DUFFY SCHADE’S “OUR TOWN: FARMERS AND FARMS, 1969-1993” WEEK LONG EXHIBIT AT THE MUSEUM ON THE GREEN

Every year, for a week during the month of May, the Historical Society of Glastonbury’s Museum on the Green features a local artist.  In the past, some of the featured artists have included Christopher Gurshin, Lynn A. Damon, Josie Campbell Dellenbaugh, Harry White, Dave Magee, and the Glastonbury Art Guild Nutmeg Pastelists.  The Historical Society is proud to announce that this year’s featured artist is Duffy Schade.
Duffy’s weeklong exhibit, “Our Town: farmers and Farms, 1969-1993” will kick off with a special celebratory reception on Sunday, May 4th from 1pm to 4pm at the Museum on the Hubbard Green.  The reception is open to the public.  The Museum will be open daily from 9am to 5pm beginning Monday, May 5th until Friday, May 9th.  The exhibit focuses on a narrow category of Duffy’s overall work—namely “Farms and Farmers”. It represents a small sample of photographs taken over a period of 24 years.  As time goes by old photos like these become an increasingly valuable part of Glastonbury’s historical record.  Duffy is currently involved with editing her collection of Glastonbury photographs to donate to the Historical Society. This exhibit is part of that process. 
A selection of Duffy’s work and copies of her book will be for sale during the exhibit with a portion of the sales being donated to the Historical Society of Glastonbury. 
There is no admission fee for either the exhibit or reception.
About Duffy Royce Schade
Duffy Schade was born Edith Royce in Massachusetts. Since 1959, except for a three-year interlude, Glastonbury has been her hometown.   She has been photographing the Glastonbury scene for over fifty years, and has become well known for her countless images of people, places, events, scenery and nature. She started her business, “Photographs by Duffy”, at the age of seventeen, making portraits of kids, animals, horse events and family groups, which she published in magazines, calendars and books. This enabled her to pursue her many interests.
An early pursuit in the 1960’s, was to document the labor-intensive raising of tobacco here in town. Then, off-and-on from 1970 into 1989, she collaborated with the Glastonbury Citizen and later Glastonbury Bank & Trust to publish calendars featuring her photographs.
Farm scenes and farmers appeared in many of those calendars. In 1978 she began to concentrate on our town’s agriculture with a series about farms that she wrote and illustrated for the Citizen. Farmers were facing many problems as the town grew more suburbanized. Duffy joined with a group of farmers and others to form the Glastonbury Farmland Preservation Committee. In an effort to help the farmer’s plight they sponsored several farm tours. In 1989, ’90 and ’93 the committee published booklets with stories about each farm and photographs by Duffy and Jolly Steffens.
Her interest in our town’s farms continues. She is an avid locavore and a member of Northeast Organic Farmers Association, but has focused on other pursuits. An eleven-year project led to the publication of “From May Sarton’s Well: Writings of May Sarton: Selections and Photographs by Edith Royce Schade”, published in 1994 by Papier-Mache Press. It includes 35 photos made in Glastonbury. Copies of the book and two of the farm booklets will be for sale during the exhibit.