26th annual Arts and Crafts Conference- Philadelphia & the Brandywine River Valley

IAC will take the 2024 conference to the Brandywine River Valley, Philadelphia, and other sites in their respective vicinities to examine the central role the region played in the American Arts & Crafts Movement. Coinciding with the opening of a major exhibiton on Wharton Esherick at Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art, the conference will explore the following:

• The influence of the Arts & Crafts Movement on the development of the Studio Crafts Movement, with a focus on the work and legacy of Esherick as well the argus milieu at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art (PAFA) where he trained. (PAFA, which will be visited, was designed by Frank Furness and George Hewitt and is one of the most significant structures of the American Arts & Crafts period.)
•  The Arts & Crafts community Rose Valley, the milieu in which Esherick practiced. Founded in 1901 by William Lightfoot Price and modeled on the utopian English village described by William Morris in News from Nowhere. The community features a legacy of impressive architecture, a preserved landscape, and the Hedgerow Theatre.
• Other major expressions of the Movement that flourished in the region, among them the work of The Red Rose Girls, a group of young female artists in Philadelphia whose legacy straddles the Movement and early 20th-century feminism; this visit is enriched by Amanda Burdan, Senior Curator, Brandywine River Museum whose scholarly work focuses on this group
• The work and influence of NC Wyeth, whose studio will be visited
• The work of other artists and craftsmen participating in or influenced by the Movement in Philadelphia