Check out our permanent exhibitions
Pilgrim Cameo Glass from the Touma Collection
January 19 - November 17, 2013
In 2011, Drs. Joseph B. and Omayma Touma donated 41 pieces of Pilgrim Cameo Glass to the Huntington Museum of Art. This gift came on the heels of another generous donation by the Toumas of 100 pieces of Pilgrim Cameo to Marshall University’s Drinko Library. That collection is currently on permanent view on the 2nd floor reading room. The Toumas began collecting Pilgrim Cameo glass in the 1990s not only for its beauty but for the purpose of preserving the legacy of cameo glass production in the Huntington region, which became their adopted home in 1971.
Pilgrim Glass Corporation was established in Ceredo, W.Va., in 1949 by Alfred Knobler, and it became known for its many rare colors of glass, especially cranberry. In 1987, Kelsey Murphy and Robert Bomkamp joined the company and soon began experimenting with the cameo glass technique. In the 14 remaining years of glass production at Pilgrim (the factory closed in 2001), Murphy and Bomkamp created hundreds of designs and pioneered a new tradition of “American Super Cameo.” Murphy and Bomkamp continue to design and produce cameo glass in their home studio.
Cameo glass was first created in ancient Rome in the 1st century AD. Only 15 complete pieces of this ancient glass have survived. The technique was used in Islamic art in the 9th and 10th centuries, but was then lost until the early 18th century when the Chinese began to make opaque glass with carved designs in relief, known as “Peking glass.” By the late 18th century glass manufacturers in Germany, England, and later in France began perfecting the art of cameo glass. The technique involves casing one color over another, then carving (using hand-cutting tools, engraving wheels, acid or sand-blasting), which exposes the various layers of color beneath. Murphy and Bomkamp have cased as many as 12 layers of color on one vessel.
The Toumas have been patrons of the Huntington Museum of Art for decades, best known for their donation of more than 400 works of Near Eastern Art to the Museum between the years 1991 and 2004. They also donated the funds to construct a gallery to display this collection and in 2010 financed a beautiful catalogue of the Touma Near Eastern Collection. After falling in love with Pilgrim cameo glass and amassing a collection, as before, they wished to share these beautiful objects with the public. A selection of the 41 Pilgrim Cameo glass pieces will be on view in the Museum’s Glass Gallery through November 17, 2013.
This exhibit is sponsored by the Isabelle Gwynn and Robert Daine Exhibition Endowment; the West Virginia Division of Culture and History; and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
Huntington Federal Savings Bank Presents Mr. Fitz
February 23 - October 20, 2013
Running through October 20, 2013, Huntington Federal Savings Bank Presents: Mr. Fitz: Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Huntington Museum of Art marks 60 years of bringing art to the Tri-State community. This extended exhibition, which opened October 20, 2012, and took a small break from February 3-22, 2013, presents selected highlights from the more than 425 works donated by the late Herbert Fitzpatrick.
It was Herbert Fitzpatrick along with other visionaries who in 1947 began discussing the idea of a cultural center or museum in Huntington. Mr. Fitzpatrick jumpstarted the project with the donation of 52 acres for a site to erect an art gallery to store his collection, as well as provide for an arboretum, bird sanctuary and nature trails. The Huntington Galleries (now known as the Huntington Museum of Art) opened in 1952.
Fitzpatrick was an avid art collector and had a great eye for beauty in many guises. His tastes in art were wide-ranging, from British silver from the Georgian period, Near Eastern prayer rugs, fine European and American paintings, sculpture, drawings and prints, and Asian decorative arts.
For the past two years the Museum’s Archivist/Librarian Chris Hatten has been researching Herbert Fitzpatrick and the early years of the Museum. Photographs, videos and ephemera from the Library archives and new material collected during his research will be on view in a portion of the gallery. A limited edition book about Herbert Fitzpatrick and the founding of the Museum written by Chris Hatten will accompany this exhibit.
This exhibit is sponsored by Huntington Federal Savings Bank; Huddleston Bolen LLP, in Memory of Herbert Fitzpatrick; Jenkins Fenstermaker, PLLC, in loving memory of Norman K. Fenstermaker; Carl F. Frischkorn in Memory of Permele Francis Booth; Donald Egnor in Memory of Helen H. Crissey; In Memory of Major Henry Dourif; In Memory of Roberta S. Emerson, from her Loving Children; In Memory of Janet W. Ford from her Family; Camille M. Riley in Memory of John E. Jenkins, Jr.; Todd McCreight & Cathie Lutter and Matthew McCreight & Kathryn Greene-McCreight in memory of Betsy K. and Paul W. McCreight; Thomas F. Scott in Memory of Elizabeth T. Scott; Nada (Nico) and Barney Francis in Memory of Jack and Nada Steelman; Woody & Nancy Jane Van Zandt Bolton and Caroline Van Zandt Windsor in Memory of Virginia Kitchen and Richard K. Van Zandt; In Memory of Jeanne and Robert Wulfman; The Isabelle Gwynn & Robert Daine Exhibition Endowment; West Virginia Division of Culture and History; National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
Walter Gropius Master Artist Series Presents: Kate Bingaman-Burt
March 2 - May 26, 2013
Public Presentation takes place at 7 p.m. March 15, 2013. Admission is free.
Workshop Zine Extravaganza takes place 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. March 15-17, 2013. Call (304) 529-2701 for workshop fee information.
