Remember when I told you about the National Museum of the American Coverlet and how it’s in an old school in Bedford? Well, they have done a fantastic job of preserving that old school and some of its unique features.
The front hallway features a folk art mural of the town as well as this mural of the Big Bad Wolf spying on the pigs. Isn’t it fun?
Here’s a bigger picture view of the history mural and the pigs.
These odd and random things we run into out in the world are more or less what I live for. The coverlets in this museum are amazing but I found myself sometimes distracted by features of this old building. How fortunate were to get a peak inside!
Swaying palm trees. Rough seas. Brilliant red Poinciana trees. Cotton candy sunsets that light up the canvas in ways you might not know possible.
That’s what you’ll find among the paintings of the Florida Highwaymen. I had the pleasure of seeing several as part of a special exhibit at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art a few weeks ago.
From the early fifties through the eighties, there were 26 African American painters who were called The Highwaymen. They painted gorgeous rural and beach scenes from the Florida landscape.
They painted in home workshops and garages, creating a prolific catalog of work that they sold door-to-door to businesses and individuals. They could also be seen selling from the trunks of their cars along the highways. Back in the day, these paintings cost about $25 apiece. Today one of these paintings can command $5,000 to $10,000.
Despite the talents of these individuals, racial segregation in Florida prevented them from being sold in professional galleries.
The museum had laminated sheets for each painter with brief biographies and I was fascinated by the origins of these artists. Most were self taught. They knew each other and mentored one another and you can see how they influenced one another.
Their stories are tragic and discouraging, inspiring and thought provoking. Their work is stunning.
This exhibition just closed so I’m sorry to say you can’t go see these paintings in Pennsylvania. That’s a shame too because they did a nice job showing the art while telling the stories of the artists and of the Jim Crow world they lived in. The fact they faced such a grim and racist reality but chose to paint such beauty is incredible.
If you ever get a chance to go see some of these paintings, I hope you will. They are extraordinary.
Want to know more about these painters? Click here to find biographies of the 25 men and one woman who we know as the Highwaymen.
Tucked away in Greensburg, Pennsylvania is an art museum that exists because a woman nearing the end of her life decided her city needed one.
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art opened in 1959 thanks to a gift from Mary Marchand Woods that established the Woods Marchand Foundation ten years before.
We spent a wonderful Saturday afternoon there admiring artwork but also contemplating the thought and ingenuity that went into using space to tell a story.
They have a permanent collection as well as space that rotates. There is a Chihuly installation in a random stairwell and a permanent collection them at celebrated the industrial and working class origins of Pittsburgh.
Some favorites include this piece of gorgeous stained glass from Tiffany Glass around 1905.
Pieces that celebrate the blue color workers who built Pittsburgh are incredibly moving.
Artwork on baseballs was a fun surprise that I liked. I don’t care about baseball at all but thought these pieces of art created by minor league umpire George Sosnak were pretty great.
That’s the thing about museums. if you go with an open mind, you never know what amazing new favorite thing you will find.
Next up I’ll tell you about a special exhibit that, unfortunately, has ended but that I think you might enjoy hearing about!
One of the highlights of any trip for me is finding the local bookstores. On my recent Pennsylvania adventure, we found a wonderful independent bookstore called Rebellion Books.
This store is carefully curated and has a surprisingly nice selection of non fiction along with children’s books and a fantastic variety of fiction.
In the world of independent book stores, it can be challenging to find good non fiction selections so that was exciting.
Rebellion Books is located in an 1897 building in downtown Bedford. It is named after the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion which happened in and around Bedford.
I really liked this store. It’s cozy and inviting and it was like their buyer knew exactly the kind of book I would want to read.
I could have stayed all day and I was pleased to support them by purchasing more than I probably should have.
Want to visit? It’s located on the historic Lincoln Highway and just across the street from Bedford Candies. It’s also not too far from the giant coffee pot!
Bedford, Pennsylvania has over a dozen covered bridges. We were there for just a day so we only saw one and it’s a nice one.
Claycomb Covered Bridge stands at the entrance to Old Bedford Village. The village was still closed for the season but we were still able to park and look around the bridge.
According to their tourism bureau, the bridge was built in 1880 in another location and later moved to its present location on 1975.
The Burr Truss design was reinforced with steel to accommodate the larger vehicles that pass through here on their way to the village.
Despite being so close to the main highway into Bedford and the Turnpike which sits high above this spot, it’s surprisingly peaceful.
If you’re in the area, plan to see this and all the others via a driving tour created by the visitors center. Get information here!
Doesn’t this look like a nice spot to sit and read a book or just watch the clouds roll by? My pal and I spotted it on our way out of the National Museum of the Coverlet and we agreed that it looked peaceful.
And yet, it never occurred to me that we could stop to sit there.
Sitting idle is difficult for me. I often admire those people in cafes who are peacefully reading a book or the folks who are just sitting on a park bench as though there’s no place they would rather be.
There’s just so much to see and do in this world, I want to go see it all. And yet, I want to be a person who sits on benches too.
Author Richard Kadrey famously said “Being able to embrace contradictions is a sign of intelligence. Or insanity.”
Maybe we shouldn’t discuss how his theory applies to me!
Do you stop to smell the roses and sit on benches or do you prefer to be on the go?
