View the Slide Show:
Guild of Volunteers
Semi-Annual Lunch
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Or, use the Guild Room computer the next time you stop in. |
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The Answer is...
The Currier Guild of Volunteers has changed its fiscal year. These changes will be reflected in the 2011 annual report.
How will the change from a calendar year (Jan. - Dec.) to a fiscal year (July - June) affect my hours?
The hours report printed in our last Annual Report (2009) listed hours for 2007, 2008 and 2009. Those hours ended with December 31, 2009.
The new fiscal year has already started. We are counting hours, beginning July 1, 2010. Hours entered on the computer from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011 will be printed in the 2011 Annual Report. Eligibility for the free annual lunch, scheduled for June 2011, will be based on those hours. Active status is maintained by completing 50 hours and having a current museum membership.
Will there be a 2010 annual report?
No, the next annual report will be in 2011.
What happens to hours for the first half of 2010?
January to June of 2010 becomes a half-year or 'stub' year. All hours for the first half of 2010 remain in your record, and have as much value as any other hours. Most volunteers would expect to have about 25 hours in the stub year. The 2011 Annual Report will have an extra column, listing the hours contributed in the stub year.
Do I have to wait until the 2011 Annual Report to get the stub year hours?
No, an intermediate report of stub year hours was printed and distributed at November's Semi-Annual Meeting. Additional copies are available in print and by email. Please contact me if you need a copy.
Barbara Shepler,
Membership Chair
494-6015
[email protected] |
From our
Executive Chair
The Semi-Annual Meeting and Luncheon on November 16 was a day honoring a special group of Guild volunteers. Those who served five, 10, and 15 years of service to the Currier Museum of Art were given Certificates of Recognition. This was the first time the Currier Museum of Art and Guild of Volunteers presented the awards.
My appreciation and thanks to those assisting in this celebratory event. Handing out awards with me were Director Susan Strickler, Deputy Director Susan Leidy, and Guild Membership Chair Barbara Shepler. Also helping were Carol Tingleff, Marti Borgman, plus Peg Case and Pat Howard and their committees.
Members of the Guild of Volunteers, who have more than 15 years of service, will be honored at the Annual Luncheon on June 7, 2011.
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 The Book Shelf
What Jane Seney is reading...
We've all given tours where someone has looked at an object in the contemporary gallery and said "I could paint that!" What if someone tried to copy the Albers? What if they tried to sell that copy to the Currier? How do curators and registrars determine the authenticity of an object that could be made with a straightedge and a couple of tubes of paint?
These are the issues explored in Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo. It is a fascinating look at the importance of provenance research and complements what we've learned in The Secret Life of Art exhibition and the film The Rape of Europa. The book documents one of the biggest art frauds in Britain's history, rather than focusing on art stolen during WWII.
An art forger capable of replicating modern masterpieces and a silver-tongued con man create prestigious histories of fake artworks to sell them to galleries, auction houses, and even museums. The scam runs for almost a decade and the book gives the reader a unique insider's view into how and why museums must track and guard all of the support materials related to a given work of art.
Jane Seney, Educator for Tour and Docent Programs
[email protected] |
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Is Art Interpretation Up to Us?
Join the Conversation on Our New Guild of Volunteers Blog
Providing information about art in many formats and for visitors of every age and background is critical to the mission of the museum as an educational institution. Should, however, museums re-think the word interpretation, recognizing it as a relic from the past that needed art to be translated?
Join the conversation by logging on to our new Guild of Volunteers blog at: www.currierguild.blogspot.com. Click on "comments" at the bottom of the essay and let us know your thoughts.
Susan Leidy, Deputy Director
[email protected] or (603) 669-6144, ext. 106 |
Museum Shop News
The Shop will have its annual Holiday Sale Table from December 26 through January 31, 2011. The sale table will offer at least 30-percent off on selected items.
Just a reminder: The book, Invisible Man, is now available in hardcover or softcover in the shop.
The shop's staff and volunteers hope all enjoyed a happy holiday season and welcome to 2011.
