The Log House at Craftsman Farms, March 2012. Photo by Ray Stubblebine.

Spring has sprung at Craftsman Farms!  Beginning this week, the museum and shop will be open for expanded hours on weekdays. 

Thanks to your recent and steady support, the Stickley Museum is now open from 11 to 4 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays YEAR ROUND.

As recently as 2009 the museum was only open seasonally and was closed entirely between November 15 and April 1.  Since then we have been able to open on weekends year round, but Friday hours had been limited to noon to 3 in the warm weather and there had been no Friday hours at all throughout the winter months.

The Stickley Museum is an independent 501(c)3 organization and does not receive operating support from the Township or State budgets.   It is the continued support and generous contributions of our funders and members that has made our expanded hours possible.  THANK YOU!

Additionally, we will be open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 12 – 3 p.m. with tours at 12:15 and 1:45 through November 15.

EXPANDED HOURS THANKS TO YOU! is a post from The Stickley Museum At Craftsman Farms

"Mr. Stickley's Lighting" Exhibition at the 25th Annual Arts & Crafts Conference.

At this year’s Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Conference, the Stickley Museum introduced the 5th installment in our “Mr. Stickley” exhibition series: “Mr. Stickley’s Lighting.” The series continues to examine different aspects of Gustav Stickley’s career, and this year’s focus on lighting is one of the most popular!

We began with an exhibition in the Great Hall of the Grove Park Inn for the duration of the conference. Although space limitations meant the exhibition was not comprehensive, it included a wide variety of examples of Stickley’s lighting in the form of lamps, lanterns, sconces, and candlesticks, using a variety of different materials including wood, pottery, hammered copper, brass, and iron. Lampshades made of wicker, split bamboo, silk, linen, and glass also helped to fully illustrate Stickley’s approach to lighting design.

On Saturday night of the conference, trustees Mark Weaver and Pete Mars led a small group discussion that was attended by 67 people! The discussion related Stickley’s lighting designs to its historical and cultural context – lighting in American homes in the early part of the 20th century and the psychological and esthetic impact of interior electric lighting at that time. Of course, you can’t talk about early electricity without mentioning Thomas Edison, the man who brought us the electric light bulb. Interestingly both his labs in Menlo Park and his home in Llewellyn Park were reasonably close to Stickley’s Craftsman Farms.

Twilight Tour

We continued to explore Mr. Stickley’s lighting with “An Electric Evening” on Sunday, March 4.  The evening began with the return of Pete Mars’ Twilight Tour. This tour gave participants a glimpse of evening life during the time the Stickleys were in residence at the Log House. Pete further explored the development of electric lighting within the context of Craftsman Farms, and illuminated the features of the Log House design that shine most beautifully in the evening light. Anyone who has had the chance to visit the Log House knows that, although quite dimly lit, the soft glow created by the amber glass and copper lanterns does give one a distinct feeling of warmth and calm.

Mark Weaver lectures on Mr. Stickley's Lighting during "An Electric Evening."

Following the tour, Mark Weaver’s “Mr. Stickley’s Lighting” lecture shed some additional light on Stickley’s approach to developing his domestic lighting fixtures. For example, Stickley used lampshades as both the means to achieve a desired lighting effect and as a prominent design feature in a room. He favored Japanese wicker shades of split bamboo or willow lined with heavy Habutai silk in soft rich shades of red, green, dull yellow, or orange.  Domestic light came from a variety of fuel sources. As seen in the Log House, electricity, oil, candles, and denatured alcohol – or ethanol – were all used in lighting at the time.

For further reading, the exhibition catalogue – “Mr. Stickley’s Lighting” – is available for purchase on our website.

And be sure to check out this great video with clips from Pete’s tour!  Many thanks to David Lowden for the video.

Twilight Tour of The Stickley Museum led by Pete Mars.

