The phone call was unexpected and delightful:  “I have some artwork.  Come pick out what you want for the school,” said Henry Weis, long-time Friends Select trustee, Arch Street Meeting member, Philadelphia resident and retired real estate developer.  I said yes without hesitation.

So several weeks ago, I visited Henry at his home in Queen Village and selected around a dozen pieces from the extensive collection that he and his late wife, Helene, assembled during their many years together.  Helene Weis was a glass artist, as well as archivist for 50 years at the Willet Stained Glass Studio (now Willet Hauser Architectural Glass) in Philadelphia.

At the moment, the newly acquired art is safely stored in my office:  two large oils by the noted Philadelphia artist Deryl Mackie; two woodcuts by John Hathaway; a seascape by Maine artist Edward H. Hergelroth; plus a watercolor and two brass rubbings.  My favorites, I must admit, are the six small stained glass pieces.  They fascinate me, these delicate portraits rendered in translucent glass, and I wonder how old they are, where they came from and how and when Henry and Helene acquired them.  I look forward to further conversations with Henry to learn about their provenance.

The Weis’ gift could not come at a better time, coinciding with the school’s decision to lease the first floor of 1700 Race Street for upper school art studios and humanities classrooms.  Planned renovations to this new space will include wall space for hanging works labeled, “From the Collection of Henry and Helene Weis.”

In my view, the Weis’ gift is particularly meaningful for two reasons.  Certainly, these works are a significant addition to the school’s existing collection of art, historic books and antique furniture.  Equally important, the gift is an affirmation of Friends Select as a suitable and trustworthy home for prized possessions collected over the course of a lifetime.  That is an honor, indeed.

Day 1:  Wednesday, April 14

9:25 a.m. 
Arrive at Liberty State Park, N.J. The students are excited to board the ferry to Ellis Island.

10:27 a.m. 
We arrive at Ellis Island and Tr. John Colgan-Davis sets the stage, telling us that peak immigration to the U.S. took place from 1892-1924, during which 12 million people came through Ellis Island.  Inside, students experience the truly powerful baggage exhibit: piles of trunks, baskets, pillows and luggage donated by family members. Next we move upstairs to the registry room, a large, wide-open space with high ceilings and lots of light. Tr. John describes how different the room would have looked a century ago and talks about “the power of place."

11 a.m. 
We visit two exhibits that take us through the arrival process at Ellis Island: arrival room, medical inspection and legal inspection. Students examine photos, quotations from immigrants and many artifacts and documents.

12:20 p.m. 
We eat lunch outside by the water. Students check out the wall of immigrant names.  Back upstairs we explore the exhibit, “Treasures from Home,” and students sketch a favorite artifact. (The artifacts include wedding dresses, prayer books, shoes, dinnerware, linens, musical instruments, books, etc.) The exhibits with the photos, artifacts and stories are deeply moving.   

2:20 p.m. 
We board the ferry to Battery Park and then the bus to the Lower East Side. We walk down Orchard Street and Tr. Natan Gottesman points out how the Lower East Side was once a major center of the garment industry. We stop at “The Pickle Guys” store to buy traditional Jewish deli pickles and at Kossar’s Bakery to try bialys. 

DAY 2:  April 15

7:45 a.m. 
Breakfast at the hostel, then the subway to the New York Historical Society.
 
10 a.m. 
A wonderful educator takes us through the history of the Dutch and Africans in New York.  At one point, she passes around a heavy wooden bucket filled with weights and asks us to imagine being a 6-, 7-, or 8-year-old slave walking the equivalent of 10 blocks to fetch water several times a day.  The students continue to impress me with their engagement, their cooperative behavior, their enthusiasm and their intellectual curiosity. 

11:50 a.m. 
After a short snack break on the steps of the American Museum of Natural History, we reunite with our museum educator and walk into Central Park to the location of a former Seneca Village.  We sit in a circle and close our eyes, visualizing what the village looked like as our guide describes it. 

