museum a week

Reflections

2010-09-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

What did I learn from my summer project?

I loved the research about the site as much as the visit. I like historic sites more than museums. I want to know why its important, how was its history preserved, what was the world like at the time?

Each blog took 5 or 6 hours to put together.

I love historic architecture.

I want to know about the people.

I never know there were so many historic places to see.

I can't wait to do it again.

Week 8-Franklin Park Conservatory-Columbus

2010-09-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

It was my last week of the summer. Wendy and I had a hard time deciding where to visit on this drizzly Wednesday. We googled the Fire Museum, Kelton House Museum, Ohio Historical Center and ended up not at a museum, but at Franklin Park Conservatory.

Though I don't know a lot about plants or flowers, we were in for a pleasant surprise of contemporary art, specially commissioned for the conservatory's display called "Savage Gardens; The Real and Imaginary World of Carnivorous Plants."

The first gallery we went to had a display of photographs, ceramics, paintings and fabric sculptures all so unusual and unique-just a sample of all the wonderful displays to come.

A video showed how local artisans were commissioned for several large sculptures that were interspersed around the conservatory. Seeing how they were designed, made and put together added a new level of appreciation for both Wendy and I.

In 2003 Franklin Park presented a blockbuster

exhibition of Chihuly at the Conservatory. Attendance increased 180% and Friends of the Conservatory, a private, non-profit group made a stunning move, raising 7 million dollars to purchase nearly the entire Chihuly collection.

Here's the Cobalt & Clear Chandelier and Anemone Wall in the atrium inside the main entrance.

Also, here's where we ate lunch; there's a great soup and sandwich cafe.

Here's the Persian Ceiling, inside the Himalayan Mountain area.

Don't worry-we looked at plants too. Wendy's checking out some of the carnivorous plants.

This is a sculpture made by TORK Industrial Art, the one we saw in the video about how it was put together. It's patterned after a carnivorous Nepenthe's Bicalcavata plant. When you walk inside, you know how the bug feels when caught.

Here's a link to the TORK website, to find out more information about them. The Conservatory chose local artists for these commissions.

http://torkworks.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/savage-gardens-photos/

Nepenthe's Bicalvata a little hard to say?

Its common name is Tropical Pitcher Plant.

Trumpet Plant also by TORK.

They are illuminated from within. Would be great to see at night!

You know I am always wondering how did this place get started...who made this project a priority and when did it happen....what outside influences made a difference....how did it end up here in this place????

Well, I found out that in 1852, Franklin County Agricultural Society bought 88 acres just 2 miles outside Columbus to use for the Franklin County Fair. Within 20 years, more land was purchase and became the official site for guess what?? The Ohio State Fair.

The State fair only used this site for a few years,

and this lot was abandoned until 1886 when the

Ohio legislature passed a resolution, making it

a public park.

Now comes the interesting part: The Chicago's World Fair and Exposition of 1893 was such an influential social and cultural event (which I am determined to learn more about) that it inspired the city of Columbus to create a horticulture building modeled after the Exposition's Glass Palace. The glass structure, built in the grand Victorian style, was erected in Franklin Park in 1895.

Believe it or not, animals were kept in the lower rooms

of the Conservatory for a short period in the 20's.

These animals soon became part of the new Columbus Zoo-1929.

Here's another Chihuly work-Sunset Tower-located in the Pacific Island Water Garden.

1974-The original glass structure, known as The Palm House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1986-Franklin Park Conservatory was chosen to host Ameriflora "92, a world-class international horticulture exposition, and had 6 years to get ready. Renovation and a 14 million dollar expansion began.

1992-While more than a million people attended, Ameriflora was not a financial success, and the future of the Conservatory was again in question.

It took an executive director and dedicated

volunteers and staff to regain its identity and

momentum.

Two things seemed to have breathed new life into the Conservatory-In 1994 a seasonal butterfly exhibition that features thousands of tropical butterflies flying through the Pacific island Water Garden. It now attracts thousands of visitors each year.

The other breakthrough-The Dale Chihuly collection!

