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"The value of saving and the piecing together of old and new influenced my interpretation," said Terry Kramzar, whose quilt panel "Saving John Chad's House" is in the show.
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Exhibit honors Chadds Ford Historical Society
"Historic Houses Through Artists' Eyes" focuses on renderings of two venerable buildings.
"The Historic Houses Through Artists' Eyes" exhibit, opening Saturday at the Chadds Ford Historical Society, has a history of its own.
In 1968, the historical society hosted the "Chadds Ford Art Heritage (1868-1968)" show that featured 100 paintings from area artists, including N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, Howard Pyle and George Weymouth.
The original exhibit was part of Chadds Ford Days and held at the Brandywine River Museum, which was then called Hoffman's Mill. It helped raise enough money for the historical society to buy John Chads' house and start restoring it to its pre-Revolutionary condition. John Chads' name, unlike the municipality named after him, has one "d."
The current display, with 34 works - not the hundred in the 1968 show - runs through Dec. 6. It honors the 40th anniversary of the historical society and highlights artists' rendering of the Barns-Brinton House, which the historical society also restored, and the John Chads house.
"We want to raise public awareness of the houses which have always been artists' models," said event organizer Sallie Corbishley. "Artists come to paint these houses all the time [in part] because the landscape is still rural, and they can imagine what life was like back then."
Featured works include oil and watercolor paintings on linen, canvas and boards, pencil and pastel works, quilts, needlework and pottery.
"The value of saving and the piecing together of old and new influenced my interpretation of this historic house," said artist Terry Kramzar, whose quilt panel is titled Saving John Chads House
Dennis Minch of Kennett Square, whose oil painting is titled A.M. Chadds Ford (September 11, 1777), called the people of this era true pioneers in all aspects of life.
"It's fun to see the artists' interpretations of the houses, and we have a wealth of talent in this area," Corbishley said. "The styles are as unique as the artists themselves. No two works are the same."
Thirty artists and craftsmen from Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, West Chester and Oxford will be featured in the show, along with works by Andrew Wyeth and Barclay Rubincam from the historical society's collection.
The Wyeth watercolor sketch of the tenant farmer William Barns' house was included in the original art show, Corbishley said.
Karl Kuerner's painting shows a flock of crows at the house formerly belonging to the farmer and ferryman John Chads.
Tom Burke's birdhouse replicates the John Chads house before restoration on two sides and after restoration on its other two sides.
Artist John Supplee placed the Barns-Brinton House in a modern setting. This house first belonged to blacksmith and tavern keeper William Barns and was then owned by the Brinton family for more than 100 years.
Three students from area schools will also have their work displayed. They submitted and were chosen through a contest that the historical society sponsored in partnership with the Chester County Art Association.
Student pieces include a watercolor, an acrylic painting, and a scratchboard, which is a blackboard that was scratched through to reveal the color underneath.
"For centuries, art has been the recorder of history," said artist Margaret Truitt Matuszewski of West Chester. "It is important that we, as artists, continue this tradition by interpreting our surroundings on paper and canvas."
