Perspectives on Esherick: Object, Archive, Artist

Please note that all session times are in Eastern Daylight Time

Join the team at the Wharton Esher­ick Museum for a virtual visit and behind-the-scenes look at all things Esherick!

The first half of this program will explore how Wharton Esher­ick lived and worked in his Studio in rural Penn­syl­va­nia, includ­ing access to some rarely seen gems from WEM’s collec­tion of over 3,000 objects and the unique spaces of this National Historic Land­mark for Archi­tec­ture. We’ll also explore Esherick’s wide-ranging legacy as WEM’s 50th Anniver­sary approaches in 2022, includ­ing his ongoing impact on contem­po­rary artists across numer­ous disci­plines. We’ll spend some time with WEM’s current onsite and virtual exhi­bi­tion, Wood And…, which show­cases the works of a number of Furni­ture Society members.

The second half of this program will feature a conver­sa­tion with wood­worker Ray Kelso, who first visited Esherick’s studio in 1973. Kelso will talk about his fifty year rela­tion­ship with Esherick’s work and the museum and how, through art and commu­nity, he’s become an inte­gral part of WEM’s story. We’ll hear stories that take us from Kelso’s expe­ri­ence repair­ing Esher­ick orig­i­nals, to his work produc­ing built-in pieces for the museum designed in conver­sa­tion with Esherick’s own style and mate­r­ial language, to his years spent working with Esherick’s sawyer, Ed Ray.