September 25, 2018
O.T.W. On The Water THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER: A suite of seven archival digital prints of journal-paintings by James Lancel McElhinney due to be published October 25, 2018.This weekend’s sales pushed the number up to 20, more than one-third of the limited edition has been sold.
Inspired by expeditionary artists, from Jacques le Moyne and John White to J.M.W. Turner, John-James Audubon, Seth Eastman and Thomas Moran, Delaware Valley native James Lancel McElhinney has revived the practice of journal-painting during trips to Europe, Hawaii, Ecuador, Peru, California, the Rocky Mountains, the American Southwest, the Hudson Valley, and now the Schuylkill River, as it flows through Fairmount Park.
Reviving practices employed by such traveler-artists as Benjamin Henry Latrobe, William and Thomas Birch, Joshua Rowley Watson, Nicolino Calyo, James Lancel McElhinney now returns to Philadelphia to explore its Hidden River, call attention to its environmental priorities, explore its history and celebrate its beauty.
Works from the project O.T.W. The Schuylkill River will be featured in an exhibition at Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, opening on October 24, 2018. The show will be on view for one year.
Following the examples of these late-18th and early 19th-century artists, McElhinney’s works have been reinterpreted as suites of prints, which can be enjoyed in the form of an unbound book, or framed for display on the wall.
O.T.W. The Schuylkill River, the limited edition, follows the success of McElhinney’s Hudson Highlands: North River Suite Volume One, which can be found in the following collections:
Avery Fine Art and Architecture Library, Columbia University
Boscobel House and Gardens, Garrison, New York
University of Denver. Library Special Collections. Denver Colorado
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers New York
Huntington Library and Museum, San Marino, California
West Point Museum, United States Military Academy
Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. New Haven Connecticut
Newberry Library. Chicago, Illinois
And private collections in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
PREVIEW
Needlewatcher Editions announces the forthcoming publication of O.T.W. The Schuylkill River, a suite of seven (7) numbered, signed and dated archival digital prints. Loosely bound in a fine cloth-covered Solander (clamshell) box, this suite of prints is accompanied by a descriptive chapbook. The edition is composed of 100% archival materials and limited to fifty (50) copies. Below is a selection of journal-paintings included in the deluxe limited edition.
You are invited to support this project with a subscription to the deluxe limited edition at $1200.00 per copy.
Subscribers who pledge prior to October 7, 2018 will be thanked in the limited edition, and acknowledged in the exhibition at Independence Seaport Museum, opening on October 24, 2018. The show will remain on view for one year.
On October 25, 2018 (the official release date) remaining copies of the limited edition will be offered with tiered pricing, starting at $1,600.00 per copy. Personal check, PayPal and credit cards are accepted by Needlewatcher Editions. For further details, or to reserve a copy, please enquire at otw@needlewatcher.com, or call 347-266-5652
James Lancel McElhinney is a visual historian, author and publisher, known for his investigations of American rivers and battlefields. The Delaware Valley native attended Tyler School of Art, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and Yale.
He is a recipient of a 2017 Pollock-Krasner Grant., and an artist fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
McElhinney is listed on the Master Artist Council of the Arthur Miller Foundation. O.T.W: The Schuylkill River will be on view from October 24, 2018, at Independence Seaport Museum, as the inaugural exhibition in a contemporary art-space complementing the museum’s new River Alive galleries. McElhinney lives in Manhattan with his wife, historian, author and curator Dr. Katherine Manthorne, and a feline named Maeve. His website is www.mcelhinneyart.com