This is the Tropical Pitcher Plant, also called Monkey Cup. Wendy and I loved looking at all of these; we thought they looked like bananas.

Another Chihuly piece-Red Reeds, located outside on one of the many terraces.

Remember I said this was a drizzly Wednesday?

Well, one of the highlights of our visit was a loud and pretty windy thunderstorm. We were essentially inside a greenhouse, and watched the rain sheeting over the roof, pounding on the glass, and dripping in, I'm sorry to say.

This picture was taken when the rain had stopped, and everything was wet, and dripping fresh from the storm.

One of the most amazing things I discovered

about Franklin Conservatory is that there are

so many great spaces for public functions,

dinners, weddings.

Here's one of them-can you imagine this setting for a wedding?

This is called the Bride's Garden, and I have to tell you, the picture doesn't do it justice. It looks straight out of a magazine.

Here's another beautiful terrace.

Pod Sculpture called Please Do Not Disturb by Sharon McJannet and David C. Murphy

See at the end of this aisle? A giant venus flytrap that you can press a button to see how its leaves close up to catch its prey.

An outside view of a perfect place to visit. We wanted to walk around outside to see the grounds-the community garden, the pond, the culinary gardens and live fire cooking theater, but it was drizzling again, so we just took a little drive through the park.

Flashing red lights soon pulled us over, really amazing because we were travelling all of 15 m.p.h. Our crime? We were driving in a no-vehicle area. Luckily, no ticket from the Park police, just an escort back to where we were supposed to be!

As you can probably tell, not only did I love my visit to Franklin Conservatory; I can't wait to go back, maybe to see the butterfly display, maybe to see it decorated for the holidays, recommended by anyone I talked to that had seen it, and hopefully sometime at night to see some of the light displays.

Thanks, Wendy, for the company.

Here's a link for more information.

http://www.fpconservatory.org/

Week 7-Rutherford B. Hayes Home and Museum, Fremont, Ohio

2010-08-02T10:16:00.001-07:00

I loved this trip to Fremont, especially seeing Spiegel Grove, 25 acres of trees, gardens, home and museum.

An acrostic about Rutherford B. Hayes, our 19th president.

R utherford was born in Delaware, Ohio in 1822.

U nited with Lucy Webb in marriage in 1852, both were outgoing, cheerful, devoted to their family, and were thought to be perfectly suited to public life.

T hey had 5 children that survived childhood, 4 boys and a girl.

H e served 4 years in the union army during the Civil War, returned a hero and both he and Lucy thought this was his greatest life achievement.

E lected to the House of Representatives in 1865, he then served three terms as Governor of Ohio from 1867-1876.

R an for president in 1876, and the results were so close, he went to bed that night thinking he had lost the election.

F inal withdrawal of all troops from the south and the end of Reconstruction were 2 important accomplishments of his administration.

O ne of his important acts in office was laying the foundation for an American-controlled Panama Canal, built 25 years later.

R utherford's uncle, Sardis Birchard, bought, built and resided at Spiegel Grove in 1873. The Hayes family visited, worked on and occasionally stayed here before and during his presidency, retiring here in 1881.

D uring their White House years, both the president and his wife were criticized for their strong temperance beliefs, resulting in no alcohol being served in the White House.

B. oth the president and Lucy travelled extensively during his years in office, another thing they were criticized for.

H e refused to run for a second term, and had made this clear from the beginning of his campaign that he would be a "one-term president."

A t the end of his term, they moved to Spiegel Grove and began planning for additions and improvements.

Y early lists were kept ,in detail, of the plants and trees that were planted, of the yields of the crops and plans for the next year. These records can all be found on the museum's web site.

E specially close to family and friends as the Hayes were, Spiegel Grove needed more bedrooms and a larger diningroom for everyone that came to stay or visit.

S piegel Grove is the final resting place for both the president and his wife. Lucy died in 1889 before the major additions were completed on the house. The president died 4 years later.

This official portrait of Lucy Hayes still hangs in the white House today. It was a gift from the Women's Temperance Union.

