Junior Ladies Garden Club Hosts Flower Show at Georgia Museum of Art

A participant in the Junior Ladies Garden Club Flower Show works on an arrangement inspired by "The Eagle," 1969, by Lamar Dodd (American, 1909–1996)

On March 3 and 4, the Junior Ladies Garden Club partnered with the Georgia Museum of Art to host a flower show titled Artful Elements. The show featured flower arrangements inspired by works from the museum’s collection and included horticulture specimens from members’ homes and gardens.

The flower show served three distinct purposes: to set standards of artistic and horticultural excellence; to broaden knowledge of horticulture, floral design, conservation, photography and other related areas; and to share the beauty of a show with fellow club members and with the public.

The Junior Ladies Garden Club performs a number of services in the Athens area. They work to stimulate knowledge and love of gardening, aid in the protection of native plants and birds and share advantages of association by means of open meetings, conferences, correspondences and publications. They also restore, improve and protect the quality of the environment through programs and action in the fields of conservation, civic improvement and education.

The garden show was a great success, with works of art by Lorenzo Scott, Harold Rittenberry, Lamar Dodd, Howard Thomas and many other artists represented. Participants’ arrangements were placed near the works of art that inspired them, allowing visitors to compare and appreciate them both simultaneously.

More than 400 people attended the museum over the course of the two-day show, and dozens of arrangements were on view. A panel of judges considered the arrangements and awarded prizes to a number of selections.

Junior Ladies Garden Club is a member of the Garden Club of America. Founded in 1913, the Garden Club of America is a volunteer, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization of 200 member clubs and approximately 18,000 club members throughout the country.

For more images from the flower show and other museum of events, visit the Georgia Museum of Art on Flickr.

The Eighth Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts

Earlier this month, the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia held its eighth Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts. Scholars from across the state, region and nation attended to deliver original research papers devoted to this year's theme: “Folk and Folks: Variations on the Vernacular.” Some of the topics included Georgia stoneware flower vessels; Catawba pottery; English pottery influences in North Georgia; South Carolina fraktur; Moravian influence in Georgia; the story of a southern needlework object whose maker had South African and Virginia associations; a group of Georgia sisters who pursued a 19th-century style of living into modern times; early Athens portraiture; and the depiction of early southern folk craft in the photography of Doris Ulmann. Robert M. Hicklin Jr., proprietor of Charleston Renaissance Gallery, delivered the keynote speech, “The Story of Southern, in Pictures,” in which he described the excitement and headiness of the marketplace in the 1980s and 1990s, when he participated in the discovery of many icons of southern art and craft. 

Keynote speech, held at the Georgia Center at UGA.

Katherine Gross Farnham receiving the Henry D. Green Lifetime
Achievement Award for the Decorative Arts.

Linda N. Beard discussing Belleek porcelain with speaker Joseph Litts.

UGA President Jere Morehead with museum director William U. Eiland at 90 Carlton: Winter,
 the reception following the keynote speech.

To see more photos from the symposium, visit our album on Flickr.

"Pattern and Palette in Print" installation

We're practicing with our new camera, and the ongoing installation of "Pattern and Palette in Print: Gentry Magazine and a New Generation of Trendsetters" (opening March 17, with a reception March 23) seemed like a good subject. This exhibition is so ripe for Pinterest!

Family Day Photos

Larry Forte took all these great pictures at Family Day: Let's Move! Art, Animals and Yoga this past weekend (Jan. 21, 2012). He also made a video that features many of them. Kids learned about animals in art in the permanent collection, did yoga poses based on animals, ate produce from local farms (after being bribed with stickers), had fun with Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful and created their own animals out of clay you could color.

The Red & Black was on hand to take photos, too.

The weather didn't cooperate, but we still had 315 people show up! Thanks to everyone who participated (we hope to see you back for the next Family Day: Discover the Decorative Arts, Feb. 18) and helped to make it happen.

"Georgia Bellflowers" photos

We had an amazing crowd for the "Georgia Bellflowers" opening reception on Sunday, including one of the most packed gallery talks ever. Many of Gene Thomas's family members were there, and the Athens Historical Society folks were a lot of fun. Lots of cookies were eaten and punch consumed. Photos are above, including several of lenders to the exhibition posing with their furniture. Also, the books are now available in the shop, for a mere $16.

Backpack Tours (Again)

Remember our last post about GMOA's Backpack Tours? Well, they keep growing in popularity, and we're posting more photos to our Flickr page of cute kids interacting with art. The felt board seems to be especially popular. Why not stop by the museum with your kids or grandkids and check it out? It's 100% free, and snacks are available for purchase from Ike & Jane Café in the lobby.

