access magazine Spring / Summer 2022 by Worcester Art Museum

access W O R C E S T E R A RT M U S E U M spring / summer 2022

From the Director

Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity

Jewels of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Treasures from the Worcester Art Museum

contents

Bringing two medieval saints back to life

Lessons from the pandemic

Find yourself at WAM

Collection news

Celebrating a partnership in education and the arts

Kat O’Connor, ArtsWorcester Biennial winner

Ongoing/upcoming

Tours and programs

Seen at WAM!

Membership

Cover: Ball-Bead Necklace, detail, Middle Kingdom, ca. 1980 – 1760 BCE, Faience, 1925.632; Ball-Bead Necklace, detail, Middle Kingdom, ca. 1980 – 1760 BCE, Faience, 1925.633; Ball-Bead Necklace, detail, Middle Kingdom, ca. 1980 – 1760 BCE, Faience, 1925.634 Left: Howard Carter, (British, 1873 – 1939), Figure of a Prince in the guise of the Priest Iunmutef, 1909, watercolor over graphite on medium, slightly textured off-white paper, Mrs. Kingsmill Marrs Collection, 1925.141

access magazine is a publication of the Worcester Art Museum and funded in large part by the Herron-Dresser Publications Fund. All rights reserved. Information subject to change. Editor: Julieane Frost Editorial Assistant: Jack Gallagher Design: Kim Noonan Photography: Stephen Briggs, Dany Pelletier, Troy B. Thompson Contributing writer: Rae Francouer

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From the director

On December 2, we officially opened our new Lancaster Plaza entrance with a special ribbon cutting ceremony. The joy felt by those in attendance, standing on the elegant granite and steel staircase designed by WHY Architects, was palpable. That moment of celebration was the result of countless hours of work and coordination by our Facilities Committee, chaired during this project by both Lisa McDonough and George Tetler; staff; and contractors—most of it during a pandemic. Adjacent to the stairs, a new elevator now provides accessibility to all floors of the Museum’s Higgins Education Wing (HEW)—and makes every entrance fully accessible. The Lancaster Plaza is just one of several capital improvements we have been working on. This winter and spring, the HEW windows will be replaced by energy-efficient units—making our building much more environmentally sustainable. Additionally, plans are underway for the former sculpture studio in the HEW to be transformed into a modern library to house our extensive collection of art history publications. This new space will provide improved access for the local college community, researchers, and WAM docents and staff. When the library collection has been fully moved into its new home at the end of 2022, construction can then begin on a state-of-the-art arms and armor gallery, the capstone project for the full integration of the Higgins Armory Collection. The new gallery will add a dynamic dimension to the Worcester Art Museum and draw families, arms and armor enthusiasts, and historians from around the country and the world. These projects are physical signs of the many ways that WAM’s Board, staff, and donors are ensuring the Museum's continued strength and service to the community.

WORCESTER ART MUSEUM

Much was also achieved during the past year that is not as visible, but just as important. In September, the Board approved “Foundations for the Future,” the Museum’s Strategic Plan 2022 – 2027. The result of months of hard work, this plan provides a solid framework that will guide us for the next five years. The plan’s cornerstone is newly created Mission, Vision, and Values statements for our organization—continuing the guiding principles set out by our founder, Stephen Salisbury III. These statements will serve as a guide for every decision we make.*

Dorothy Chen-Courtin, President Mark W. Fuller, Vice President Douglas S. Brown, Vice President Sarah G. Berry, Treasurer Susan M. Bassick, Clerk

None of this work would be possible without the dedication and support of our generous Members, Trustees, donors, and volunteers. Thank you to all who have contributed your time, talents, and financial gifts over the past year. Together we are the Worcester Art Museum and together we will continue its transformative mission. Please enjoy this latest issue of access magazine—and the articles about our exhibitions, programs, and initiatives. I hope to see you here at WAM during the coming months! Stay safe!

Matthias Waschek Jean and Myles McDonough Director *The Mission, Vision, and Values statements, as well as a summary of the Strategic Plan 2022-2027, can be found at worcesterart.org/about.

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Board of Trustees 2022

Lawrence H. Curtis Jennifer Davis Carey James C. Donnelly, Jr. Jennifer C. Glowik-Adams Karen M. Keane Sohail Masood Margaret McEvoy-Ball Thomas P. McGregor Philip R. Morgan Malcolm A. Rogers Jonathan R. Sigel Anne-Marie Soullière Cynthia L. Strauss George W. Tetler III Christina Villena Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham Ex Officio – Matthias Waschek Jean and Myles McDonough Director

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Exhibitions When I create, I lean heavily on text as a form of representation, as well as patterns of progression ... which in turn move me through the work and my ideas. My use of patterns of progression and text is less of a “formal strategy” and more so a practiced acknowledgment of continuity—of the fluidity and malleability of being. It's a philosophical grounding, a familial consciousness—a “survival strategy.” For me, this continuity and malleability of form, thought, expression, and material is a rejection of permanence, which creates space for me to acknowledge that there is indeed another way to be present and engaged with the world. NB: Your work is included in the Text section. How do you feel Text is a useful device when addressing identity?

Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity February 19 – June 19, 2022 Diverse perspectives and experiences around identity are explored by 45 contemporary artists in this large-scale exhibition. Organized around four formal artistic devices used since the mid-1970s to address socio-political concepts, Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity includes photographs, prints, paintings, and sculptures from the Museum’s collection, along with several significant loans. Us Them We is cocurated by Nancy Kathryn Burns, Stoddard Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs at WAM, and Toby Sisson, Associate Professor and Program Director of Studio Art at Clark University. One of the featured artists is Nyeema Morgan of Chicago. Morgan’s mixed media and installation works incorporate text-based media, sculptural elements, and drawing, and focus on how meaning is constructed and communicated given complex sociopolitical systems. Here Morgan responds to questions posed by Nancy Kathryn Burns about the artist’s creative approach and how she uses text as a device to address identity in her work. 6

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NB: This exhibition is organized with the premise that various aesthetic approaches, specifically text, juxtaposition, pattern, and seriality, can serve to strengthen narratives about race and ethnicity, even in the case of abstraction. What are your thoughts about this idea? NM: I can speak about the ways aesthetic approaches strengthen narratives in my work, but first I want to acknowledge that this is an American exhibition featuring works by American artists in an American institution in the Northeast where the tenets of American democracy were established. When we discuss race, ethnicity, and identity within this context, an integral part of that conversation is the socio-political, philosophical dialectic of Blackness and Whiteness (or Whiteness and “Otherness”). I consider myself an “identity artist” (among many things), not because I’m an African American artist, but because my work is concerned with soft articulations of power within our economically motivated, racial caste system. Such articulations are seeded in the symbolic resonance of the abstract.

NM: Text is a visual representational form and the narrative use of text (in advertisements, literature, and beyond) is politically charged, with the stories we're taught functioning allegorically, serving a dominant ideological superstructure. Text as a form, especially printed text, has an authoritative weight. Standardized typography is meant to be formally neutral, to be legible, and widely proliferated. Whereas, the handwritten text in my drawings is warmer, more personal. The visual elements in my works are graphic, embodying that cool, objective, authoritative resonance but are also paired with a gesture or form which is more idiosyncratic. Building on my previous response about aesthetic approaches and narrative, text offers another way for me to think about representation with a specific focus on identity. Not just the politics of racial identity, but identity as a signifier for a being. In Ancient Egyptian metaphysics, a person’s being had many components, one of which was 'Ren'—their identity or name. With this body of drawings, the benefit for me as the maker in bringing text into the work is that it operates as both an evocation and as a formal element within the drawing. My aim is to learn about the ways we communicate with each other by untangling and reconciling the impact of text as an aesthetic form along with images and objects.

Image above, left: Nyeema Morgan (American, born 1977), Dear Arlene (Mom), 2019, screenprint, acrylic, Sumi ink, and graphite. © Nyeema Morgan. Image courtesy of the artist.

Contemporary Directions In conjunction with Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity, the curators co-taught an advanced studio course, “Contemporary Directions” at Clark University in spring 2021. Thirteen Clark students explored the topic of identity and created artworks in response to objects featured in the exhibition. These works will be displayed in an ancillary gallery. Shown below is Tobi Pitan's response to Nyeema Morgan's screenprint shown on the previous page.

“As the child of Nigerian parents, I recognize the subtle yet frequent ways immigrants are devalued and erased. In Hands in Hand words are underlined in red to reference digital software which “auto corrects” perceived errors into conformity. I counter these biases with repeated images of my mother, an emphatic restatement of her presence and importance in my life. Similarly, Nyeema Morgan’s Dear Arlene (Mom), lists the names of multiple Black artists, starting with her mother’s name. The frame is hung askew denoting the historic marginalization of Black artists, but this angle realigns the list and thus recenters it to a place of prominence.” —Tobi Pitan

Rania Matar, Sisters, Beirut, 2007, archival inkjet print. © Rania Matar. Gift from the artist and Gallery Kayafas in honor of Ed Osowski, 2010.276

RELATED PROGRAMS Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity: Selected Works Thursday, March 17, 6pm Members free, non-members $5 As part of the Museum’s Master Series Third Thursday program, Kimberly Juanita Brown, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College and specialist in visual culture studies, discusses selected works in the exhibition and shares her thoughts on the stories they tell. Registration information for the event can be found at worcesterart.org. Master Series Third Thursday programs are hosted by the WAM Members' Council and sponsored by AbbVie. Additional support is provided by the Amelia and Robert H. Haley Memorial Lecture Fund, Bernard and Louise Palitz Fund, and Spear Fund for Public Programs.

