Czarshaw Accepted to Johns Hopkins

It was a chance visit to a special exhibition at the Field Museum in Chicago in 2005 that changed the course of my life. The Field Museum was hosting Pompeii: Stories from an Eruption telling the tale of the Roman city’s final hours before being covered by a thick layer of volcanic ash. The well-preserved artifacts recovered from Pompeii, including bright frescoes, polished jewelry and somber body casts, illustrate how a once thriving city was destroyed and recovered. I was in awe at the fact that these precious artifacts could stand the test of time, and captivated by the fact that people 2000 years ago lived so similarly to people today. The exhibition inspired me to understand how major exhibitions like Pompeii were produced and toured, and I set out on a journey to explore roles in museums and be a part of something as amazing as what I had experienced.

My museum career spans almost 8 years now and I have been fortunate to meet a lot of amazing people on this journey. From the Museum Program Specialist group at the Indiana State Museum, to my rockstar staff at Cincinnati Museum Center, I have appreciated everyone’s support as I worked through professional, personal and educational challenges. With that said, I am happy to announce the next step of my professional career.

I have been accepted to the Johns Hopkins Master of Arts in Museum Studies Program and will be starting classes this fall. I am extremely excited about this opportunity, and am looking forward to interacting with a variety of people at different stages in their careers. While I have enjoyed much success thus far in my museum career, I enthusiastically welcome this next phase of my life in personal and professional growth. I would like to thank Johns Hopkins University, the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Advanced Academic Programs, and Ann and Claire for their amazing recommendations.

Click here for more information about the program!

Have a message of support? Leave a comment or email me directly at mharsha1@jhu.edu!

 

Seasons Greetings from Cincinnati Museum Center!

Happy Holidays from Cincinnati Museum Center!

Holiday cheer is echoing all throughout Union Terminal right now.

Voices of singing groups are delighting us with daily Holiday Harmonies performances. The sounds of train whistles emerge from the Cincinnati History Museum, now home to the Duke Energy Holiday Train display and our annual Holiday Junction, as well as from the Rocky Mountain Express barreling through the OMNIMAX® Theater. Laughter and sounds of WOW are daily occurrences in the Duke Energy Children’s Museum and our Museum of Natural History & Science. Even reverential silence can be heard in the spectacular exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times.

I want to share this cheer with you and invite you to be a part of it in the next few weeks and throughout the year.

A few inside tips from me to you:

• Duke Energy is generously offering FREE vouchers to its customers to see the holiday train display. Get your voucher at www.holidaytraindisplay.com and be sure to use it before Dec. 24.

• We’ve got special hours, including extended evenings on Friday and Saturday nights. This is a great time to visit, the lines are shorter and you can make a date of it with a great restaurant downtown! Our holiday hours (through January 6, 2013) are:

Monday through Thursday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Sunday:11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
December 24: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Christmas Day: Closed
December 31 and January 1: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

• And, Membership is the best deal around. This is a great gift, providing free admission to our museums, discounts on OMNIMAX®, special exhibits, retail and food, and free parking! Buy one Membership now, get the second for 50 percent off.

Thank you for supporting Cincinnati Museum Center. Happy New Year!

 

The 17th Annual Holiday Junction -Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal – Cincinnati, Ohio

Merry Christmas everyone! I thought it appropriate to write about the holiday exhibit at my home museum since Christmas is at the end of this week! Located in the lower level South Gallery of the Cincinnati History Museum Holiday Junction is celebrating its seventeenth year as a family destination where holiday memories are created.

Thomas coming around the bend

This is my second Christmas season as the Manager of Special Exhibits at Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal and this year we added a few things to enhance the exhibit this year. Of course we have plenty of model train layouts to watch as they whiz around snowy hills and cityscapes, but added to our trains this year is Harry Potter’s Hogwart’s Express, and not only is there one Thomas the Tank Engine, but there are TWO!

Again, the kids can ride the children’s train around a wintry scene, play Reindeer Games, and visit with Santa Claus so don’t forget to bring your holiday wish lists! Have last minute shopping to do? Have no fear! During the holiday season Cincinnati Museum Center has not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR stores loaded with last minute gifts with one located conveniently inside Holiday Junction!

