I wrote a post recently about Historic Yellow Springs Village looking like a dust bowl run down ghost town.
I keep receiving comments. Like for example:
You ask the questions that many wonder about. Join the HYS Board, and continue to ask these good questions. They need you.
Uhh no. My role is one of provocateur. I am someone who admires the village. So I blogged about it. I photographed it. I visit it. The village has a board that should be doing more and can do more. If they are unwilling to do so, they should move on. But to be on the board of Historic Yellow Springs I would have to have the time to commit and the coin to donate in the degree they need in that village desperately. I do not right now, plus I also have not decided where exactly I want to volunteer in Chester County. And if you want to consider thinking about this in a different way, my taking the time to write about the plight of Historic Yellow Springs Village and photograph it is like volunteer work.
Now I did have a nice exchange back and forth with the new-ish Executive Director Eileen McMonagle. She has the heart and the smarts but she is not an island of one.
One thing she wrote to me, I would like to share:
I read that you feel the village is falling apart. Sadly many of the historic sites in our area are struggling because there is no funding on the federal, state or local level. HYS however has been blessed with a great group of volunteers and members who are working hard to turn the village around. As with all major projects, everything cannot be done at once.
I still say her board needs to step up. I also think they need to cross pollinate with other preservation boards, and consider the other amazing people they have living close if not in the Historic Village of Yellow Springs who want to see the village survive and thrive. As in Chester Springs people. Maybe they aren’t people who have been there for decades or centuries, but sometimes you need fresh blood. And I can think of a few people right off the bat. But it is not my job to find people to help this board and village. They have the tools and creativity to do it themselves.
And they have a very cool art show starting August 2nd that runs through August 31st. It is a weekend thing or by appointment during the week:
Historic Yellow Springs Presents :
The Lost Generation of Pennsylvania Impressionists
When: August 2nd through August 31st 2012
Where: First Floor Lincoln Galleries, Historic Yellow Springs, Chester Springs, PA
Open: Opening Thursday August 2nd at 5:30 as part of Chester County’s Town Tour. Gallery is open weekends Saturday 10-4 and Sunday 12-4. Weekdays open by request.
Cost: FREE
Historic Yellow Springs (HYS) will be hosting a diverse collection of work by talented students who attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) Country School from 1917 to 1952. The PAFA Country School is now the village of Historic Yellow Springs, Chester Springs, PA.
The beautiful landscape of Yellow Springs prompted then PAFA president John Fredrick Lewis to open a summer school for artists at the turn of the last century. The Country School provided the much needed en plein air (in the open air) style of art training to these already accomplished Academy artists. The foundation of the PAFA Country School’s teaching philosophy was the 19th century French Impressionist movement. The magnificent grounds and scenery of the Country School attracted some of the area’s best art instructors and students, including Daniel Garber, N.C, Wyeth, Albert Laessle, Roswell Weidner and Albert Van Nesse Greene. In addition to landscapes, Country School artists were educated in portraiture and sculpture.
The artwork is from Historic Yellow Springs’ own archives and various private collections. Many have not been seen in over a decade. The collection of artwork features work by well known artists who attended the Country School such as Darce Boulton, Lucus Crowell, Albert Van Nesse Greene, Roy C. Nuse, Francis Speight, Dorcas Kunzie Weidner, Roswell Weidner and Paul Wescott. A number of the works were saved from destruction by Country School instructors Dorcas Kunzie Weidner and Roswell Weidner.
About Historic Yellow Springs: Historic Yellow Springs (HYS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1974 and dedicated to the visual arts, the environment, and the village’s 300-year old history. The mission of Historic Yellow Springs is to share, preserve, and celebrate the unique living village of Yellow Springs. Focusing on the visual arts, history and the environment, HYS enriches the lives of all who come here.
And if you know anyone on the board of Historic Yellow Springs get them to get those trails in order. Those springs made the village, and people still want to see them! And right now you really can’t. Things are too overgrown.