Local collector shares art collection at Altoona museum

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — John Orr mulled the question. What is the role of art?

"It's civilizing," but otherwise is difficult to explain and is subjective, Orr told a gathering at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art (SAMA) in Altoona recently. The group was attending a luncheon celebrating an exhibit of art collected by Orr and his late wife through 50 years of marriage, both of them retired teachers from the Altoona Area School District. "The Heart and Soul of Olga and John Orr" includes 35 works and will be on display through March 14.

"John, for you to let me come in and rob your house like that ... you are so gracious," Barbara Hollander, SAMA-Altoona coordinator, said. "There aren't a lot of collectors who would do that."

Hollander said she approached Orr about the exhibit, which represents about half of his total collection. "I selected things I like, but someone else might pick something different," she said.

Orr said that since his wife died from renal cancer in 2012, he has been "a little mixed. I'm half a person. Olga and I had this common bond of art."

But Orr cannot contain his love for art — and his knowledge of artists — spewing details about those from central Pennsylvania or others who just visited here, including Mary Cassatt, a native of Pittsburgh who lived in Altoona for a time before becoming a central figure in the development of Impressionism in late 19th century Paris.

"You can't own all the artists, but you can support a lot of them" by buying their works, especially the local ones, Orr said. Buy art for family and friends on special occasions, he implored. Visit museums. Even a trip to the Blair County Courthouse can be rewarding: It is home to early and mid-19th century portraits of judges painted by Samuel Calvin of Hollidaysburg, who, Orr suggested, might be considered Blair County's "father of painting."

He said Frederick Counsel probably is the most famous artist from the area, and Orr's exhibit includes five works from the the Altoona native, who was born in 1910 and died in 1978. Counsel studied art in Philadelphia, New York and Paris, where he painted his "Students on the Place des Vosges Paris 1949," an ink, graphite and colored chalk piece that now is in Orr's collection.

The most famous artist represented, he said, is Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), who illustrated "Moby Dick" and other books. Kent's wood engraving, "Girl on Cliff," is from 1930, and probably is the most expensive of Orr's collected works.

But, he and his wife "didn't buy art as an investment to make money," Orr said. They bought it because they loved it.

"Light from the Loft," by Indiana, Pa., native Julie Bernstein Englemann "said 'Buy me, when I saw it,'" he said. The folk art piece "Friends," by Kimber Lee Clark "spoke to us" from a gallery in Maine. "We like it for the simplicity, the colors. It was love at first sight," he added.

In some cases, grateful artists gave them pieces, and in other cases, his parents gave him art, including five pieces in the exhibit.

Orr was born in Carlisle, Pa., where his father worked for Proctor & Gamble at the time. The family moved to Blair County — his mother was from Hollidaysburg — by the time young Orr was in first grade.

He attended Altoona public schools, graduating from high school in 1957. He attended Penn State Altoona for one year and he still can remember in detail those professors who influenced him and taught him to appreciate art and music. He transferred to the Penn State University Park campus to complete his liberal arts degree with a major in Russian and English.

Like many young college students from central Pennsylvania, Orr spent his summers at the shore in Wildwood, N.J., working odd jobs, including cutting fudge for Douglass Candies. He stayed at the Gettysburg Hotel for less than $10 a week. It is where he met Olga Marinelli, who graduated from Altoona High three years after he did.

"We weren't exactly hippies," he said, but it was something of a communal, bohemian lifestyle at the shore among dozens of friends, including several he had to bail out of jail.

After he graduated from Penn State in 1961, he and Olga married. Vietnam was on the horizon, and "you either enlisted or got drafted," Orr said. He enlisted and went to Washington, D.C. to join the Army Intelligence Corps.

After their first son, Johnny, was born, the family moved to Europe where Orr was assigned to Paris for 2 1/2 years. Their second child, Tanya, was born there, and the couple fell in love with the City of Lights, visiting all the museums. Today, he describes himself as a Francophile.

After the Army, Orr and his family returned to Pennsylvania and Orr embarked upon a 34-year career at Altoona High, teaching Russian language and English. His wife returned to Penn State for her bachelor's and master's degrees and taught for 19 years at Wright Elementary and 16 years at Logan Elementary.

At first they lived in a housing project on Duff Drive, where their youngest child was born. Orr delivered Billy, tying the umbilical cord with a new shoe lace before cutting it with a steak knife and then driving his wife to the hospital. In hindsight, he described it as a "wild" experience, but it went well because he remained calm. They moved to Columbia Park in 1970, where Orr has lived since.

Their teaching schedules allowed them to travel often and Paris and Italy were their favorite destinations. "Olga didn't like to go to edgy places, like India," Orr said. They also spent time in Cape May, N.J., New York City and coastal Maine.

Those destinations allowed him to continue his hobby as a birder, which he has enjoyed since his parents bought him a pair of binoculars when he was a child. He has been a member of the Audubon Society since elementary school, and 30 years go he founded the Juniata Valley Audubon Society.

Film buffs, Orr and his wife went to theaters at home and when traveling. He has seen all of this year's Oscar-nominated films that have been shown in Altoona, and traveled to see others.

Orr also writes his own poetry and short stories, and he is a Zen Buddhist.

"It is not a religion," he said. "It's a philosophy, a way of looking at life. Olga was an atheist, but I am a deist, like our founding fathers. I'm not against Christians; I'm just not one."

While his wife mostly collected art, Orr described himself as an "eclectic collector of many things." His library has 6,000 volumes, and he collects coins, stamps and a couple of older cars.

"I always had a curiosity about everything," he said. "I'm like a sponge."

Orr said it didn't take a huge budget to enjoy cultivating his collections or traveling.

"I'm Scottish, so I'm thrifty," he said, explaining, for example, that when he and his wife traveled, they didn't fly or stay in hotels that were first-class. He also has bought art at auctions.

Don't ask Orr to pick his single favorite piece of art. That would be like asking him to name his favorite child, and he won't do it.

"Art seduces us in a way," he told his SAMA audience. "There's something about it. It's hard to explain."

It separates the civilized from those who would destroy 11th century Buddhist statues in Afghanistan, as the Taliban did, or who would steal art for impure reasons, as Hitler did, before ordering its destruction as the Third Reich was falling.

"It's a mark of an advanced society when we appreciate art," Orr said.

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Information from: Altoona Mirror, http://www.altoonamirror.com

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