This ebony furniture was designed specifically for Fanny Hayes, the president's only daughter. She used it in her room at the White House, then brought it back to Spiegel Grove where it is on display in her bedroom.

The house at Speigel Grove.

"Lovers' Lane" a popular trail in Spiegel Grove. These trees were planted by the former president.

A welcoming front porch on the house.

The grounds are beautiful, and are open to the public everyday till dark. Many walkers and bikers were there the day I visited.

The Hayes Museum was built in 1916. The presidents' great-great-grandson is currently on the Board of Trustees.

Final resting place of President Hayes and his wife, Lucy.

I followed up on this trip by reading a biography of Lucy Hayes. These were two fascinating people, devoted to their family and devoted to their country. I would have been honored to have been able to vote for this president in 1886, and I'm happy that Spiegel Grove stayed in their family, and eventually was given to the State of Ohio as an historic site!

Week 6-Cowan Pottery Museum, Rocky River

2010-07-28T13:53:00.001-07:00

R. Guy Cowan, the mentor, provided technical knowledge and artistic direction.

R. Guy Cowan, the employer, provided facilities for other artists to experiment and develop creatively while earning a living.

In 1912, Cowan opened his pottery facility in Lakewood and began producing his "Lakewood Ware."

He taught in area schools, while refining new types of glazes, new colors and clay mixures in his studio.

In 1920, a new plant was built on Lake Rd. in Rocky River. Cowan had 9 kilns, emplyed 50 master potters and artists and his studio became a popular tourist attraction.

One of Cowan's artists was Victor Schreckengost, designer of the famous "Jazz Bowl." Eleanor Roosevelt ordered one of these bowls for the White House.

Commercial production was distributed nationally to department stores: Wanamaker's (Philadelphia), Marshall Field (Chicago), Ovington (NY)
,Halle's, Sterling & Welch and Webb C. Ball (Cleveland).

By 1925 there were at least 1200 retail outlets for Cowan Pottery. Costs ranged from 50 cents to 40 dollars. Limited editions for department store displays were priced as high as 500 dollars.

Cowan Pottery became a casualty of the Depression. In 1931 its doors were closed and the collection was liquidated.

I love the shape of these vases. This center one is decorated with fish and waves, and has a light blue pearly glaze.

Cowan Pottery has won many awards, and has been displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

In 1976, The Rocky River Public Library purchased an 800 piece collection of Cowan Pottery using a donation of memorial funds.

Two years later, the Cowan Pottery Museum opened in the library, following its commitment to be an "informational, educational, recreational and cultural resource."

Thanks to Catherine who, with her husband, have taken a personal interest in this collection and recommended this museum to me.

And what is art and history if it isn't personal? While doing research about Cowan Pottery, ("Pottery, Modern Wares 1920-1960" Leslie Pina) I found a chapter about Russel Wright Modern Ware made in Stuebenville.

I rushed to the back of a kitchen cupboard and found these three pieces I chose from Aunty's dishes after she died.

They aren't rare: 80 million pieces were made from 1939-1959. But there are some good stories about a near riot in Gimbel's, as women rushed the store to purchase these dishes.

Like I tell my students, if you have 2 or more, you have a collection. I think I have a collection. Thank you, Aunty.

Here are some links if you want to learn about Cowan Pottery or Russell Wright Modern Ware.

http://http//www.bauerpottery.com/russelwright.php

http://http//www.cowanpottery.org/aboutcowan.htm

Next week I'm headed to Fremont, Ohio. C'mon along for some Ohio history.

Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art-Las Vegas

2010-07-26T05:06:00.001-07:00

When you think of Las Vegas museums, I bet you expected The liberace Museum or the Neon Museum.

But I found "Figuratively Speaking" at the Bellagio Gallery. Well, really Amy suggested it, and it was well worth leaving the sun and pool to see paintings, photographs, sculptures and video by traditional and contemporary artists, from the 1800's to present day.

"The Sweeper"
Pierre Renoir 1889

"Celia in a Black Slip"

David Hockney 1973

"Paul IV"

Chuck Close 2001

This was one of my favorites.

