Doris “Dorcas” Weidner—painter, sculptor, photographer, art historian, poet, carpenter, naturalist, environmentalist, animal lover, teacher—all of these and so much more. In the November issue of CS2, we began to explore the world that Dorcas inhabited and shared with Jack Lindeman, Chet Marron, and a cast of friends, colleagues, and neighbors, in addition to a Noah’s Ark of domestic and wild animals. Through the afternoon hours of the autumn afternoon that we spent at Appleseed Hollow, Chet took us on a tour of Dorcas’ studios to view some of the hundreds of works he has assembled and is lovingly preserving.

We left Dorcas’ grave site and strolled down a grassy track. Autumn foliage arched overhead, allowing dappled sunlight to brighten the path leading from the main house to the studio. Jack and the dog walked ahead, while Chuck and Chet strolled behind. Chet stopped to point out things of interest and fill in the story with bits and pieces of historical interest regarding the property and some of its previous owners. The path branched off to the left in what at one time had been a road, now overgrown with wild grasses and shrubby undergrowth. Chet reminisced about how lovely the grounds had looked when Dorcas put so much of her energy into the upkeep of the farm.

The Appleseed Hollow complex dates from a 1744 land grant from William Penn. A mill was built on the Octoraro Creek, which runs through the property, by Quakers Thomas Downing and Caleb Peirce. (The remains of the mill races and dam are still visible today.) The creek marks the boundary between Lancaster and Chester counties. There was a ford over the creek at the time, and the path we were viewing had once been a main road.

In 1781, the property was purchased by two brothers. One brother and his family lived in the first house and operated the large 3-story mill. The other brother lived with his family in the second house and erected a second mill on an adjacent small plot of land. Chet explained that the brothers extended the mill race from one mill down to the other—a notably unusual arrangement to have two mills powered by one mill race.

Captain John and Rachel Mercer were the next owners. He maintained orchards up on the hill overlooking the house. At one time, there were eighteen active mills on the creek—mostly forges. The mill located on the farm was the only grist mill. In 1867, the second mill was torn down and the house renovated for rental to a miller who continued to operate the larger mill. In 1880, the Mercer Mill covered bridge was erected, giving direct access across the creek and into town.

Dorcas moved to the historic Mercer Mills farm with her first husband, artist Roswell Weidner, in 1944. Roswell was a teacher at the PAFA Country School and at the Academy from 1938–1996. He was an influential painter and lithographer. The Country School was closed in 1952, in part because the representational style of painting, practiced by the artists of Dorcas’ generation, had fallen out of favor. In an interview in 1976, conducted by the Historic Yellow Springs organization, Weidner stated, “The school, in some respects, was a last gasp of the realist tradition…After the war, when abstract painting broke, everything that went before was swept away. Now it seems the pendulum is swinging back.”

One of the school’s directors told Roswell that all of the contents of the school’s buildings were going to end up in the dumpster and that Ros and Dorcas were welcome to take whatever they wanted before that happened. They removed hundreds of paintings from the school, saving the rolled-up, unstretched canvasses from destruction. Over the past thirty years, Chet has spent tens of thousands of his own money to restore much of the art. While explaining all of this to us, Chet casually mentioned that he learned art conservation with Frank Schoonover, the renowned painter and illustrator.

In 1999, Chet and Dorcas created the non-profit corporation, Mercer Mills Inc., to preserve, maintain and restore the historic complex of buildings and grounds that comprise Appleseed Hollow and to establish an archive and library of the PA landscape painting school. The collection of art that Dorcas and Chet assembled, and Chet continues to build upon, is considered one of the most comprehensive collections of work from the PAFA Country School, as well as that of Chester County impressionists. “The present Mercer Mills complex has evolved as a Thoreau’s Walden blended with the tradition of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Country School at Yellow Springs…dedicated to the conservation of nature and preservation of open space and the historic landscape in the Octoraro watershed.”
(from Mercer Mills brochure)

“Jack used to sit down here and write his poetry” Chet mused as we stood by the bank of the creek. I could easily imagine spending whole afternoons sitting at the edge of the water, spellbound by the sights and sounds of this idyllic spot. Jack added, “We used to tie our boat up here…sometimes when the current was too strong, after a storm, it would get loose and float away down the creek.”

