Teresa Bitler 2020-01-07 02:29:44
GLASSWORKS, ARCHITECTURE, MURALS, HANDICRAFTS — ART TAKES SHAPE IN MANY WAYS THROUGHOUT PENNSYLVANIA. DISCOVER THE STATE’S CREATIVE TREASURES AS YOU VISIT ITS MUSEUMS, CRAFTSMEN, CHURCHES, AND PUBLIC SPACES. ARCHITECTURE One of the nation’s most ornate capitol buildings, the Pennsylvania Capitol Building in Harrisburg boasts a dome modeled after Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica and grand staircase after the Paris Opera House. The Pagoda, inspired by travels to Japan, towers above Reading. In Elkins Park, Beth Sholom Synagogue is the only synagogue designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. DECORATIVE ARTS Dedicated entirely to decorative arts, the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts in Bethlehem features period rooms and galleries filled with furniture, silver, clothing, and more. The Mercer Museum in Doylestown contains an extensive collection of everyday objects from the 18th and 19th centuries, including tools and occupational items. HANDCRAFTED WONDERS Established in 1833, Martin Guitar in Nazareth is one of the oldest guitar makers in the United States and has supplied guitars to legends including Elvis Presley and Ed Sheeran. At York’s Bluett Bros. Violins, known for creating impeccable stringed instruments since 1984, watch skilled luthiers handcraft violins, mandolins, and cellos. Wharton Esherick Museum in Malvern exhibits more than 300 pieces of furniture, furnishings, and other works by Wharton Esherick. GLASS DESIGN Pennsylvania has a rich history of glassmaking. See examples of Pennsylvania glass and learn how it was made at the Dorflinger Factory Museum i**n White Mills and at the **Duncan & Miller Glass Museum in Washington. St. John’s Episcopal Church in Franklin displays a complete set of Tiffany windows. CULTURAL ART & ARTIFACTS The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia houses impressionist, post-impressionist, and early modernist paintings, as well as Native American fine arts, early American furniture, and African sculpture. In Butler, the Maridon Museum has an impressive collection of jade and ivory carvings, Chinese and Japanese artwork, and Meissen porcelain. PUBLIC ARTWORK & MURALS Search for hex art — painted stars — on barns and buildings throughout Berks County using the downloadable map, The Berks County Hex Barn Art Tour. In Philadelphia, Mural Arts, the nation’s largest public art program, offers walking, trolley, and Segway tours of the “City of Murals.”
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