River Roots: Susanna Wright

River Roots is Susquehanna NHA’s blog series featuring history from York and Lancaster Counties that showcases the Susquehanna River’s historic, cultural, and natural resources contributions to our nation’s heritage.

RiverRoots Heritage Blog

For Women’s History Month, SNHA is featuring Susanna Wright. A brilliant, innovative Quaker, who contributed to the colonial settlement of Columbia along the Susquehanna. In an age when women were expected to marry and comply to the orders of the male members of the family, Susanna remained unmarried and pursued a variety of scholarly interests. Her story is that of a remarkable woman, who thrived on the frontier and became well-known as a poet and pundit, botanist, business owner, and scholar.

In 1697, Susanna was born to Quaker parents, John and Patience Wright, in Lancashire, England. She was the oldest of eight children. Her parents emigrated to the Philadelphia area of the Pennsylvania colony in 1712, while Susanna followed in 1718 after completing her education. Susanna’s mother died in 1722 forcing Susanna to take charge of the household responsibilities.

In 1730 her father John settled the family on the banks of the Susquehanna and began operating what became known as Wright’s Ferry. Joining the Wrights were Robert Barber and Samuel Blunston, fellow Quakers who had also resided in the Philadelphia area. In 1738, Susanna’s brother James Wright built a family home, the Wright’s Ferry Mansion, which remains a local landmark in Columbia, PA. Colonial officials were happy to have Quaker allies on the Susquehanna as the west side of the river was disputed territory between Pennsylvania and Maryland. Susanna created an island of genteel English culture in a primitive wilderness of Scots-Irish and German settlers as well as Native Americans.

Medicine & Agriculture

Along the Susquehanna, Susanna ran a large agricultural operation while her father tended to the burgeoning ferry business. In the 1740s, Susanna moved to the nearby Bellmont Mansion as it had been bequeathed to her from Samuel Blunston. This gift was incredibly important, because under the English practice of coverture Susanna would never have been able to be truly independent. The gift gave Susanna the financial security she needed to stay a single and independent woman when her father died in 1749 and left his estate to his sons.

Susanna was interested agriculture and used the farm to raise a variety of crops including hops, hemp, flax, and indigo. She also had an orchard and used her garden to experiment with native and European plants. She became familiar with herbal remedies and medicines, which she was frequently called to dispense to her ailing neighbors. Through her correspondence with Benjamin Franklin we know that she successfully grew apples – Spitzenburgs and Pippins were her favorite varieties.

Susanna’s most remarkable contribution to agriculture was her successful efforts in producing silk. In North America, silk production had been limited to the southern colonies. Susanna developed a method that allowed the silkworms to spin in specially created paper cones. The coolness of the climate made it difficult to handle silkworms after they emerged from their cocoons. Despite this difficulty, she did find some success. In 1759, Susanna’s effort resulted in a pair of silk stockings. They were presented to General Jeffrey Amherst, the commander of Britain’s forces in America during the French and Indian War. By 1771, the Philadelphia Silk Society awarded her a prize of ten pounds for the largest number of cocoons raised by a single individual. That silk was reportedly used to make a court dress presented to Queen Charlotte by Benjamin Franklin.

Politics & Law

Susanna kept up with political debates on the eastern seaboard through correspondence. She regularly communicated with political elites like Isaac Norris, James Logan, Benjamin Franklin, and Benjamin Rush. She became a prothonotary or principal of the court for the Susquehanna River settlement, drafting legal documents including land deeds, indentures, and wills.  Known for her good judgement and integrity, she was also called upon to settle disputes – especially between settlers and Native Americans.

