Forging a Link: Metalsmiths Respond to the Mercer Collection Exhi­bi­tion opening at The Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA

The Mercer Museum is an extra­or­di­nary six-story concrete castle built by Henry Mercer and filled with his collec­tion of more than 50,000 tools and objects docu­ment­ing every­day life before the indus­trial revo­lu­tion. Cory Amsler (VP of Collec­tions and Inter­pre­ta­tion at the Mercer Museum) in collab­o­ra­tion with guest curator Cappy Counard (Profes­sor of Metals and Jewelry at Edin­boro Univer­sity) invited twenty-three black­smiths, metal­smiths, and jewel­ers to create a piece of artwork directly influ­enced by their expe­ri­ence with the Mercer Museum’s collec­tion and architecture. 

Partic­i­pat­ing artists are Sue Amen­dolara, Lynn Batchelder, Erica Bello, Melanie Bilenker, Cappy Counard, Maria Eife, Michael Gayk, Ian Hender­son, Warren Holzman, Jera Lodge, Becky McDonah, Tedd McDonah, Myra Miml­itsch-Gray, Dan Neville, Nash Quinn, Patrick J. Quinn, Stephen Reynolds, Mike Rossi, Court­ney Star­rett, Katja Toporski, Pamela J. Wallace, Stacey Lee Webber and Adam Whitney. Their diverse work seeks to disrupt, ques­tion, and inject a moment of unex­pected wonder into the Mercer expe­ri­ence while asking viewers to contem­plate a broader way of think­ing through the objects that connect us.

The Mercer Museum will host a broad range of commu­nity programs inspired by the new exhibit includ­ing artist lectures, curator talks and more. Admis­sion to the exhibit is included with general museum admis­sion. The Mercer Museum is open Monday through Satur­day from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Sunday 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. For pricing, a full sched­ule of events and addi­tional infor­ma­tion, please visit mercer​mu​seum​.org.