POTTSVILLE — When Tom Hartz was a young lad in the 1950s, dragline power shovels had pretty much replaced the hardy miners that harvested coal hundreds of feet beneath the earth’s surface.
Still, growing up in the coal fields of Luzerne County, the young Hartz developed a deep respect for miners who toiled amid darkness and danger.
So much so that decades later, he would memorialize them in paintings, appropriately, on slate from slag heaps discarded during more than a century of coal processing.
Hartz’s paintings of miners and breakers are on display in a one-man exhibition at the Yuengling mansion.
The exhibit is part of a weekend program at the mansion, home to the Schuylkill County Council for the Arts, that concludes Sunday with the annual Music at the Mansion program.
Held in the mansion’s sculpted garden from 3 to 7 p.m., the music program features performances at 3 p.m. by Betty White Devil, 4:30 p.m. by Bliss and 6 p.m. by Zenith.
Marley Mikovich, executive director of Schuylkill County Council for the Arts, said the music program and the Hartz exhibit are free and open to the public.
Coal in his veins
Tom Hartz was about 10 years old when he developed an interest in art.
Though perhaps unaware of it at the time, it would become a lifelong passion.
His artistic endeavors gave way to family responsibilities when Hartz married the former Marie Dorrance in 1967.
For more than 30 years, he held various positions in commercial printing at shops in Wilkes-Barre.
About 12 years ago, after retiring, he rekindled his latent interest in art.
“I picked up my pencil and practiced getting my hand to eye coordination back,” said Hartz, 77, whose studio is in Lake Silkworth.
Gathering slate from culm banks, he brushes them and cleans them with mineral spirits in preparation for painting.
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Tom Hartz’s paintings of miners on slate sit on display at the Schuylkill Council of the Arts/Yuengling Mansion, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
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Tom Hartz’s paintings of miners on slate sit on display at the Schuylkill Council of the Arts/Yuengling Mansion, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
Based on research at the Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre, Hartz captures miners underground shoeing mules, erecting timbers and chipping away at mammoth coal veins with pickaxes.
Drawing on recollections of ancestry working at the Loree Colliery in Larksville, he painted the Huber Coal Breaker in Ashley, Sullivan Trail Colliery in Pittston and other classic breakers throughout the region.
Self-taught, he works entirely in oil.
His work has been displayed at Eckley Miners’ Village in Luzerne County and Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine in Ashland, Schuylkill County.
The Yuengling exhibit also includes paintings of wildlife and sheltered pets on canvas and Christmas ornaments.
Hartz’s depiction of a cardinal bird in winter was awarded a blue ribbon last year at an exhibit in the Wilkes-Barre VA Health Center.
His work will be on display at the Yuengling mansion through July 25. Exhibit hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 21-25. For information, call 570-622-2788.
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