There is plenty of holiday cheer to go around so if you’re not yet in the holiday spirit, come see Holiday Junction. You’ll be singing Christmas carols in no time.

IMHO (In my humble opinion)

It’s a great exhibit to bring the family and have a good time. There is something for everyone, and Holiday Junction serves as the proverbial cherry on top of any all museums visit to Cincinnati Museum Center.

For More Information:

Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal

Website: http://www.cincymuseum.org Twitter: @cincymuseum

 

Gold: The Exhibition – The Field Museum – Chicago, Illinois

Gold banner at Field Museum

So, from time to time I revisit an exhibition that I have seen or have gotten to work with myself. In this instance, I was privileged enough to visit my former special exhibit over this past spring Gold: The Exhibition on display at The Field Museum, at Chicago, Illinois beautiful museum campus. Gold: The Exhibition was developed by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, New York, and is nearing the end of its tour.

As I mentioned when I wrote about Gold in Cincinnati, one of the unique design challenges of Union Terminal are the hallways that separate the front 5000 square foot exhibit hall from the back 10000 square foot exhibit hall. We get to create exhibitry in those hallways that prepare the visitor for what they are about to see with artifacts and content relevant to the main exhibition. This was not the case in Chicago. The exhibition space only houses the exhibit proper and there is no need for additional complimentary items.

Entrance to Gold

Seeing the usual suspects like the Seahorse Nugget in Aurum Naturae, the gold room in the Incomparable Gold gallery, and the Eureka bar from the wreck of the SS Central America on September 12, 1857 was like visiting old acquaintances on the road. There were a few new items in the Golden Ages gallery where the ladies can find plenty of things to add to their Christmas wish lists courtesy Cartier and Tiffany’s. If you are into coins, then look no further than the Gold Standard gallery featuring many coins from all around the world spanning dozens of centuries. Lastly, stop by Gold Achievement if you have ever wanted to see an Oscar, Emmy, or a Golden Globe statuette up close, or find out what your weight is worth in gold, now is your chance! For local ties, Chicago also added a Grammy won by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as the Chicago White Sox 2005 World Series Trophy.

IMHO (In my humble opinion)

The content is still exciting, the exhibit is still spacious, and as a White Sox fan, seeing the trophy just makes the exhibit totally worthwhile. Taking the time to visit Gold in addition to the Field Museum’s Grainger Hall of Gems makes the trip doubly worthwhile. While Gold: The Exhibition is at the end of its tour, you have until March 6, 2011 to see it!

For More Information:

Website: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/gold/#index Twitter: @fieldmuseum

 

Invisible: Slavery Today – National Underground Railroad Freedom Center – Cincinnati, Ohio

Greetings exhibitophiles! It is great to be back at the keyboard after a long and unplanned hiatus from bringing you the inside scoop on great exhibits around the country! My time away has given me some great opportunities to travel all over the Midwest to see more great exhibits to tell you about.

But first…

I’ll start with a new permanent installation right here in Cincinnati, Ohio. In early October, my friends at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center unveiled its newest exhibition Invisible: Slavery Today, which is an exhibit, dedicated to exposing to all that slavery and human trafficking isn’t something that ended after the American Civil War and no longer exists.

The exhibit looks like an abandoned warehouse with many facts and figures regarding human trafficking on the boxes and crates in the exhibit. You learn that slavery still exists and that today slavery is divided into five categories – Forced Labor, Child Labor, Sex Trafficking, Bonded Labor, and Domestic Servitude. Each type of slavery is artistically represented in the beginning of the exhibit as sculptures of individuals. The exhibit goes on to define modern day slavery and discusses the four key factors that lure people into slave situations – Deception, Poverty, Naïveté, and Illiteracy.

The examples provided for each type of slavery are all heartbreaking, and powerful stories. Such as the box with a filthy mattress in a small dirty room in the middle of the exhibit that tells the story of Margo who is sold into sex slavery. The visual with the handprints on the walls and the disgusting mattress drive the story straight to your soul.

