SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - The halls of the Walk-In Art Center were filled from wall to wall with friends and family Wednesday night to celebrate the life of late local artist Dave Naydock.
Naydock, 52, a Pottsville-based mural and studio artist who painted his first mural in Schuylkill County in 1983, died Sunday morning of natural causes.
"This is the exhibition he should have had when he was still alive," said Paul Miller, Pottsville.
Since Naydock was a board member and one of the founding artists of the Walk-In Art Center, Nena Mazzei-Schmidt, executive director, said the board of directors thought the best thing they could do to honor him was a celebration of his life and art.
"He was an artist that loved art," she said. "To me, his art was incredible."
Those that visited the celebration Wednesday could see all the different types of work he did, which included repurposed art.
Mazzei-Schmidt said that a lot of Naydock's work was on glass, not canvas.
While much of the art in the exhibition Wednesday night were privately owned pieces, people could also see his studio, Studio 314, in the Walk-In Art Center.
The center is going to leave his studio as it is for now so people can come and enjoy it.
Mazzei-Schmidt said the last time Naydock was there was sometime in December and the last piece he was working on was also still there, which was of a blue car.
"He was an icon in this area," she said. "He will never be forgotten."
One of Naydock's friends attending the celebration was Jerry Smith, Pine Grove, who was showing a documentary of Naydock that he made.
"There's so many murals and canvases and everything and now they just stop," Smith said. "That's the sad part, but then he kind of created a legend for himself."
With Naydock having painted in places outside of the county such as York, Smith said that one of Naydock's goals was for Pottsville to bring in artists from all over the place to paint murals just as they had in York.
Bill Whalen, Orwigsburg, brought three pieces to the exhibition - two that were commissioned and one that was a gift.
With all who showed up Wednesday night, Whalen said it was "a testament to the man," not only because of his art, but also his demeanor and smile.
"Whenever you saw Dave, you always knew that you were going to laugh and you were probably always going to talk about something interesting," Whalen said. "He was just appealing in a lot of ways."
In addition to the art, there were also plenty of hors d'oeuvres at the celebration and even one of Naydock's favorite drinks - juice.
A sign hung with a quote from him that read, "If you can do a shot of tequila, you can do a shot of juice."
Jenn Raess, co-owner of Sage Coffeehouse & Tea Garden, Pottsville, said that she made juice that had spinach and carrots in it for the night and that she and Naydock would often make juice that she bought about 10 years ago for her cafe.
Raess said that Naydock would juice everything and if she was on vacation, he would even take the juicer home.
"So I made juice tonight in honor of Dave," Raess said.