Art Exhibitions - Awbury Arboretum

Awbury Arboretum regularly hosts free public art exhibitions featuring local artists, both within the parlors of the Francis Cope House and outside in the Arboretum’s landscape.

The galleries of the Cope House are regularly hung with revolving shows and are open Tuesday-Thursday 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM and Fridays 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM. (Please see our Hours and Admission page for holiday closings, etc.) The grounds of the Arboretum are open ever day, dawn to dusk.

**Please note: In keeping with safety regulations regarding COVID-19, the Cope House and the Arboretum offices are closed until further notice, except by special appointment. See our Hours and Admission page for full details.

Are you a local artist interested in featuring your artwork at Awbury? Contact Heather Zimmerman at programs@awbury.org.

Current Exhibitions:

“When I Am Among the Trees” by Julie Kring

In the Cope House parlors, November – December 2020

Julie Kring received a B.S. from Kutztown University and an M. Ed. From Penn State University, both in the field of Art Education with concentrations in Aesthetic Education and Museum Education. As an art educator for over 30 years, Julie has taught in public and private schools across the region as well as the country, from Coatesville and Philadelphia in PA, to Camden, NJ and Seattle, WA. Teaching in schools with a high population of African-American families, she has developed a strong curriculum for K through 8th grade students focusing on artists from the African diaspora.

Since 2012 she has enjoyed pursuing her own at career in painting and printmaking, exhibiting her work with The Cheltenham Printmaker’s Guild and The American Color Print Society. Her work has received the Printmaker’s Award at the Annual Cheltenham Center of the Arts member’s show in 2013 and 2015.

She has also received the Stella Drabkin Award from the American Color Print Society in 2016.

Julie is the co-founder, along with Carey Davis, of Artful Devotion, a program offering retreats and workshops for groups interested in discovering ways to enhance their spiritual practice through art making.

Artist’s Statement: Honey Locust seed pods that twist and twirl, torso-like branches of the strong sycamore, delicate patterns found within insect-eaten lacy leaves…. These are a few of the elements that have compelled me to stop, pay attention, and interpret their ever-changing designs in my artwork.

When I was very young, my father and I went walking along the fields and wooded streams around our home in rural Chester County, looking for the first signs of Spring; the swampy skunk cabbages poking their red-purple heads up through the mud; the call and response of the mourning doves, the buds on the trees about to open and begin their season of flourish.

In this exhibit I am privileged to share my recent original artwork in the form of monotype and collograph prints, and paintings in oil, acrylic and watercolor.

This opportunity to follow poet Mary Oliver’s advice for living and, “Pay attention. Be amazed. Tell about it.”, allows me the joy of spending extended time with my chosen subjects. As I hone my skills of observation and wonder, there’s always something waiting around the corner that will become the next object of my fascination.

What amazes you? How will you tell about it?