Richard Russell, Museum Shop Chair
[email protected]
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Milestones
Marguerite Brockway, 81, who died May 7, will long be remembered by Currier Museum of Art staff and volunteers as a prized museum and Z-House docent. "She was my role model for
 | | Marguerite Brockway |
growing old gracefully," says Ann Richardson, museum docent. "Her tours were very important to her, and she was dedicated, conscientious and highly regarded by all."
Marguerite designed the "Art of Sight and Sound" tour. "I remember very well listening to Bach's Toccata and Fugue and Ravel's The Enchanted Flute while sitting in the European Gallery as Marguerite and museum visitors talked about the connections between these musical pieces and artwork from the Baroque and Impressionist periods, comparing the musical compositions with the paintings, and discussing their influences," recalls Leah Fox, Director of Public Programs. These tours were often brought "back by popular demand."
A piano teacher and opera singer, Marguerite never visited the Zimmerman House before guiding there, but she had heard of Frank Lloyd Wright. Her first two years of college were spent at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla., where there are 18 Wright-designed buildings. "I spent many hours in the library and every Sunday in the chapel for music services," she wrote about the two Wright-designed FSC buildings in an essay for the Currier.
She later received bachelor and graduate degrees from American University in Washington, D.C. She taught music at Wilkins Elementary School in Amherst, and retired after 27 years. In retirement, she taught music in adult education at N.H. Technical College, now Manchester Community College, and Rivier College, Nashua.
Marguerite, who lived in Amherst, and her late husband, Warren B. Brockway, had two daughters, Karen Grace and Marie Brockway. A Currier volunteer for 18 years giving 1,409 hours, Marguerite also co-developed the Currier on the Move adult program called, "Welcome to the Currier: An Introduction to the Permanent Collection." |
| Coming Exhibitions | |
Jon Brooks: A Collaboration with Nature
NH Art Association
62nd Juried Exhibition |
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2010-2011
Executive Committee
Officers
Executive Chair:
Thelma T. Raine
Executive Vice Chair:
Pat Howard
Treasurer:
Ted Parrot
Secretary:
Yvonne Dunham
Committee Chairs
Guild Ambassadors:
Frances Gray
Fran Wiggin
Guild Communications:
Judy McKenna
Pauline Bogaert
Guild Meetings & Programs:
Peg Case
Guild Membership:
Barbara Shepler
Museum Docents:
Carolyn Hollman
Museum Shop:
Richard Russell
Special Projects:
Pam Parrot
Zimmerman House Docents:
Dennie Dyer
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The Currier Guild in Action eNewsletter Staff:
Editors: Judy McKenna and Pauline Bogaert
Photo Editor: Anna Zhurbey
Production Assistance: Neva Cole, Michelle Pennington |
 | | eNews editors Pauline Bogaert and Judy McKenna |
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 | | eNews photo editor Anna Zhurbey |
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| Coming Events | |
March 13, 2011
Inspired Words
Participating writers read poetry and prose in the Museum.
April 30, 2011
Big Apple Express
A fun day trip to New York City
June 7, 2011
Guild of Volunteers
Annual Meeting
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Volunteer SpotlightPaul Sarcione Keeps on Giving
The ladies at last month's docent meeting gathered around Paul Sarcione like kids at a candy counter. He hugged or pecked cheeks after pinning origami wreaths to the shoulders of the women's clothing. The male docents weren't ignored. They got wreaths too, though without hugs and pecks.