“You must miss this place” commented Chuck.

“Oh, yeah” said Chet “It was his haciendas…both of us.”

We turned from the waterside and climbed back up the gentle slope to the main studio. The studio is housed in an archetypical stone colonial farmhouse. On passing through the front door, I was immediately taken by the beautiful wooden stairway that curved upward from the entryway to the second floor. “Dorcas built it,” stated Jack matter-of-factly. I had already been blown away by the myriad talents and accomplishments of this woman—just score another notch in that belt.

Paintings were hung all about the foyer and up the stairwell. Others leaned against the walls three and four deep. Chuck recognized the painting that is pictured on the cover of Jack’s book standing on a small bench by a doorway to the next room.

Chet pointed out the paintings of special interest. Two students from a local university had spent several weeks last year helping Chet catalog many of the paintings. We slowly moved through the rooms that comprised the first floor of the studio. Each room revealed a new surprise and delight!

One room was filled with musical instruments, mainly stringed instruments. Chet told us about “Chet’s Music Shop” which he had owned and operated in 1961 in New Jersey. “I saw another business card tacked to a door that said ‘Chet’s Antique Shop’. Did you have an antique shop as well?” asked Chuck. Chet laughed and explained that before he had the music shop his garage had been so filled with antiques that he decided to go into business to clean it out. The venture was so successful that he began to purchase more stock.

Among the many instruments lining the walls of the room hung one that was totally novel to me. “That is a stroh fiddle,” explained Chet. “Buskers in England used them, similar to our jug bands.” He then proceeded to show us how the instrument was played. “It’s played like a cello. It’s got an acoustical gramophone pick-up in here with a horn attached… so what it did is amplify it (the sound).” A rather screechy melody issued from the instrument. “Now I call it one step up from a musical saw, but I’m sure that some of these buskers were virtuosos.” He showed us a home-made version of something called a trapezoid cigar box fiddle. Turns out that Chet can play the banjo, fiddle, bass, guitar, mandolin, and piano. When he owned the music store, he also gave private music lessons. Chet reminisced about going to Greenwich Village on the weekends to learn and play with “a lot of good people”. Some of the musicians he played with included Jack Elliot, David Bromberg, and Jerry Garcia.

He began collecting mandolins in the 1960′s. “I had three or four mandolins packed up in a trunk, and Dorcas said ‘My God, you’re so much into guitars and fiddles and banjos…the mandolin is the instrument. It’s more than an instrument.’ Thanks to her, I started gathering these up over an 18-20 year period, when nobody else wanted these chili peppers as they called them.” About two years ago, Chet exhibited his mandolin collection at a show for the Baltimore Mandolin Orchestra.

“This piano I rescued out of a school house. They were going to burn it, so they gave it to me.” To our continued delight, he sat down and broke into a terrific version of I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter, to which he sang along lustily. “I like to play the old stuff my mom used to play for me in the ’20′s and ’30′s. There are about 600 pieces that I know by heart.”

“Where were we…Dorcas… ” And so we moved our focus back to the wonderful art that was displayed in every room of the house. Interspersed with Dorcas’ work were paintings by Roswell Weidner and many other notable artists of the local Regionalist movement. Chet talked about the importance of composition and dynamic symmetry as he pulled out various works for our perusal.

Dorcas was a frequent subject in Roswell’s work. “That’s Dorcas as Eve,” Chet said as we examined the canvas before us. “It wasn’t till after I had restored it and cleaned it, like a year later, I was showing it to somebody and there’s a big serpent in that tree. See if you can find it.”

********Eve — Roswell Weidner, 1954***************Dorcas in a Red Dress — Roswell Weidner, 1942

In its Winter, 2004 edition, the magazine Historical Review of Berks County ran a story on Roswell, who was from Reading, PA. The cover image is one of his paintings, Merry-Go-Round–1948. It depicts a young girl on a carousel horse, her hair flying out behind her. Chet told us that it is one of three versions which Roswell did of the Carsonia Park carousel.

