Preserving Memory Still Going Strong
Over the next month, the SOS! traveling exhibit, Preserving Memory: America’s Monumental Legacy will open in four venues across the country: the Ford Conservation Center in Omaha, Nebraska; Barrington High School in Barrington, Illinois; the John E. Conner Museum in Kingsville, Texas; and the Ruth & Charles Gilb Arcadia Historical Museum in Arcadia, California. Since September 2002 the exhibit has visited 36 venues in 28 states and is scheduled to visit at least 9 more venues before the end of the year.
Each venue is required to present at least one humanities-based public program, which has lead to many innovative and original ideas. The venues opening this month are no exception.
After hosting Preserving Memory at two different venues, including the State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Ford Conservation Center in Omaha is sponsoring a variety of events tied to the exhibit. These include slide lectures led by artists and public art administrators, tours of the center, and a public art project called “Monument to Preservation.” For this project, Ford Center visitors, guided by a local artist, will use a variety of media to create an evolving outdoor sculpture that will be left in place during the run of the exhibit.
The John E. Conner Museum, part of Texas A&M University in Kingsville, Texas, is sponsoring a lecture by a professor on the faculty—who is also a sculptor and public artist—on the economic necessity of public art. Students as well as local residents are the expected audience.
One of the exhibit's most unusual venues is an arts-oriented public high school in Barrington, Illinois. The high school is organizing several events to celebrate the sculpture of Abraham Lincoln on school grounds. Both a rededication of the sculpture and an evening lecture on public art by a local art historian are planned.
Finally, a dedication is planned for the Hugo Reid Family sculpture at its new site at the Ruth and Charles Gilb Arcadia Historical Museum (see related story on the move and conservation process). A historian is scheduled to speak on the history of Hugo Reid and his family and will also discuss the creation of the sculpture as a WPA project. A conservator will then describe the conservation process used to clean and restore the artwork.
For more information, check out the exhibit schedule and its home page.
Images: Preserving Memory garnered coverage from The Journal (Martinsburg, WV), left, and the opening panel for that exhibition, right.