Backpack Tours

GMOA added free Backpack Tours for children this fall, and the initiative is starting to take off. First, the Red & Black wrote an article about it. The AP picked up the press release. Georgia Magazine featured it. And now we have kids coming to take them, as documented in the photos above. Warning: they are extremely cute.

To learn more about the backpack tours, click here.

Carl Mullis honored at Emory as distinguished alum

We've been a little light with the blogging lately (busy busy!), but we would be remiss not to call your attention to this small photo set on our Flickr page that documents Emory University's honoring of Carl Mullis, the chair of GMOA's Board of Advisors, as a distinguished alumnus of that institution. You can find more details here. We already know what an asset Carl is, but it was nice to see him recognized in a larger forum.

A Wonderful Gift

We keep forgetting to post something about this, but a few weeks ago, Valeria Gennaro Lerda, wife of the late artist Piero Lerda, stopped by the museum with her family, visiting from Italy, to give several works by her husband to GMOA. We documented the signing of the deed of gift, and Valeria held forth on the four works: "La creazione del mondo," "Art Blakey: On the Street Where You Live," "Personaggio--Schermo" and an untitled work. She was an engaging speaker, and it was interesting to hear her take on her husband's inspiration, which was frequently musical but also engaged with and commented on popular culture (e.g., television) and made use of collage.

GMOA Student Night: All Shook Up

Our quarterly student night was last night and, as ever, it was tremendous fun. Students made their own stickers with stamps (to mimic Hatch Show Print's offerings), toured exhibitions, listened to music by The Darnell Boys and Grinnin' Bear, chowed down on chicken from Zaxby's, posed with Elvis in our photo both and more. Slideshow above.

Highfalutin' Hootenanny

Well, Highfalutin' Hootenanny has finally come and gone, and we had a great time this past Friday night, as you can see from the slideshow above. There aren't any pictures in it yet of people getting down on the dance floor, but some serious rugs were cut. Here are the folks who sponsored the event:

Champagne

Ms. Karen Benson & Mr. Howard Scott
Burns Studio Art/Van Burns
Mr. & Mrs. E. Davison Burch
Dr. & Mrs. James W. Cooper Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Dolson
Mr. & Mrs. Bertis E. Downs IV
Dr. & Mrs.Mark A. Ellis
Mr. Todd Emily
Fat Mosquito Press
Mr. & Mrs. Edgar J. Forio Jr.
Col. & Mrs.Thomas N.Gibson III
Mr. Richard & Dr. Anne Hathaway
Mr. & Mrs. Stan Henderson
Ms. Clementi L-B Holder & Mr. Robert Saveland
Mrs. Lidwina G. Kelly
Dr. & Mrs. D. Hamilton Magill III
Mr. & Mrs. David W. Matheny
Mr. & Mrs. Mark McConnell
John F. & Marilyn M. McMullan
Mr. & Mrs. H. Daniels Minor
Mr. C.L. Morehead Jr. & Flowers, Inc., Retail
Mr. & Mrs. Edgar B. Myrtle
Mr. & Mrs. Dennis O’Kain
Drs. Gordhan L. & Virginia B. Patel
Mr. & Mrs. Alexander W. Patterson
Dr. & Mrs. William L. Power
Karen Prasse, M.D.
Bill & Pamela Prokasy
Mrs. Doris Ramsey
Mr. & Mrs.Walter A. Sams III
Mr. D. Jack Sawyer Jr. & William E. Torres, M.D.
Mr. & Mrs. John D. Scoggins
Mr. Lewis Scruggs Jr.
Southeastern Color
Hon. & Mrs.Homer M. Stark
Mrs. Dudley R. Stevens
Mr. & Mrs. W. Rhett Tanner
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Winthrop II
Dr. & Mrs. Norman J. Wood
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Woodruff

Moonshine
Mr. John Ahee & Dr. Paige Carmichael
George Gregory Barnard
Mr. & Mrs. Randolph W. Camp
Mr. & Mrs. A. Blair Dorminey
Mr. & Mrs. C. Michael Evert Jr.
Dr. & Mrs. Henry Garrard IV
UGA Alumni Association

Beer
Mr. & Mrs.Woody Chastain
Mr. & Mrs. Harvey Coleman
Drs. Stephen & Cynthia Deas
Mr. & Mrs. Dan H. Magill
Mr. & Mrs. Gerry Whitworth
Kathy Prescott

String Theory played bluegrass and old-time music in the sculpture garden, and Good Vibrations supplied tunes inside. Harry's Pig Shop and Epting Events did the food and catering, Terrapin donated beer and Lewis Scruggs Jr. was responsible for the wine. King of Pops was on hand, too, supplying gourmet popsicles for dessert. Van Burns designed the invitations and programs. Fat Mosquito Press donated the printing of the save-the-date cards, and Southeastern Color printed the invitations.