Or the story of the wait staff at the country club; serving a robust four course menu to affluent members of the club above, but the staff being held in deplorable conditions below eating rancid meat, moldy bread, and half-eaten burgers.

Is the exhibition all negative? No – Early in the exhibit you meet Kumar who is forced to carry heavy bricks on his head in a brick factory that you later learn becomes free of his bondage and is active in exposing forced labor around the world. The end of the exhibit even tells you how to become involved in how to educate, advocate, and support ending slavery everywhere for good.

IMHO (In my humble opinion)

This exhibit is gripping, heart wrenching, and powerful – which is not unlike the Lynching in America exhibit – but it is educational, eye opening, and real. Much like the lessons taught through Lynching in America, Invisible: Slavery Today brings to light something that the public-at-large needs to know about, understand, and put a stop to even as local news today talks about a woman held for 10 days against her will right here in Greater Cincinnati.

“Together, we must hold a light to every corner of the globe and help build a world in which no one is enslaved.”

– Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

Credits:

I again have to thank Rhonda, Dina, Katie, and the entire crew at THE National Underground Railroad Freedom Center for making me feel welcomed as always, and special thanks to Jamie for keeping me in mind to come to the preview.

For more information:

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Website: http://www.freedomcenter.org Twitter: @freedomcenter

Story from Hamilton, OH of woman held captive:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20101129/NEWS010701/311290015/Raped-18-times-woman-held-captive-for-10-days-talks-about-terrifying-ordeal

 

An American Journey: The Life and Photography of James Presley Ball – Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, Ohio

Hi everybody! I thought as a special gift since I have been slightly behind schedule on getting posts out that I would treat you to a short, but great blog on a small, but terrific exhibit at my home museum Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.

James P. Ball

Proving that museums can make great exhibits out of small galleries, An American Journey: The Life and Photography of James Presley Ball is an exhibit of only about 500 square feet that delivers unprecedented exhibitry regarding the life and times of a middle class African American from the nineteenth century. The exhibit “invites you to explore the United States during a turbulent and fascinating century through” Ball’s lens, and it does not disappoint.

From the lobby you can see props that would have been common in a photographer’s studio during the Victorian era. There is a beautiful chair, and – my favorite – the head brace to hold your head still during exposure as to not produce a blurred image.

This pint-sized exhibition teaches that Louis Daguerre introduced the Daguerreotype in 1839, and that it was only one of many options in early photography. This exhibit is full of daguerreotypes, photo albums, and Carte de Visites that even First Lady Lincoln was known to have collected. You even learn that Ball took one of the most prominent images of Frederick Douglass during a visit to Cincinnati by Douglass in 1869.

Frederick Douglass

The Cincinnati Museum Center has an extensive J. P. Ball and Partners Photograph Collection of over 400 images by Ball, Alexander Thomas, and other partners. Of course we couldn’t put the entire collection on display, so there is a monitor with images that were unable to put into the exhibit rotating so you can see even more great photography from the Ball studio.

My Professional Opinion –

This is a no brainer. The exhibit is FREE and makes an amazing companion exhibit to America I AM: The African American Imprint. The exhibit is well laid out in a single loop format and does not overwhelm you by trying to put more into the space than needs to be to adequately tell this riveting story; nor is the exhibition just “old pictures.” Photography shop props and other artifacts help add texture to the narrative of this great African American Cincinnatian.

Did you want to see it while you visit America I AM? Well you’d better hurry. An American Journey: The Life and Photography of James Presley Ball closes Sunday, October 24, 2010. (Yet, America I AM will be around until January 2, 2011.)

Website: http://www.cincymuseum.org/explore_our_sites/special_exhibits_events/current_exhibits/Ball.asp

Twitter: @cincymuseum

 

America I AM: The African American Imprint – Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, Ohio

“Would America have been America without her Negro people?” – W. E. B. DuBois

Grand Rotunda Flag

This is the question that the exhibit America I AM: The African American Imprint seeks to answer through an amazing exhibition now showing at my home museum THE Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. It sets out to prove that America would have been radically different today had it not been for African Americans through Cultural, Economic, Spiritual, and Socio-Political imprints.