Kate Bingaman-Burt is an illustrator and educator who makes piles of work about consumerism and consumer culture. As an undergraduate, Bingaman-Burt double-majored in English and Studio Art at the College of the Ozarks (Point Lookout, Missouri) and received a bachelor’s degree in 2000. She earned an MFA from the University of Nebraska (Lincoln, Nebraska) in 2004, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University (Portland, Oregon).
As an illustrator, Bingaman-Burt happily thinks and draws for other good people and companies. Her growing list of regional, national and international design clients includes VH1, Target, Girl Scouts of America, Hallmark and the Gap as well as locally loved institutions such the Museum of Contemporary Craft, Reading Frenzy and The Dill Pickle Club. She also actively exhibits her continuing research about consumption and human behavior in museums, galleries, storefronts and community spaces. Her first book, Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today?, was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2010 and her second book, What Did I Buy Today?, will be released this spring. Since 2007, Bingaman-Burt’s work has been represented by Jen Bekman Gallery, New York City, NY.
Bingaman-Burt is incredibly versatile as a visual artist, employing drawing, typography, painting, photography, crafts and graphic design in service to a central theme. She makes drawings, zines, dresses, photos and paper chains about personal consumerism, market economies, guilt, joy, excess, gifts, celebration, repetition and the community of these shared experiences. These works cheerfully and critically document ordinary and mass-produced objects such as Coke cans, Post-it notes, toilet bowl cleaner – miscellaneous items that we interact with but often do not think about. Other series investigate mix tapes, stolen goods, passwords and yard sale signs. On February 5, 2006, Bingaman-Burt began making drawings that document something she purchased that day – and the project is still ongoing …
The Walter Gropius Master Artists Series is funded through the generosity of the Estate of Roxanna Y. Booth, who wished to assist in the development of an art education program in accordance with the proposals of Walter Gropius, who designed the Museum’s Gropius Addition as well as the Gropius Studios. The Museum is indebted to Roxanna Y. Booth’s son, Alex Booth, for his participation in the concept development of the Gropius Master Artists Workshops.
Walter Gropius Master Artist Series Presents: Robert Briscoe
May 4 - June 30, 2013
Public Presentation takes place at 7 p.m. May 23, 2013. Admission is free.
Workshop Searching For Simplicity - Making the Quietest Pots with the Loudest Voices takes place 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 24-26, 2013. Call (304) 529-2701 for workshop fee information.
Robert Briscoe was born in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1947, and has worked as a studio potter since 1967. He apprenticed with functional potter James Vandergriff in Zarah, KS (1967-68) and later received a Bachelor of Science in economics from Kansas State University (1980). Briscoe was a founding member of the Upper St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour – now an annual destination for collectors nationwide – and remains one of the event’s principal organizers. He has received awards including a McKnight Artist Fellowship (2001 and 2007) and a grant from the Jerome Foundation (1987). Briscoe has lectured and conducted ceramics workshops across the country. His work has been featured in Ceramics Monthly, American Craft, and The Art of Contemporary Pottery. He is represented in public collections such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery (Washington, D.C.); the Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN); Arizona State University Art Museum (Tempe, AZ); and numerous private collections around the world. He lives and works on 31 acres of woods and fields in Harris, Minnesota.
Preparing and serving food to family and friends remains one of the last true rituals in the modern age. For more than 40 years, Robert Briscoe’s functional pottery has explored the powerful link between maker and user by emphasizing the integral role that handmade ceramic objects play in savoring some of life’s richest experiences. Within this time-honored tradition, function is paramount and craft truly matters – and it is to these useful, “honest” ends that Briscoe aspires. His generously proportioned, wheel thrown stoneware pots reflect a quiet simplicity, their strength derived through nuance, subtle expression, and unhindered use. His ceramic forms are spare, often asymmetrical, with heavy textures and weighty bases. Rims and attachments such as lips, handles and knobs are substantially shaped with a rounded thickness that invites the viewer to sip from and cook in Briscoe’s works. Although uncomplicated by decoration, a muted palette of white, honey, rust and olive green ash glazes integrate form and surface and further enliven the work.
The Walter Gropius Master Artists Series is funded through the generosity of the Estate of Roxanna Y. Booth, who wished to assist in the development of an art education program in accordance with the proposals of Walter Gropius, who designed the Museum’s Gropius Addition as well as the Gropius Studios. The Museum is indebted to Roxanna Y. Booth’s son, Alex Booth, for his participation in the concept development of the Gropius Master Artists Workshops.
Vestige of a Tree
May 11 - September 1, 2013
Join us at 7 p.m. May 28, 2013, for the Fourth Tuesday Tour for a guided tour of Vestige of a Tree and a walk on the nature trail. Admission is free. Refreshments will be served. Free Tuesdays at the Huntington Museum of Art are sponsored by AT&T.
This group of disparate objects includes tools, boxes, items of personal adornment, walking sticks/canes, dolls, furniture, ritual masks, a musical instrument, firearms, and sculpture. All began life as a tree, then a piece of wood, then an object, and now a work on exhibit in a museum! All employ wood as the main material, and all have been manipulated by artists and craftsmen for their own use – aesthetic or otherwise.
An artist’s mind is a unique and wonderful thing. If you gave 30 artists a piece of wood, and tell them to go away and make something, each artist will create something completely different. The idea behind this exhibit is taking one material – wood – and exploring the diverse outcome of both necessity and creativity – exploring a readily available, organic material, its qualities, scale and possibilities by artists and craftsmen from around the world.
This exhibit is sponsored by The Katherine & Herman Pugh Exhibitions Endowment; the West Virginia Division of Culture and History; and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
