Delaware State of the Arts Podcast
Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Division of the Arts, in partnership with NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV.
Delaware State of the Arts Podcast
S12 E51: Delaware State of the Arts: Arden Artisans Collective and Arden Craft Shop Museum
In celebration of the 125th anniversary of Arden’s founding, the Arden Artisans Collective presents A Living Legacy, a two-part exhibition series that honors the vibrant, ongoing tradition of creativity in the Ardens. Featuring the work of past and present artists from this unique Arts and Crafts community, the exhibitions span generations and mediums—offering visitors a rare opportunity to experience the unbroken thread of artistry that has defined the Ardens for over a century. The Division speaks with Jill Althouse Wood and Sadie Somerville about this exciting new exhibition.
The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Learn more at Arts.Delaware.Gov.
Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Division of the Arts, in partnership with NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV.
For Delaware State of the Arts. I'm Andy Truscott. Today we're talking about the Arden community, a unique arts and crafts village in Delaware that has been fostering creativity and intentional living since 1900. This year marks Arden's 125th anniversary and, to celebrate, the Artisans community has organized two special art exhibits that will bridge both past and present Arden. I'm joined by two guests who've been central to bringing this project to life Jill Althouse-Wood, a founding member of the Arden Artisans Collective, and Sadie Somerville, who is also a member of the collective and a volunteer with the Arden Craft Shop Museum. Thank you both for being with me today and, as we kick off, talk to us about Arden as a community. Why is it so significant in Delaware's arts history?
Speaker 2:Well, arden was founded in 1900 by Georges, an artist from Philadelphia. Frank Stevens was a sculptor and Will Price an architect. They were inspired by Henry George's economic principles and William Morris's arts and crafts philosophy, and so the village became part social experiment and part artist's haven. Arden's expanded in 1922 with Arden Town and in 1950 with Arden Croft, and collectively they're called the Ardens. In the first decade of Arden many artists came to the Ardens and writers and free thinkers. Much of the early life in Arden's writers and freethinkers, much of the early life in Arden included music, theater, arts, nature and creativity. They came and set up their own studios for their art forms to work with metal, painting, clay or wood or whatever the medium was that they were working in. Typical quote from William Morris is have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful, and that's very much the philosophy for the early settlers in Arden.
Speaker 1:What makes the 125-year anniversary so special and why celebrate it with an art and craft exhibit?
Speaker 3:As the collective. We were going to do a group show anyway, and we had one last year. We were just trying to think what could make this one bigger, better, and we realized. We looked at the calendar and saw that the anniversary was here and it's the perfect chance to show Arden's artist legacy. We're not just a group that's gathered here and now. We reach way back into history and hopefully we're a living, vibrant force that's going to be moving forward as the years go on. So we wanted to showcase all of that.
Speaker 1:Can you describe a little bit about the vision behind the 125 Legacy Exhibit and how that all came together through the work of the collective?
Speaker 3:The idea we got when we had the 125th is to bridge the past and the present, and so we have a bunch of volunteers which we have got a great set of people working on this. We have Megan King who is the curator for our two-dimensional exhibit, and we have Micah Altman who is the curator for our two-dimensional exhibit, and we have Micah Altman who is the curator for our three-dimensional exhibit, and then we have Sadie here who is augmenting this whole exhibit with things from the Craft Shop Museum that go into our past. She's reached out to people in our community that own pieces made by past artists. So it's going to be a really cool like meaning of the word collective. This showcases it beautifully.
Speaker 1:From the museum's perspective, what are some of the most compelling legacy pieces in the show?
Speaker 2:Well, there's a lot of early pieces that we have in the Art and Craft Shop Museum collection. Pieces that we have in the Arden Craft Shop Museum collection, especially the archival photographs which show images of early Arden artists working in their studios, including women, and other pieces that are actually made in the Ardens were hand-wrought iron, metalwork, ceramics and paintings that are part of this exhibit as well. It goes back all the way to 1900, when they first arrived in Wilmington, delaware, and bought this farm for the community of Arden and they really believed in making things by hand and using that as a part of their lives, to completely be sustainable and make items that were high quality, handmade and beautiful to look at, and they sold their work in exhibitions and shops in Philadelphia, new York, washington. So it's a really great collection of works from the past and from the museum.
