Abington Art Center » Forever Young: Celebrating Seven Decades of Art

Forever Young: Celebrating Seven Decades of Art

April 16-July 26, 2009

“Not a Woman’s Club- Our aim is to further the interest of art.” December 1941

In 1939, Mrs. Charles Harper Smith, Mrs. Gustave E. Rosenau, Mrs. Kathryn Graham and Paulette van Roeckens co-founded the Old York Road Art Guild (OYRAG) with 26 charter members. Two hundred people attended the first meeting held in the Strawbridge & Clothier’s Salon. Within a year, membership had swelled to over 100. Since the guild’s inception, popular activities have included pilgrimages to studios and museums, outdoor sketch group, Men’s Night, the May Garden Party, and exhibition opportunities.

In 1965, the guild incorporated as a non-profit, and they started to introduce an active calendar of exhibitions including some that became staples including: the Annual Juried Show, the Invited Print exhibition and the annual Photography show. In 1990, the Abington Art Center Sculpture Garden, as it was first called, opened with only six sculptures. Today, the Sculpture Park hosts an active installation cycle with an average of 25 works of outdoor sculpture on the lawn surrounding the Manor and stretching into the woodlands.

What makes this history remarkable is that so much of what those four women started seventy years ago continues today. They offered affordable art classes. They organized lectures and offered artists exhibition opportunities. The Center’s exhibitions of nationally and internationally recognized artists continue what their pilgrimages began.

“Forever Young” includes: Catherine Adams, Astrid Bowlby, Frank Bramblett, Leora Brecher, Syd Carpenter, Steven Donegan, Patti Dougherty, David Gamber, Michael Grothusen, Ditta Baron Hoeber, Jeanne Jaffe, Martina Johnson-Allen, Ron Klein, Nicholas Kripal, Stacy Levy, Winifred Lutz, Martha Kent Martin, Deirdre Murphy, Eileen Neff, Tony Rosati, Meg Saligman, Judith Schaechter, Carol Stirton-Broad, Blaise Tobia, Sarah Van Keuren, Chris Zmijewski