BOARD OF TRUSTEES
F. X. Matt III, Chair
Christian Heilmann, Vice-Chair
Dietra Harvey, Secretary
Vige Barrie
Rev. Sharon Baugh
Dr. Steven J. Brown
William C. Craine
Emma Golden
Robert Knight
Betty Krulik
Mark Levitt
C. Sonia Martinez
Laura Tansey Wetzel
Richard Griffith, Trustee Emeritus
John B. Stetson, Trustee Emeritus
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
May and June are a season of graduations and celebrations as we gear up for one of the most wonderful times of year in Central New York. On our campus, we recently celebrated the achievements of the PrattMWP Class of 2023 with a joyful ceremony in the Museum. This exceptional group of students not only excelled in their academics and art practice, but also showed tremendous support for one another in a way that will bond them as they move on to their junior year on the Pratt Institute campus in Brooklyn.
Mark your calendars for Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960, which includes stunning ensembles for every type of sport, from promenading to motorcycling. In the pages that follow, Mary Murray shares how these fashions illustrate so much more than style. They reflect socioeconomic status and women’s changing roles over the century and a half. I hope you’ll join me at the special Members Preview Reception on June 22!
One of Munson’s goals is to make transformational art-based experiences available to all, and we could not achieve that without the help of generous donors. Thanks to MetLife Foundation, we are able to offer again this summer free art classes for kids and teens. These classes were completely enrolled almost as soon as we opened registration. This enthusiasm is an example of our community’s deep desire to cultivate creativity in future generations. Summer is the perfect time to harness your inner creativity too by trying a class! Registration for a full slate of community arts classes for adults is now open.
The 2023 Arts Festival will be packed with activities, music, and art from members of the greater Utica community. A new twist this year is that the Arts Festival will kick off with the popular Munson Car Show on Sunday, July 23. The culminating event will be a community block party Saturday on Genesee Street in front of the Museum. Enjoy family activities during the afternoon and a DJ dance party in the evening .
June sees the return of our First Fridays Happy Hour on the Museum front lawn with a celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride. In addition to live music, a cash bar, and an art activity, Knead to Eat is donating treats (thank you!), and I’ll showcase some fabulous objects from the Museum collection in a fun gallery talk. I hope to see you there!
As always, thank you for being a part of our Munson community. Your involvement and support help make all that we do meaningful.
Anna
Tobin President and Cover images: Ranching Ensemble, 1930s. Golfing Ensemble, 1890s. Calisthenics Ensemble, 1860s.
THURSDAY, JUNE 1
Art Story with the Utica Public Library
10:30 a.m., Museum of Art | Art Odyssey
At our final monthly story time for ages 6 and younger of the season, children can enjoy actively participating in reading a picture book and looking at art with a Museum docent, and other fun activities led by the Utica Public Library Children's Room staff.
FRIDAY, JUNE 2
Pride First Friday Museum of Art | Front Lawn
Our First Friday Happy Hour is returns, just in time to celebrate LGBTQIA+ Pride! Enjoy live music by Remsen Social Club, art activities, a cash bar, complimentary food from Knead to Eat Bakery and Cafe, and an art talk with Munson President and CEO Anna D’Ambrosio.
$5 General Admission
SATURDAYS, JUNE 3, 10, 17, 24
Art and Yoga
10:30 a.m., Museum of Art
Our long-running wellness series features 15-minute gallery talks followed by an hour yoga session. All levels welcome. Bring your own mat.
$15 General Admission | $10 Members
SATURDAY, JUNE 3
The Met: Live in HD Die Zauberflöte
12:55 p.m., Museum of Art, Sinnott Family-Bank of Utica Auditorium
English director Simon McBurney brings his daring vision of Mozart’s opera in its first new staging at The Met in 19 years. The sterling cast includes soprano Erin Morley as Pamina, tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Tamino, and baritone Thomas Oliemans as Papageno.
$26 General Admission | $22 Members
The Met: Live in HD is sponsored at Munson by Elizabeth R. Lemieux, Ph.D.
The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant form its funding sponsor, the Neubauer Family Foundation. Digital support of The Met: Live in HD is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Met: Live in HD series is supported by Rolex. The HSD broadcasts are supported by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury homebuilders.
This year, we are thrilled to share the creativity of our community students through social media and email features through June 13 in the This Week email, on Instagram and Facebook. Be sure to follow us on social media and email info@munson.art to be added to our subscribers list.
THURSDAY, JUNE 22
Members Preview Reception for Sporting Fashion, 5:30 p.m. Museum of Art | Root Sculpture Court
At our Members-only event, be the first to experience the captivating new exhibition, Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960 Enjoy live music, festive food, and a full cash bar. Cocktail attire suggested. RSVP by calling 315-797-0055 or at munson.art.
$40 per person
Event sponsored by Honorine Wallack, SVP – Baird Private Wealth Management
JUNE 23 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 17
In this captivating exhibition, viewers experience the evolution of women’s activities and societal norms from the 1800s to the mid 1900s through the lens of Western fashion.
The breadth of women’s activity, from promenades and gardening in the early 1800s, to roller derby and motorcycles in the 1950s, is explored through authentic, fully accessorized ensembles and sports-related accessories. Sporting Fashion also includes profiles on the lives and accomplishments of storied women in sports, such as sprinter Wilma Rudolph and pilot Hazel Ying Lee.
Sporting Fashion tackles not only the changes in sporting equipment and technology, but the way those changes reflected the socially approved, restricted mobility of women. Arranged into eight themes by location or type of activity, the exhibition will occupy two galleries in the Museum of Art, and will be complimented by the kid-friendly interactive exhibition, If the Shoe Fits.
