The Age of Aquarius, Fermentation and Common Touch
The Age of Aquarius in Chester County
Produced by Karen Smyles
The Chester County Historical Society (CCHS) inspires, informs, and builds community identity by preserving and sharing the remarkable story of Chester County and its people. As the official county history museum, history education center, and historical repository of Chester County, Pennsylvania, the Society aims to preserve and share the county’s remarkable history in powerful and relevant ways. THE SIXTIES! The Age of Aquarius in Chester County, now through August 27th, 2016, does just that.
This exciting and informative exhibition highlights local experiences of all aspects of life in the 60’s, starting with the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision and ending in 1975 with the end of the Vietnam War. Installations include fashion, civil rights, women’s rights, music, and technology.
Friday Arts sat down with Ellen Endslow, Director of Collections to discuss how this exhibit came to be and how strong community interest propelled the exhibit forward by doing oral histories and lending just about everything you can imagine.
We talked with Susan Seel who grew up in Chester County and still lives there, who shared her excitement at being able to loan personal items to the exhibit. Susan also recounts memories of the Vietnam War and what it was like for families experiencing the lottery.
Reverend Anderson Porter, was a pastor in West Chester in 1960 and played an active role in civil rights protests, including the 1963 March on Washington. He shares what it was like living there at a time when segregation was very much a part of life.
Friday Arts also experiences the lighter aspects of life in the 60’s with a visit by Beth Lennon, also known as Mod Betty, creator of Retro Roadmap website. Betty gives us a historical perspective on a few of the more fun objects of the era.
Fermentation
Produced by Monica Rogozinski
Amanda Feifer, author of “Ferment Your Vegetables,” explains how she came to adore “the beautiful, imperfect, and far from sterile process that we call fermentation.” After years in the food industry, Feifer found her calling in these bacteria-heavy recipes. She began creating and consuming these foods to improve her own health and was so interested in learning more and sharing her passion that she created the blog phickle.com.
Fermentation is the process of creating cultures of healthy bacteria in food. Our body needs these bacteria; it’s in our DNA to eat and enjoy fermented food. Fermentation is an incredibly old process. People have been fermenting for thousands of years, but the generation before us lost touch with that aspect of our diet. Feifer has worked to bring it back, and has explained some of the health benefits she’s experienced by switching.
She loves to teach, hosting workshops all over Philadelphia and sometimes further out. This segment will expand on Feifer’s hows and whys of fermentation.
Ferments are inexpensive, healthy, and packed with flavor. All the most basic ferments need are some vegetables, salt, water, and time—but they can be so much more than that. To learn more, visit Phickle.com.
Common Touch
Produced by Michael O’Reilly
“Common Touch: The Art of the Senses in the History of the Blind” is a multimedia exhibition that looks at historical embossed and raised-letter documents for the visually impaired as a starting point for a multi-sensory exploration of the nature of perception. Inspired by her research in the Library Company’s “Michael Zinman Collection of Printing for the Blind”, artist-in-residence Teresa Jaynes has curated an exhibition on display from April 4 – October 21, 2016 that combines her own original works with historical collections that document the education of the blind in the 19th century.
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