WATERVILLE — Viewing “A Usable Past: American Folk Art” at the Colby College Museum of Art, is a refreshing experience. Reflecting the historically sturdy nature of the American spirit, the exhibit of 96 19th-century works evokes a steadying calm, in stark contrast to the chaos of our current times. 

The title of the exhibit,”A Usable Past,” was selected because Folk Art features traditional decoration and functional forms of art as diverse as weather vanes, trade signs, quilts and portraits. These works were created by untrained artists and represent a level of purity of vision that folk art is famous for capturing. 

        Lauren Lessing, museum director of academic and public programs, author and editor of the eloquent introduction to the impressive hard cover exhibit catalogue, wrote: “Folk art  generally designates objects that conform to aesthetic traditions passed down within unified insular cultures.”

        “Folk Art is a pure expression of a culture,” Lessing said in an interview at the museum. “Artists did not go to school for art. Artists learned on their own or through other artists as apprentices or through family members. A tradition was passed on from one generation to another. The artists in this exhibit were craftsmen. Portrait painting was a trade taught through an apprentice system. Quilts, silhouettes, scrimshaw carvings, weather vanes and trade signs reflect 19th-century values and needs,” Lessing said.
     Most people in the art world in Maine associate Colby with an outstanding Contemporary Art Collection, comparable to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.  This exhibit, however, shows that Colby also has an impressive Folk Art collection, as well.

Many of the works included in this exhibit are from the American Heritage Collection of Edith and Ellerton Jette, who were among the earliest patrons of the Colby Museum.  The Jette family owned the Hathaway Shirt Company and Edith Jette led the way in establishing the museum. In fact, this exhibit is drawn from the Founding Collection of the Colby College Art Museum and has not been shown since the early 1960s.

        The Colby Museum was founded in 1959, but Mrs. Jette collected folk art before the museum was organized and she gave works to the college before the museum was formed. Originally, selections of the Jette Folk Art Collection were shown in dormitories and in the dinning halls.
          Outstanding works in this exhibit from the Jette collection include: “Painting of Fruit,” watercolor on velvet, (ca. 1840) by an unknown artist; ”The Pool Sisters,” oil on canvas, by an unknown artist (ca. 1850-55), “Landscape,” oil on canvas (1843- 60) by Thomas Chambers, and “A View of Harvard Hall” by Jonathan Fisher (ca. 1790).
        Other significant works on in the exhibit were given by Helen Warren and Willard Howe Cummings, including an oil on canvas titled “Mrs. Miller of Newton, New Jersey,” created by John Samuel Blunt (ca. 1830), “Portrait of Reverend Walker,” oil on canvas, (ca. 1845) by E.E. Finch, and “Lion” a wood sculpture, created  (ca. 1835.)
        The exhibit was installed on two floors. As you walk down the stairs to the lower level, a full wall of weather vanes takes your breath away. This fantastic collection of weather vanes and trade signs is a fascinating feast to the eyes.

It is amazing that many of these visual symbols of 19th century culture are still with us today  — like the apothecary jar, the pawnshop symbol of 3 spheres representing coins, and the barber pole with its red-and-white stripes. Also the town’s surgeons, barber’s poles were painted with red-and-white stripes representing bandages, and providing a visual cue to the medical services available within. 

        This exhibit, which provides a look into our nation’s past through the eyes of its wonderful artists, is an up lifting and creative experience. This quiet, but major exhibit at Colby, shows the strength and endurance of our great nation, historically and artistically. I highly, and without reservation, recommend that you see it; it is absolutely worth the trip.

        The folk art exhibit is on display through Jan. 8.

Museum hours: Tuesday – Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday noon to 5 p.m. Open Thursday nights until 9 p.m. during academic year. Closed Mondays. The is free of charge. The public is welcome.