2 p.m. 
We eat lunch at 72nd and Broadway at various restaurants.  We are walking a lot, but the students are excited, and the weather is just glorious.
 
3 p.m. 
We take the subway to the African Burial Ground National Monument. We visit the new museum there, the first time a Friends Select group has seen it.  Tr. John is beyond excited and proclaims, “They got it right!”  Students are quiet and respectful as they move through this powerful and truly heartbreaking monument.

5 p.m. 
Back on the subway to the 96th Street stop.  We walk up Broadway to the hostel on 103rd Street, where we have dinner.  Then Sophia’s dad visits to talk with us about inventor Lewis Latimer.

Day 3:  April 16

7:45 a.m. 
We meet for a brief Meeting for Worship before we load up the bus and head to Chinatown.

9:15 a.m. 
The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) is in a new location, and this is the first Friends Select visit.  Our excellent museum guide gives us a history of Chinese immigration to NYC.  Then, students break into groups to learn about a particular immigrant.  They are given a box of documents, articles, photographs, pictures and mementos that tell the story of their person, and are asked to present about what they discover. 

11:40 a.m. 
We walk through Chinatown through tourist areas, as well as the older, more authentic parts of the neighborhood.  The streets are crowded and bustling, with lots of stores and stands. Tr. John encourages us to take it all in—the sights, the sounds, the smells. This is everyday life for people, he reminds us.  The weather is still holding up (no rain), but it is now cloudy and chilly.

12:15 p.m.
Family-style lunch on the third floor at the Golden Unicorn, then back on the bus, Philly-bound. 

Tag along on a ninth grade trip to the Art Museum and one thing is patently clear:  There is a world of difference between a casual stroll through the galleries and really looking at art in an informed and critical manner. Friends Select students are incredibly lucky to have a world class art museum a mile up the road.  It is the venue for a key element of the interdisciplinary curriculum.

Each year, ninth graders make five trips to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, leading up to individual “gallery talks” that showcase each student’s mastery and understanding of a specific piece of art and its historical context.  This year, these presentations for family, teachers and peers will happen on Saturday, May 8, preceded by a reception. 

But the focus on interpreting works of art begins much earlier in the year, with museum visits that cover China, Japan, Korea, Islam, the early Middle Ages, the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.  During a trip in April, the first stop was Vittore Crivelli’s 1502 depiction of the Jesus and the Virgin Mary.  A small group of students stared intently at the painting as museum educator Kathy Seed asked them leading questions: 

How old does Jesus appear to be?  He looks around three years old, but has a surprisingly adult-looking face.
What does Mary look like?  She has light hair and skin, an egg-shaped head, long nose and almond eyes -- all reflecting church dictates that limited artistic expression during the Renaissance period.
Is the use of perspective realistic?   Not really.  Everything appears relatively flat. 
Why does the work include a green parrot and red finch?  The bird reflects the legends that a parrot pulled the nails from the Jesus’ cross and that a red finch ate from his crown of thorns and was stained by blood. 
What materials were used in the painting?  Wood panels coated with gesso, paint mixed from minerals and egg yolks and gold leaf thinned by pounding between layers of leather and applied with a feather.  

Each carefully orchestrated stop throughout the museum’s Renaissance galleries reveals additional fascinating insights about life during the Renaissance.  Domestic objects in one gallery underscore the creativity and humor of the craftsmen:  A candelabra is in the shape of a fire-breathing dragon; a three-legged cooking pot has feet wearing sandals; and a vessel for washing hands at the table is shaped like a horse.  A stop at a gallery with four arched entrances prompts a discussion about the relative weight-bearing capacities of different types of arches.

By their fifth visit to the museum, ninth graders are clearly comfortable trekking around the galleries and have learned a whole new way of looking at art.  By May, they are newly minted art historians, ready to share what they have learned.