May 31 – June 15, 2025

Wednesdays through Sundays 1 to 5 pm

Opening reception Saturday, May 31st

1 to 5 pm

Gallery Talks at 2:30 pm

“I don’t know what other people find exciting, but discovering a collection of more than 40 Ben Solowey artworks that have never been exhibited before was certainly exciting to me, and I am sure visitors to the Solowey studio will feel the same,” says David Leopold, Director of the Solowey Studio. “This collection includes examples of Ben’s earliest canvases to some of his final ones. Several pieces are in Solowey handmade frames, while the sculptures include an undocumented piece. Along with these rediscovered works, there will be even more hidden treasures never seen at the Solowey Studio before. We have not had an exhibition of this much previously unseen art since perhaps our first show more than 30 years ago.” This new exhibition, HIDDEN TREASURES: The Reiskin Collection will open to the public on Saturday, May 31^st at the Solowey Studio in Ottsville, PA with a reception from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and remain open on Sunday at the same hours. The exhibit will continue Wednesdays through Sundays, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., through June 15^th.

“In 1954, Ben Solowey taught at the New Hope Fine Arts Workshop alongside other nationally recognized artists at a converted farm run by Dolly Borkow. There Ben met Dolly’s daughter, Joan, and eventually her boyfriend, Allan Reiskin, who would become Joan’s husband. The Soloweys became friends with the Reiskins, and over the subsequent decades, the couple acquired dozens of pieces from Ben, creating one of the largest private collections of Solowey art.,” explains Katherine Eastman, the Studio’s Associate Curator. “After Ben’s death, the Reiskins continued to visit Rae. On one visit they persuaded Rae to let them have several canvases she was using as a doormat in Ben’s workshop, and they restored several important early Solowey paintings, including one of Ben’s Academy paramour.” This is the first exhibition of Solowey’s theater work in over 16 years and will feature many Solowey portraits that have not been seen in more than 80 years.

The artwork in HIDDEN TREASURES: The Reiskin Collection will be on view in the Solowey’s Studio “Second Studio”. In the Solowey Main Studio will be a selection of paintings, drawings, and sculpture from all parts of his career, displayed in the studio that where many of the works were created. “There is nothing like the thrill of seeing these masterpieces where they were created, in Solowey’s spacious studio,” says Leopold, “which maintains the atmosphere of the artist at work.”

“In honor of our opening on May 31st, we will continue our tradition of serving homemade refreshments in the Solowey home,“ announces Leopold. “The two-hundred-fifty-year-old farmhouse was restored by Ben and is filled with museum quality furniture handcrafted by him. This will be the only time we open the house this year, so this truly is a special event.”

The Studio of Ben Solowey is located at 3551 Olde Bedminster Road in Ottsville, Pennsylvania. For more information on HIDDEN TREASURES: The Reiskin Collection or directions, contact The Studio of Ben Solowey at 215-795-0228, or visit www.solowey.com for more stories on the art in the exhibition.