Blog

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Won’t you join with like-minded individuals from across the country who are organizing to help support, preserve, and to promote the Eric Sloane Museum of Kent, Connecticut? We are firm in our belief that Eric Sloane is a national treasure and the museum he founded is an important destination for anyone interested in early American life and culture. Support for the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum can come in many formats:

1. Membership in the Friends organization.
2. Financial support to fund specific projects. The Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum works in concert with the staff at the Eric Sloane Museum to identify projects that need attention. Some projects are very modest in scope (as little as $75.00), while others require greater financial commitment.
3. Volunteer for events and programs held on the grounds of the Eric Sloane Museum.
4. Volunteer your professional expertise.
5. Volunteer to join the board of the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum. We are a friendly, inclusive group dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the legacy of Eric Sloane. We meet approximately 6 times per year at the Kent Town Hall in Kent, Connecticut.

For these and other support opportunities, please email Jim Mauch at [email protected]. Thank you.

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For the 2014 season, the Eric Sloane Museum, in conjunction with the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum, will be dedicating themselves to the exploration of Eric Sloane’s treatment of the sky and weather.  I’ll be posting updates concerning specific dates and events, but for now I thought I might share some photographs of a mural that was created by Eric Sloane very early in his career.  No doubt you’ll be able to guess from what kind of building the mural was removed, but do you know where the mural currently resides?  A hint – it is in a public building on Long Island, NY…

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          The Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum have, with the permission of the estate of Eric Sloane, released a set of blank notecards with an image of Eric Sloane’s painting February on the front.  These Eric Sloane themed notecards are blank inside, 5 to a pack with envelopes.  Packs are $7.00 each, and 100% of the sales goes to the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum.  Cards are for sale at the Eric Sloane Museum, or can be purchased through the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum.  When ordering, please include $1.75 for 1st class USPS postage.

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The Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum are looking for a pilot with experience with flying early aircraft and how that experience is influenced by the weather who would be willing to speak about his/her experiences at the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent, CT this summer.  The museum is highlighting Eric Sloane’s work in explaining meteorological and atmospheric phenomenon to pilots in via his publications for the Army Air Corps (c. 1942-1945), as well as Eric’s work related to painting military and civilian aircraft and “cloudscapes”, which was the term Eric Sloane used to describe his renditions of clouds and the atmosphere.  If you know of a c. WWII pilot, or someone who flew in the late 1940s-late 1950s, the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum would really appreciate hearing from you.  Thank you!

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The Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum are interested in speaking with any pilots who flew military and/or commercial aircraft in the 1940s and 1950s.  We have spoken with several individuals who flew in these capacities during this era who recall using some of Eric Sloane’s early works for the Army Air Corps and some early books on meteorology written and illustrated by Eric Sloane.  We would really like to have a pilot join us for one of our events in 2014 on the grounds of the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent, Connecticut.  This year, the Eric Sloane Museum will explore Eric Sloane and his work with the sky and clouds.  The Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum will continue to update posts on our Facebook page and on this blog.

 

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This past Saturday the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum met at the Kent Town Hall in Kent, CT.  Among the items discussed was the theme for 2014, which was established by Barbara Russ of the museum in consultation with representatives from the state of Connecticut.  The theme will focus on Eric Sloane’s exploration of the sky, clouds, and meteorology.  We will be posting updates on our Facebook page – Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum – as they become available.

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Thanks to Robin Dill-Herde!

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Our thanks to Robin Dill-Herde, owner of Kent’s House of Books, for allowing us to use her display window. Friends board member Jeffrey Bischoff did an outstanding job creating an inviting and informative window using a number of books by Eric Sloane. It looks fantastic and we are so grateful for Robin’s support of the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum and for Jeffrey’s efforts in creating a great display.

House of Books will be featuring these new old stock hardbound editions of Eric Sloane books for some time. For additional information, please call House of Books (contact information and hours appear below the photographs).

Interior view of the display window at House of Books

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Hours – 10AM – 5:30PM
Email us – Click Here
Fax: 860-927-3978

10 North Main Street
Kent, CT 06757

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The Autumn, 2013 issue of Legacy, the newsletter of the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum, has just been published.  If you are a member of the friends group, your copy should be arriving to your door shortly via USPS 1st class mail.  Enjoy!

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Eighty

Eighty, Eric Sloane’s last book, is available in two different editions. The text, illustrations and paintings are essentially the same in each. There are, however, two important distinctions between the two editions. One edition is a beautifully bound hardcover edition that is made to slide into a hard slipcase. These were limited to 350 copies that were to be numbered and signed by Eric, and an additional 26 copies for private distribution, lettered A-Z. Those who purchase only the slipcover version feeling that this is the more “valuable” of the two copies to own should consider purchasing the other hardcover “standard” edition of Eighty for the dust jacket alone. It features, in my opinion, one of Sloane’s paintings that truly straddles the line between reality and abstraction.

Sloane literally ran to a warehouse to pick up a case of (slipcover edition) books for the Eighty show at Hammer Galleries in New York. The bulk of the shipment of books was to be ready for the show, but production delays made that impossible. At any rate, Sloane brought a case of books to the show, signed them all and gave them away to friends and family. The number of books actually signed is in dispute – I have heard estimates from 7 – 50. Eighty was a heavy book and was likely packed into cartons weighing less than 50 lbs., so my estimate is closer to the 25 copy range than the 50. Additionally, it would make sense that the books lettered A-Z would be packaged together, making a case of 26. He was able to sign some (I have heard estimates as low as 7 copies) or all of the books for private distribution, but none of the books that were numbered 1 to 350. It would be an interesting piece of investigative work to determine what happened to all 26 of the privately distributed copies. I have first hand knowledge that 1 signed copy went to Reverend Schuler of “Crystal Cathedral” fame and 1 is owned by Joan Martin (?), the woman who was curator of the Sloane-Stanley Museum at the time. The remaining copies numbered 1-350 were left unsigned and a piece of onion skin paper was inserted that read:

“Due to the untimely death of Eric Sloane, EIGHTY: An American Souvenir, was regrettably left unsigned. This publication, the last of his over forty books, will remain as a legacy to his place in the world of American arts and letters.”

A place was left for hand numbering and a signature by his widow, Mimi H. Sloane.