Art Mixes with History in New Castle

The c. 1800 George Read II House in Old New Castle, Delaware is trying to shed the "stuffy museum" image with its "Lit for the Holidays" exhibit.  Last night, I visited this after dark special activity and found the really off center to the beautiful on exhibit. 

We start out in the garden with a holiday themed greenery work designed by artist/guide Heidi Benson (sorry but not all the artist info is online and someone corrected the name I had here. Wish they would have had it on their website.) who told the story about a couple of children living in the servants' quarters who missed the holiday trees which had not yet become popular in this country.  She created a contemporary version of outdoor Christmas greenery which brought an element of beauty to the exhibit.   As we entered the house, the back parlor featured a Christmas tree made of copper leaves (made me want to touch it!). So more of "shaggy beauty" here.

The front parlor window was decked in hanging greenery and paper lanterns. The housekeeper's office had a video running on the wall, in line with the popular concept of video as art. 

But it was up in what I call the ballroom, the most elaborately designed room with plaster ceiling decorations, that David Sanchez was allowed to create a section of a room with graffiti scrawled on  old-seeming artwork, furniture, and walls. He claims to "unite colonial and classical art elements with urban graffiti--adding a futuristic twist." My comment, "Hope this isn't my future."  (opening picture at top of blog).  It looks like the artists had a free hand in choosing their works and ran with the "Go big or go home."  I missed the exhibit last year, so can't tell if this follows a pattern. 

What I do know is that after seeing this exhibit and walking down the foggy brick sidewalks(pictured-2nd St.) to catch a meal at the thoroughly colonial themed Jessops Tavern, I was happy to have a cup of tea and a delicious and bountiful turkey sandwich accompanied by their famous sweet potato fries in the light of a glowing fireplace decorated with antique Santas.