It’s Electric! is a post from The Stickley Museum At Craftsman Farms

Did you think everything gets quiet here when winter comes and we are only open on weekends?  You’d be surprised! Yes, of course we are still open for group tours and scout programs — but the Log House has been bustling with activity all week.  Volunteers are busily decorating for our annual Holiday Open House, taking place on the first two weekends in December.   During this event, the Log House will be decked out for the holidays in period style and with a focus on Stickley’s own ideas.  Utilizing holiday greens, pinecones, and the home’s forest palette, the decorations will bring nature indoors and spotlight the Arts and Crafts movement’s emphasis on finding beauty in simplicity and in simple materials.

For Stickley, a rich family life was a key part of his Arts and Crafts ideas, and this event addresses his values by providing a peek into Christmas preparations that would have been typical for a family like the Stickleys, including blending Victorian traditions — like making treat-bearing cornucopia and giving handmade gifts–with more modern trends. One vignette imagines Mrs. Stickley preparing to wrap a kimono, a fashionable gift–as was anything related to Japanese culture–for ladies at the time. The Christmas tree itself is a blend of Victorian and modern times, as it is wrapped with a short string of electric lights, which were the latest thing and quite expensive, but in a nod to custom, the tree also includes candles, which were traditional and still the most popular method for lighting a Christmas tree.

While celebrating the holidays, the Holiday Open House is also meant to provide respite during a hectic time of the year. On the porch of the Log House visitors will be invited to relax and enjoy hot cider and cookies, perhaps take a minute to work on a jigsaw puzzle or send holiday greeting to a friend.

 Join us for the Holiday Open House December 3-4 and 10-11 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Or come for a sneak peek at the holiday décor during our annual trunk show, which opens at 11 a.m. on Black Friday, November 25.

What’s Behind the Closed Doors? is a post from The Stickley Museum At Craftsman Farms

Families are invited to our 3rd annual Spring Family Day on Saturday, May 1 from 12-4 p.m. Children can ride a pony, make giant bubbles at the bubble station, try old-fashioned games and races, and make May crowns, pinwheels, and other crafts.  All ages are invited to gather around the Maypole to learn the springtime tradition of Maypole dancing or take part in the cakewalk, featuring prizes from local bakeries and ice cream shops, including Atlanta Bread, Denville Dairy, Hot Bread, MaggieMoo’s, Mara’s Café and Bakery, and Panera Bread. Stickley Museum tours designed for children will be at offered.  And you won’t want to pass up fresh cookies, treats, and special discounts on Museum baseball caps.

Admission fees to Spring Family Day are $5 for Member Children or $7 Non Member Children; $7 for Adults.  In an effort to defray the costs for full family groups, adults accompanying children will be admitted free.

In the event of rain, call 973-540-0311 to confirm that the outdoor event will run as scheduled.

This event is made possible by a generous grant from the Kiwanis Foundation of Greater Parsippany.

Join Us for Spring Family Day! is a post from The Stickley Museum At Craftsman Farms

Saturday, February 7, at 4:00 p.m

It may seem a bit early to make your plans for February, but Craftsman Farms tours tend to fill up quickly! Call soon to get your tickets!

Saturday, February 7 is the kickoff for a new series designed especially for devotees of The Farms.  The Fresh Eyes Tour Series will inspire enthusiasts of The Farms with a fresh or novel perspective on the site. Tours may be thematic with a spotlight on one aspect of The Farms, from the furniture in the Log House, to the landscaping of the grounds, to the architectural details on buildings around the site, but these tours may also take a wider view that encourages participants to appreciate The Farms in a new way.

Fitting into the latter category, the first tour in the series “Twilight at the Log House,” will be led by Weekend Site Manager, Pete Mars. Beginning at 4:00 p.m., this tour will focus on aspects of the Log House that especially come to life in the early evening and offer guests the opportunity to reflect on details that might otherwise go unnoticed.

“At twilight and after dark I’m more aware of how much thought went into designing the lighting of the Log House,” says Mars, who continues, “and evening light makes other design features,  like the waxed surface of the logs, become more visible.”

The tour will begin outdoor and then move into the Log House.  Participants are asked to dress for the weather.  Light refreshments will be served. To purchase tickets ($10 Members, $12 Non-members) or receive more information, please call 973-540-0311 or email info@stickleymuseum.org

New Tour Series presents “Twilight at the Log House” is a post from The Stickley Museum At Craftsman Farms