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Heidi Leitzke

thread paintings and studio experiments
  • New Work
  • A bridge across, a path through
  • Islands (of the mind)
  • Mount Gretna
  • Moonlit
  • Secret Gardens
  • Reservoir Park Mural
  • Risograph Prints
  • news & events
  • about // cv
  • contact

© Heidi Leitzke 2024

FOLKLORE, my curatorial perspective

March 18, 2014

I moved to Lancaster in 2006 and soon became aware of (and enamored by) Fraktur – the Pennsylvania Dutch version of the illustrated manuscript. Around the same time I saw an exhibit of work by Clare Rojas at Locks Gallery in Philadelphia. I was struck by similarity between Rojas’ work and the historical Fraktur drawings.

Since 2007 I have been envisioning an exhibit that features original, historical Pennsylvania Dutch Fraktur folk art drawings set within the context of similarly themed artworks created in our time. This year I had the opportunity to curate Folklore for the Main Gallery at PCA&D. As I began to work on the exhibit I set out a brief thesis for myself, one that could be supported by my selection of artists and artworks.

I first identified a set of themes evident in the historical Fraktur drawings to which I wanted to call attention. These themes include:

  • the way a particular occasion or event is commemorated
  • the manner in which personal histories or mythologies are created
  • the visual tension created when components such as color, shape and pattern are compressed in a flat space
  • the humble, yet enduring power of visual forms hand-drawn on paper

It is my hope that by curating a selection of contemporary artists who also explore these (above) themes in their work, I have created a space for a rich conversation to be held about these works of art -created at different points in history- yet engaged in a similar pursuit.

Please join me this Thursday, March 20th at 4 p.m. in the Atrium at PCA&D as I moderate a panel discussion with artists from the exhibit, Clare Grill, Baker Overstreet and Benjamin Edmiston, as well as Wendell Zercher, a Fraktur expert from LancasterHistory.org.

 

Birth Record for Lydia Glasz, Attributed to Samuel Bentz, Circa 1811, Courtesy LancasterHistory.org - from The Heritage Center Collection, gift of James Hale Steinman

Birth Record for Lydia Glasz, Attributed to Samuel Bentz, Circa 1811, Courtesy LancasterHistory.org - from The Heritage Center Collection, gift of James Hale Steinman

Clare Rojas, Untitled (Blue and Yellow), 2009, gouache on paper, 11" x 8.5"

Clare Rojas, Untitled (Blue and Yellow), 2009, gouache on paper, 11" x 8.5"

Tags: Fraktur, Folklore, PCA&D, Curator, Gallery
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