For its November program the Bridgeville Area Historical Society welcomed Folk Artist and Illustrator Frances Halley for an interesting discussion of a Pennsylvania heritage. A member of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators, the Folk Art Society of America, and the Guild of American Papercutters, Mrs. Halley specializes in Pennsylvania Folk Art, particularly that portion related to the Pennsylvania Dutch culture.
She began her presentation with a brief summary of the founding of the Pennsylvania colony. Admiral William Penn played an active part in English history during the 1600s. Following King Charles II’s return to power, he granted the Penn family a large block of land in the New World as payment for debts owed to them. The admiral’s son, also named William Penn, then founded Pennsylvania in 1681 as a haven for religious minorities. It soon became a popular destination for immigrants from the Rheinland-Pfalz region in the southwestern part of what is now Germany. By 1750 about 100,000 “Palatines” had come to Pennsylvania seeking a better life.
The speaker then explained that these people brought with them a variety of skills that permitted them to manufacture most of the necessities for their subsistence existence, necessities which they decorated in a fashion that reminded them of the homeland they had left. An excellent example is “redware”, pottery produced from the red clay of southeastern Pennsylvania. For decorative purposes the red clay was covered by a thin coating of white “Jersey” clay. Once it had dried, a combination of painting and scratching through the slip to expose the red background produced an attractive art piece.
Another skill the settlers possessed was the transformation of flax into linen by a sequential process of crushing the flax stalks to expose the fibers inside, spinning the fibers into yarn, and then weaving the yarn into linen fabric. In addition to its value for clothing, the linen provided a background for artwork, primarily embroidery on tablecloths, napkins, and towels.
At this point Mrs. Halley discussed “fraktur”, the distinctive calligraphy for which the Pennsylvania Dutch are known. She has become quite proficient in the production of decorated documents – birth announcements (Geburtshein), marriage certificates (Trauschein), house blessings (Haus Segen), proverbs, etc. – which combine folk art with fraktur text. Fraktur script is characterized by individual strokes rather than continuous ones (each letter is fractured into several strokes), with the beginning and end of each stroke emphasized. Its style is derived from early works by woodcutter Albrecht Durer; hence the emphasis on bold vertical (with the grain) strokes mimicking chisel engraving. The decoration of these documents typically incorporates classic Pennsylvania Dutch components – an urn at the bottom from which spread symmetrical vines sporting tulip blooms, hearts, and birds (usually the “distelfink” – a European goldfinch). The colors are simple and contrasting, a consequence of a limited palette.
Her next topic was hex signs, sometimes called “sterne” (star) signs. They were early attempts to decorate wooden barns by scribing large (six feet in diameter) compass roses enclosed by a bordered circle and painting them with contrasting colors. Once the custom graduated into being a subject for souvenirs, the decoration became more sophisticated, utilizing distelfinks, hearts, tulips, etc.
Mrs. Halley describes herself as a practitioner of Cut Paper Illustration. Although she didn’t cover this topic in her talk, she did have several impressive examples of her skill in this craft with her. Particularly impressive was a large primitive winter scene with skaters on a pond in front of a village of eight houses and a church. Seen from a distance it is appears to be a very pleasant painting; close-up you realize that it is much more complicated – a layering of individual cut pieces pasted on top of each other. A mother pulling a child in a wagon is layered on top of a snow-covered evergreen which is on top of the door frame for the church which itself is layered onto the face of the church. A remarkable amount of work to produce an excellent final product.
I was surprised that her cut paper discussion did not include “Scherenschnitte” (scissors snips), the art of cutting an intricate pattern into one piece of paper or cardboard, creating silhouettes when placed on top of a contrasting background. The top piece may be plain or decorated separately, depending upon the desire of the artist. Modern craftsmen have progressed to the use of very sharp knives rather than scissors, though purists still prefer the traditional method. A somewhat similar folk art form is the piercing or punching of thin sheets of tin plate with a folk art pattern. A perfect example of this is a pie safe, a cabinet with shelves to store freshly baked pies while they cool. On both sides of the shelves are circular openings with tinplate covers, decorated by a pattern punched into them to permit steam from the cooling pies to escape. This craft is also popular for lanterns.
The speaker briefly discussed folk art as it applies to woodworking and showed pictures of several pieces of furniture decorated by tole painting. I have a perfect example of this in my dining room, where the six chairs are Oyler family heirlooms, dating back to pre-Civil War days. They are classic banjo-back, plank bottom side chairs with painted decorations on the back and the spindles. The primitive decoration has a harvest motif with a sheaf of wheat, melons, and fruits, beneath a leafy border. For my taste, this is Pennsylvania folk art at its best. These chairs have been in daily use for over one hundred and seventy years; in case of fire, they are the first things I would rescue.
The next program in this series is at 1:30 pm, Sunday, January 26, 2025 in the Chartiers Room of the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department. Austin Pilz’ subject is “From Mining Towns to Mergers: How Chartiers Valley Amalgamates Local Identities”, the story of Chartiers Valley School District.