Event chairs were Ann Scoggins and Michael Montesani. David Matheny was in charge of fundraising. And Tami Ramsay took charge of flowers, with the help of Lucy Allen, Gay Crowe, Tracey Crymes, Chad Erwin, Carolyn Garrard, Suzanne King, Amburn Power, Bev Sams, Alice Spratlin and Fran Thomas.

Thank you to everyone who donated time or funds!

Senior Outreach Program 2011

This year's Senior Outreach Program, organized by Diane Barret, focused on portraits. Seniors from Greene County, Athens-Clarke County and Winterville visited GMOA to look at the portraits in the galleries, then created their own collage self-portraits based on what they learned. Diane sent along these photos of some of the seniors with their work.

GMOA Lunch & Learn

This past Thursday, July 21, GMOA held a Lunch & Learn for UGA faculty to come eat cookies and learn about how to use the permanent collection in their classes. Attendees included Sujata Iyengar and Richard Menke from the English department, Claiborne Glover from biochemistry and molecular biology, Jim Woglom from art education and several folks from the UGA libraries. Larry Forte put together this brief slideshow of pictures from the afternoon. We'll be holding more of these in the future, so remember that there were cookies.

Family Day photos

If you missed our last Family Day ("The Kress Collection"), then check out the slideshow above. It was great fun for everyone there, and the kids made amazing picture frames with hand-tooled details. Thanks to our intern Mary Bowden Green for taking these pics, and mark your calendar for the next Family Day ("Abstract Adventures"), scheduled for Aug. 13.

GACAA Pictures

The Georgia Assembly of Community Arts Agencies (GACAA) held its annual conference at GMOA May 1-3, and we were pleased as punch to host them. Above are some images from the events GACAA held at the museum, including many that show folks dressed as characters from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

GMOA featured in “Hilltop Photo of the Week”

http://bit.ly/mtYeK2

We were excited to see this GMOA photo featured as Birmingham-Southern College’s “Hilltop Photo of the Week”!

The photo, taken at this January’s Elegant Salute XII, depicts two Birmingham-Southern alumni: Anna Burns Dyer (’70), and our director, Bill Eiland (’70; right). Eiland was also the recipient of Birmingham-Southern’s Distinguished Alumni Award at the school’s Homecoming/Reunion Weekend festivities this past fall.

The BSC Photo of the Week website also featured a short blurb about the museum’s reopening and expansion. To check it out, click here. Thanks for the shout out, Birmingham-Southern College!

All Creatures Evidence

Our director was passing through the Atlanta airport this week and made his way over to the T Gates, where our exhibition "All Creatures Great and Small" is on view until April 2012. He snapped some photos with his phone, so you can see how it looks on display, with the video running.

If you're heading out on exciting journeys any time soon, please stop by the T Gallery and take a look. If you email us your photos at gmoapr@yahoo.com, we'll post them here.

Celebrating Our Collectors

Friday night's event, Celebrating Our Collectors: A 10th Anniversary Bash, was a great time for all involved. The Collectors is a sub-group of the Friends that requires an additional membership fee in exchange for unique educational opportunities that focus on collecting and learning more about art. It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since the group was founded, and they have given many wonderful works of art to the museum's collection through the funds they raise during that time.

This year's fundraiser celebrated the group's 10th anniversary, beginning with a champagne toast at the Lyndon House Arts Center in honor of Peg Wood, who has a retrospective of her paintings on display there. Attendees then made their way to GMOA for dinner, dancing, cocktails and a silent auction of works of art, designer handbags, jewelry and more. Betty Myrtle, Judith Ellis and Carol Dolson chaired the event, and Magdalena Williams of European Floral Design did the amazing floral arrangements, some of which were taller than our shorter staff members.

Click through the photos below to see everyone in his or her finest and thank you to everyone who made it out for a beautiful evening. For more information on becoming a member of the Friends or the Collectors, click here.

Takaezu in 2008

Reprise of a photograph from an old post on this blog...



GMOA deputy director Annelies Mondi, Takaezu, and director Bill Eiland outside Takaezu's home in late May 2008.

Recent events

Our Black History Month events were a big hit, with a wonderful array of guests turning up to honor Michael Thurmond at Traditions, the closing event/dinner for "Celebrating Courage" (UGA's celebration of the 50th anniversary of its desegregation), and earlier that day to hear David Driskell, renowned African American artist and art scholar, speak on how art crosses cultural boundaries. Here are some photos from Traditions and from the dinner with Driskell the previous evening.

Be sure to go ahead and mark your calendar for two big upcoming events at GMOA: a panel discussion with 11 of the artists featured in our exhibition "Tradition Redefined" on Thursday, March 24, and an artist's talk by Steinnun Thorarinsdottir, the artist who created "Horizons," on Tuesday, March 29.