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50's Revisited--Some folks may experience a feeling of déjà vu when viewing the exhibit "Whatever Happened to Paint-by-Numbers?" at the Detroit Historical Museum through Feb. 28. It all began in 1950 when a graphic designer for Palmer Paint Co. came up with the idea of numbered diagramed pictures in hobby kits that anyone could paint with the oils included. These were met with instant success. At its peak, 800 employees, including 60 artists, turned out 50,000 sets a day that were also marketed in Canada and Europe. These are still available to would-be artists under the brand Craft House. In addition, next spring the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History will exhibit number painting with a show in Washington, D.C., including those by Andy Warhol.

Preservation for Artist's Home--The new Olana Partnership, formerly Friends of Olana, in conjunction with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, is scheduled to commence a $20 million project on the former home of Hudson River School artist Fredric Church in Columbia County, NY. Slated for full preservation and restoration are the main house, additional onsite buildings and the landscape; and both a building to house a new art museum and a visitors' center are planned.

Plans Advance--Ground has been broken for the new Nasher Sculpture Center, a $32 million garden and gallery to be built next to the Dallas Museum of Art. Steven A. Nash has been appointed director of the center, which is to include a building to house galleries, auditorium, café, bookstore and sculpture institute that will overlook the sculpture garden.

Sculpture Dedicated--As a result of a campaign by the National Organization on Disability, President Clinton recently dedicated a new statue of President F. D. Roosevelt in a wheelchair at the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C. When the existing seven-acre memorial was dedicated in 1997, there was no depiction of FDR's disability. The life-size bronze statue is the work of sculptor Robert Graham of Venice, CA, one of the four sculptors of the original memorial.

Classes Scheduled--Craft workshops will be offered on Fridays at the Folk Art Institute of the Museum of American Folk Art, NYC. Included are introduction to quilting (Feb. 16), scene painting (March 16), penny rugs for tabletops (April 20), and an introduction to weaving (May 11). There is a fee plus materials cost. Reservations: 212-977-7170.

Center to Debut--The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Research Center, a component of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, NM, will open in July 2001. A program of lectures, symposia, colloquia, conferences, informal discussions, and publications will be complemented by exhibitions, performances, and lectures. Six stipends will be offered annually to historians in the fields of art history, architectural history and design, literature, music, and photography and to museum or other professionals who wish to have or extend their curatorial experience.

Exhibitions:

Williamsburg, VA--Muscarelle Museum at The College of William & Mary -- Georgia O'Keeffe in Williamsburg: A Recreation of the Artist's First Exhibition in the South recreates the college's small exhibition in 1938 and includes the same eight paintings on view through May 27.

Boston, MA--Museum of Fine Arts -- Dangerous Curves: Art of the Guitar reveals how fashion technology and musical tastes have literally shaped the worlds of many popular instruments. More than 400 years of guitar design are examined, celebrating the guitar as an objet d'art. Featured are more than 130 guitars from museums and private collections around the world. Through Feb. 25.

New York, NY--OK Harris Gallery -- Pulp Western includes New Jersey artist Robert Anderson's eye-catching new series of paintings that draw inspiration from the classic pulp fiction images that infiltrated post-war culture. Through Feb. 17.

Pittsfield, MA--Hancock Shaker Village -- Seen and Received: The Shakers' Private Art is the first major museum exhibition to explore the spiritual meaning and social context of Shaker gift drawings. The collection comprises 25 of the fewer than 200 gift drawings known. Created mostly by women, the colorful designs are related to quilt patterns, embroidery, and Masonic art, while the texts are a personal link between generations of Shakers. Through April 2, after which these works on paper will be seen only on a rotating basis.

Pasadena, CA--Norton Simon Museum -- Creation, Constellations and the Cosmos, a part of the collaborative project, The Universe, will examine the various ways in which artists from both the eastern and western hemispheres have defined their spiritual connections with the cosmos in painting and sculpture. Through June 4.

Naples, FL--Naples Museum of Art -- Reflections of Chihuly is the inaugural exhibit of this new museum on the campus of the Philharmonic Center for the Arts, along with watercolors and drawings by Paul Signac. The $12 million museum features 18 galleries, a glass-dome conservatory, chandeliers designed by Dale Chihuly, and metal entrance gates designed by Albert Paley.

Chicago, IL--Chicago Cultural Center -- You are Here is the result of Chicago in the Year 2000, a photo project at the crossroads of the millennia. A team of eight professional photographers and more than 100 amateur contributors shot 500,000 frames of people, places and events in more than 200 neighborhoods to capture and preserve the city of Chicago in the images and words of its people. Over 300 selected photos are on view through March 4.

February Birthdays:
  3      Norman Rockwell
  8      John Ruskin
11      William H. F. Talbot
18      Max Klinger
22      Rembrandt Peale
23      Tom Wesselmann

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 11 No. 4 -- February 2001