Speaker 1:And knowing right that the past will help inform the present, but also help us reflect to the present. Talk to us about how these historical works that you're pulling from the museum help connect with the more contemporary ones, or the more contemporary art forms that we'll see during this exhibit.
Speaker 2:Well, you'll see shared motifs and expressions, especially from nature. Ardenites enjoy nature and its forests, creeks, open spaces. It's a very important part of the arts. Here the deeper link is the process or the work working itself across time. Artists engage with their materials in iron, fiber, paint with the same curiosity and care. Both the historic contemporary works tell the ongoing story of our community and its creative spirit.
Speaker 1:For those that might not know more about Arden, talk to us about kind of the town's history a little bit and why it was founded as an arts town, right, but also kind of what makes it unique.
Speaker 2:Well, it was like William Morris, who was one of the influences of founding of Arden. They had a romantic view of the medieval arts and craftsmanship which became part of their daily lives and it was a movement that really was against the industrial revolution, bringing back some of the almost medieval arts, using older, earlier materials and workmanship and creating works that were high quality and worth purchasing and having in your home, as William Morris pointed out earlier.
Speaker 1:Jill tell us a little bit about the Arden Artisans Collective and how it strives to carry the legacy of Arden forward.
Speaker 3:Well, it all started out when they had a PBS special about the Ardens right after COVID and they showcased a lot of our artists. They talked about us being an artist colony and then we realized that there was no place for anybody to go to learn more about us. So a group of us got together together and we wanted to see how we could increase the visibility of not only our artists but what we're doing here as far as the legacy and showcase the history. Because I think the PBS special just kicked it off beautifully. It kind of got us going and we thought, you know, we need to have some ongoing presence in the greater Wilmington area and beyond so that people can understand how special this is, this community that we have.
Speaker 1:How does the collective create opportunities both for your established artists but also for your younger or newer artists that are in the area?
Speaker 3:I don't know if it's the collective so much as the culture of Arden, because kids grow up. They grow up having art in their homes that their neighbors have made. They go to people's houses and there's more art in people's houses. There's art that's public art in the community, and a lot of artists come and demonstrate and work with the kids there, and so they just grow up and it's part of life. They experience art as a part of life, and the other thing about this is very interesting is that it isn't just the kids that benefit this. It's people that either move here or adults. They come to find out that they too can enjoy the arts in whatever capacity they want to, and some of them have taken it to a really high level, just midlife enjoying what they're doing, seeing how other people do it, and then. So we have a lot of people in our collective that didn't start out as artists, didn't consider themselves artists, and then now showing their work, and it's a pretty wonderful thing.
Speaker 1:Why do you think a place like Arden still exists or resonates with artists and citizens alike today?
Speaker 2:Well, people in general come to Arden because of the community. Many people say, oh, I really just love Arden. It has a sense of community that I don't find other places, sense of community that I don't find other places. And because of that, people gather and collaborate together in all different ways in music, arts, theater. And this is just another facet of that collaboration within the community people sharing and working together, volunteering for various projects, and all ages. As Jill just pointed out, it's an all-inclusive, intergenerational very intergenerational community.
Speaker 3:Community. Yeah Well, sadie's been here a lot longer than we have. We've been here 12 years. We came specifically because it was an arts community. We were looking for that, I think it just. It's like no place else I've ever lived or experienced and the amount of collaboration here, like Sadie said, is phenomenal and you get it from lots of different sources. So you can have the collaboration with the theater, you can have collaboration with the writers of the community. The musicians can have collaboration with the writers of the community, the musicians. It's just a wonderful place and people gather and there's plenty of places to gather and to have that interaction where you're rubbing elbows and kind of bouncing ideas off of each other. It's a great place to live.
