Art: 'Sunday in the Park With George' offers a look at how art-making has changed

The vast majority of the objects in the show originated in Berks County and date from the 18th and 19th centuries. Although they represent folk traditions, many are attributed to individual makers, which transforms what otherwise might be generic artifacts into personal statements with which viewers can more readily connect.

While Bartlett has crafted a cross-section of the lender's collection, and of Pennsylvania German arts generally, ceramic redware takes center stage. There are superb examples of common forms such as plates, platters, and covered jars, and of the principal decorative schemes, sgraffito - scratching a design through colored slip (liquefied clay) - and slip-trailing (drawing with slip), whose patterns tend to be more abstract.

One pottery, Medinger, specialized in re-creating traditional designs, as a display of four plates demonstrates. A late 19th-century covered bowl with an openwork top from Fahr Pottery is one of the more striking pieces, along with a covered sugar jar glazed a rich bottle green.

The continuation of Pennsylvania German tradition is neatly summarized by two exhibits, a contemporary pair of shallow dishes by Lester and Barbara Breininger - one sgrafitto, one slip-trailed - next to three small plates attributed to Daniel Dry (1811-72), whose abstract decorations seem equally fresh.

The museum owns a substantial collection of Pennsylvania German art that has been out of sight while its gallery is being renovated. When it is reinstalled at the end of the summer, the brief conjunction of the two displays will offer visitors an exceptional survey of Pennsylvania German artisanal skill and aesthetic ingenuity.

Art: Art = Hard Work

Sunday in the Park with George continues at the Arden Theatre Company, 40 N. Second St., through July 4. Tickets: $29-$48. Information: 215-922-1122 or www.ardentheatre.org.

"Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans" continues at the Reading Public Museum, 500 Museum Rd., through Sept. 26. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays, and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $8 general and $6 for children, seniors, and students with I.D. Information: 610-371-5850 or www.readingpublicmuseum.org.