America I AM was produced and is traveled by my friends at Arts & Exhibitions International – the same group who brought you Real Pirates, two different King Tut exhibits, an exhibit on Princess Diana, and of course, Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt. The exhibit fills both exhibition halls topping out at over 13,000 square feet. There are over 270 artifacts spanning over 400 years of history – American History – in the exhibition and Cincinnati Museum Center has the distinct pleasure of being the Institution of Record for these artifacts making us the caretakers and stewards of these precious pieces.

Upon entry into the exhibit you are greeted by the faces of dozens of African Americans from as contemporary as President Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey to historical figures like Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, and as far back as Benjamin Banneker and Dred Scott. This hallway of historical figures leads us up to the thought-provoking question of the exhibit as posed by DuBois.

The exhibition’s initial gallery takes guests back to the African coast where you can hear the sounds of playful villages while seeing some really amazing pieces such as the ornately carved Yoruba Epa mask and the amazing “Benin Bronze: Oba with Leopard” sculpture from the 1600’s!  The voices fade and the hallway ramps guests into a dreary, drab Cape Coast Castle environment housing the castle doors of no return from a Ghanaian coast lumber and gold trade center turned slave storage castle. Exiting the castle puts guests onto a wharf and then into the new world.

Early America Gallery

Guests are introduced to a time where independence was being fought for, and the air (…and the newspapers) was filled with ideas of liberty and justice and that “all men were created equal.” Well, with some exceptions of course. Artifacts from slaves daily lives including cooking, working, and playing are around a gallery drenched with lights showing chains on the floor. Yet there are also clothes from Frederick Douglass a free black born in Maryland, and one of the few remaining John Dunlap Broadside Declarations of Independence courtesy of Norman and Lyn Lear.

Through another very clever environment that gives guests the feeling of being in the basement of a house as if they were actually traveling the underground railroad, and guests are greeted by a large American flag from 1862 with the words “Black Brigade of Cincinnati” written into one of the stripes.  This is only but one of the many local connection artifacts that we were fortunate to secure to drive the idea to the local level. Not too far is on of the fourteen remaining Thirteenth Amendment vellum copies signed by President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, House Speaker Schuyler Colfax (Representative from the Great State of Indiana I might add), and 36 members of the Senate. Around another corner, and a large imposing “Waiting Room for Whites Only” sign begins a darker tale of American History – that of Segregation – the Jim Crow Era had arrived.

Jim Crow Gallery

Was Jim Crow all bad? Not necessarily. Don’t let the Klan robe and toys fool you. It didn’t stop the inventive determination of Ohioan Garrett Morgan whose traffic signal still affects the way we drive today. It didn’t dampen the entrepreneurial spirit of Indianapolis’ Madam C. J. Walker whose hair care products revolutionized the beauty industry. African Americans even decided to create their own sports leagues like the Negro Baseball League teams Cincinnati turned Indianapolis Clowns and the Philadelphia Stars.

The Spiritual imprint gets its own gallery with a Church scene set up and a short film about the spiritual imprint of African Americans Black churches launched civil rights movement. Another local connection artifact in this gallery reminds us of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth who moved to Cincinnati to pastor a church and was the co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

The Military gallery steps outside of the timeline feel of the exhibit to discuss African American contributions to many conflicts. From Buffalo Soldiers on the western frontier, to the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II and the Double Victory campaign, to more contemporary conflicts such as Vietnam, to the black Four Star General and Chief of the Joint Cheifs of Staff Colin Powell.

The next gallery deals with modern Civil Rights heroes… and heroines such as Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King whose Birmingham Jail cell door has been reproduced for the exhibition, but the original jail cell key is on display to its immediate right. It’s such a beautiful, gold, ornate key for such a negative job. Above the cell door, King’s quote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” reminds us that no matter where in the world injustice occurs it is a problem everywhere that needs addressed.

