Events and Exhibits Gallery – old

Artifacts Wall - Southern Tier Welcome Center - 2017

Wharton Studio history is excited to be featured on the Artifacts Wall in the new Southern Tier Welcome Center on Interstate 81 in Kirkwood, NY, which opened this past fall after a large-scale renovation.

WSM's exhibit includes a black and white framed image of the Wharton, Inc. studio circa 1915, a small screen playing a clip from a silent film made in Ithaca and some text about Ithaca's silent film history. The Welcome Center focuses on NYS products, as well as history and destinations one can discover while visiting the region. Thank you to Empire State Development for including Central New York film history.  Hope you will pop in to see the new center and WSM's exhibit on your travels on I-81!

Location: Southern Tier Welcome Center on Interstate 81 in Kirkwood, NY

The Biggest Little Fashion City: Ithaca & Silent Film Style - 2016

In 2016, WSM collaborated with Cornell’s Costume & Textile Collection and Cornell University's Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design on The Biggest Little Fashion City: Ithaca and Silent Film Style, a multimedia exhibit focused on fashion during the silent film era with a focus on Irene Castle and featuring original pieces that Castle wore when she lived in Ithaca and worked for the Wharton Studio.

Location:  Level "T” of the Human Ecology Building, Cornell University, Ithaca NY.

Behind the Lens: A Snapshot of Propaganda at the Turn of the 20th Century - 2013

In 2013, WSM and The History Center collaborated to develop Behind the Lens: A Snapshot of Propaganda at the Turn of the 20th Century, a free-form architectural installation illustrating a time in the early part of the 20th century,  when radio, the printed page, and movies were tools of psychological warfare that were often colorful, dramatic, and often outrageous in scope and statement.  The exhibit featured film clips edited by Moving Box.

Location: The History Center, Ithaca, NY

Trip the Light Fantastic - 2012

A re-installation from Romance, Exploits & Peril: When Movies Were Made in Ithaca

An installation celebrating Ithaca’s once numerous historic theatres, Trip the Light Fantastic was originally designed for the State Theatre Box Office window as part of Romance, Exploits & Peril exhibit in 2011 and reconfigured for a space at The History Center. The exhibit featured an 1896 mutascope and a small LED screen that played the film one would see if one cranked the mutascope.

Location: The History Center, Ithaca, NY

Romance, Exploits & Peril: When Movies Were Made in Ithaca - 2011

A county-wide exhibition in eight parts, Romance, Exploits & Peril delved into Central New York's silent film past and Wharton Studio's unique role in that history. The exhibition's flagship installation, an 80-ft. long Timeline of film history, graced the Avenue of Friends in the Tompkins  County Public Library in downtown Ithaca.  Seven smaller satellite exhibits were on display throughout downtown and the area, at locations such as State Theatre Box Office, The Crescent Building (formerly the Crescent Theater), Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport, Cayuga Medical Center, Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC), Gimme! Coffee on W. State St., and Petrune on The Commons.  Funded in part by Tompkins County Tourism Program and Park Foundation.

Location: Ithaca and Tompkins County