Back in the fall, we told you about one of the nicest perks of having a library card — getting to borrow free passes for America on Wheels and the Allentown Art Museum. Now it’s summer and there are new exhibits — and you can still borrow passes to get in free!
If you live in Emmaus Borough, Macungie Borough or Upper Milford (passes are reserved for EPL ‘home’ patrons), your card entitles you to borrow museum passes good for four people (adults or children) at either museum.
Some of the current exhibits at the Allentown Art Museum include:
Deco After Dark: Evening Wear 1920-1945 (through Sept. 1) — Breaking with decades of stiff, complicated clothing, women of the 1920s and 1930s embraced a sleek, streamlined look. This sartorial shift was particularly evident in evening wear, which found new ways to express formality. Gowns that featured luxurious yet lightweight material, pared down cuts, and geometric decoration mirrored the simple elegance of Art Deco. Offering new freedom of movement and challenging established ideas about feminine appearance and behavior, these modern styles marked an era of social change.
An Essential Presence: Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art (through Sept. 1) — Sixty-five pieces, including more than forty works new to the collection and on view for the first time. Spanning the late nineteenth century to the current decade, the show features work by such celebrated artists as Henry Ossawa Tanner, Charles White, and Elizabeth Catlett. Simultaneously, it heralds groundbreaking contemporary artists like Vanessa German, William Villalongo, and Syd Carpenter. With paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, and photographs, this selection gives a sense of the broad range of powerful and sensitive artwork made by artists of the African diaspora over more than a century.
Fresh Perspective: Modernism in Photography, 1920-1950 (through Sept. 22 ) — Beginning in the 1920s, many photographers rebelled against the expectation that they should imitate painters. Instead they embraced the unique advantages of the camera, finding fresh perspective through unusual lighting and cropping, unexpected camera angles, and deep focus. These modern ways of seeing revolutionized photography, and continue to influence artists today.
The Allentown Art Museum is located at 31 North 5th St. in Allentown. Plan your visit on their website or call 610-432-4333.
Over at the America on Wheels Antique Auto Museum — which celebrates our love affair with cars, trucks, motorcycles and bicycles — there’s a special exhibit of Nicola Bulgari, a Lifetime of Devotion to the American Automobile (through mid-Oct.).
Did you know that the Italian jewelry magnate keeps seven warehouses filled with classic American cars on a 21-acre compound in Allentown? Apparently, he does, and now nine of those cars are on exhibit at America on Wheels — including a 1951 Nash-Healey Sports Car Roadster and a 1933 Marmon Sixteen Victoria Coupe.
There are more than 75 cars, trucks, motorcycles and bikes at the museum, with lots to see and lots to learn for ‘kids’ of all ages.
America on Wheels is located at 5 North Front St. Visit their website to plan out your visit or call 610-432-4200.
Passes for both museums can be borrowed for two weeks. There are no renewals.
Stop in and pick up a pass for a great day out — free with your library card!