The tradition of giving ornamental pins to docents and staff began in 2000. Among the holiday brooches he's fashioned are a Santa Claus, penguin, fisherman, Christmas tree and angel. "I do perhaps 200 each year," the museum docent says."I give them out to family,
 | | Paul Sarcione gives Fran Gordon his 2010 holiday brooch. |
friends outside the Currier and people I meet. I just like to do it." Paul received a 15-year service award from the Currier Museum of Art and Guild of Volunteers in November. He came to the museum after retiring from 30 years with AT & T Manufacturing in North Andover as the Communication Coordinator for Manufacture of New Products. "I had quite a lot of training in communications and I didn't want to lose the skill," says Paul, 71, about volunteering at the Currier. Born in Lawrence, Mass., Paul graduated from New Hampshire College, now Southern New Hampshire University, and served in the Air Force. He likes biking, hiking, kayaking, camping and walking. "Those are my summer activities," he says, adding he downhill skis and snowshoes in winter. During cold season, he crafts origami and jewelry.  | | Paul Sarcione has made a wide variety of holiday pins. |
Before his retirement, he prospected for semi-precious stones in the New Hampshire and Vermont mountains finding smoky and clear quartz, tourmaline and garnet. "I had to do something with them, so I made jewelry, which I passed out at Christmas," he says, explaining he learned to make jewelry from a class he took at the Museum of Fine Arts. He lives at Hampton Beach during winter and on shore walks collected sea shells and made brooches out of those. "When I ran out of [materials], I saw an origami clown and made a Santa Claus," he continues. "All my ideas are somewhat copied, but I design them to my own ideas." "He's a unique person," said fellow docent Sally Shea. "He likes the arts and is incredibly generous to spend all that time for us." There are 15 male docents, and Paul notes this rarity. "When I first came to the Currier, people would say to me, 'Well, there are only women docents'," he says. "There really weren't a lot of guys, but, hey, I like being with the ladies." His most memorable experience was when he was a new docent. "It was...before the strict rule of [an accompanying] chaperon with every group," recalls Paul, about two fifth-graders who started pitching a NERF™ ball back and forth over Randolph Rogers' Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii. "My eyes came out of my head, and with arms waving frantically, I called an end to the game." He thinks the Currier has many great artworks, but one he likes to show is Jan de Bray's Banquet of Antony and Cleopatra. "Not only for its size, but for the memorial to the painter's family and historical value," he says. "The party story is always a good way to leave a painting. My comment is 'The woman always has the last word'." He says his continued relationship with the Currier "has been very rewarding. Besides the enjoyment and appreciation of its art, I've received an art education," he says. "The friends and acquaintances I have made have been my greatest and most valued gift."
Spotlight by Pauline Bogaert |
| Currier Welcomes New Museum Docents
On December 15, 19 new docents completed training and are ready to assume tour duties this spring. Led by Jane Seney, the course - held in 2 1/2 -hour sessions - began October 13 and continued each Wednesday. Jane provided a rich curriculum focused on in-depth examinations of the Currier's permanent collection of pictures and sculpture, art history background, pedagogy, diverse audiences, tour shadowing, and practicing questioning techniques and a variety of approaches. Although formal classes ended in December, Jane will hold monthly winter seminars on historic furniture, paperweights and decorative arts.
 | | New Museum docents (Front to Back, L to R): Arlene Amendolara, Muriel McMillan, Joan Sheldon, Christiane Rodriguez, Angela Hoke, Karin Whitford, Fran Hall, Nancy Baker, Melanie Larson, Jane Seney (Docent Educator), Aletheia Fischer, Pam Harvey and Seaborn Scott. Not pictured: Amanda Levesque, Martha Maldonado, Diane McEntee, Florence Merrill, Tricia Prinz, Richard Russell and Alan Slotkin. |
These new docents bring a diversity of backgrounds, talents and interests to the Currier. According to their applications, there are former university professors and three who are bi-lingual in French and Spanish. Some have backgrounds in art history, archeology, teaching, business and community service. Others are former school librarians, museum guides and artists.
Four of the museum docent graduates - Pam Harvey, Angela Hoke, Tricia Prinz and Richard Russell - are also Z-House docents. The new class also includes Arlene Amendolara, Nancy Baker, Aletheia Fischer, Fran Hall, Melanie Larson, Amanda Levesque, Martha Maldonado, Diane McEntee, Muriel McMillan, Florence Merrill, Christiane Rodriguez, Seaborn Scott, Joan Sheldon, Alan Slotkin and Karin Whitford.
 | | Museum docent mentor, Elaine McCartney, with new docents Joan Sheldon and Martha Maldonado. |
Helping during the training period are docent-mentors Jane Bentas, Marilyn Davison, Carolyn Hollman, Roberta Lavey, Elaine McCartney, Pam Parrot, Judy Ransmeier, and Ann Richardson.
