To celebrate Jamie Wyeth’s Retrospective at the Brandywine River Museum of Art, painter George ‘Frolic’ Weymouth hosted one of his legendary dinner parties. The centerpieces on the tables were baskets holding objects that Jamie loved to paint – live roosters! When we were seated, Frolic rose and spoke with his usual elegance and humor, and the roosters were respectfully silent. But when Jamie got up and began to speak, there was a crowing somewhere in the room, which I thought was Frolic playing a prank. Not so. The rooster at my table soon answered, and then another and another spoke up as the centerpieces throughout the room came noisily to life, crowing away! Needless to say, poor Jamie could not get a word in edgewise. It was as if the spirits of Jamie’s father, Andrew Wyeth, his grandfather N. C. Wyeth, Andy Warhol, and Jimmy Lynch were exclaiming, ‘Well done, Jamie!’ I’m sure his speech was eloquent, but the rooster chorus pretty much drowned him out. And then, just as Jamie sat down, as if on cue, the roosters fell silent. Frolic had done it again!

Ever the fine host, Frolic insisted that I take two centerpieces home with me. The pair lived in my studio for a time, where they were great fun and proved to be true characters—just like the guests at Frolic’s dinner. True to form, the lively birds, which I named ‘Frolic’ and ‘Dinner Guest’, would often start crowing, reminding me of that wonderful dinner party with crowing centerpieces.