Dive into past events, artist talks, and other collaborations to stay engaged no matter where you are.
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Spotlight Talk: Unpacking Esherick’s Library
Enjoy a chat in which we take a dive into Esherick’s richly stocked library! Esherick was friends with a number of notable modernist writers such as Theodore Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, Ford Maddox Ford, and Jean Toomer. Esherick also partook in modernist literary circles through his work with the Centaur Press in Philadelphia and communities like Fairhope, Alabama. Esherick’s book collection reflects his tastes, interests, and the times he lived. What books was Esherick collecting, reading, marking up, and lending out? How did the books Esherick surrounded himself with inform his life and work? In this 20-minute program we crack a few spines to peek into particular books, and take a wider scope to consider the subjects and types of writing represented in the artist’s collection.
Spotlight Talk: Up Close with Esherick’s 1927 Drop Leaf Desk
We took a close look (and we mean a very close look) at Wharton Esherick’s 1927 Drop Leaf Desk. This January, our staff did a practice run of dismantling this iconic piece before sending it out for The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick exhibition at the Brandywine Museum of Art this fall. Taking a piece of furniture apart never fails to breathe new life into it and our understanding of its creation – and its maker. In our talk, we’ll explore our findings from this deep dive as well as the conservation and cleaning needed to prepare the desk to travel. We’re excited about what we learned and what stories this piece had to tell! Esherick’s Drop Leaf Desk is one of the artist’s earliest pieces of large scale furniture, and one of the last that features intricate surface carvings. With this surface carving, the piece exhibits a fascinating link to Esherick’s practice of carving and printing woodblocks, and echoes its intended use by Esherick to store materials such as woodblocks, paper, and prints.
Spotlight Talk: A Story Transformed – Letty Esherick’s Bookplate
Wrap up this year of storytelling at the Wharton Esherick Museum with a Spotlight Talk focused on the history of Letty Esherick’s bookplate. A myriad of stories are embedded in this print and the multiple blocks that were used to create it! The print takes us on a trip from Fairhope, Alabama to the Pennsylvania hillside, with a likely pit stop along the way to a photoengraver’s studio. During this talk we discuss Esherick’s incorporation of a woodblock from his earliest commission and the photomechanical process used to transform the artist’s original wooden blocks into a single, smaller zinc printing plate fit for printing in a book!
Spotlight Talk: Casey Chew and Esherick-Inspired Set Design
Enjoy a conversation with arborist, woodworker, and beloved WEM staff member, Casey Chew! We’ll discuss the many ways Casey drew inspiration from Wharton Esherick’s work for developing wonderful, prismatic stage sets in collaboration with our artist-in-residence, Martha McDonald. We talk with Casey about the process for creating a set piece inspired by Wharton Esherick’s Corner Desk for Helene Fischer (1931) from photographs, and the challenges of translating two dimensions to three! We’ll also be hearing how Casey’s experience as an arborist informs the way he works with wood!