The Forbes House Museum will celebrate Lincoln Day with an artist talk and demonstration on Sunday, 8 February 2015 at 2pm at the Museum. President Lincoln portrait painter, Wendy Allen, will present, “Searching for the Exact Location of America’s Soul.”
The program will include audience participation, as visitors will be invited to assist Allen in painting a Lincoln portrait.
After the presentation, the FHM will have special tours of the Lincoln Cabin, and cider, hot chocolate and donuts will be served, a tradition begun by Mary Bowditch Forbes in 1924.
To RSVP for this special event, call the museum office at 617.696.1815 or e-mail us at info@forbeshousemuseum.org. The event is free and open to the public. Donations to support the museum are gladly accepted. RSVP today as space is limited!
More on Wendy Allen:
Allen’s creative process begins with examination of sepia tone photographs of President Lincoln. She uses the photographs as inspiration for her colorful, expressive paintings. She has been painting Lincoln portraits since 1983.
In her artist statement, Wendy Allen writes, “I am continuously asked why I paint Abraham Lincoln. It’s never easy to explain a passion. For me, his face is familiar and comforting. It symbolizes humanity, wisdom, and moral courage. And he remains one of the few historical figures we can all admire – self-taught, self-made.”
In 2007, Allen left a thirty year career in educational publishing to pursue a full time career in painting. Her work has been exhibited at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. alongside Lincoln portraits by Salvador Dali, Robert Rauschenberg, and Norman Rockwell.
Allen currently divides her time living in New Milford, Connecticut, and maintaining her studio/gallery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, “Lincoln Into Art.” She was born in Pittsburg, PA.
For more information on Wendy Allen, visit the website.
The Forbes House Museum and Lincoln Day: What’s the Connection?
Although they were best known for their achievements in the China trade, the Forbes family were dedicated supporters of the Union cause in the Civil War. They assisted in the finance and building of Navy ships, and both Captain Robert Bennet Forbes (1804-1889) and his brother, John Murray Forbes (1813- 1898), were abolitionists. The Forbes’ contributed funds to outfit the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Company A, an all- African American infantry that served in the Civil War.
Mary Bowditch Forbes (1878–1962), granddaughter of the Captain, collected President Lincoln and Civil War memorabilia and had a replica of Lincoln’s birth cabin built on the grounds of the Milton estate in 1924. From that time, Miss Forbes opened the cabin and her property to visitors, including Civil War veterans, twice annually. Thus the Lincoln Day tradition was born.
For more information on programs, events, exhibits and individual and group tours, call the museum office at 617.696.1815 or visit the website, www.forbeshousemuseum.org.