2013 Special Exhibit
FOLK ART INSPIRED BY THE CIVIL WAR
This summer the Rufus Porter Museum joins 22 other Maine museums and historical societies across Maine in a Civil War Trail. Using a wide variety of items like letters, diaries, photographs, maps, art, weapons, clothing, banners, and quilts, these organizations will present exhibits and special events about the personal experiences of Maine people at the battle front and the home front during the war. The Maine Civil War Trail is part of the commemoration of the war’s sesquicentennial (1861-1865~2011-2015).
The Rufus Porter Museum’s 2013 Special Exhibit from June 22 to October 13 will focus on patriotic folk art. It will include many eagles, whirligigs, weathervanes, crocks, and other patriotic objects used in everyday activities designed to express pride in being an American. Featured will be a James Bard painting of a steamship used to carry troops during the Civil War and a gilded weathervane of Lady Liberty holding the flag up high. Early nineteenth-century Chinese export porcelain with eagle decorations, ordered by patriotic American families after the Revolution and the War of 1812, will also be on display.
Two talks have been scheduled to accompany the 2013 Special Exhibit. On July 21 Stephen May will present “Their Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Art of the Civil War.” On July 26 Nicholas Picerno will present “The Lakes Region and Cumberland County Men at Antietam."
