Bellefonte Art Museum for Centre County offers unique, local glance into the world of art | Lifestyle

Located in the heart of Centre County lies an architectural and cultural time capsule of Victorian-era allure.

From the grandeur facades of its many 19th century buildings to the intricate stories of its local population, the town of Bellefonte boasts an impressive assortment of historic memorials to days gone by. One such example is the Bellefonte Art Museum for Centre County, hosted in the Georgian-style Linn House on one of the town’s main streets.

Originally built in 1810, the Linn House was established by ironmaster Philip Benner to serve as a private residency for Judge Jonathan Walker. Future residents of the house would include James Beaver, the ninth president of Penn State and former Pennsylvania governor, and historian John Blair Linn, who married Benner’s granddaughter.

Surviving nearly two centuries, the building’s interior eventually began to fall under a state of disarray. The upper levels of the house came to near ruin, and serious work was needed to preserve the integrity of the building. That’s when Patricia House, the museum’s founder and executive director, stepped into the picture.

After retiring from museum work in California, House moved to the area in 2008 to be closer to her family. When she was initially asked to help build a history museum in the town, she said she declined and offered to come back if she could begin an art museum instead.

When her proposal was accepted, House said the real work of restoring and capturing the original splendor of the building began in 2009.

“The big thing we had to do was do something about the building,” House said. “The city said I could continue with the building, but I had to make it viable and keep it nice. Well, the whole second, third floors were caved in.”

With a starting gift donation from Judy Sieg, a 1959 Penn State graduate, and her family, House said her team of mainly volunteers was able to get restorations up and running. She said it took the team nearly three years to breathe life back into the estate.

In a house nearly as old as the town itself, the restoration process proved to include surprises nobody could expect. After conversations with a local Bellefonte native, House said volunteers of the museum were informed of a hidden crawl space somewhere on the upper floors of the building.

Upon hearing this news, the team began searching through blueprints of the house until they indeed discovered plans for a secret room, House said. They began excavating the space until they discovered the crawlspace, which led them to a hidden compartment behind one of the upper floor rooms that had no other means of entering.

Though a small staircase had been originally connected to the compartment, it had been blocked off, leaving the hidden room almost completely sealed off from the rest of the house.

What had previously been thought of as nothing more than extra storage space turned out to be an entirely hidden section of the house.

With a history of abolitionists living in the house from the 1840s-1850s, House said she believes the space was one of many used in the Underground Railroad, which had a prominent, yet often forgotten history in Bellefonte and the surrounding communities.

While she said many spaces like the one in the Linn House are often cleared out and left to be forgotten, House said she was determined to create a lasting exhibit that highlighted the space, Bellefonte’s impact on the Underground Railroad and the history of escaped enslaved people who may have taken refuge in the secret compartment.

Now a permanent exhibit, “Underground Railroad: A Journey to Freedom” can be seen by all museum-goers. The exhibit features a glass panel peeking into the hidden compartment, with a rendering of a scene of escaped enslaved people hiding, created by a local artist.

“You can go up and see it, and we actually commissioned a local artist who does sets for plays and operas to do a representation so we could commemorate how it probably was,” House said. “We did that, as opposed to leaving an empty space, which a lot of places do — they just put it aside — but since we’re an art museum, we wanted to use art to translate this place, and it is very moving.”

In addition to the permanent Underground Railroad exhibit, House said the museum also includes several large and small gallery spaces, including a special exhibitions gallery that usually contains international works from various artists to give the local community a chance to see art from places far beyond Bellefonte.

Soon after work began to restore the building to its former glory, an artist registry was also created to help local artists further establish themselves in the area. What began as a sign-up sheet of just over 25 names has now grown into a community of over 170 artists, according to the museum’s Deputy Director Lori Fisher.

Registered artists with BAM receive a free exhibition space that rotates among the group, and they’re featured on the museum’s website along with an example of their work for the general public to see, according to House. She said applications for the artist registry are presented to a juried panel, which then decides who will join the collective.

Jennifer Shuey, a local artist and director of development for the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, has been on the artist registry from the very beginning, according to House.

Shuey said she believes Bellefonte has been on the cusp of an “artistic Renaissance” for years, and the presence of the museum has helped solidify a new community of local artists and art lovers.

“I have definitely been a proud member of the artist registry and love to see what is happening in Bellefonte, I think, because of the momentum here,” Shuey said.

House said registered artists are also invited to participate in the museum’s annual holiday show and sale, where all presented work in the museum is put up for sale in order to benefit the artists and promote support for local art. The current holiday sale and exhibit that went up in early November will continue to be presented until Dec. 20.

Starting as a volunteer and registered artist herself in 2010, Fisher said she has worked closely with House to create a community where artists and audiences can come together to admire local and international art.

“It’s just amazing how much we have grown over the years,” Fisher said. “Pat and I work really well together. And, you know, we have just been able to really cultivate [BAM] and make it a destination.”

More than a decade after the museum opened its doors though, the coronavirus pandemic forced its staff to temporarily shut down its public viewings — just one week after opening its newest exhibit. The museum had to quickly rethink its operations to continue its mission of providing an outlet for art in the community, Fisher said.

Determined to continue spreading art to the community, Fisher began videotaping the exhibits featured at the time, creating short movies that she would then post online and send out through emails to registered members of the museum.

Though she said the pandemic was certainly a hard time for everyone, Fisher said the museum was able to expand its reach and gain more members by finding innovative solutions to continue spreading art into the community.

“I think a lot of people found us during COVID because we did everything online, so it was hard not to see us because we just constantly kept going,” Fisher said. “And then those people that follow us started following us online.

“Once we reopened when things started opening back up again, then they came in person, because they thought, ‘OK, we got to go check this out now.’ So, we’ve really gained a lot through that.”

Having graduated from Penn State in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in art, Tom Rosenow said he was ready to continue waiting tables to earn an income, but that plan was quickly derailed by the coronavirus. Instead, Rosenow said he began focusing more on developing his art and his place in the community.

After receiving an offer to show his work in BAM, Rosenow said that’s when he began really making a living as an artist. He said being able to show his work so closely after graduating was a “huge confidence builder.”

Art provided a sense of calmness in his life and gave him a chance to focus more on the sense of community his paintings can provide people, Rosenow said. During the 2020 election, Rosenow said art even impacted the way he saw the political divisions growing in Bellefonte.

“It’s easy to focus on the division. But there are still things that bring us together, and art is always one part of that,” Rosenow said. “I felt very encouraged, in my own practice, to see the results of that and how I could connect with so many people by painting their hometown.”

Rosenow said having the opportunity to have his artwork displayed in a “true art gallery” is something he will always look forward to.

Going forward, Shuey said she believes BAM will continue to provide a space for the community to come together and witness the work that can come from local artists and the power art can have on a small town like Bellefonte.

“I’ve had this conversation a few times about people who would consider themselves art collectors thinking that they have to go to New York City to buy art or some major metropolitan area to get the good art,” Shuey said. “I think that is starting to change a little bit…look around right here. Look at the amazing things that are right here in your own community — and this museum has been a big part of that.”