Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
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One Fine Winter’s Day in Pennsylvania…..

On Monday, January 19, what started off as a romantic drive through rural Pennsylvania became none other than Old Man Winter at its best.  Robin and I agreed to venture an hour and a half just north of Philadelphia to the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center in Pennsburg, PA.  There, we met with Candace Perry, the curator, who led us on a brilliant and educational tour of the facilities (Robin to post on facts/history soon–watch out!)

Here are a few pictures to highlight what we saw:

We got there early, however, it was obvious where we had driven from because of the large Philly Car Share sign on the side of our car.

Robin met a new friend!  This was part of an installation representing the arrival of the Schwenkfelders to America.

This is an example of one of the many Fraktur Paintings on display.  It strikes me more as an embroidered textile than a painting.

Robin, admiring the wonderful collection of quilts

Here’s a close-up of a quilt consisting of many embroidered portraits.  The overall construction was amazing (we noticed red was a prominent color in all of the quilts).

Their collection of nutcrackers ranged from the traditional to the more contemporary.  Sherlock was my favorite, mostly because of his elegant plaid outfit.

Stacy Clark’s, “My Own Fairy Tale”, is an installation of hand made dolls influenced by well known classic tales.  I was very impressed by the treatment of the space itself in the way all narratives were infused.  This is definitely one to see with the children and adults who enjoy anything hand crafted.

When in doubt of drop ceilings, make a tree!

Does this doll remind you of anyone?  I will say no more.

Candace is a close friend of Stacy and could not say enough about the wonderful nature of Stacy and her work.  Having Candace as our tour guide also gave us great references to certain dolls, such as the above wolf, influenced by Michael Phelps’ posture.

Upon leaving our lovely tour, I photographed an eroded building in which the rust contrasted beautifully against the white snow.

During our route to Quakerstown, we admired the romantic winter view until our attempts to drive up a small hill failed, miserably.  After we decided to find an alternative route, we were faced with a series of traffic disasters mostly due to the lack of traction on most of the cars in front of us and the fact that not a single salt truck was to be found.  Nonetheless, we made it home that evening safe and sound after a cumulative 9 hours on the road.  Robin and I were never more thrilled to see the Philadelphia skyline that night and although we’ll return to rural Pennsylvania, we’ll wait until the grass is greener.