Stickley Museum members are friends who provide critical support, enjoy exclusive privileges, and become part of our nationwide community. The following virtual programs are FREE to Members with RSVP!
Not a Member? Join or renew today for access to these exclusive virtual opportunities!
Events in September!
Member-Exclusive Program
Thursday, September 28, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. EDT; Zoom
How the Delaware Art Museum Became a British Art Powerhouse
The Delaware Art Museum holds the largest collection of British Pre-Raphaelite art outside of United Kingdom. Join Dr. Sophie Lynford, DelArt’s curator of Pre-Raphaelite art, for a special behind-the-scenes Zoom presentation. Sophie will share the story of how this incredible collection ended up in Delaware.
Courtesy of the Delaware Art Museum: La Ghirlandata, 1873, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Oil on canvas, Guildhall Art Gallery
Pre-Raphaelite art, produced by British artists during the second half of the nineteenth century, is characterized by abundant detail and brilliant colors. Most Pre-Raphaelite art can be found in Britain, its country of origin. But during the late nineteenth century, Samuel Bancroft, an American textile mill owner in Wilmington, Delaware, began acquiring Pre-Raphaelite drawings and paintings. In 1935, Bancroft’s heirs bequeathed his art to what would become the Delaware Art Museum, thus making Wilmington a destination for enthusiasts of British art. World-renowned paintings in Delaware’s collection are currently on display in The Rossettis, an exhibition at Tate Britain through September 24 (and opening at Delaware on October 21). Sophie will describe how Delaware’s paintings became the centerpieces of this major international show.
Meet Dr. Sophie Lynford
Dr. Sophie Lynford is the Annette Woolard-Provine Curator of the Bancroft Pre-Raphaelite Collection at the Delaware Art Museum. She is a specialist in British and American art of the nineteenth century and an expert on the Pre-Raphaelite movement, on which she has published and lectured widely. She is the author of Painting Dissent: Art, Ethics, and the American Pre-Raphaelites, published by Princeton University Press in 2022. Prior to joining the Delaware Art Museum, Lynford worked at the Harvard Art Museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New-York Historical Society, and the Yale Center for British Art.
Events in October!
*Member Day Notice*
Our in-person Member Day celebration is currently at capacity. If interested in attending in-person, please indicate on the form that you wish to be added to the waitlist. Please consider attending our Member Day online and The Craftsman Gala in the evening!
The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms is hosting a “Preservation Celebration” on Sat., Oct. 7! Our celebration will begin with a Member Day event spotlighting preservation at Craftsman Farms, and then will move on in the evening to The Craftsman Gala, the museum’s most important annual fundraiser.
For Member Day, the museum will suspend regular operations and host a private, in-person event exclusively for Members from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The morning program will be available online for Members who are not able to attend in person. Read on for full details. We hope you’ll be a part of it!
10:00 -11:30 a.m. (EDT) – In Person & Online: Preservation at Craftsman Farms
We’ll kick off Saturday with Member Day at the museum. Members will explore all-things preservation at Craftsman Farms. Our morning program, offered on-site (with a light breakfast reception) and online, will feature current, ongoing, and upcoming preservation projects at Craftsman Farms, from the Annex rehabilitation and Log House Kitchen restoration to the upcoming second phase of White Cottage stabilization; from the restoration of the Log House fireplaces to the restoration of log ends on its exterior. Our day will begin with an overview of preservation across the property and a panel discussion with members of the museum’s preservation team, featuring Eric Holtermann and Kurt Leasure of HMR Architects, Glenn Ceponis of the New Jersey Historic Trust, Jack Abgott of Nickles Contracting, Jonathan Clancy, the museum’s Director of Collections and Preservation, and Executive Director Vonda Givens.
12:00-2:00 p.m. (EDT) – In Person Only: Preservation Open House & Lunch
Following the panel discussion, we’ll switch to an in-person-only event. With regular tours suspended for the day, Members will be invited to explore at their own pace the museum’s recently completed, ongoing, and upcoming preservation projects. We’ll host an open house in the North Cottage, Log House, and Stickley Museum Library, and tours of the Annex and Log House Kitchen.
Lunch (included in fees) will feature a delicious taste of New Jersey, spotlighting pie—pizza, that is! Pie Oh My’s slice truck (below) will park at Craftsman Farms and offer handcrafted, brick-oven pizza, including regional specialties, and Italian ices to our guests for the day.
To provide Members attending in-person with a day of unique access, space will be limited. Please reserve your spot early.
*Member Day Notice*
Our in-person Member Day celebration is currently at capacity. If interested in attending in-person, please indicate on the form that you wish to be added to the waitlist. Please consider attending our Member Day online and The Craftsman Gala in the evening!
Click here for information about The Craftsman Gala.