The docents were enthusiastic about their training, as shown in these responses to the training program:
- "Well-organized; concrete learning information is given each week with great hand-outs to review."
- "It [the training] is organized, easy to follow. It is positive; we receive lots of encouragement, support, reassurance, and appreciation."
- "The focus on visual literacy and visual understanding has been very helpful...Jane constantly models what an educator would do as she presents each class, allowing docents to learn presentation techniques as well as information about the art in the collection."
- "The open, friendly atmosphere you [Jane] encourage all to share their perspectives on art. It has been helpful to hear other people's opinions."
- "The discussions about viewing strategies work well. I also like shadowing the veteran docents. The handouts have excellent content."
- "Oh Jane, the training is just great! I enjoy myself so much attending your classes. I think everything is working well."
 | | New docents Arlene Amendolara and Amanda Levesque. |
We welcome our new colleagues and look forward to seeing them around the Currier.
Carolyn Hollman, Museum Docent Chair
[email protected] |
Komanecky Reflects on Zimmermans;
Docents Visit Johnson's Glass House
On November 13, Michael Komanecky gave a talk, "Bringing the Avant-Garde to a Mill Town: Frank Lloyd Wright's Zimmerman House," to a group of Zimmerman House docents. Michael was curator at the Currier when the museum acquired the Zimmerman House and wrote the history of the house. Komanecky's presentation discussed how the Zimmermans commissioned the house; the relationship between the Zimmermans and Frank Lloyd Wright; and the context of the Zimmerman House in what had been one of the largest textile manufacturing cities in the world. Of particular interest was Komanecky's discussion of the Zimmermans and how amazing they were. Isadore, the son of a Russian Jewish immigrant tailor, graduated with honors from Harvard College and Tufts Medical School to become a urologist, and excellent violinist.
 | | Michael Komanecky |
He described how unusual it was for Lucille to not only leave her Kentucky home to study nursing, but then to move to New Hampshire. It was interesting to hear from someone who was at the center of the Currier's largest and most complex acquisition.
Also in November, docents took a field trip to New Canaan, Conn., to see the Glass House, which is also called the Johnson House. Built in 1949, the house was designed by Philip Johnson as his residence and is a masterpiece in the use of glass. The building is an essay in minimal structure, geometry, proportion, and the effects of transparency and reflection. After his death in 2005, ownership of the house was passed to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which opened it to visitors in April 2007. The Glass House docents were wonderful, sharing many insights and stories not usually told to visitors.
As part of this field trip, many of the docents visited the 1951 Roland Reisley House in Pleasantville, N.Y. The master plan of this Usonian community was developed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1947. Fifty Usonian-style houses, with variety within the common theme, are spread around a 100-acre woodland. The land and facilities are shared as a cooperative. Wright personally designed three of the houses, of which two are more or less unchanged today. Roland allowed the docents into his home and charmed them with wonderful stories and insights.
Thank you to Barbara and David Feltus for arranging the visit to the Reisley House.
 Dennie Dyer, Zimmerman House Docent Chair
[email protected]
Z-House docents: If you have any comments or questions about your volunteer efforts, please feel free to contact Dennie Dyer to discuss what's on your mind. |
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Secret Life a Hit with Public and Docents
Docents volunteer to fill tour slots with enthusiasm, energy and commitment. While giving these public tours is the docents' primary focus, we also get to enjoy truly fabulous training and enrichment programs arranged by Jane Seney. In November and December, we saw two films, participated in two "field trips," learned about framing from conservator Susan B. Jackson, and previewed the spring exhibition of works by New Hampshire artist Jon Brooks.
 | | Docents arrive at the Addison Gallery on the campus of Philips Andover Academy. |
Two field trips, one to the Addison Gallery of Art in Andover, Mass., and the other to the "bowels" of the Currier, added much to our knowledge about art museums in general. On November 5, more than 30 museum docents traveled to the Addison Gallery at Philips Andover Academy. We divided into two groups to explore the new education center and to examine the reinstalled permanent collection. Under the guidance of the Addison's education fellows, Kait Ziskin and Jamie Kaplowitz, we visited the exhibit Inside, Outside, Upstairs, Downstairs: The New Addison, which was divided into themed galleries. In the gallery called "Testament," we were led to draw conclusions about various artists' expressions of "Man Against Nature" and "Man in Nature." The discussion opened fresh comparisons among, for example, Winslow Homer's Eight Bells, Ralph Blakelock's After Sunset, Katherine Wolkoff's Katrina, and Jackson Pollock's Phosphorescence.