The painting is made up of these small shapes, used in a grid-like pattern.

"Woman with Beret"

Pablo Picasso, 1938

A sculpture that really fascinated Amy and I was a form of a person, covered in crocheted granny squares, with jack-in-the-boxes sticking out all over it. (I know that sounds a bit bizzare) I can't remember the name of the piece or the artist, but will keep working on trying to find it. You can see it in the top box of this Bellagio video link.

http://www.bellagio.com/amenities/gallery-of-fine-art.aspx

Week 4- Dunham Tavern & Museum, Cleveland

2010-07-22T06:20:00.000-07:00

Dunham Tavern was a stagecoach stop on a Buffalo-Cleveland-Detroit post road. It is the oldest building still standing on its original site in Cleveland.

Rufus and Jane Dunham arrived in the Western Reserve in 1819, acquired 14 acres here and lived in a log cabin.

Taking advantage of their land's position on a well-travelled stagecoach route, they built the tavern and home in 1824.

The stagecoach dropped off women and children at this front door. leading to a sitting room.

Men went in this door, which led into the Tap Room. On the first floor there is also a Keeping Room with a large fireplace and a kitchen. Upstairs are several bedrooms. The museum contains furnishings from the period, though not original to the building.

Dunham Tavern was also used for parties, turkey shoots and political meetings.

There were a total of four buildings on the site. This is the original smokehouse-small-about 4 feet by 4 feet.

Another original building, surrounded by colorful gardens.

The story of the Tavern's preservation is just as interesting and relevant. It was sold to a banker in 1857 and used as a home for the next 70 years.

In the 1930's, the building was used as studio space for WPA artists and designers. Donald Gray, a landscape architect, had offices in the Tap Room. He became interested in the history of the site, organized a Society of Collectors, and eventually took responsibility for the building and grounds, opening it to the public in 1941.

Euclid Avenue today

The Dunham Tavern and Museum sit on this same site. It has seen a stage coach route, Millionaire's Row, car dealerships and urban renewal.

As I've been looking for museums to visit for this summer project, I've been surprised at the number of historical sites, museums and homesteads that have been preserved in so many suburbs of greater Cleveland. Places like Dunham Tavern, sitting in the middle of 21st century busy-ness, reminding us of who came before us, if we just take the time to look, and see, and listen.

Next week-Las Vegas

Week 3- James Garfield Memorial at Lakeview Cemetery & his home, Lawnfield, Mentor

2010-07-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to go back in time, to feel like you are living in a house, and climbing the stairs and sitting on a chair and watching the people at the dinner table?

Well, that's exactly what it felt like at Lawnfield, President James Garfield's home in Mentor. the park ranger that led our tour was so enthusiastic and informative about the Garfield family and home, it seemed as though we got to know the President, his wife Lucretia, and their five children. We could picture them reading a book, running through the wide hallways
or greeting voters out on the sweeping front porch at the first ever "Front Porch Campaign."

Hundreds of people would take the train to Mentor, get off at the train depot that was built right at the edge of Garfield's farm, and walk a path through his farm fields to listen to his eloquent speeches. Candidates at this time thought it wasn't "presidential" to go to the people to campaign, so they came to him.

One of the things I love about this project is that it makes me want to learn so much more about this president who was assassinated and served less than a year in office. He was successful at a variety of occupations: college president, farmer, congressman, general.

Sometimes we Ohioans take for granted our state's title of "Mother of Presidents." President Garfield is an example of why we shouldn't. He had the potential to be a great president. It's
our loss that he wasn't given the chance

Some important numbers about President Garfield:

200- Number of days in office

80- Number of days he lingered after a gun shot wound by a disgruntled seeker of a diplomatic post. Medical experts believe he could have survived the injury had he had better care, even at that time.

5-Number of children he had. James served as Secretary of the Interior under T. Roosevelt. Abram attended M.I.T. and became an accomplished architect. Harry served as president of Williams College. Molly was the only daughter that survived childhood.

