Joseph Crilley will exhibit oil paintings of his preferred destinations at the Carversville General Store.
By: Jessica Loughery
The Carversville General Store will host its second Joseph Crilley art show Nov. 30 through Dec. 31. Some Favorite Places features 40 oil paintings of Mr. Crilley’s personally preferred destinations, including his impressions of Nova Scotia and Italy, as well as locations in Solebury, Pa., and the surrounding areas. The Carversville, Pa., resident has been an artist for as long as he can remember. That adds up to more than 80 years of paintings, photographs and sketches, and as his wife, Suzanne Crilley, will tell you, quite a number of holes in the walls.
"Our wall is like Swiss cheese," she jokes.
The path to the house that contains those hole-filled walls has been long and has certainly wound this way and that, traveled by a man whose feet are admittedly prone to falling asleep; a man who, when asked which artistic medium he prefers will tell you simply, "I prefer whatever I’m doing at the time."
"I grew up to be an arts boy," Mr. Crilley says. "I remember when I was at North Catholic (High School in Philadelphia), I would do the drawings for the other boys and the priest would say, ‘I know you’re doing their drawings for them,’ because they all looked similar."
Mr. Crilley studied at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) and with the Fleisher Memorial Graphic Sketch Club until the United States went to war in 1941. He enlisted and became a paratrooper, surviving three major battles in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.
Upon returning to Pennsylvania, Mr. Crilley moved to New Hope, Pa., home of Bowman’s Tower, a nature preserve he had memories of traveling to from the city as a Boy Scout years ago. In New Hope, he embarked on the next phase of his life, devoting serious time to painting in oils and taking a position teaching art at New Hope-Solebury High School. "Teach" is a word Mr. Crilley contests, however. "I didn’t teach them, I watched them," he jokes with a straight face.
"I used to tell them, ‘I don’t want any masterpieces today,’" he continues. "’If it works, fine, if it doesn’t, tomorrow’s another day.’"
"Not having been trained professionally as an educator, he was very innovative," Ms. Crilley adds.
"If you can’t have fun you’re dead," says Mr. Crilley.
Speaking of fun, in the early years, Mr. Crilley explored the trompe l’oeil style, portraying subjects so lifelike it fools the eye. He tells an amusing story involving a painting of a one-dollar bill. "I wasn’t feeling well that day so I was home and the milkman came," he says. "And I said ‘take that dollar,’ and he tried to pick it up." After making sure the dollar wasn’t glued or fastened down in some fashion, the milkman realized the painter’s optical trick.
As a teacher, Mr. Crilley became involved with the high school’s yearbook, taking candid shots of students. "I said to students, ‘I’m willing to take your photo anywhere with three to four people,’" he says. The resulting images show students with beloved horses, by favorite trees and with friends and family.
Before long, Mr. Crilley’s sophisticated candid photography style was noticed by the yearbook’s publisher, William Keller. Mr. Crilley was then offered a job accompanying students on foreign study trips and photographing their adventures. He left teaching, happy to be doing something new. "Anything you’ve never done before is fun," he says definitively. "Repetition is boring."
It was his work as a photographer that eventually brought Mr. and Ms. Crilley together. She was working at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton as a curator, and for the catalog of one exhibit in particular, it was suggested she bring in photographer Joseph Crilley. As they say, the rest is history.
Since his days as a professional photographer in the ’60s and ’70s, Mr. Crilley has been leaning toward oil painting, doing shows on a yearly basis around this time of year. Perhaps because of his oft-tingling feet, Mr. Crilley has an admittedly conflicted relationship with the art. "I never enjoyed it," he says bluntly.
Mr. Crilley used to paint outdoors, but got so frustrated with natural forces like the changing position of the sun and blustery winds blowing his paintings over that he started working only inside or in his car. "The trouble with oils is once you start you have to keep going," he says. "You have one day, two to three at most to finish."
Regardless of how he feels about it, the art seems to be pretty fond of Mr. Crilley. Ms. Crilley says he’s always looking at the composition of photographs and paintings like it’s engrained in his mind, just a part of who he is.
Ms. Crilley, who arranges the art shows, says they’re steering away from gallery exhibitions and toward unconventional environments like barns and the Carversville General Store. Last year’s show "really livened the place up with the colors and brought business to the Carversville Inn and the store," she says.
Mr. and Ms. Crilley own a second home in Nova Scotia, complete with a studio where the former completed many of the works being shown this year. Once an avid fisherman, Mr. Crilley loves painting schooners and fishing boats. "Burnell’s Boats" and "Jewer’s Cove" are two paintings of the Nova Scotia area to be found at the General Store this month.
The truth is, despite the wind blowing over his paintings and the speed required in finishing oil pieces, Mr. Crilley continues to work, year after year.
"He can’t stop painting," Ms. Crilley says.
"It keeps me out of trouble," Mr. Crilley adds with a smile.
Some Favorite Places, featuring oil paintings by Joseph Crilley, will be on
view at the Carversville General Store, 6208 Fleecy Dale Road, Carversville, Pa.,
Nov. 30-Dec. 31. Opening reception: Nov. 30, 5-8 p.m. For information, call (215)
297-5353. On the Web: www.carversvillestore.com