Admission to Munson’s presentation of Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960 is $12 general admission and free for Members, children 12 and younger, members from The Center, and those with a SNAP/EBT card. Admission is also free for active duty military personnel and their families this summer through the Blue Star Museums program.
This exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts and FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles.
The Utica presentation is sponsored by Richard and Constance Griffith; Elizabeth R. Lemieux, Ph.D.; the Family of F.X. Matt II; Joseph Abraham; Cheryl and Fred Haritatos; the Hon. Joan E. Shkane (ret.); and the David E. and Jane B. Sayre Bryant Endowment Fund.
JULY 12 Talk with fashion historian Jennifer Gordon
JULY 25 Talk with Gabrielle Augustine, National Baseball Hall of Fame
JULY 25 Free film screening of A League of Their Own
AUG. 16 Design Your Own Sneakers Workshop
SEPT. 14 Community Fashion Show
While the stunning ensembles are the centerpiece of Sporting Fashion, the exhibition tells stories that transcend design.
“Fashion tells an important story about societal mores,” says Mary Murray, curator of modern and contemporary art at Munson.
Early leisure and athletic activities for women were inextricably linked to socioeconomic status, available only to those with affluence and leisure time, Murray says. In the Sporting Fashion catalog foreword, tennis great Serena Williams says most Black women and minorities did not have the right or economic means to engage in sport.
“It is so important for us to remember all the historic struggles that have brought us to our current cultural moment and to continue to question the status quo,” Williams says.
Fashion is also a snapshot in history, as in the exhibition’s 1950s plastic raincoat emblazoned with atoms and a 1920s touring jacket with Egyptian-inspired patterns after the discovery of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Changes in technology inspired new and evolving ensembles for driving, piloting, and skiing. As appliances lessened their household workload, middle-class women engaged in more athletic pursuits outside the home. All of these factors combine to create this exciting summer exhibition.
Every other Tuesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Free Admission
All titles and dates subject to change.
June 27
Pat and Mike
July 11
Battle of the Sexes
July 25
A League of Their Own
Preceded at 6 p.m. by a talk and film introduction by Gabrielle Augustine, Curator, National Baseball Hall of Fame
August 8
Whip It
August 22
Million Dollar Baby
September 5
Bend It Like Beckham
Wednesdays and Fridays at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Sinnott Family–Bank of Utica Auditorium
Enjoy new foreign, independent, and award-winning films each week. Follow @MunsonUtica on social media and visit munson.art for the latest information.
$9 General Admission | $7 Members
Discounted multi-film passes are available.
The Film Series is generously sponsored by M&T Bank.
Join us at our annual Arts Festival, which this year kicks off with the Munson Car Show on Sunday, July 23. Online registration to participate in the Car Show is open, as is registration for artists within 40 miles of Utica who would like to submit artwork for consideration in the Sidewalk Art Show. This year artwork will be protected from the elements under a tent, as it originally was in the 1950s and 1960s. The Arts Festival will close with a block party on Saturday featuring family-friendly activities in the afternoon and a dance party and awards ceremony in the evening.
Community Art classes for teens and adults start in June with two weekend workshops. Classes from jewelry making and ceramics to en plein air painting and drawing start in July. Visit munson.art for the most up-to-date details.
The final sophomore class at PrattMWP College of Art and Design celebrated the completion of two years at the Pratt Institute extension campus in Utica. Good luck to the Class of 2023! When classes resume in the fall, the college will operate under its new name, Pratt Munson.
Munson is partnering with Oneida County Tourism on an Oneida County Mural Trail, which will include a new mural on Munson’s campus in the theme “Garden of Humanity.” A Pratt Munson alumnus will be selected to create the mural this summer on three sides of 324 Genesee Street.
Munson’s goal is to offer the best in arts programming for everyone in our community, regardless of their economic background.
The magic behind our ability to offer free and discounted programs lies with our sponsors — individuals, businesses, and foundations who offer sponsorship support to offset the actual costs of our programs so anyone can take part. We see the impact in a full auditorium for Art Alive! programs and when our summer kids art classes reach full enrollment on the first day we open registration. We feel it when we welcome the public to the Munson Arts Festival with bands, great artwork, and a wide range of free programming.
The generosity of sponsors supports our mission to offer art experiences to as many people as possible. We are seeking sponsors to support our programs for the 2023-2024 season, with opportunities starting at $5,000. Available season sponsorships include:
2023-2024 Concerts in the Court Live Music Series
2023-2024 Art Alive! Performances
2023-2024 Museum of Art Exhibition Series
2024 Summer Arts Classes for Kids
2024-2025 Artist-in-Residence Program
2024 Munson Arts Festival
To learn more, please connect with Director of Development John Murphy at jdmurphy@munson.art or 315-927-8523.
Museum of Art
Tues.-Sat.,
Performing Arts Ticket Office
Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
open one hour
performances and 30 minutes before films. Phone: 315-797-0055 or 1-800-754-0797
School of Art Offices
Mon.-Fri., 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Art Research Library
Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sat., noon to 5 p.m.
Deliver Entries
Friday and Saturday, June 30 and July 1
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Notification to artists
Thursday, July 6
Pick up entries not in show
Thursday and Friday, July 13 and 14
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sidewalk Art Show
Sunday, July 23 through Saturday, July 29
Prizes awarded
Saturday, July 29, 6:45 p.m.
Performing Arts Stage
Pick up entries
Thursday and Friday, August 3 and 4
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Unclaimed works are subject to disposal without notification.