Benjamin Franklin sought Susanna’s help in outfitting the Braddock Expedition of 1753 during the French and Indian War. She suggested calling together the township leaders to discuss gathering provisions for the endeavor. Franklin took her advice and successfully gathered 150 wagons as well as horses and provisions from Lancaster, York, and Cumberland Counties. He also sought her advice in dealing with the Paxton Boys massacre of December 1763. In early 1764, Susanna wrote to a Lancaster merchant that vigilantes were still roaming the region threatening not just Native Americans but those that supported and helped them, including her brother James Wright. Her location along the Susquehanna was a gateway to the frontier, which made her a valuable asset for information to Philadelphia’s elite political leaders.

Poetry & Literature

In quieter times, Susanna’s correspondence to friends in Philadelphia was more intellectual. She exchanged books with Logan, Franklin, and Rush. From her European education, Wright was fluent in French and versed in Latin and Italian. Literature was her constant delight, and she confided to Benjamin Rush that she could not live without her books. James Logan was known for having an immense library and regularly shared books with Susanna. In a surviving letter from James Logan, he complains that Susanna is slow to return the books he loaned her.  However, they had a close relationship in which they shared writings, asked for critiques, and experimented with poetic form. Wright had many relationships like the one she shared with Logan.

She belonged to an informal group of male and female writers in the mid-Atlantic. The female members included Hannah Griffitts, Milcah Martha Moore, Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, and Deborah Norris Logan. Her contemporaries referred to her as the “Susquehanna Muse”. Deborah Norris Logan noted that Susanna did not write for fame and never kept copies of her work. Therefore, only about three dozen of her poems have survived. Her works were never published; instead she circulated her verses amongst her friends. Many were found in Moore’s commonplace book, a compilation of poetry and prose in which Susanna is one of the three dominate female contributors. Wright’s poems cover a wide breadth of themes like justice, time, death, immortality, friendship, family, and marriage. In a poem titled ‘To Eliza Norris—at Fairhill’, Wright meditates on the status of women in the eighteenth century. Her meditation concerning the inequality of women to men is one of her most analyzed poems.

Susanna’s reputation had grown so much by 1784 that Rush mentioned in his journal that he had met “the famous Suzey Wright a lady who has been celebrated Above half Century for her wit–good Sense & valuable improvements of mind.” Later that same year, Susanna Wright died at age 88. She was a unique and valuable contributor to colonial life in Pennsylvania. Her relationships connected her to important decisions in the colonial capital of Philadelphia. Her relentless energy to grow and better understand horticulture helped her community along the river and across the ocean. Her writings and poetry showcase a brilliance and passion that still inspires. In the 88 years of her life, Susanna took part in the transformation of Pennsylvania from a frontier colony to a prominent state in a fledgling nation.

To learn more about Susanna Wright:

Read Susanna Wright’s poem ‘To Eliza Norris—at Fairhill’ from the National Humanities Center Resources Toolbox. (first two pages)

Check out The Extraordinary Suzy Wright: A Colonial Woman on the Frontier by Teri Kanefield. This great book is well illustrated and geared towards young readers (ages 8-12).

Take a tour of the Wright’s Ferry Mansion located at Second & Cherry Streets. Open May through October on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturdays from 10:00 to 3:00 (last tour begins at 3:00). There is a great video about the preservation of the home and its collection on Vimeo by Natural Light Films.

Find another short biography of Susanna Wright and more learning resources for K-12 educators can be found at Women & The American Story from the New York Historical Society & Library.

Sources:

Shirk, Willis L. “Wright’s Ferry: A Glimpse into the Susquehanna Backcountry.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 120, no. 1/2 (1996): 61-87.

Cowell, Pattie. “”Womankind Call Reason to Their Aid”: Susanna Wright’s Verse Epistle on the Status of Women in Eighteenth-Century America.” Signs 6, no. 4 (1981): 795-800.

La Courreye Blecki, Catherine, and Lorett Treese. “Susanna Wright’s “The Grove”: A Philosophic Exchange with James Logan.” Early American Literature 38, no. 2 (2003): 239-55.

Smith, Thelma M. “Feminism in Philadelphia, 1790-1850.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 68, no. 3 (1944): 243-68.

