With the Bucks County Intermediate Unit Collection
Fred Beans Gallery
October 23, 2010 through January 2, 2011

The best way to teach kids about art? Expose them to the real thing. That's the whole idea behind the Bucks County Intermediate Unit Collection, conceived and created in the late 1940s by then-superintendent Dr. Charles H. Boehm, with the assistance of Bucks County painter Walter Baum. Focusing on the Pennsylvania Impressionist school, this collection was exhibited in area schools for years, before the paintings were removed due to conservation issues. Through a partnership with the Michener established in 2001, portions of the collection were brought back to schools via the Art on the Move project, funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

With the support of a second IMLS grant in 2007, the Art Speaks project focused on contemporary art added to the collection, including works by printmaker Selma Bortner, photographers Emmet Gowin and David Graham, and painters Vincent Ceglia and Paul Keene. Through workshops, teacher support, and artist residencies, Art Speaks brought contemporary art not only to schools but to homeless shelters and senior centers. The exhibition celebrated this unique project by showing work made by Bucks County students, members of the Bucks County community and a special installation by Philadelphia artist Astrid Bowlby.

In conjunction with this exhibition, the Children's Gallery featured work from the community center and homeless shelters, in a special installation from December 14, 2010 through January 23, 2011.

Lead Sponsor

Pamela Minford Foundation

In Memory of Robert V. Nesi from his family

Charter Management Corporation
Jim & Mary Ellen McMaster

• Ordinary to Extraordinary: An Art Speaks Installation
  December 14, 2010 - January 23, 2011

Images, top to bottom: Selma Bortner (b. 1926), The Journey, 1998. Hand-colored linoleum print on paper. H.24 x W.26 inches. Collection of the Bucks County Intermediate Unit #22... Vincent Ceglia (b. 1923), Early Light, 1984, acrylic, H. 21 x W. 29, Bucks County Intermediate Unit #22.