Suspended Worlds - SAVE 50%!

A unique look at an overlooked element of the American fabric — the ambitious murals that served as the backdrops for entertainment in small-town New England. Long before television and the internet, entertainment was often a performance at the local grange or Town Hall. Since there wasn't much money for costumes or props, the plays relied on all-purpose scenic backdrops - painted canvases of local scenes and interest. And they were often glorious. Many of these minor masterpieces of vernacular art still survive and are presented in all their glory in this richly illustrated book celebrating the colorful and memorable painted curtains that graced the stages of countless New England towns. A remarkable team of conservators from "Curtains without Borders" has overcome a century of dirt, damage, and neglect to restore hundreds of these historic theater curtains. This book presents exquisite photographs of these enormous pieces of art that have been hidden away and neglected for too long.

Painted walls rank as 'one of the greatest forms of American folk art,'...[Suspended Worlds is] an in-depth study of the subject. —The New York Times

...an art form that desperately needed a champion. Along the way, [Hadsel's] shown that these works and the buildings where they make their home aren’t strictly relics from the past. There’s a place and an importance for them in the modern world, too. Perhaps even a critical one. —Yankee Magazine

The fruits of the [Curtains Without Border’s] labors have been collected in an art book...[the curtains] are great pieces of folk art....restoration of the theater scenery can serve as a microcosm and inspiration for the larger project. —Associated Press

Many undiscovered treasures...[an] effort to restore a preserve a part of the past. —Vermont Public Radio A coffee table book that belongs in the library of every Vermonter....a clear account of an imaginative partnership that has, so far, saved 185 theater curtains from neglect. —The Barton Chronicle