Lynn Museum exhibit mixes past and present

LYNN – The merging of two cultural hot spots has resulted in a new exhibit, “In Progress: Lynn History,” at the Lynn Museum that mixes Lynn history with contemporary art, putting both in the best light.”We’re trying to support Lynn Arts, which we’re merging with, and we thought what better way than to use our images and put a call out to artists for more representation of Lynn,” said Abby Battis, assistant director at the Lynn Museum and Historical Society.The show features five different aspects of the city with contemporary pieces like artist Jeffrey Fay’s “Broad” and photographer Roy Goodwin’s “Flat Iron” accented by the pieces from the museum’s own collection. Streets, churches, the woods, people and the beach are the areas touched upon, and it’s all on display under the museum’s brand new lighting system.Battis points out the section dedicated to Lynn Woods. The paintings at the top of the display are new and on loan, a long panoramic photo of the woods is relatively new to the collection, but another painting off to the right that depicts the woods near the pond was added to the collection 100 years ago.”It’s such a fantastic mix, but they’re all telling the same story,” Battis said.Likewise, the people section has modern-day photography intermingling with sepia prints of yore and an oil pastel and crayon portrait of Jerusha and Judson Hutchinson that is likely more than a century old.Though the show only opened Thursday, Battis said the reaction has been overwhelming. She teased to the opening through social media, successfully stirring up excitement for the big event.”I do think the contemporary side of the show piqued people’s interest,” she said.Museum Executive Director Kate Luchini agreed. Museums tend to have an art history mantra, yet the Lynn Museum has always collected contemporary art, some of which has never been seen.As patrons approach the second floor of the museum, they are met by “View of Lynn 1969,” an oil painting by Arnold Trachtman. Battis said it’s not new to the collection, but, until now, it’s never been shown because it never quite fit in.Luchini said other pieces in the show by local artists Barry Ridlon, Yetti Frenkel and Jeff Dykes already belong to the museum. Other pieces, like Leslie Fahn Rosenberg’s “Above and Below the Trucks,” a three-dimensional paper sculpture, are on loan.Rosenberg is a full-time artist with a studio in LynnArts. The sculpture is the view from her studio window, she said. When asked how she feels seeing her piece hanging in a museum rather than a gallery or studio, she smiled.”I love seeing my things in beautiful places and professional settings,” she said.Battis also credits the show’s success to its subject, Lynn.”If there is one thing I have learned,” she said, “it’s that Lynners love their Lynn.”Just behind Rosenberg’s piece is a free-standing large cross that Battis said is so new to the collection it’s yet to be catalogued.”It came from the Maple Street Church and was donated by a credit union,” she said.The show was designed to be a stop gap, a short run before the museum launched its next large show that will focus on transportation, but Battis is already rethinking that plan.”I think we might keep this through the summer and push the transportation show off until fall,” she said.”I love the feedback, and I love that people are excited about the it,” Luchini said. “I think it brings history into the present.”Along with the new show and new lights is another new, more permanent addition to the museum’s offering: tucked on the far left hand side of the museum’s second floor is Lynn Legends.”It’s a whole new premise of rotating out pieces while keeping the meat of the exhibit,” Battis said.The first group up are innovators and feature exhibits on electrical engineer Elihu Thomson; businessman, immigrant and inventor Jan Matzeliger; Lydia Pinkham; and the Krippendorf Calculator, among others.Battis said the next group might be musicians or the mythical legends tha