Birmingham Jail Bars & Key

Of course the exhibition isn’t all doom, and negative, the final gallery, Pop Culture, reminds us all of the amazing things African Americans have done in the worlds of sports, entertainment, science, literature, and government. This amazing and eclectic collection of artifacts include Prince’s guitar from the 2007 Super Bowl Halftime show, funk icon Bootsy Collins outfit from 1978, Alex Haley’s typewriter used to write Roots, and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall’s morning suit that he argued cases like Brown v. Board of Education, in front of the Supreme Court before becoming the first African American Supreme Court Justice appointed by President Lyndon Johnson.

Finally a very uplifting multimedia experience ties the entire exhibit and the four themes together reminding us all that we are a better country today because of all of the trials and triumphs of yesterday.

My Personal Opinion-

Yes, just this once I’m going to devote some space to how I feel personally about this exhibit. It is the single largest exhibit I have ever been privileged to manage. I remember when I first came around one of the many corners in the exhibit and beheld Garrett Morgan’s traffic signal. I felt such personal and professional gratification that African Americans have done so many positive things and made such an amazing impact – the kind of positive impacts I wish to have in my professional and personal life.

My Professional Opinion-

Between this and Cleopatra is there anything Arts & Exhibitions can’t do? The exhibit takes guests on a true emotional journey through 400 years of American History. There are so many terrific artifacts in the exhibit that to see and comprehend them all takes well over and hour and a half and a well worthwhile use of resources. This once-in-a-lifetime exhibit. Get in soon to see the Dunlap Broadside Declaration of Independence because it won’t be in the exhibit the entire time it is here. This is my longest blog post since I started Special ExhiBITs in April and I haven’t even scratched the surface of all the great things this exhibition has to offer. It is an honor to host this exhibit, and a great thing for Cincinnati to be included in one of only 10 cities ever to receive this exhibit. See it now, or possibly see it never.

As DuBois asked, “Would America have been America without her Negro people?” You will learn that emphatically the answer is no.

Website: http://www.cincymuseum.org/explore_our_sites/special_exhibits_events/current_exhibits/

Follow on Twitter: @CincyMuseum

Prince's 2007 Super Bowl Guitar

 

The Art of Caring: A Look at Life through Photography – Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, Ohio

Greetings exhibit-philes! I hope you have enjoyed your summer as much as I did. Once again it is time for me to ramble on about another great exhibit, and this time I will once again, be discussing an exhibit of my own that is currently open at my home museum Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.

Housed in the lower level of the Cincinnati History Museum’s South Gallery is The Art of Caring: A Look at Life through Photography is an essay by Dr. Cynthia Goodman in life as told through images – some staged and some naturally occurring that provide the viewer an interpretation of different life stages. As an exhibit after my own heart, I had a social media sign created encouraging people to dialogue about the exhibit through Twitter and check into the exhibit on Foursquare!  This is just one of my experiments in fusing an exhibition experience with an online experience.

WORLD

The exhibition is separated into seven themes and each has a plethora of images that compliment each theme. There are literally hundreds of images in the exhibition. Upon entry into the exhibit you are greeted with photographs from one of the most well-known, world-renowned photographers of all time, Annie Leibovitz. Three pieces from her WORLD (Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Diseases) series are the first things one notices. These large, brightly colored photographs depicting women with certain ailments are bold, and colorful.

As I said there are seven themes so I will discuss my favorite photograph from each theme in the exhibit. The first stop is the Children and Family section. All of the photographs deal with a variety of different family settings and situations from homosexuality to many familiar celebrations. Tina Barney’s “Children’s Party” is a chromogenic print depicting three main groups during a child’s birthday party. The first group, the young boys, aren’t paying any attention to the second group – the young girls – who outnumber the boys. The third group, the responsible adults, aren’t paying attention to either of the first two groups!

One of the most influential and most recognized photographs of the 20^th Century begins our look at the

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s VJ Day

Love gallery. Alfred Eisenstaedt’s iconic “V-J Day” photo shot on Times Square shows a lucky sailor kissing a similarly lucky nurse to celebrate the end of World War II. Also ensure you check out “My Cousin Candi’s Wedding” by Chris Verene with the caption “My cousin Candi with her two favorite customers from her job at the Sirloin Stockade.” Classy; Mostly for those of you familiar with the Sirloin Stockade.

