AUDUBON LOOP TRAIL TO OPEN

LOWER PROVIDENCE — The Montgomery County Commissioners are pleased to announce the opening of the Audubon Loop Trail on June 1, 2006.

The public is invited to attend the dedication of this 4.5-mile loop or recreational trail that connects the Perkiomen and Schuylkill River trails at 11 a.m. just inside the entrance to the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove off Pawlings Road in Lower Providence Township.

The opening will be done in conjunction with John James Audubon Day at Mill Grove and is a precursor to the 14^th annual National Trail Day on June 3^rd.

Other Audubon Day festivities include the first John James Audubon Center Leadership Luncheon for 100 invited guests.  Jean Bochnowski, the Center’s Director, will use the luncheon to unveil plans for a new museum to house Montgomery County’s remarkable collection of John James Audubon art and artifacts. It will conclude with a special sneak peak of a new Audubon documentary. Filmed in part at Mill Grove, the documentary is currently in production for PBS’s American Masters series.

The general public is also invited to meet French watercolorist Denis Clavreul from 2 to 4 p.m.  Clavreul’s one-man show, titled Chasing Audubon: Denis Clavreul’s Journey in Watercolors, runs from June 1 through September 3 in the Center’s new “Changing Gallery.” This exhibition, which is designed to demonstrate Audubon’s lasting influence on contemporary artists and wildlife conservationists, marks the first time the Center’s museum will feature an artist other than John James Audubon.

Chasing Audubon will include dozens of stunning images Clavreul has created since 2003, when he began retracing Audubon’s path through France and the United States.

John James Audubon Day festivities come to a close with the world premiere of To Follow Nature in Her Walks: The Art and Environmentalism of John James Audubon at the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA. Created in collaboration with the John James Audubon Center, the exhibition showcases Audubon’s meticulous oversight during mass production of Birds of America.

Visitors to the show will see four bound volumes of Audubon’s original “Double Elephant Folio” edition of Birds of America (from National Audubon Society’s collection at the Smithsonian Institution), proof plates marked by Audubon, original copper plates used during the printing process, and numerous individual framed images.

In April 2003, Montgomery County and the National Audubon Society signed an agreement turning over day-to-day operations at Mill Grove to the Audubon Society. Built in 1762 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Mill Grove was the first American home of renowned artist, naturalist, and author John James Audubon. Today, 175 acres of Mill Grove’s original estate remains largely as Audubon found it -- a haven for birds and wildlife. The property boasts more than nine miles of trails, and the historic three-story stone farmhouse serves as a museum displaying original Audubon prints, oil paintings, and Audubon memorabilia.