Joseph Plavcan’s Wild Rice

Posted by on Jun 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Joseph Plavcan’s Wild Rice   A species of wild rice, Zizania aquatica, grows on the shores of Presque Isle, the hooked peninsula that juts off the coast of the city of Erie into the Great Lake of the same name. The plant is also the titular subject of this acrylic-on-board painting of Pennsylvania’s only surf beach by legendary Erie artist Joseph Plavcan (1908-81). Plavcan is the link in a succession of...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts The distinctively decorated furniture of Soap Hollow in Somerset County (see “Makers’ Marks and a Master’s Touch” by Edna V. Brendlinger and Robert B. Myers in the winter 1986 edition) is on view at the Southern Alleghenies Mu­seum of Art, Loretto, from Saturday, March 27, through Monday, May 31, 1993. Soap Hollow furniture, made during the second half of the nine­teenth...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts An exhibition of prints, pastels, drawings, and oil paintings by J. Howard Iams (1897-1964) to commemorate the bicentennial of the Whiskey Rebellion (see “The Whiskey Boys Versus the Watermelon Army” by Jerry Clouse in the spring 1991 issue, and “The Tax Collector of Bower Hill” by Chadwick Allen Harp in the fall 1992 edition) is on view at the Westmoreland Museum of Art...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts Nearly one hundred watercolors and drawings of fruits, flowers, ani­mals, and saints by artists working in the cities of Jaipur and Bikaner, India, will remain on view at the Carnegie Mellon University’s Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation through Friday, February 24, 1995. The exhibition of natural history works of art features pieces created in Rajasthan, the desert state of...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts The Johnstown Area Heritage Association will host “Johnstown FolkFest ’95” from Friday through Sunday, September 1-3 [1995], in the community’s historic district of Cambria City. The Labor Day weekend event will fea­ture ethnic entertainment, tours of historic buildings, and cultural crafts. For more information, write: Johnstown Area Heritage Association, P. O. Box 1889,...
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Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts “Making History,” a major exhibit illustrating how evidence from the past is discovered in documents, books, artifacts, objects, and photographs at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, will remain on view through Saturday, May 27 [1995]. The exhibit will also examine the ways in which selections drawn from the society’s extensive holdings have been used to...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Grand Manner Born in Nescopeck, Luzerne County, Peter Frederick Rothermel (1812-1895) was once one of the most celebrated his­tory painters in the United States (see “Painting for Peer, Patron, and the Public” by Kent Ahrens in the spring 1992 edition of Pennsylvania Heritage). Neglected for decades, he is at last being celebrated in a major exhibition, “Painting in the Grand...
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Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts “Working Under Wires,” examining the work – often unseen or unnoticed by the public – that ensured safe, reliable, and economical public transportation, will remain on exhibit at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington through December 1997. The exhibition focuses on the men and women employed by trolley companies as operators, mechanics, track crews, overhead wire and signal...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts “From Ft. Wagner to Verdun: African Americans in the U.S. Military, 1863-1918,” is on view at the Civil War Library and Museum in Philadelphia. The exhibition, continuing through August 30, 1998, showcases artifacts, objects, and documents chronicling the experience of African Americans in mili­tary service from the Civil War through World War I. The Civil War Library and Museum is...
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Carved Duck Decoy by Frank Buchner

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Carved Duck Decoy by Frank Buchner In the opening paragraph of an article entitled “Duck-Shooting on Lake Erie,” a writer for the Illustrated London News of January 5, 1889, observed, “In no part of the world is there better duck-shooting than on Lake Erie.” Duck hunters familiar with northwestern Pennsylvania had known that for some time. Migratory waterfowl have traditionally followed seasonal flight...
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