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Brandywine River Museum Volunteers
Prepare for Critter Season

(September 2006, #039)

For Immediate Release

CHADDS FORD, PA — Teasel, pokeweed, indigo, curly pea? These could be ingredients for a magic potion or wizard's brew. However, these natural materials are among the essential components Brandywine River Museum volunteers use to handcraft remarkable "critters," whimsical creatures for which the museum's annual Critter Sale and holiday display, A Brandywine Christmas, is famous.

In March of each year, museum volunteers begin to collect a wide variety of natural materials which they find locally or have sent to them by friends and family. Pat McGrail of Chadds Ford, a 15-year volunteer and chairperson for the Critter Workshop, says people send her seeds and pods that can't be found in this area which she then brings to the workshop for critter making. "People even mail me natural materials from California," she said.

The materials then need to be prepared and properly cared for so that they can be stored and later used for critter-making. That often involves baking the materials in an oven or brushing them with a toothbrush to remove seeds and burrs.

The critter volunteers create the whimsical creatures in a building on the Brandywine River Museum's campus in Chadds Ford. The meticulously organized workshop houses dozens of bins filled with an assortment of pods, seeds, pinecones, corn husks and other materials waiting to be made into unique ornaments. Volunteers create about 8,000 new ornaments for the annual sale and hundreds more for the museum's holiday exhibition.

Critters are not only sought after locally. The clever ornaments have appeared on the White House Christmas tree and have been shown several times at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. They are also featured in the book, Brandywine Critters: Nature Crafts from "A Brandywine Christmas," available in the Brandywine River Museum Shop.

This year, the Annual Critter Sale is on Saturday, December 2 and Sunday, December 3, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in the Brandywine River Museum's Lecture Room. Proceeds from critter sales benefit the Brandywine River Museum Volunteers' Art Purchase Fund. Cash, check, MasterCard and Visa are accepted. Admission to the sale is free.

Visitors can also see critters on wreaths and holiday displays during the museum's annual holiday exhibition, A Brandywine Christmas from November 24 through January 7.

The Brandywine River Museum is located on US Route 1 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. The museum is open daily, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except Christmas Day. Admission is $8 for adults; $5 for seniors ages 65 and over, students, and children over six; free for children under six and members. For more information, call 610-388-2700 or visit the museum's website at www.brandywinemuseum.org.

Photography is available upon request.

Media Contact:
Halsey Spruance or Lora Englehart at 610-388-8337

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Brandywine River Museum, U.S. Route 1 and PA Route 100
P.O. Box 141, Chadds Ford, PA 19317