If you're going to become the king of the Britons, you need one tool more than any other: the sword from the stone. As per Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excalibur): "Romance tradition elaborates on how Arthur came into possession of Excalibur. In Robert de Boron's c. 1200 French poem Merlin, the first known tale to mention the "sword in the stone" motif, Arthur obtained the British throne by pulling a sword from an anvil sitting atop a stone that appeared in a churchyard on Christmas Eve. In this account, as foretold by Merlin, the act could not be performed except by "the true king", meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of Uther Pendragon. (As Thomas Malory related in his English-language Arthurian compilation, the 15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur, "whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England.") The scene is set by different authors at either explicitly London (historical Londinium) or generally in the land of Logres (which can be a city and also associated with London), and might have been inspired by a miracle attributed to the 11th-century bishop Wulfstan of Worcester. After many of the gathered nobles try and fail to complete Merlin's challenge, the teenage Arthur, who up to this point had believed himself to be biological son of Ector and went there as a squire to his foster brother Kay, succeeds effortlessly. Arthur first achieves this feat by accident while unaware of the contest and unseen. He then returns the sword to its place in the anvil on a stone, and later repeats the act publicly as Merlin comes to announce his true parentage." Vidarr Blackman of rural Middleburg submitted this pencil drawing of the sword in the stone for "Tools of the Trade"; measuring 13-1/2 inches high by 10-1/2 inches wide overall, it has a price of $60. "Tools of the Trade" at the Exchange Gallery has 52 pieces by 26 artists from six central-Pennsylvania counties, plus a first-time exhibitor who lives in Rhode Island. Visit ExchangeArts.org/gallery-hours and come visit us in person at the Gallery to see all of the work for yourself. We'll host the reception for the show this week, on June's First Friday, the 6th; visit DowntownBloomsburg.org/first-fridays for more information on those events up and down our Main Street. The show runs through the 13th of June. #ToolsOfTheTrade #CommunityArt #XMarksTheArts #OurArtsInTheRightPlace #TheExchange #ExchangeGallery #Bloomsburg #BestTownInPA (fb)

What inspires you to make art? One of our most frequent exhibitors, Chris Stametz from rural Shamokin, shows us some of the things that inspire her in these two mixed-media pieces in "Tools of the Trade", "Things That Inspire Me #1" and "Things That Inspire Me #2". The former, not for sale, measures 23 inches high by 18 inches wide overall; the latter, $45, measures 15 inches high by 13 inches wide overall. "Tools of the Trade" at the Exchange Gallery has 52 pieces by 26 artists from six central-Pennsylvania counties, plus a first-time exhibitor who lives in Rhode Island. Visit ExchangeArts.org/gallery-hours and come visit us in person at the Gallery to see all of the work for yourself. We'll host the reception for the show next week, on June's First Friday, the 6th; visit DowntownBloomsburg.org/first-fridays for more information on those events up and down our Main Street. The show runs through the 13th of June. #ToolsOfTheTrade #CommunityArt #XMarksTheArts #OurArtsInTheRightPlace #TheExchange #ExchangeGallery #Bloomsburg #BestTownInPA (fb)