Kanefield, Teri. The Extraordinary Suzy Wright: A Colonial Woman on the Frontier. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2016.

Silver, Peter. Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian War Transformed Early America. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008.

Mick Williams’ watercolors on display at Columbia Crossing

SNHA is pleased to partner with Maryland artist, Mick Williams in a new exhibit at Columbia Crossing River Trails Center. The exhibit is on display through August 30 and features nine original watercolors and the archival photographs/postcards that inspired each work. Featured below is an article from LNP|LancasterOnline detailing Mick’s inspiration for the project.

Article Written by MIKE ANDRELCZYK, staff writer at LNP | Lancaster Online.

Some artists have found creative inspiration from what’s inside a bottle of beer, but for New Market, Maryland-based artist Mick Williams, it was what was on the outside of a beer bottle that inspired him to create a watercolor series of vintage Columbia scenes.

The inspiration struck Williams while on a tour of childhood friend Mike Knaub’s soon-to-be-open brewpub, Starview Brews on Locust Street.

“I was looking at the labels of the beers he’s created,” Williams says over the phone. “They’re all archival photos of Columbia and the photos are awesome, so that kind of triggered my idea.”

The vintage photographs led Williams to create a series of watercolor paintings based on Columbia’s past. The watercolors are on display at Columbia Crossing through August 30.

The paintings, which Williams finished within a year, bring life and color to the sepia-toned nostalgia of the archival photos. Williams’ use of light and shadow are brilliant and the tight lines of his street scenes and buildings showcase his passion for architecture.

Williams, originally from York, is attracted to the vibe surrounding Columbia — particularly the city’s architecture.

“I like the fact that it’s on the water,” Williams says. “It’s got this bohemian vibe to it. There are a lot of old buildings. I’ve always been an architecture buff, so I embraced that. I love the old wood with the brick and the trees and the business signs. It’s appealing.”

The paintings are rich with detail. Williams put his skills for hand-lettering to great use. (His painting of the old Hinkle’s Drug Store is a great example.) Williams developed his lettering skills from his years filling in thought and word bubbles for his short-lived syndicated cartoon called “Morons with Money.”

“I really enjoyed doing it,” Williams says of his cartoon strip. “But it never really sold. It really honed my art skills. My pen and ink skills really improved and also my figure drawing. Like if you’ve ever seen ‘Calvin and Hobbes,’ there’s a lot of action in that and I tried to put in the figures in the paintings as much as I could.”

A quick trip through Williams’ website shows the painter does more than just landscapes. He occasionally employs a touch of surrealism to his work.

“I don’t want to be just a landscape painter,” Williams says. “Every artist should just embrace creativity and be like ‘it would be fun to do this and just try it.’ ”

“When you do a painting, you have to look at a scene and break it down into those major shapes and then you can go back into and recreate it and color it,” Williams says.

His virtuosic touch makes the paintings look effortless, but it’s a detailed process that goes into creating them.

“It starts with a very accurate pencil drawing,” Williams says. “That’s the key underlying any painting. You’ve got to construct a foundation for a painting properly. For me, it’s a pencil drawing. It’s just a matter of being patient.”

Viewers are sure to be impressed with Williams’ work. And the Columbia Crossing River Trails Center enhances the work.

“I love all the glass,” Williams says about the venue. “It’s ultramodern. It’s a very nice design, and their location right on the water is immaculate.”

The venue allows for lots of light —and the light glinting off the river is a perfect way for viewers to realize just how great Williams is at capturing light accurately.

“I like the way light affects a scene,” Williams says. “And how it changes, like you see something in the early morning and it changes how you see it at midday or at dusk or even at night.”

Hope Byers, manager of Columbia Crossing, agrees that the artist, the venue and the city of Columbia are a perfect combination.

“The exhibit hall at Columbia Crossing has offered a unique space to host exhibits that related to local history and culture,” Byers says. “Local brewer Mike Knaub shared one of Mick’s watercolors with me, and I fell in love. I immediately knew the photograph that Williams had used to create the watercolor. The familiar storefronts and buildings are perfectly showcased in idyllic fashion. I wanted to showcase the real and reimagined together.”

