Salem theater puts artist’s life on display

Staff report

SALEM

“Burchfield’s Homecoming,” a one-man play featuring Chris Fidram as Charles Burchfield, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Salem Community Theater, 490 E. State St.

Burchfield (1893-1967) was a visionary artist known for his watercolor paintings of nature scenes and townscapes. He grew up in Salem, and the play shares the artist’s memories of growing up in the city and explains how he came to feature the town’s buildings and rural scenes in his paintings.

Jeanne Elser – who is Burchfield’s grandniece – is directing the play, which was written by Dick Wootten, long-time art critic for the former Cleveland Press and a founding member of the Burchfield Homestead Society. Elser also directed it when it was originally produced in 1993.

The year 1917 was a golden year for Burchfield, and the Burchfield Homestead Society is celebrating its centennial with the play and other special events, including a dinner Friday with featured speaker Nancy Weekly, curator of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo, N.Y.

Weekly is the world’s leading expert on Burchfield and has written a book, “The Sacred Woods,” on him that will be available for purchase.

Two different Burchfield-designed wallpaper samples will be available for sale during the event. The framed paper pieces have “Birge” and “Designed by Burchfield” printed along their trim-line edges. Burchfield designed wallpapers for Birge in Buffalo, N.Y., before his art career took off in the 1930s.

Tickets for the dinner, which starts at 6 p.m. at Salem Community Center, 1098 N. Ellsworth Ave., are $25 and must be purchased in advance at the office of Atty. Fredric E. Naragon, 248 E. State St., or by calling 330-337-9578. Several of Burchfield’s local relatives will be at the dinner to share memories of his life and work.

Tickets for the play are $15 ($11 for seniors, $9 for students under 17) and can be purchased at Atty. Naragon’s office and at Lib’s Market, 474 E. State St. Tickets also will be sold at the theater box office the night of the performance.