Exhibitions
Art of the Everyday: Painted Woodcarvings
May 25th - September 22, 2024
Visual artist Mary Michael Shelley uses low relief wood-carved texture and acrylic paint to give life, movement, and interest to her work.
Developed by the Arkell Museum, this dynamic exhibit focuses on New York State themes including agriculture, landscapes, lake views, and diners. Hand Digging the Erie Canal, a new piece created specifically for this exhibit, is a special feature. We are thrilled to announce that this work is now part of our permanent collection. A benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous donated funding specifically to purchase this piece. Come see it and more work by Mary Michael Shelley in this exhibit. Hand Digging the Erie Canal will also be on display next year when we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the completion of the Erie Canal.
Artist Mary Michael Shelley has lived in rural upstate New York for more than 50 years and is a frequent demonstrator at the Ithaca Farmers’ Market. Significant public collections that own work by Shelley include the Smithsonian and the National Museum of Women and the Arts (Washington, DC), the American Museum in Britain (Bath, England), the Museum of American Folk Art (NYC), the High Museum (Atlanta, GA), Women’s Rights National Historic Park (Seneca Fall, NY), and the Fenimore Art Museum (Cooperstown, NY).
Mary Michael Shelley
Hand Digging the Erie Canal, 2024
Carved pine, acrylic paint, and gold leaf
Museum Purchase with Donated Funds, 2024
Winslow Homer Wood Engravings
The Shirley W. Brand Collection
March 2, 2024 through May 12, 2024
The Arkell Museum was recently gifted a transformative collection of Winslow Homer wood engravings. Winslow Homer Wood Engravings: The Shirley W. Brand Collection is the first time a selection of these extraordinary wood engravings will be on view here at the Arkell Museum. We are so grateful to the family of Shirley W. Brand for this incredible gift.
Winslow Homer began his career as an art illustrator in the late 1850s, creating images for popular publications including Ballou’s Pictorial and Harper’s Weekly. He served as a wartime correspondent for Harper’s Weekly, capturing important battle, camp, and community scenes during the Civil War. Homer also excelled at depicting scenes from everyday life: farm fields, city streets, windy beach bluffs, factory workers, fishing parties.
This exhibition features some of Homer’s most famous and recognizable images such as The Dinner Horn and The Noon Recess as well as images that may be lesser known but are equally stunning and engaging. Image themes presented in this first sampling include Agriculture, Work, Entertainment, the Civil War, and Social Commentary.
This exhibition is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Winslow Homer (1836-1910)
The Morning Bell
Wood engraving on paper
Harper’s Weekly; December 13, 1873
Arkell Museum Collection
Gift of the family of Shirley W. Brand, 2020
May 26, 2023 through December 30, 2023
This exciting exhibition features newly framed photographs and color advertisements, and showcases favorite materials rarely seen in person.
Exhibition themes include the vitality of Canajoharie, NY, and the impact of the Beech-Nut Packing Company on the community and people across the nation.
Did you know that Amelia Earhart was a Beech-Nut sponsor?
This exhibit includes the "cover" that she carried across
the Pacific and the studio photograph taken by noted NYC photographer Ben Pinchot, both inscribed and autographed by Earhart.
Did you watch Batman on TV in the 1960s?
Burgess Meredith, The Penguin, was also a celebrity sponsor for Beech-Nut as his 1930s radio character "Red Davis". This exhibit includes a studio photograph taken by Ben Pinchot, inscribed and signed by Meredith.
Do you like early vehicles or parades?
What about advertisements promoting peanut butter soup?
(no kidding - peanut butter soup!)
All of these and more are featured in this exhibit!
"The play is “My Sister Eileen” and as I understand it there is a girl in it who wears a Beech-Nut sampling girl costume…"
Bartlett Arkell to Frank Barbour, January 13, 1941
Shirley Booth as a Sample Girl in My Sister Eileen, ca. 1940
Lucas & Monroe Studio Photograph, NYC
Collection of the Arkell Museum
Funding from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature supported all framing, and exhibit design and installation.