Walk This Way!

Stairway to Native Lands

Looking for some winter exercise? Try out the Zimmerman Center’s new stone slab steps to start off a crisp December hike into Native Lands County Park! As part of our project to improve accessibility to Native Lands, the steps replace the rather “rustic” ones visitors have had to  navigate from our otherwise lovely trailhead ontothe footpath to the park.

As you wander up the trail, you may notice that as a result of removal of invasive plant species from the woodland this summer, you can now see the forest through the trees! It’s a wonderful place to enjoy some solitude and take in the soothing landscape.

After your hike, stop in the Center to warm up and you will see that we made Tim Barr’s Petroglyphs at Safe Harbor painting more accessible, having moved it from our second-floor hallway to a prominent spot in our rear gallery. Consider making a Christmas donation to help make this dramatic work of art, on temporary loan from the artist, a part of our permanent collection.

Chesapeake Conservation Corps Member impacts Heritage Area through Pollinator Projects

Each year, Susquehanna National Heritage Area welcomes a Chesapeake Conservation Corps Member to our team. The Conservation Corps program is operated by the Chesapeake Bay Trust in order to increase access to green careers. Educating and training the next generation of stewards on how best to manage and protect our environment is crucial to restoring our region’s natural resources. Young adults are placed with nonprofit or government agencies for one-year terms of service in the Chesapeake Bay region. Susquehanna NHA hosts a Corps member each year thanks to our relationship with the NPS Chesapeake Bay Office that supplies the funding.

For 2018-2019, we welcomed Amy Kochel. She was a recent graduate of Juniata College where she studied Environmental Science. She had experience in aquatic ecology and environmental education. Amy is passionate about streams and rivers, and anything that lives in them. Amy completed and supported a variety of programs and projects during her time with Susquehanna National Heritage Area. Her mentor at SNHA was Paul Nevin, our Zimmerman Center Manager.

Amy completed a Meaningful Watershed Environmental Education grant project with the 4th grade classes at York Academy Regional Charter School in the York City. The elementary school is located across the street from the Codorus Creek, allowing for a great outdoor educational experience. Amy led an in-classroom activity about watersheds and had students work together to build a watershed model. The class also did stream study at the Codorus Creek and the students determined the health of the water using chemical and physical tests. Amy then helped the students to plant a pollinator habitat on their playground. Amy designed the pollinator garden and coordinated with a local nursery to get the 150 plants needed to fill the space. Students learned about the importance of pollinator wildlife and ways that plants can reduce soil runoff into waterways. The students also committed to caring for the garden and signed up to weed and water the garden weekly including over the summer months.

As a conclusion, the students attended a field trip with Susquehanna NHA at the Zimmerman Center for Heritage where they investigated the health of a nearby stream to learn more about the Susquehanna River and compared it to their local stream in the city. Students completed the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail Junior Ranger book and were sworn in as Junior Rangers at the end of the day. As part of the swearing in ceremony, students committed to continue learning about the landscape, plants, animals, and history of the river region.

At the SNHA Zimmerman Center property, Amy helped to enhance the information and interpretation of native species. She located, flagged, identified, and labeled native wildflowers along the hiking trail that leads to Native Lands County Park. Her work along the riverfront removed invasive species from the rain garden in order for more native plants to grow. In the fall, Amy caught and tagged monarch butterflies and created an informative area at the Zimmerman Center’s welcome desk for visitors to learn more about the monarch migration and the importance of native milkweed. Over the winter, she researched more about the native species that were present before Europeans arrived in Pennsylvania. Utilizing research from local archaeological digs that were done near the Susquehanna River, Amy then compared the findings to the types of plant and animal species that are found today.

