David Walsh has been taking in stray animals.

"I got hooked," he said. "I started taking in animals and birds that people told me about. I gave them a home in my backyard."

Walsh, of Dover Township, has collected dozens of concrete animal sculptures created by the late Adam Pfaltzgraff, a member of the famous local pottery-creating family.

"(People have) referred to his animals and birds as Pfaltzgraff, and that implies that it's part of the Pfaltzgraff pottery, but it's not," Walsh said. "It's the work of Adam Pfaltzgraff."

Walsh will show off the work with an exhibit "Adam's Eden: The Fanciful World of Adam Pfaltzgraff" at the York County Heritage Trust at 250 E. Market St. in York City.

The exhibit will open to the public beginning 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and will be available during those hours until mid-November. The cost is $10 per person.

Free on Sunday: The exhibit will be open free, also from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Sunday, Mother's Day, said Melanie Hady, the trust's director of marketing and public relations.

Walsh said he first came across the artwork during the 1980s, when he was vice president of design at the former

Pfaltzgraff Co. He soon became a collector of Adam Pfaltzgraff's work.

"It has a wonderful quality about it, a whimsyness, personality," said Walsh, a trust board member. "The creatures are happy. They're smiling. They're fanciful."

The exhibit pieces include dogs, ducks, deer, flamingos and other types of animals and birds. They also have glass-marble eyes.

His background: Adam Pfaltzgraff, who lived from 1876 to 1955, was the son of Cornelius and Rebecca Pfaltzgraff and the grandchild of George Pfaltzgraff, who founded the pottery factory, according to information provided by the trust.

Adam Pfaltzgraff -- who was nearly deaf -- learned the pottery trade from his father and developed pottery wheel and clay-working skills. He worked at Pfaltzgraff's factory as a potter and model and mold maker.

Most importantly, Adam Pfaltzgraff was a local folk artist who created "wonderful things" based on his passion for outdoor life and for his work, Walsh said.

"(He) enjoyed what he was doing," Walsh added. "Whenever anybody looks at (the artwork), it will be bring a smile to (their) face. You can't help but enjoy them."

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About the art exhibit

The York Heritage Trust will present the exhibit "Adam's Eden: The Fanciful World of Adam Pfaltzgraff" at its facility at 250 E. Market St. in York City.

The exhibit will open to the public beginning 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, May 10, and will be available those hours Tuesdays through Saturdays until mid-November. The cost is $10 per person.

The public also can see the exhibit free from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 13, Mother's Day.

For information, call 848-1587.