A square painting filled to bursting with spectacular color and energy hangs on a rack in painting storage. Every time I pass this rack, it catches my eye and I say to myself “I need to wait on this one”. But these pieces have a special way of working themselves into my head and so on a gloomy late winter day I decided it was time.

Sometimes the quirks of technology can reveal something really interesting! While compiling a list of objects in our Collection related to submarines, our Collections Management System threw me a curveball.

One of the best parts of my position here is that I get to see all of the new objects as they come in. A recent acquisition was especially exciting, because there are so many wonderful stories to tell within this single object!

This episode is a pretty big departure from the normal “structure” of Beyond the Frame. This is for a few reasons, and I want to share those with you. I like to try to give extra context with these blogs when I can and this is an episode that I think deserves a little extra context.

Titled New Map of Virginia compiled from the latest maps 1861, this pocket map was published in mid-1861 by the Richmond, Virginia firm of J. W. Randolph.

Approaching any 6 and a-half foot tall by 10 and a half foot wide painting is an experience. The sheer magnitude leaves you wondering whether you want to get closer or step back. But when approaching a Thomas Skinner piece, like this one – “The Foundry”, we feel as if we can step in.