Artist Gerri Gardiner of Summit Hill has had her sketches featured in some prestigious locations in the local community.

Her rendition of the Switchback Railroad is on the wall of the Summit Hill Post Office, she did a large wall painting at the Italian Club in Summit Hill, and it's her artwork that is on a miners' historical monument in Ludlow Park.Gardiner's artwork will be getting widespread exposure when it will be highlighted during the sixth annual Black Diamond Garden Party, a formal, fund-raising event for St. Luke's Miners Memorial Hospital.Each year, a commemorative painting is done as part of the fund-raising festivities for the Black Diamond event. The artwork measures 30-by-40 and is oil on canvas.The ball will be held on May 31 at the Packer Mansions in Jim Thorpe.Proceeds from this year's Garden Party will be used to purchase iBeds, a type of smart bed with various monitoring devices built into them, said Bill Moyer, president of St. Luke's Miners Memorial Hospital.Gardiner said she is "humbled and honored" to be chosen to do this year's commemorative painting, with copies of it to be sold as part of the fund-raising endeavors."Mrs. Gardiner's work was chosen from many sketch submissions provided by the Carbon Art League. Her painting will be displayed at the Asa and Harry Packer Mansions during this year's Black Diamond Garden Party," Moyer said.He continued, "Many members of the hospital staff and the Black Diamond Garden Party participants enjoy meeting the artist, donating funds to sponsor the original painting and to purchase signed and autographed prints of the painting each year."She said St. Luke's Miners Hospital had its origin as a hospital started for miners. She said many of her family members worked in the mines, including her father, his father, and her husband's father.Gardiner said that coal was discovered in Summit Hill in 1791, adding, "Injured miners for some time were taken by horse and cart to a facility outside this valley.""Miners Hospital was originally founded in 1910 through the efforts of the Labor Union president," she said. "The miners gave one days pay each month which was matched by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. to build it. Families from local communities began to utilize its services as well."In her drawing, she said, "I purposely placed the Bethlehem Star on an angle which can be perceived as a sword or a 'strong presence' to the viewers eye. The upper right hand corner shows the wonderful progress St. Luke's Health Network has made through modern technology strides. In the lower right hand corner, I will feature the St. Luke's Miners Memorial Campus in the foreground with a surgeon/nurse team situated slightly to the background."Micah Gursky, director of development for St. Luke's Miners, said last year's commemorate art for the Black Diamond Garden Party was a joint project of the Carbon County Art League.He pointed out that Gardiner incorporated into her artwork a coal miner at the mine, the original hospital, and the well-equipped medical helicopter of the St. Luke's network.Gursky said the iBeds will be a great addition to the hospital, noting, "We presently have critical care beds, but not the iBed" at the St. Luke's campus. One of the features of the iBed is that it triggers an alarm if someone starts getting out of bed and is a fall risk.Gardiner said this assignment is meaningful to her because she and her husband, Wilfred, were born and raised in the Panther Valley.She is the daughter of the late LeRoy and Frieda T. (Kleppinger) Eickhoff. She said LeRoy was a slate picker at the mines when he was just 14.Her grandfather, Harry Eickhoff, was a miner and died from injuries in a mining accident when he was in his 30s.Her husband's parents were the later Peter R. and Marian P. (Leinthall) Gardiner. Wilfred's father had worked in the No. 6 mine in Lansford.