This brings us to the Wellness gallery of the exhibit where if you aren’t paying attention you may miss the best photo in the gallery. It is  “Muhammad Ali, Hyde Park, London” taken in 1970 by Gordon Parks. The best part of it is if you see this and go to America I AM: The African American Imprint exhibit, you can actually also see Muhammad Ali’s robe from the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.” Of course being from North Central Indiana, I have to mention Catherine Opie’s “Dusty” – a football player wearing a Notre Dame jersey. Now, it is a high school player, but it’s still Notre Dame.

(Insert catchy segue here) CareGiving and Healing looks at multiple methods and ways of caring for others, but the most eye catching is the entire wall dedicated to Tatsumi Orimoto’s “Breadman Son + Alzheimer Mama.” Orimoto is a performance artist and uses his mother in this series as the subject and performance partner. He provides 21 comical photographs of varying poses with his mother.

Sylvia Plachy’s “Grandpa and Grandma” put a new, fresh, and fun spin on the concept of Aging in the gallery of the same name. While the couple is elderly, they are amused in the backseat of a car while bubbles float pass them as blown by their grandchild. Directly to the right is a couple crowned “The King and Queen of a Senior Citizens Dance” in 1970. Diane Arbus captures the faces of the couple and conveys the idea that they’re not as excited as one would think to have earned such a title. An empty nest story is told in Larry Sultan’s “Moving Out.” A couple is spending their last moments in the home that they undoubtedly owned for a considerable amount of time and have countless memories tied to.

In Disaster there a photographs from many moments in history that have been captured on film including the Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp from WWII Germany, to 9/11, the Indonesian Tsunami, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Hurricane Katrina.

The final gallery, Remembering, reminds us what photography is all about. It is photography that allows us to have an image to remember a person or an event. The most touching photograph is Edward Clark’s “Navy CPO Graham Jackson.” Jackson fights back tears running as he plays the accordion during a funeral procession for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Next to him is the familiar veiled face of “Jacqueline Kennedy at Funeral” by Elliot Erwitt.

My Professional Opinion-

Of course, I don’t get to host art exhibitions often, but when I do they are generally very good exhibits. This one is no different. The simplicity of the exhibit’s themes is balanced by the complexity of the photographs chosen to represent each theme. With over 200 photographs in the exhibit there is definitely something to make you smile, cry, and smile again all within 5000 square feet! See the exhibition today at Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal! It closes Sunday, September 19.

Website:

http://www.cincymuseum.org/explore_our_sites/special_exhibits_events/current_exhibits/ArtCaring.asp

Follow:

@CincyMuseum

Take the exhibit home! Purchase the exhibit catalogue in the Duke Energy Children’s Lobby Gift Shop!

The Art of Caring Catalogue

 

Heartland Art – Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana

Greetings exhibit-heads!

Sorry about taking an extra couple of weeks to post a new article, but after taking a vacation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where I was able to see a few amazing exhibits that I cannot wait to write about, I just needed a minute to refocus after seeing so many terrific exhibits. Before I get into my trip to Philly, (and furthermore discuss my new cheese steak habit) I want to focus on an art exhibit in Indianapolis, Indiana. Last time, you read about my experience at my alma mater, the Indiana State Museum Center of Science and Culture, and what an amazing job they did with the exhibit With Charity for All: The Lincoln Foundation Collection. While I was there I happened upon another exhibit right across the hall from With Charity for All entitled Heartland Art: Selections from your Indiana Collection.

I am by no means an artist. As you’ve seen in earlier posts like Textural Rhythms, and Without Sanctuary – both at one of my favorite sister institutions here in Cincinnati, THE National Underground Railroad Freedom Center – you would know that I embrace art exhibits although it isn’t every day that I get to manage one. (Of course, wait until I bring the blogs back to my home at Union Terminal and write about The Art of Caring) Heartland Art is different because it was more of a homecoming; seeing old friends, than it was critiquing an exhibit.