In the spring, Amy created a pollinator garden alongside Susquehanna NHA’s rain garden. Throughout the year, Amy developed a site plan to determine the area of the garden and how many plants would be needed. She ordered the plants and advertised a planting day to find volunteers to help plant the garden. With the help of volunteers, she planted 300 native plants from 15 different species. A brochure was also created for visitors to learn more about pollinators and pollinator gardens.

In August 2019, Amy Kochel’s tenure with Susquehanna NHA came to an end. Her time in the Chesapeake Conservation Corps advanced her knowledge and leadership skills. We were proud to be her mentor through the process. She has since earned a permanent position with the Nature’s Classroom Institute as an Environmental Educator in Wisconsin.

A big THANK YOU! to the Student Conservation Association Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps who braved the heat and rain in July to remove invasive plants from our woodlands and perform maintenance on the Pleasant Garden Trail leading to Native Lands County Park!

This youth employment and enrichment program is managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in cooperation with the Student Conservation Association, a national conservation jobs organization that has engaged thousands of young people nationwide in hands-on service to the land to build the next generation of conservation leaders and inspire lifelong stewardship of the environment and communities.

The Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps program offers paid work experience, job training, and educational opportunities to teens and young adults as they protect and restore public lands and waters. We were also honored to have Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Deputy Secretary Michael Walsh join us to inspect the youth crew’s accomplishments.

Visit the Zimmerman Center for Heritage and Native Lands County Park to see these first steps toward restoring the woodland to a more natural state.

RIVER DISCOVERY BOAT TOURS LAUNCH THIS WEEKEND!

When: Saturday, July 13^th & Sunday July 14^th, 10:30am/12:30pm/2:30pm,
and Every Weekend through Summer 2019

Where: Zimmerman Center for Heritage, 1706 Long Level Rd., Wrightsville, PA

On Saturday, July 13^th and Sunday, July 14^th, Susquehanna National Heritage Area will launch our pilot season of River Discovery Boat Tours on the Susquehanna River. Three FREE pontoon boat tours will be offered every Saturday and Sunday through the summer from our Zimmerman Center for Heritage dock, on the river south of Wrightsville, PA. Tour times for the initial pilot season are 10:30am, 12:30pm, and 2:30pm.

Tour participants will cruise the Susquehanna in a comfortable 10-passenger pontoon boat owned and operated by locally-based Long Level Marina. Susquehanna National Heritage Area’s on-board guides will lead participants on a 1 hour 15 minute tour of the Lake Clarke portion of the river while sharing the Susquehanna’s rich natural and cultural history. Tour participants will enjoy being on the water, hearing stories of the river, and viewing beautiful scenery and wildlife.

The River Discovery Tours are the first new initiative of Susquehanna National Heritage Area since Congressional designation of Lancaster and York Counties as America’s 55th National Heritage Area in March 2019. The 2019 pilot season of tours are offered free of charge for all participants thanks to grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources/Heritage Areas Program and the National Park Service/Chesapeake Bay Gateways Program.

The River Discovery Tours were developed as part of the Zimmerman Center’s official role as a National Park Service Visitor Contact & Passport Station for the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, America’s first water-based National Historic Trail. Special themed tours and round-trip cruises between the Zimmerman Center and the Columbia Crossing River Trails Center we manage on the Columbia riverfront will be offered later in the summer. If popular with the public in this pilot season, an expanded schedule of tours will be developed for 2020 and beyond.

Each tour has a limited number of seats and online reservations are recommended. Reservations are limited to 4 persons maximum per tour and one reservation per tour day. Unreserved seats may be available on the first-come, first-served basis. Tours leave from the Zimmerman Center dock, 1706 Long Level Rd., four miles south of Wrightsville.

More information about River Discovery Boat Tours and making reservations can be found here.

On Friday, June 7, 2019, Susquehanna National Heritage Area (SNHA) will celebrate the recent designation by Congress of Lancaster and York Counties as America’s 55^th National Heritage Area. National, state, and local elected officials, agencies, and business leaders will come together on the riverfront in Columbia to honor our area’s significant role in shaping American history and recognize those partners who helped bring this important national designation to our communities.