185-The number of acres of the original farm. Now just 8 acres, it was given to the Western

Reserve Historical Society in 1936 by the Garfield family. Over 80 percent of the furnishings are original.

350,00-The amount of money that was raised in a trust for Mrs. Garfield to use after her husband's death (would be over 5 million dollars in today's currency) There had been no provision made for Mary Todd Lincoln after Lincoln's assassination, so businessman Cyrus Field took it upon himself to help raise money for Lucretia.

29-Rooms in Lawnfield. Above is the Presidential library that Mrs. Garfield had built after her husband's death. It contains all of his papers and some of his extensive book collection. The rest are in many book shelves around the house. This is one of the things that made this visit so meaningful and authentic for me; to be able to see the books that were read, in the chair that he sat in, in the room that he used. It was an amazing way to bring history alive!

A solemn way to end my President Garfield visit was to his tomb and memorial at Lake view Cemetery.

Here's the tower that rises above the trees.

The front entrance. Isn't it majestic?

The view from the observation deck at the top of the monument. What an amazingly clear day to see downtown.

The statue of Garfield inside the monument. On the floor beneath, he and his wife are entombed in a crypt, and the ashes of Molly and her husband are kept there also. It was kind of spooky down there.

This summer project of visiting a museum-a-week is so fun! Can't wait to see where it takes me next week. Katy, Nate, boys and dogs are all here. I'll see if I can find something that would interest them.

Week 2- National Historic First Ladies Museum-Canton

2010-06-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

I was in for an interesting afternoon at the National First Ladies Museum. It's located in an old bank building in the middle of downtown Canton and is filled with interesting articles, pictures, clothes and information. I took a tour and the docents were informative, telling lots of things about the times many of these women lived in.

Three first ladies have visited this site: Laura Bush, Roslyn Carter and Hilary Clinton.

This site is a recent concept, established in 2000 as a place to research, explore, understand and appreciate the role these women have played in American history.

Are you ready for some First Lady trivia? Here we go! Answers follow.

1. How many First Ladies are alive today?

2. Who was the only First Lady not born in the United States?

3. Who was the youngest First Lady in history?

4. You know Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of Franklin Delano. What was Teddy Roosevelt's wife's name? Not so well-known, is she!

5. A First Lady of firsts: first to hold a college degree, first to use a telephone and typewriter in the White House, first to see the installation of running water system, first to travel without her husband to give speeches- Who was she?

1. 7-M. Obama, L. Bush, H. Clinton, B. Bush, R. Carter, N. Reagan, B. Ford

2. Louisa Adams, wife of john Quincy, was born in England

3. Francis Cleveland, only 21 when Grover Cleveland married her. He was 30 years older and they were married after he was elected.

4. Edith Roosevelt

5. Lucy Hayes, pictured above. She was a disappointment to womens rights groups of the time, who expected her to take a more active role in her husband's administration. She instead chose to focus on family responsibilites.

Week 1-Texas

2010-06-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

My first museum: The Plains-Panhandle Museum at Western Texas A & M

And what is the history of the panhandle? Oil, Cattle and Wind

I went with Liz, Nate, Nate Jr. and Trevor, during our vacation to Amarillo. The first thing we saw was the giant oil rig on display at the front of the museum. Some other highlights: an old gas station, lots of history of oil drilling and how it got started and helped build up the area in the early 1900's. It kind of sounded like the gold-rush to California-people flocking to Texas to try to make their fortune.

We enjoyed the videos that showed the early oil towns and the people. Also, the pioneer town set up as a model containing a general store, a saloon, barber shop, post office and other buildings you'd find in an early settlement.

Liz liked the giant oil rig and all its interesting parts.

Trevor liked the hands-on activities best, and ran to each one as we entered a new area.

We all liked the wheel of fortune, that predicted how you would fare as a farmer during the dust-bowl drought of the 30's.

Big Nate liked riding side-saddle on the saddle display.

I was disappointed as the Museum store closed before we could go in and shop.

Everyone was a good sport, coming along on my museum project.

Here's a link to see more about the museum.

http://www.panhandleplain s.org/