Brandywine River Museum of Art awarded PNC Arts Alive Grant
Chadds Ford, PA, August 15, 2018 — The Brandywine River Museum of Art has received a grant from the PNC Foundation through its PNC Arts Alive initiative to fund “The Art of Stories,” a new series of programming coming in 2019. With funding from PNC Arts Alive, this program series will complement the Museum’s upcoming exhibition N. C. Wyeth: New Perspectives, on view June 22, 2019 through September 15, 2019. The Brandywine is one of only 22 arts organizations in the Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey region to be awarded this prestigious grant based on bold thinking around increasing arts access and engagement. A total of $1 million in grants will be shared across the 22 organizations from the PNC Foundation through PNC Arts Alive.
“The Art of Stories presented by PNC Arts Alive” will animate N. C. Wyeth: New Perspectives, a major exhibition of Wyeth’s work whose richly imagined realms—populated with pirates, knights and other literary figures—was widely-known and popular in the early 20th century, and whose dramatic and accessible images continue to inspire contemporary illustrators today. During the exhibition, the Museum will engage visitors through a four-week multidisciplinary celebration of narrative arts including illustration, graphic novels, oral tradition and storytelling, and memoir. For adults and teens, conversations among prominent illustrators, writers, storytellers and scholars of narrative arts representing ethnically diverse traditions will explore past and present approaches to these creative art forms. For children, the Museum’s popular summer program, Museum Explorers, will be enhanced with illustrator-led art-making activities. The culminating event will be an all-ages free First Sundays for Families event filled with multicultural storytelling performances, interactive gallery explorations and hands-on art activities led by teaching artists.
“We are honored that the Brandywine will once again receive funding through the PNC Arts Alive initiative to help further enrich the upcoming N. C. Wyeth exhibition for audiences of all ages,” said Thomas Padon, the James H. Duff Director of the Brandywine River Museum of Art. “This grant will help expose a diverse group of families to the transformative experiences that art can provide.”
“Through PNC Arts Alive, we continue to help invigorate local arts organizations while bringing new and exciting programs to our community,” said Joe Meterchick, PNC regional president for Philadelphia, Delaware and Southern New Jersey. “The creativity and collaboration demonstrated by the local arts community is evident in the programs that will be introduced, while enabling new visitors and residents alike to experience a diverse range of exhibits and performances.”
PNC Arts Alive is a multi-year, multi-million dollar grant initiative of the PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. In its tenth year, PNC Arts Alive challenges visual and performing arts organizations to put forth their best, most original thinking in expanding audience participation and engagement. A very prestigious grant, only twenty-two arts organizations in the Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey region are selected. For more information on PNC Arts Alive and the grant recipients, visit www.PNCARTSALIVE.com.
About the exhibition:
Well known during the 20th century for his bold, imaginative illustrations that brought new characterizations to classic stories such as Treasure Island and The Boy’s King Arthur, N. C. Wyeth vigorously pursued parallel interests in painting landscapes, seascapes, portraits, still lifes, murals and advertising images throughout his career. N. C. Wyeth: New Perspectives will be the first exhibition to examine in depth the entirety of Wyeth’s oeuvre, repositioning him within the greater context of early 20th century American visual culture. Organized by the Brandywine River Museum of Art and the Portland Museum of Art, the exhibition will include approximately 70 paintings and drawings selected from major museums and private collections. A number of objects from the artist’s studio collection, ranging from Native American and Western artifacts to a first edition of Treasure Island, will also be included. The accompanying catalogue will contain essays by scholars who will explore relevant issues.
About the Brandywine River Museum of Art:
The Brandywine River Museum of Art features an outstanding collection of American art housed in a 19th-century mill building with a dramatic steel and glass addition overlooking the banks of the Brandywine. The Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day), and is located on Route 1 in Chadds Ford, PA. Admission is $18 for adults, $15 for seniors ages 65 and over, $6 for students and children ages 6 and up; free for children 5 and younger and Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art members. Guided tours of the Andrew Wyeth Studio, N. C. Wyeth House & Studio, and the Kuerner Farm—all National Historic Landmarks—are available daily (for an additional fee) from April 4 through November 18; advance reservations are recommended. For more information, call 610.388.2700 or visit brandywinemuseum.org. The Museum is one of the two programs of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.
About the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art:
The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art preserves and promotes the natural and cultural connections between the area’s beautiful landscape, historic sites, and important artists. The Conservancy protects the lands throughout the Brandywine Valley, developing new conservation approaches and assuring access to majestic open spaces and dependable water supplies for generations to come. The Museum of Art presents and collects historic and contemporary works of American art, engaging and exciting visitors of all ages through an array of exhibitions and programs. The Brandywine unites the inspiring experiences of art and nature, enhancing the quality of life in its community and among its diverse audiences.
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Presenting Wyeth & American Art