Art In Bloom

The Art Museum's signature fundraiser, Art in Bloom , is less than 4 weeks away! This morning our staff liaison, Amy Nelson, AIB Chair Kasia Pater, and Event Coordinator, Deanna Dillender met with me to discuss some details. We have an auction committee led by Mike Moran and a sponsorship committee led by Betty Spain, all working hard to make sure this year is the best ever!

The event features interpretations of works of art by floral designers, led by Bart Goley. Our honorary chair is Isabel Yates and our signature artist is Mary Neely. You will see her lovely garden painting on the invitations and posters. Hope to see you at Art in Bloom!

Art Shipping In and Out

The artwork for the Richard Bell: Uz vs. Them show arrived yesterday in two 750 pound crates. They are sitting in the galleries being "acclimatized." Bell is an award-winning Australian artist of aboriginal descent whose work addresses some of the inequalities in Australian society, and by extension, others. We ;need extra help to handle those huge crates!

At the same time, we are preparing three works of art to be on loan to the Speed. Wanting each piece to look its best, Art Preparator Hubert Burton was making sure the frame was in good repair on Emile Bernard's Portrait of Madelaine, the Artist's Sister, 1889.

President Capilouto Visits Art Museum

On January 17th, President Capilouto and his wife, Dr. Mary Lynne Capilouto, came to review the museum. Here you see them touring the art storage area with Mike Moran , Chairman of our Advisory Board, and Janie Welker, Curator of collections and Exhibitions. It is always fun to visit storage and see how extensive and varied our collection is.

In fact, we need some additional paintings racks. We've written a grant and have our fingers crossed.

Paintings Return from Governor's Mansion

A selection of our paintings has been spotlighted at the Governor's Mansion and has just returned. They were chosen by museum staff and Estill Pennington to provide an overview of our holdings.
One of my favorites is Contentment by Robert Atkinson Fox. It depicts cows in a serene landscape setting. Oil paintings by this Canadian artist, Robert Atkinson Fox, are rare, mainly because as his career progressed so did his number of offspring, and he had to turn to commercial art to support them. He turned to illustration for print and calendar companies, where we was quite prolific and popular!

New Sculpture Arrives!

Our expert art Handlers, Hubert Burton, museum preparator, and Lisa Blackadar, Registrar Assistant, went to pick up our new sculpture by Dan Ludwig, purchased though gifts from our Collectors Group.

Joyful Gift

A donor couple has given the museum a lovely print by HIRO YAMAGATA Japanese, born 1976. The title is Finish Line (Tour de France marathon), 1983.
The print pictures the Tour de France marathon from Alsace to Paris.

This is a color screenprint. Each color required a different screen. In addition to being a lovely and lighthearted image, it is a masterwork of printmaking technique!

Learning Every Day

One of the things I love about museum work is the continuing learning and discovery.
We have a great painting of hunting hounds by Percival Rosseau. I got an email today:

Do you have a photo of the American artist Percival Rosseau? (1859-1937) We need this photo for our forthcoming book, "The Art Hunters Handbook" (May, 2012, see below) which will feature profiles of 120 artists including Percival Rosseau. We will be happy to give you credit in the book for providing this photo. If you do not have a photo, would you be able to direct us to the right source, perhaps a museum or a library? Thank you.

I didn't think we had one, but look what our Curator wrote!

Dear Mr. Fox,
Our director forwarded your inquiry regarding a photograph of Percival Rosseau on to me. We do not have a photograph, but I would suggest contacting the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme Connecticut. They seem to have information on a lot of the artists who worked there, and I came across some engaging films of Rosseau with his dogs on their website. You can see these at http://www.flogris.org/learning/resources/toolbox/movies.php (scroll down the page until you come to the Rosseau film). If they have the film, they may have still images of him.

Best of luck,
Janie Welker

Janie M. Welker Curator of Exhibitions and Collections
From: Walsh-Piper, Kathleen Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 9:53 AMTo: Welker, Janie MSubject: FW: Inquiry: Photo of Percival Rosseau