Featured speakers for the celebration are U.S. Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Congressman Lloyd Smucker (PA-11), who both championed National Heritage Area designation for our region in Congress.

Remarks will also be offered by Kate MacGregor, Deputy Chief of Staff exercising the authority of the Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior; Cindy Dunn, Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources; Josh Parsons, Chair, Lancaster County Board of Commissioners; Susan Byrnes, President, York County Board of Commissioners; Columbia Mayor Leo Lutz; Lancaster Chamber President Tom Baldrige; and Kevin Schreiber, President & CEO of the York County Economic Alliance. Representatives of the National Park Service will also be in attendance.

Weather and water permitting, a small group of invited participants will arrive for the celebration in Columbia by boat after a cruise from SNHA’s Zimmerman Center for Heritage at Long Level, York County. In 2016, the National Park Service designated the Zimmerman Center as Pennsylvania’s official Visitor Contact & Passport Station for the Captain John Smith Chesapeake Trail—America’s first water-based National Historic Trail. National Heritage Area designation builds on this existing trail partnership with the National Park Service by expanding collaboration to the regional level.

Designation of York and Lancaster Counties as the Susquehanna National Heritage Area caps an eleven-year community campaign to achieve this national recognition for our region. After completion of a Feasibility Study Report in 2008, the National Park Service found our region meets the National Heritage Area Feasibility Study Guidelines for Congressional designation. With this determination, Senator Casey sponsored legislation to designate the Susquehanna National Heritage Area in every session of Congress since 2008 and Congressman Lloyd Smucker (PA-11) joined the effort in 2017. In early 2019, the Susquehanna National Heritage Area was included in S.47, the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which was approved by Congress in February 2019 and signed by President Trump in March 2019. The Act named Susquehanna Heritage Corporation as the Local Coordinating Entity for the new National Heritage Area and authorized fifteen years of federal funding to carry out heritage and conservation activities. Next steps will include development of a Cooperative Agreement with the National Park Service and a Management Plan to chart the future course of the National Heritage Area’s programs and projects.

Learn more about the new Susquehanna National Heritage Area here: https://susqnha.org/about-us/our-work/national-heritage-area-designation/

Columbia Borough has released the final draft of Columbia River Park Phase III Report and welcomes feedback on this plan.

Susquehanna Heritage has participated with the process to expand Columbia River Park, where Columbia Crossing River Trails Center is located. There is an opportunity to expand the park north of the Veterans Memorial Bridge. Almost eleven acres of river front land will be turned into a beautiful, innovative public park. The space holds important cultural features including two historic bridge piers and canal remnants.

Over the last year, designers have collected information, data, and opinions from local residents, visitors, businesses and more. Through a series of public meeting, online surveys, and public events like the Bridge Bust, the designers prepared and refined a plan for the expanded park.

View the plan at www.columbiapa.net. Comments on the plan can be sent to info@columbiapa.net.

Susquehanna Heritage presents “Current Color – A Year on the River” by Diana Thomas

Susquehanna Heritage will host works from Columbia artist, Diana Thomas. The collection showcases her journey to paint fifty-five paintings of the Lower Susquehanna, one painting a week for over a year. Though the paintings are the most visible part of her unique project, ‘Current Color – A Year on the River’, there is more to this presentation.  Thomas decided to keep a weekly journal entry that portrays a strong current of life lessons flowing through her body of work.  She writes of the River’s beauty and peaceful healing presence when her life was touched by tragedy. The ‘Current Color’ paintings are acrylic on 12″ x 4″ or 4″ x 12″ canvas.  A few are mixed media.  The journal entries will be presented alongside each week’s piece.

