Page Farm and Home Museum Extends Currier & Ives Exhibit
Contact: Patty Henner, 581-4100
ORONO — The UMaine Page Farm and Home Museum is extending its Currier and Ives exhibit through the end of March.
The exhibit, on loan from Clark Thompson of Bangor, features a number of original lithographs from 1855 to 1891.
The lithography shop of Currier & Ives produced in excess of 10,000 prints, which included more than 600 trotting horse prints, 30-40 of which were of Maine horses.
Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis, leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased ink is rolled onto the raised areas.
Since grease and water do not mix, the greased ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper.
“We are very pleased to invite members of the community to come and take a look at the Currier and Ives trotting horse prints, all of which have connection to Maine,” says Patricia Henner, director of the Page Farm and Home Museum.
The museum, located on the Orono campus, is free to visit and is open Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information is available by calling the museum at 581-4100 or visiting its website (www.umaine.edu/pagefarm).