Speaker 1:What surprised you most as you were going through the archives or the artifacts while preparing for the exhibit? Was there a certain object, a certain story or kind of a photo of a person that we should all keep an eye out as we're coming to the exhibit?
Speaker 3:Well, I used to work as a fabric designer and when I saw the photos of the weave shop that they had in the early 1900s we was like 1913, about when they started that and all the women that work there and they produce, I mean I was just fascinated by that. But that might be a personal story for me, just being a textile person.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm a textile person too, and I would say that that has always been an interest to me, seeing what the weave shop produced. But also, earlier than that, there were weavers in the community and they went on to create all kinds of textile pieces that were sold nationwide.
Speaker 1:Beyond the exhibit itself, are there any other pieces of programming like talks or demos or studio tours that'll be happening during the period of time that the exhibit is up?
Speaker 3:that'll be happening during the period of time that the exhibit is up.
Speaker 3:We have one of the things that came out of the collective is October 28th at the Buzzware Village Center from seven to nine, we are having an artisan social and what we do is we have somebody get up and talk about new work that they've been doing and then we open up the floor to anybody else who wants to discuss anything else, any projects they have going on. They can show pieces that are in progress, they can show recently completed pieces and if nobody stands up, then we usually have a topic of discussion. It's been a surprise for us, I think, these artists and socials, because they're just a chance for the artists to come together and talk and we've had people collaborate out of this social, like they found out about work that somebody else is doing and how it relates to their work. We were just going to have a once and done artists and social and it's turned out to be a regular event that we've had twice a year since then and we always have cake. I don't know.
Speaker 2:It just always have cake. It's always part of it.
Speaker 1:As you talk about the artists, was there a specific selection criteria for how you selected who would participate in the contemporary component? And then, was there any criteria that helped balance the tradition of Arden with the experimentation of kind of the past and present portion of the exhibition?
Speaker 3:Well, the two curators for this exhibit are not sitting here, but I will speak to it as much as I can. I think for this exhibit, more than our past exhibits, we were kind of looking for work that exemplified Arden and that can be subject matter, technique, and and we did have an eye to what we were bringing in from the past so that we could kind of look and see how they spoke to one another. And it's amazing when you get a collective any of the shows we've done when you put all those different pieces on the wall, it's amazing how they seem to speak to one another. There's always some thread that goes through it that you don't even imagine until you see it up on the walls. So I'm really excited to see how the curators have curated this exhibit and put things together and I'm excited to see the story unfold.
Speaker 1:What role did partnerships play in pulling off kind of an exhibit like this, be it between the Craft Shop Museum, the Art and Club, any state or local organizations? Are there any collaborators we haven't talked about so far that you think were really helpful in making the event a success?
Speaker 2:Well, the Arden Craft Shop Museum is definitely a collaborator on this and bringing the historic side of the arts through the Ardens from its collections of photographs and objects as well, and it is a pleasure to be putting this together on that end for me as well. As you asked about criteria for joining the collective, and I was one of those people who never thought myself an artist and I decided that I would venture into it and try it and started working with linocut prints, and other artists got involved in working with me and we had a night in my studio showing other artists in the collective how to do these linocut prints, and that was really a great event and evening for me and for those who participated.
Speaker 3:I was just going to say that I think that there have been a lot of hidden partnerships. There's just always something that comes out of these events and, like we love working, it takes a village yeah it does.
Speaker 3:It just definitely takes a village and you don't see it all until it comes together. But I'd also like to give kudos to the Baby Grand and the Blue Ball Barn for giving us the space to showcase what we're doing here. They've been really great to work with and the community benefits when you have spaces and to see these kinds of exhibits. We've had these before in Arden at the Craft Shop Museum, at our buzzwear, at the Guild Hall, but this is taking it outside of Arden to a wider audience and showing them the story and I think that's so important.
Speaker 1:You both have talked about how Arden is described as an intentional artist community. How do you think that shows up through the values of those that kind of work in these exhibits, for those that help support the creation of the art there in Arden? What values do you think are the most critical in making that a success?
