The permanent collection at the Georgia Museum of Art features an intricately crafted mahogany chair and chest of drawers in the Nancy Cooper Turner Gallery, possibly crafted by Thomas Day. According to Dale Couch, the museum’s curator of decorative arts, “A similar carved face [to that of the chest] appears on a mantelpiece for which the original bill of sale exists from Day to his client.” Records also exist of Day purchasing chairs similar to the one displayed at the museum. But what these pieces don’t tell us is the story of Day’s life.
With everyone talking about a “new normal” during this crisis, I am anxious that we do not see it as a perpetual “abnormal” or that we dwell in nostalgia for the “old normal.” Neither I nor the staff members at the Georgia Museum of Art are wringing our hands and longing for a non-existent halcyon age of only three weeks ago. Rather we have taken on the challenge: to follow our mission; to engage our audiences in novel and creative ways; and to follow through with our business continuity plan.
Ryan Woods is no stranger to the fine arts. Even before his acceptance to the University of Georgia, he spent a summer working in Athens as an apprentice for machinist David King.
For more than five years, the Georgia Museum of Art has participated in a program that allows different units and departments to sponsor a mock dorm room on campus. These rooms, which incoming residents have a chance to tour all summer, are a great way to show students what to expect on move-in day as well as to showcase different opportunities on campus. Last summer, over 4,000 visitors toured these model rooms in 14 halls.
One of the Georgia Museum of Art’s newest acquisitions is not a work of art, but a pair of sleek, blue Art Carts: interactive and portable carts that are used in innovative programming.
Do you remember the last time you said “It’s a small world”? Maybe it was when you ran into an old friend at Starbucks or found out that you share an acquiantance with a friend. For Phillip Bond, a security guard at the Georgia Museum of Art, that phrase carries a larger significance.