In the new Museum Learning Center of the Sidney R. Knafel Wing we examined photographic images viewed as text, finding several themes - family, racism, social protest, women and gender, among others - that suggested additional context to the recorded events. The Addison educators modeled the exercise to illustrate how students and teachers use art to enrich their courses by incorporating visual education, cultural concepts, and new ways of thinking. During "free time" we had an opportunity to view the special retrospective exhibit of fiber artist Sheila Hicks. For more information on the Addison, see www.andover.edu/museums/addison.
On November 16 docents were treated to a "Behind the Scenes at the Currier" field trip. Karen Papineau, registrar, and Cindy Mackey, assistant registrar, showed us through the Currier's storage area where we viewed shelves-upon-shelves of everything from works-on-paper, glass, framed work, furniture, textiles, to Mrs. Zimmerman's dry-cleaned dresses. Sky Shaw led us through the loading dock and around the Preparator's Office and workshop. He described how exhibits are mounted, art works delivered, and display stands designed, produced and built. Finally, Director of Facilities Operations Nelson Goddard took us on a tour of the Security Office and the sub-basement. Despite the fact that we all spend hours at the Currier, most of us didn't know about the heating and cooling systems, the cataloging and organization of art works, the installation of the giant elevator, and the intricate and carefully monitored security cameras. This field trip was among the most eye-opening experiences for docents who attended.
By the time this newsletter comes out, it will be 2011. Christmas decorations will have been put away along with New Year's hats and noisemakers. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday. Now we can look forward to another busy and exciting winter as we continue to explore art at the Currier.
 Carolyn Hollman, Museum Docent Chair [email protected]
Museum docents: If you have questions or comments related to your volunteer efforts, please feel free to contact Carolyn Hollman anytime to discuss what's on your mind.
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View Museum and Z-House Training Calendars On-Line:
Docent Calendar Z-House Calendar |
 Time Goes By . . . So Don't Lose Your Time
Timekeeper Barbara Shepler reminds everyone that all hours for 2010 must be entered onto the computer by January 15, 2011.
Barbara suggests a New Year's resolution for Guild members: I will enter all my hours on the day they are served. I want to make Barbara happy.
Beginning in 2011, all hours must be entered by the 15th of the month, after the month in which the hours were served. Hours not entered in a timely fashion will be lost. All January hours are due by February 15, all February hours are due by March 15, and so on throughout the year. If you need help, please ask.
Barbara Shepler, Membership Chair
494-6015
[email protected] |
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Guild Volunteers Given First Service Awards
The Guild of Volunteers presented Service Awards at November's Semi-Annual meeting to 57 people. Congratulations to the following Guild members for their years of service:
 | | Barbara Shepler presents service awards to Thelma Raine, Pat Howard and Fran Gray. |
Five-year recipients: Jane Bentas, Roslyn Block, Peg Case, Mary Carroll, Jan Conover, Julia Di Stefano, Victoria Duffy, Denise Dyer, Dot Farley, David Feltus, Susan Feltus, Margaret Gregorich, John Herper, Pat Howard, Pam Parrot, Jackie Parsons, Judith Ransmeier, Peggy Rogers, Dorothy Savery, Paula Schmida, Sally Shea, Barbara Shepler, Don Sieker, Cynthia Spinelli, Nancy Stewart, Jean Therrien, Jim Townsend and Fran Wiggin
10-Year: Past executive chairs Marilyn Davison, Sally Douglass and Carol Tingleff; and Gloria Bouchard, Arthur Cody, Nancy Colageo, Yvonne Dunham, Diane Ellis, Flo Fitzgerald, Blanche Friedman, Mary Morrison, Thelma Raine and Ann Richardson
15-Year: Past executive chair James Bennett, Mary Christy, Doug Chamberlain, Margaret Comiskey, Frances Gray, Pat Meyers, Pat Morrison, Paul Sarcione, James Shanahan (emeritus) and Alice Yanulis
21 year: Past executive chair Beryl MacKenzie, and Muriel Broad
25 years: Hannah Perutz
Charter Members: Past executive chair and emerita H. Frances Gordon, 28 years; Anne Milne, 34 years; and Jean Nelson, 38 years
If you were not at the meeting to receive your certificate, contact Barbara Shepler.