There were artists that I was familiar with such as John Domont and his “Contentment,” Susan Tennant’s “Woman Under Construction II,” as well as Adolph Shulz’s “Approaching Storm”, and the Hoosier Group consisting of William Forsyth, Otto Stark, John Otis Adams, and of course T. C. Steele. Even African American artist William Edouard Scott is represented in this exhibit.

My Professional Opinion:

If you missed With Malice Toward None, shame on you. If you missed With Charity for All, shame on you again, if you miss Heartland Art, you just aren’t paying attention. Fine Arts Curator Rachel B. Perry has once again done a phenomenal job of putting together an eclectic yet cohesive mix of works that speak to the strengths of Indiana’s artists from the late nineteenth century all the way to modern day in only 3500 square feet! The labels are fun, great looking, and not overwhelming with information. You have until February 13, 2011 to see it! Don’t procrastinate!

For more information:

The Indiana State Museum Center for Science and Culture

Website: http://www.indianamuseum.org Twitter: @indianamuseum

Grab Rachel’s Book T. C. Steele and the Society of Western Artists 1896-1914

http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=84462

 

With Charity For All – Indiana State Museum of Science & Culture – Indianapolis, Indiana

“Whenever I hear any one arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”

Abraham Lincoln, March 17, 1865, Speech to 140th Indiana Regiment.

I have been waiting to return to my original home museum, the Indiana State Museum of Science and Culture, to write about an exhibit, so a couple Sundays ago, I made an impromptu trip to the Circle City to make a visit to With Charity for All: The Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection. To catch everyone up, there were two separate exhibits dedicated to the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. The first was the Library of Congress’ With Malice Towards None, and the second was the Indiana State Museum’s With Charity for All that showcased only a small sample of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection. Although I was fortunate enough to see both exhibits when they opened in February, this post focuses on the Indiana State Museum’s exhibit With Charity for All.

With Charity for All Title Wall

The impressive Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection boasts over 300 documents, 22,000 books, 7,000 prints and engravings, 5,000 original photographs, 200,000 newspaper and magazine clippings, and other artifacts and Lincoln possessions that tell the many stories of one of the most important American presidents of all time, his friends, his family, and his government. The exhibit housed in the intimate 3^rd floor Ford Gallery exhibit space highlights Lincoln’s time in the 19^th state. (That would be Indiana for some of you who haven’t been to the ISM’s 2^nd floor in a while.)

Some of the particular items of note include 1 of the 48 remaining copies of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Lincoln, and his Secretary of State William Seward, and 1 of the remaining 13 copies of the 13^th Amendment, which outlawed slavery for good. (We have one now in Cincinnati in America I AM: The African American Imprint) There is also a letter to General Sherman requesting that the Indiana troops be allowed to return home to vote in the election of 1864, and a patriotic banner from the Ford Theater (I wondered if the exhibit was in the Ford Gallery for any specific reason…) the day of Lincoln’s assassination. Not to be left out of the story, some of Mrs. Mary Todd-Lincoln’s extensive collection of cartes de visit are on display and show a sample of individuals she knew.

Kids? There is a great video named “Penny for your Thoughts,” in the exhibit where kids answer questions and give answers about what they know about Abraham Lincoln. The kids from Indianapolis Public School’s Center for Inquiry provided honest and at times comical answers to questions posed about Honest Abe. If you want to show your kids early entertainment, let them take a look at the stereocards through a stereoscope.

My Professional Opinion –

It has been a long road for The Indiana State Museum team. From bidding on the Lincoln Financial Collection, winning the bid, and putting the exhibit together, the process has taken years. It was nice to see the finished product knowing how much effort went into the exhibit. The exhibit is small yet packed with amazing artifacts and information, clean, easy to navigate, spacious, and has a great selection of papers, photos, and artifacts from his life in the Hoosier state.

Go see this exhibit! You don’t have a lot of time, though. With Charity for All closes on Sunday, July 25.

For more information:

The Indiana State Museum Center for Science and Culture

Website: http://www.indianamuseum.org Twitter: @indianamuseum