Speaker 3:Volunteerism. We do have such a spirit of volunteerism and without that none of this would happen, because you know, I mean of course artists will benefit if paintings or artwork gets sold, but that's not everybody, and it's just, it's like a love language, I think.
Speaker 2:I think it's also part of just being welcome and having a feeling of being accepted within the community and it makes it a lot easier to just be a part of this art scene, or inside Arden or outside, because some artists are professionals and others are just starting, and it really makes a difference for all of us to have that community together to work with and to learn from.
Speaker 1:No doubt Arden's uniqueness and landscape are part of the experience of visiting the town. Any must-see stops for a first-time visitor before or after they come to the exhibit.
Speaker 2:The first place I would suggest is the Arden Craft Shop Museum, because we also have a self-guided walking tour that we published and it's beautifully laid out with all the different sites in both Arden Town and Ardencroft all three, I should say and it's a great place to get a quick history. And then, of course, there's other locations within the Ardenns to visit as well, but the museum has the history and the background. Also, the Arden Craft Shop Museum is a living museum because we don't have an ending date. We start at 1900, but we don't have any date that we go up to, so everything that's created today is part of our history.
Speaker 3:And I just want to emphasize what Sadie said about the walking tour. If you did the walking tour, you would get to see some of the architecture in Arden, which is unique. We were founded by. One of our co-founders was Will Price, an architect, so that is also a part of our living art story, that's true.
Speaker 1:How can listeners get involved with either the exhibit or even the museum or the Art and Artisans Collective, be it volunteering, donating, joining, supporting. What are some of the easiest ways, or maybe the first step, ways where a new listener might be able to engage with the organizations?
Speaker 3:Well, one of the first things we did as a collective is get an online presence. So we are there. Our website is ardentartisanscom, and I think that's an excellent way to start. You can peruse what we've got there. We've got all our newsletters. We've got our events posted. It's a still a work in progress. We're still a young organization, but we've got the basics there. We also have a list of our artists and they have a presence on the website as well. And, sadie, you can speak to the Craft Shop Museum.
Speaker 2:Well, the Craft Shop Museum, as I said, is, you know, open on a regular basis just on Wednesday evenings from 7.30 to 9.30, and also on Sundays from 1 to 3.
Speaker 1:Jill, as you've worked with the artisans that have joined or are maybe tangential to the collective. What do you think are some of the great opportunities and maybe some of the biggest challenges that are facing working artists right now, specifically in Arden?
Speaker 3:Well, something that surprised me, I guess, art in. Well, something that surprised me, I guess, is that, well, we have all ages, like we said, and so the technology, I think, that help that you help to market yourself. That's been a challenge to get everybody to the level where they're submitting photos with the right format and you know just simple things like learning to write an artist's bio if you've never done it before. So we're dealing with people at that end of the spectrum. We're dealing with people that are nationally known artists that live in Arden. So I think part of the challenge is to engage everybody and to try to serve a community that has that wide gap in it.
Speaker 1:Jill give us the details about A Living Legacy and the exhibits. When are they up? How can listeners come check them out?
Speaker 3:Well, the 2D exhibit is at the Baby Grand and that runs through October. Both of the opening exhibitions coincide with Wilmington's Art Loop, so that's convenient. It's going to be the first Friday of the month, so the two-dimensional exhibit at the Wilmington Baby Grand is October 3rd from 5 to 7 pm as part of the Art Loop. So the 3D artists are at the Blue Ball Barn for the month of November. That's an exciting exhibit for us because we've been trying to get the 3D artists to showcase their work but it's hard because there's not a lot of locations that allow for three-dimensional work. So that's a very special exhibit for us right now. And that opening exhibit, the reception, will be on November 7th from 5 to 7 pm, and they're both free, open to the public, and we welcome everyone to come and experience our living tradition.
Speaker 1:We've come to the end of our time and I just want to thank Sadie and Jill for joining me today. You can learn more about the Arden Craft Shop and Museum and the Arden Artisans Collective at ardencraftshopmuseumcom or ardenartisanscom.