These amazing works will be on display at Columbia Crossing River Trails Center between April and June. Entrance to the gallery is free but donations are appreciated. Columbia Crossing owned by the Borough of Columbia and is managed by Susquehanna Heritage. Susquehanna Heritage works to showcase the river’s natural, recreation, and history stories to make this region a national destination for outdoor fun and cultural discovery. Visitor hours of the center are Tuesday – Saturday 10 AM – 4 PM, Sundays 12 PM to 4 PM through Memorial Day. After Memorial Day the center is open Tuesday – Friday 9 AM – 5 PM, Saturday & Sundays 9 AM – 6 PM.

Creative River – Expand your creativity with Diana

Interested in expanding your creative skills at the riverfront? Get in touch with your inner artist by participating in Creative River, a riverfront art series for ages 15 and older. Artist, Diana Thomas, will lead small groups through journaling, sketching, and painting between April and June. April 13: 1 PM – 4 PM. Session 1 gives instruction and suggestions for writing about the river and nature. Includes  a writing journal to keep. May 18: 11 AM – 2 PM. Session 2 gives instruction for sketching and creatively noting your river surroundings. Includes a nature journal to keep. June 22: 10 AM – 2 PM. Session 3 gives instruction on use of acrylic medium, color basics, composition, and painting techniques so you can create a small river painting of your own. Includes 4″ x 12″ mounted canvas to paint and keep. Each session includes an introduction, tutorial and Q+A with artist, educator, and nature-enthusiast Diana Thomas as well as a sharing time at the end of each session. Supplies and materials including watercolor pencils, pens, paint and brushes will be supplied for group use. Group and individual instruction during each session. Classes will take place rain or shine. Participants may register for just one class ($25) or all three ($60). Register online or call 717-449-5607 ext 0.

Current Color – Exhibit Story

Thomas initially began the project in December 2015, to practice allowing herself the time to create art on a more regular basis than she had been doing.   “I wanted to create a challenge that would stretch me but one that was also realistic enough to complete,” she explained.  “I set up an album for each quarter of the year for all the photos I would take several times a week.  It seemed fitting to keep a written record of the progress, the process of making the art, and any particulars about the river itself.”  She started to work just before Christmas, 2015.

Three quarters of the way through the project, on September 14th, 2016, Diana’s 41-year-old daughter died tragically, losing her long battle with substance overuse.  Less than a month later the same tragedy befell her daughter’s mate of ten years, leaving behind their then 8-year-old son.  “I don’t really have any words to express what our family went through in the first weeks and months after that, but I felt compelled to try to ‘say’ something to my daughter or for her through painting.  Our daughter was an artist and singer, and I knew she would have wanted me to keep going with the project.  I created a piece called ‘River of Tears’.  I also created a painting in honor of our son-in-law called “Even the Moon Cried.”  Though both pieces are included in the ‘Current Color’ presentation, Thomas at first did not think she would show these two paintings.  “But by then ‘Current Color’ had taken on a life of its own and this sad time needed to be part of the whole”, she said.

Upon completion of Current Color, Thomas reflected “Of course, I had no way to know what was in store when the year began but I can truly say painting through it was a blessing in disguise.  I pray it will also have a healing effect on others.”

In December 2017 some of the Current Color collection was on loan to an organization that promotes the natural use of the Northern Susquehanna watershed and was displayed at a large medical center in Williamsport, PA.  To everyone’s dismay the original painting, week #13, titled “Mr. and Mrs.”, a scene featuring a pair of Canada geese wading into the water was stolen from the wall of the exhibit.  For the show at the Columbia Crossing it will be replaced by a canvas print, an exact replica of the original and a new but larger original of that scene.  “I would really like to know why someone was so attracted to that piece that they just took it,” Diana mused.  “Now this situation just becomes a new part of the Current Color story.  This precious one of a kind piece is irreplaceable and I would gladly give a print of that piece if the original was returned.”

“Current Color will probably never have an ending for me,” Diana said.  “I have painted three new pieces for the series since it was first shown in 2017 and there are several more waiting to be finished.  It will flow on for a long time.”