2009 promises to be great year for visitors to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. During the next few months we’ll be offering exhibition themes on bronze sculpture, folk art, and an amazing outdoor sculpture installation. And, to help better understand, appreciate, and enjoy these presentations our Education Department will be offering a variety of new programs including a folk art conversation series and film series, a “Food for Thought” lunchtime lecture series, a new cell phone tour of the collection, a family day, teacher workshops, and a variety of new studio classes for preschoolers through adults. See the education section of this issue of On Exhibit for complete details and for information on registration.
Currently on view are two outstanding exhibitions. The collection of the American Folk Art Museum in New York is the source for “Ancestry and Innovation”, an exhibition of thirty-nine works created by self-taught African-American artists in the urban North and rural South. A number of the artists represented in the exhibition are Alabama natives, including quilters Leola Pettway, Lureca Outland, Mozell Benson and Mary Maxtion. Also on view is a special traveling exhibition on the sculpture of “Bessie Potter Vonnoh.” Organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum, this rare presentation of Vonnoh’s work features thirty-five bronze sculptures that span the artist’s most productive period, from about 1895 to 1930. An opening reception for both these exhibitions is scheduled for the evening of Thursday, February 12. Watch for your invitation in the mail.
Make sure to hold the evening of Thursday, March 12 for the Museum’s biennial Bazaar d’Art fundraising extravaganza. This is always a fun evening when patrons enjoy fabulous food and drink along with the opportunity to bid on “previously loved” artworks at a very fair price. For further information on this event, or to donate an artwork for auction, call the Development Department.
Thank you for your continuing support. I look forward to seeing you in the galleries.