager.

Soon afterward, Korczynski received a phone call.

She had a job.

“A lot of good memories,” Korczynski says about that job. “We had a good time.”

She pauses.

“I never had a nervous breakdown.”

Sheila Klotz: From “Paint That at Home” to Teaching Others

Klotz’s path to the Capitol began much later.

She did not start painting until 2019, when she signed up for an eight-week art class.

One of the first assignments was to paint an abstract fish. When Klotz finished hers, she did not receive the encouragement she expected.

“You can paint that at home,” the instructor told her.

Looking back, Klotz laughs at the painting herself. She says it looked more like something created in a kindergarten classroom than a finished piece of art.

She took the painting home. Then she painted two more.

The original still hangs in her house today.

Years later, the person who was told to paint at home is now the person leading the class.

Klotz has been teaching for about four years and sometimes leads six or seven art classes a week, including a Monday class at Passavant Community.

“I’m teaching now, which is crazy,” Klotz says. “I just love to inspire people to paint.”

Her selected painting, Ebb and Flow, features sardines set against deep shades of blue.

“My humble sardines,” Klotz calls them.

“I really wanted to elevate a sardine, because who is painting a sardine?”

For Klotz, the answer begins with memories. Fish have been part of her life since childhood.

She had an aquarium when she was eight years old. Her family vacationed at Lake Muskoka in Ontario, where her father was an avid fisherman.

A Native American friend he had known since childhood would tell him where to fish, and her father would return with muskie, walleye and northern pike.

“I think it just reminds me of happy times,” Klotz says.

Her home is also filled with fish-related artwork.

Klotz created Ebb and Flow almost entirely with a palette knife.

“I like to use a palette knife because it’s raw,” Klotz says. “I did do a little bit of the details with a brush, but most of the bulk, like 98 percent, was done with a palette knife.”

Blue, Klotz’s favorite color, fills the painting.

Even the wooden cradle the artwork is painted on, carries a personal connection. Her husband carved it by hand.

Jack Herklotz: Discovering Art Later in Life

Herklotz represents Passavant in the Non-Professional category.

He discovered painting later in life, beginning only a few years ago through Passavant Community’s ASPIRE Wellness program.

In 2023, Herklotz’s artwork was selected for LeadingAge Pennsylvania’s Ageless Art and Timeless Treasures Exhibition. His work was also featured in a coffee table book.

“He’s a testimony to ASPIRE Wellness,” Passavant Community Executive Director Laura Roy said at the time.

Natalie Douglas, Aging Services Specialist with the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, came to Passavant Community to collect the selected artwork.

She says professional jurors from across Pennsylvania reviewed the submissions.

“It was lovely to see the talent and the beautiful artwork,” Douglas says. “There was a real spread of different talents and abilities.”

In August, Korczynski’s flowers, Klotz’s sardines and Herklotz’s work will hang in the Pennsylvania State Capitol.

Back in Zelienople, Klotz will still be teaching her Monday art class.

Betty will still sit at the table, painting whatever comes to mind.

“Everybody loves to see what Betty is painting around the table,” Klotz says. “They’ll say, ‘Gee, Betty, ours isn’t that good.’”

For Betty, it is another painting.

For everyone around that table, it is something they want to see