A sign reading "Follow Your Muse" proudly greets people as they walk up the three flights of stairs to Radiance, a store across the street from Central Market, encouraging the community to meditate on thoughts and life.

The inspiration two years ago behind the opening of the store at 9 W. Grant St., co-owner Sarah Campbell said, was to help build a community based on eco-friendly and sustainable goals, including holistic health care, fair trade products, prenatal through adult yoga classes, massage therapy and support of local artists.

And to celebrate its second anniversary, the Radiance community held the Radiant Artisan Festival on Sunday, showcasing the works of nine local artists and drawing almost 200 people. The event also included short sessions with adults' and children's yoga instructors, five-minute chair massages, live music and food.

"More and more people want to be full participants in their health and wellness," Campbell said. "People are realizing that if they support their general health, then they don't encounter so much illness."

Radiance is jointly owned by Campbell, an herbalist, and her daughter, Kara Kriner, a massage therapist and children's yoga teacher.

Campbell said the store's second anniversary was the inspiration for the festival, and all the artists present Sunday are featured or teach workshops in the store. She said she wanted the public to have the opportunity to meet as many of the 20 artists represented in the store as possible.

Sophia Shultz of Pottsville got her start as a professional artist painting people's portraits as Klingons at "Star Trek" conventions and later moved on to science fiction and fantasy illustration.

Shultz began in the business when she was a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, and her subject matter is largely based on her own inspiration. Today she is painting modern interpretations of ancient mythology in a new series called "Gods for Modern Times." In one work she depicts the Egyptian god Anubis in a leather jacket and jeans.

"The life of an artist is not for the weak of heart," Shultz said. "You're working with a lot of like-minded people who are not threatened by what you're doing. They understand the subject matter or are at least not afraid to ask what the inspiration was behind this."

Kriner was a 25-year-old employee at Blue Shield when she heard two older women talking about how much they hated their jobs. Kriner said she did not want to be the same way, so she decided to go to massage school and said it immediately felt as if it was the job she was meant to perform.

On Sunday, Kriner had festival-goers in her massage chair, gently rubbing their shoulders and backs. She also was demonstrating her children's yoga class, which she described as more a playtime than a traditional yoga class.

The children learn yoga postures that are similar to animals, act out a story through the postures and practice quieting and breathing techniques.

"It's fun to watch the children when they get a pose or they understand something," Kriner said. "You can just see in their brains that they're just like, 'Oh, then I could do this or that better.'!\p"

Kriner said yoga and massage were practices that were kept quiet locally for many years. But she said that with massage, people are realizing it is not a luxury and it can have a profound health benefit.

"You just need to take care of your body, and I think that both yoga and massage do that for a lot of people," Kriner said.

E-mail: myoder@lnpnews.com