Benjamin Franklin EVERYWHERE

Huge seated Ben Franklin sculpture at the Franklin Institute. This sculpture is the same size as the Lincoln Mememorial in DC.

Click on this pic to see a great tourist magazine the Official Visitors Guide to Philadelphia. The Cover is this sculpture at the Franklin Institute. (You can virturally turn the pages of the zine. It is pretty cool.)

Just got back from Philly. What a great city for an Artist! There were sculptures on every block it seemed at times. We needed about a week to do all the things that we wanted to do. Friday was a really cold day too and that also stopped us from doing as much as we wanted. We did meet with our contact from the Independence Visitors Center. That went very well. I dropped off a new sample of a 7 1/2" framed print that I will now offer. She seemed to really like it.

We also went to the closest mall on the same block. The The Bourse Building. It would be the place that anyone will go to to get food and there was a print shop in there. I talked to the owner and he loved my print sample. He bought one from me and will display it to see how it does. He was interested in a 12 x 12 print. While talking to him he told me that he owns the rights to many of the tourist pictures of the city, the liberty bell and other buildings like the city hall wich is a very popular image. He sells the giclees and other images to other picture stores to sell as well. He also told me about another guy that came in and talked to him for about 4 hours about a painting of Ben that he did. He said that it wasn't that good and he didn't think it would sell. This is the first time I have heard about anyone else painting Ben.

On Saturday we checked out the Constitution Center Gift store. They had original watercolors of some local spots. They were about 11 x 7 and went for $999.00. I asked for a manager and talked to a guy that used to be the purchaser. He remembered my name and asked if I had sent him a postcard. (good to be remembered!) He told me he will make sure that the new purchaser will get the info.

We went to the Body World exhibit at the Ben Franklin Institute. It was really amazing to see all the real anatomical subjects dissected and displayed in different ways. Being so interested in anatomy myself; I am really glad we took the time to see this exhibit. Philly is the closest place that the exhibit will be to us.

Ben Franklin's Grave. The pennys allude to the "A penny saved, is a penny earned" quote.

This is at Franklin Court. The house and printshop no longer stands but the privy pit still does.

This is a pic of the house that my friend lives in. She told me that the house was over 300 years old; Older then Ben Franklin!!