Elverhoj Art Colony

Founder A. H. Andersen chose to site the colony in Milton-on-Hudson, New York, perched directly above the Western Shore Railroad, on the shore of the Hudson River,. The former studio of famed American landscape painter George Inness is nearby. The colony's motto was to “live close to nature for inspiration,” and the members of the colony were housed accordingly in numerous rustic, wooden "cabin-studios" on the property. Patrons traveled to the colony from Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, New Paltz and New York City to enjoy theater performances, exhibitions, concerts, classes and lectures. Notable neighbors and Arts and Crafts practitioners included typeface designer and co-founder of The Village Press, Frederic Goudy, and papermaker Dard Hunter (who built his own paper mill at the Gomez Mill House). A few years after A. H. Andersen lost the Elverhoj property to foreclosure in 1934, the property was acquired by followers of the charismatic Black religious leader Father Divine. The art colony property became one of Father Divine's most active "Heavens" until it was sold in 1947. The former art colony site is now privately owned. == History ==

The original eight members of the colony came from the Midwest, though Andersen and Morton were Danish immigrants. before leaving Denmark for Racine, Wisconsin. Morton left the Elverhoj colony in 1917 to begin a nearly 40-year career in craft restoration with the Rambusch Decorating Company in New York City. The National Society of Craftsmen (NYC), and the Art Students League of New York. Pearson and Morton were president and vice president of the Chicago Society of Etchers. The colony exhibited their jewelry in Chicago – in 1912, at the O'Brien Galleries in Chicago, where they exhibited their Flora Americana jewelry collection and in 1914 in the Exhibition of Industrial Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1916, the Elverhoj was profiled in Gustav Stickley's The Craftsman Associated artists Bookbinder Sterling Lord, who went on to co-found The Oakwood Binders (of Pittsfield, Massachusetts), was also affiliated with the colony during its early years. Other associated artists include Pauline Fjelde (who taught tapestry weaving during the early years of the colony's annual summer school), David Ericson (an instructor of painting), and metalsmith Clyde P. Miller (who married member Henrietta Scott in 1925 a few years after joining the colony). Members of the Elverhoj colony created metal frames for a collection of Danish artist Johan Waldemar de Rehling Quistgaard's miniature paintings, exhibited in 1915 at Vassar College's Taylor Hall and at the Hatch Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio. Poughkeepsie and Vassar College The Elverhoj Colony benefitted from the patronage of Vassar students and faculty. Early Vassar patrons of the colony included President Henry Noble MacCracken, art historian and professor Oliver Samuel Tonks, and history professor Lucy Maynard Salmon. Vassar students routinely visited the colony in Milton and studied with the colony artists. The Vassar Athletics Association even reserved a cabin at the Elverhoj colony for use by Vassar students. The Peacock Shop in Poughkeepsie exhibited and sold Elverhoj crafts; A. H. Andersen and the members of the colony designed and sold class rings to the students of Vassar College. A collection of Ralph M. Pearson's bookplates was acquired by Adelaide Underhill for the Vassar College Library. Colony members, sisters Bessie and Henrietta Scott studied and taught tapestry and art weaving at the Elverhoj Colony. Both sisters later went on to run the arts and crafts studios in Vassar College's Blodgett Hall from 1929 to 1941. Elverhoj Theater In the mid-1920s, as the arts and crafts movement had waned, the colony began to turn its focus toward theater. The Elverhoj Theater drew Broadway performers By November 1937, speculation that followers of Father Divine were purchasing the former Elverhoj property appeared in local newspapers. The property was acquired by followers of Father Divine in 1938. == References ==