“We never had any money,” said Chet. “I had all this Brandywine stuff in my collection, but I had to cash it in to pay taxes and eat. I had one NC Wyeth that I bought for $950.00. I got screwed out of it around 1962. It got sold at Christie’s last year for $500,000.”

As we headed up the stairs, Chet pointed out a painting hanging in the stairwell. “I used to come over here late in the evening when I was working on something or restoring something…I remember one time when she (Dorcas) said ‘Now where are you going? I’m making supper, and it will be ready about 6:30 or 7:00. Now don’t linger.’ We had the phones hooked up from next door and she would ring three times and hang up and that meant get your ass over here. I got carried away working, the phone rings three times before I can get downstairs…here I had a full pallette…so I look out the bathroom window and here she is walking down the path yelling ‘Chet, where are you?!’ That was her signature call. I made some color notes and a quick sketch and the next day I came over here and did this.” Chet took the painting down from its place on the wall and showed us the tag on the back which read Dorcas on the Path to the Studio “Chet Where Are You”, a painting from life by Chet.

At the top of the stairs, we turned into the first room on the left. “This is my Brandywine records book collection, which I could never duplicate today.” If Chuck had not been impressed before, his bibliophile’s heart must have been doing the flamenco when as he took in this room.

Moving down the hallway and into the rooms at the end of the hall, Chet gave us background and trivia surrounding the art that was hanging everywhere, standing on the floor, and leaning against the walls.

Dorcas was extraordinarily prolific, Chet stated more than once. Viewing all of the work that occupied every corner of this studio and knowing that we had yet to visit her summer studio or all of the rooms of their house, my idea of what constituted a prolific body of work took on new meaning.

Dorcas’ work has been exhibited in the New Jersey Gallery of Art, Newark; the National Academy; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Audubon Artists; Philadelphia Print Club; and numerous one-woman shows.

Her paintings are in the permanent collections of Pennsylvania Academy, The Woodmeere Collection, Library of Congress, Oklahoma Arts Center, Mercer Mills Foundation, and other museums.

She was selected for the Who’s Who In America, Who’s Who in American Art, Who’s Who of American Woman in 1961, PAFA regional Artists of Pennsylvania Exhibition in 1964, and Bond Street Gallery “Painters 7″ Exhibition in NC in 1977.
Dorcas at work in her studio

Fallen Sparrow *************************************Holiday’s Mill

The last room that we entered was dominated by a large work table littered with brushes, tubes, cans, and bottles. An array of wooden frames hung from the ceiling, and paintings were everywhere. This is the room in which Chet does his restoration, cleaning, and framing.

He directed our attention to Dorcas’ painting, Holiday’s Mill. She won her first Mary Smith award for this work, one of only two women to have been awarded that prize at the time. She became best known for her floral still lifes, because they are not stiff. Everything is moving, flowing, full of movement.

Dorcas told Chet a story about a hot summer day at Chester Springs, when she and a friend decided to go skinny dipping. After they had disrobed, along came Albert Van Nesse Greene with his easel and paints. He asked the girls to stay there while he painted them in the nude. Dorcas told Chet that those paintings would have to surface someday.

Two years ago, while at the reception for an art show in Chester Springs, he was invited to see the painting collection of an acquaintance that lived nearby. Among the works was the painting of Dorcas and her friend bathing in the creek. And so the paintings have come back to Chet. “It was meant to be,” he muses.

Chet continued to rifle through stacks of paintings, drawings, and lithographs—punctuating his search with exclamations about the different pieces—”Here’s a gem” or “You must see this one, it’s a very important one.” “She was very modest about her work, extremely modest…”

What is this life, if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare,

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
—W.H. Davies

Next month, in the third and final installment of Dorcas, join us as we finish our tour of Appleseed Hollow and this glimpse into the life and work of Doris Kunzie Weidner.