The museum will be undergoing a sidewalk improvement project next week, so the museum will be closed on Wednesday, August 10. The museum will be open as usual by Sunday, August 14.

Throughout the year, many different groups and gilds have helped the Museum with our celebration on the current exhibition – Authors of the Ardens. On Sunday, May 15th , the Ardensingers capped this event-filled year with a rousing performance of Grubb’s Corner, an operetta with lyrics by Frank Stephens set to the music of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Stephens wrote the piece to tell the story behind all the groups involved in the settlement of this area, although it contains only a little actual history – it is mainly all about the music. The operetta debuted in 1932 and was last performed around 1992. There are Quakers, Swedes, Dutch, English, pirates, and Native Americans all mixed together in the story. Fortunately the Ardensingers provided identifying signs so each group could be recognized!

The Ardensingers gave a splendid performance full of energy and enthusiasm. Although they were packed into the Museum galleries they did not let that hindered their efforts. The audience really appreciated all the hard work and all the splendid music. Many thanks to the Ardensingers for their performance – they made one of our most well known authors come alive. Frank Stephens would have loved it!

A number Arden Craft Shop Museum volunteers hosted a group of visitors from Rose Valley, PA in May. The group, called the Rose Tree Gardeners, was keen to see the beautiful gardens of the Ardens and learn more about the rich history of arts and crafts in the villages.

The group visited five private gardens and four public gardens despite the rain that persisted throughout the day. They ended their tour at the Arden Craft Shop Museum, where we hope they warmed up and learned much about the history of the Ardens.

On a most beautiful sunny Sunday, the Arden Archives Committee sponsored an Afternoon with the Artist with guest artist Susan Benarcik as part of our Authors of the Ardens program series.

Susan showed a collection of her works of art--both surface designs and sculpture--that were inspired by or actually made from pages of books. She demonstrated how to make an accordion book with a little paper, glue, and creativity.

Some of her own books were on display, including a couple tiny "book houses" made from old pages of a book with its cover functioning as the roof. She also displayed snap books, photo albums, and tiny 1" x 1" happy birthday accordion books tied neatly with a bow.

Susan received her B.F.A. from Rosemont College in Pennsylvania, and her M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. She is a native Delawarean, but she lived and worked as an artist for nearly 20 years before moving back home to Delaware.

​Her art work is deeply rooted in horticulture and environmental design. She was recently awarded an exhibition of her multi media works  with the Delaware Division of the Arts in Wilmington Delaware. She is active at the Highlands Art Garage on 17th St  in Wilmington, where they hold exhibits and do classes and workshops in art. 

Museums came from all over to share the love, at Museums Amore, the 32nd Annual Small Museum Association conference held in Ocean City, MD this February.

Arden Craft Shop Museum and Archives committee members Sadie Somerville and Barbara Macklem and our curator, Kelsey Ransick, attended the small museum conference along with more than 250 other museum professionals, board members, and volunteers from a wide variety of small museums. 

Kelsey was a presenter for one of this year's sessions based on her newly published book Free and Easy Website Design for Museums and Historic Sites.

Barbara and Sadie attended numerous sessions on topics from building your own museum displays to grant writing workshop and collaborating with other small museums. It was inspiring and exciting to meet other small museum folks who have so many great ideas to share with us. We have plans for new programs to be held at the ACSM!

For the past months you may have seen a number of workers and contractors busy at the Museum.  All this effort has produced a new roof and new gutters for the Craft Shop. Fortunately, this was accomplished before the big snow and the building is now much more secure.  Additional improvements are planned for this spring and early summer.

The first will be the installation of interior storm windows in the Museum galleries, storage and office space, and the Bernie Schwab Community Room.  These windows will not impact the historical structure and will improve the temperature and humidity control in the building.

To complete this project we will need to move a large number of items in the gallery and storage areas so the contractors have space to work.  This move is planned to start on Sunday, March 20th and the contractors will arrive on Wednesday, March 23rd.  The Museum will be closed on those days, as well as Easter Sunday, March 27th.

On Wednesday, March 30th, we will be able to begin to return things to their proper place and so we will need to be closed that day as well.  While we are closed we will still be available by telephone and email and hope this does not cause a great inconvenience to our visitors.  The new storm windows will be a great improvement and we are looking forward to our renovated space.

Please check our website for updates and photos – and be sure to come to see our new space!

Winter storm Jonas caused us to postpone this weekend's Arden Craft Shop Museum-sponsored dinner with the Dinner Gild. We have rescheduled for Saturday, February 6th at the same time and place. RSVPs and questions should be directed to adgreservations@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you then!