Barbara Shepler
Membership Chair
494-6015
[email protected] |
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The Invisible Man Comes to the Currier
On November 16, before the semi-annual Guild of Volunteers luncheon, Assistant Curator Nina Gara Bozicnik introduced us to the Currier's latest acquisition - Invisible Man (Two Views) created by Glenn Ligon in 1991. Purchased in September at auction, the two-canvas oil painting can be found in the Contemporary Gallery alongside two historical photographs taken by Ernest C. Withers (1968).
 | Nina Gara Bozicnik introduces the Currier's latest acquisition: Invisible Man (Two Views) by Glenn Ligon.
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The painting had previously been a part of the Neuberger Berman and Lehman Brothers Corporate Art Collections.
Nina presented the painting to us in the auditorium, providing a series of slides and discussion on Ligon's works and biography. Born in 1960 in the Bronx and currently living and working in New York City, Glenn Ligon's works are a blend between abstract expressionism and representation, with a sense of historical mindfulness, especially regarding the identity experience of African Americans in the United States.
In this piece, Ligon used two gessoed canvasses to stencil (in black) the opening paragraph of the novel, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, published in 1952. Ligon's process allows the smudging of the edges of the characters as he moves the stencil across the canvas, followed by further blurring of the characters to impose subtle self-portrait images into the body of each canvas - one image a profile, the other a front (or back?) view of the artist's head and shoulders. In an interview with James Moran of Interview Magazine, Ligon said, "Sol LeWitt had a huge influence on my work because of his use of repetition and his clarity, setting up a system and letting that system go. That's where the text paintings come from."
Ligon has always had a deep interest in literature. The addition of text literally gives content to his abstract painting. "What does it mean to take on another person's words as a way of talking about the self?" he asked writer David Drogin in Museo Magazine. "The text is something that I wanted to inhabit and the way I chose to inhabit it was to make paintings that have quotes that create confusion about who's speaking." He realized that the text was the painting and everything else was extraneous. The painting became the act of writing a text on a canvas, but as in all his language-based work, text turns into abstraction.
After Nina's talk, we visited the gallery to view the painting and continue our discussion of its significance. In the gallery, the historical and social aspects of the painting are underlined by its proximity to the Warhol portfolio, Flash- November 22, 1963 (created in 1968), and the photographs of Ernest C. Withers. Each of the objects relies on text and images to tell a serious story of social change in America.
According to Nina, "Ligon's distinctive engagement with identity issues, African-American history and the complexities of language broadens the perspectives and artistic strategies represented in the Currier's collection. The acquisition of Ligon's painting signals the Currier's commitment to collecting contemporary work of exemplary quality and engaging visitors in issues relevant to our time. Invisible Man (Two Views) has many layers of content, with the opportunity to stimulate a diverse array of rewarding conversations in the Currier's galleries."
Docents can incorporate Invisible Man (Two Views) into tours based on a literary theme, the self-portrait connection, the abstract expressionism example, or an historical connection with the Warhol and Withers' photographs. This is an excellent opportunity to engage high school students with a discussion of the emotional power of "feeling invisible."
In early 2011, the Currier's Inspired Words program will use the Invisible Man as inspiration for local writers to reflect and write. On Sunday, March 13, participating writers will read their poetry and prose in the gallery. Join us to write or to listen and delve into the many layers of connections that Invisible Man (Two Views) adds to the visitor's experience of the Currier's collection.
 By Kim Tyndall, with research assistance from Jean McGiffin
[email protected]
[email protected] |
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