Artists’ Panel Thursday, April 14, 4pm Tuckerman Hall Free

Toby Pitan (American, born 2000), Hands in Hand, April 2021, gouache, wax paper, rubber cement, laserjet ink on cold press paper, Courtesy of the artist. Responding to: Nyeema Morgan, Dear Arlene (Mom), 2019

Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity is organized by the Worcester Art Museum in partnership with, and with support from, Clark University. Additional support has been provided by Marlene and David Persky, Michael and Kristy Beauvais, Eve Griliches, Sara Shields and Bruce Fishbein, and Kristin B. Waters. This project is also funded in part by the John M. Nelson Fund and Hall and Kate Peterson Fund.

Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity co-curator Toby Sisson, Associate Professor and Program Director of Studio Art at Clark University, moderates a panel discussion on perspectives on identity with contemporary artists whose works are shown in the exhibition. Panel participants include artists Laylah Ali and Nafis M. White. Following the program, ticket holders are invited to view the exhibition at WAM. Registration information for the event can be found on the Museum’s website, worcesterart.org. The Artist’s Panel is hosted and sponsored by Clark University and the Worcester Art Museum. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Worcester Arts Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

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Exhibitions

The sacred beetle

Jewels of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Treasures from the Worcester Art Museum June 18, 2022 – January 29, 2023

pening 100 years after the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, Jewels of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Treasures from the Worcester Art Museum puts the Museum's extensive collection of ancient Egyptian jewelry on view for the first time in a century. This collection—much of it assembled by Kingsmill Marrs (d. 1912) and Laura Norcross Marrs (1845 – 1926) and given to WAM by Mrs. Marrs—is remarkable for both its breadth and quality. Worn by people at all levels of society, jewelry in ancient Egypt reflected the identities and beliefs of the individuals who wore it, the technical capabilities and skills of the artisans who crafted it, and the international trade that fostered it. Jewelry fulfilled a universal desire to adorn the body—especially in cultures where personal adornment is believed to possess supernatural powers to protect the wearer from potential harm, illness, and the malevolent forces of nature. In Egypt this amuletic function continued even after death, shown by the numerous adornments worn by the deceased in the hope of a successful journey to the afterlife. In ancient Egypt, there was a wide range of jewelry forms, including ornaments designed to encircle and magically protect vulnerable parts of the body, such as the neck. Among the earliest were diadems worn on the head, necklaces, upper armlets, wrist ornaments, girdles draped around the waist, and anklets. Finger rings came later, while earrings appear to have been introduced around 1700 BCE into Egypt from its southern neighbor, Nubia.

These ornaments were made of precious metals (gold and silver) and semiprecious hard stones, such as carnelian, amazonite, and lapis lazuli. All were prized not only for their aesthetic appeal but for their symbolic associations with the gods and the powers inherent in nature. Less costly jewelry was made from glazed steatite and colorful faience (a quartz-based ceramic). Our understanding of ancient Egyptian jewelry comes largely from scientific excavations conducted by archaeologists such as Howard Carter, a friend of the Marrses who is widely known for his discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. It was a find that dazzled the world and helped generations of historians come to appreciate the meaning, use, and forms of adornment worn by Egypt’s ruling elites. A century later, we celebrate Laura Norcross Marrs' generosity and ancient Egypt's creative legacy with Jewels of the Nile, an exciting exhibition of over 300 objects, ranging in size from tiny beads to massive sculptures. This exhibition is made possible through the generous support from Dr. Sohail Masood, his wife Mona Masood, and their children Laila Masood and Omar Masood. It is also funded in part by the Fletcher Foundation and Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation, Inc. Additional support is provided by Sandy Hubbard and Thomas J. Logan. Pictured above: 1926.48 Faience, 1926.61 Faience, 1926.53 Steatite, 1926.50 Steatite, 1926.45 Steatite, 1926.54 Faience, 1926.46 Steatite, 1926.59 Faience, 1926.68 Faience, 1926.51 Faience, 1926.56 Faience, 1926.52 Steatite, 1926.49 Steatite Pictured left: Scarabs Mounted as Modern Scarf/Cravat Pins. Top: 1926.90 Lapis lazuli, 1926.88 Faience; Bottom row: 1926.92 Rock crystal; 1926.91 Amethyst, 1926.87 Steatite, 1926.89 Amazonite

In ancient Egypt several species of beetle were imbued with magical, talismanic properties. One particular species of dung beetle—the sacred scarab, Scarabaeus sacer—is most closely aligned with Egypt, appearing as an amulet, or charm, around 2,000 BCE. Egyptians were fascinated by the insect’s unusual reproductive and feeding habits. In one instance, the female beetle lays an egg in a pear-shaped ball of animal dung buried underground. As the egg hatches, the young beetle emerges live from the sand as if magically self-created. In a second type of dung ball, the scarab rolls the ball across the sand where it is eventually hidden and consumed. The Egyptians saw these actions as the embodiment of the creator god Khepri, the force responsible for the sun’s emergence from the underworld as it begins its westward journey across the sky. This symbolic movement represented the ultimate act of renewal—a cosmic ritual reenacted daily. Three-dimensional representations of scarab beetles were made in vast numbers in ancient Egypt, offering renewed life and protection to both the living and the dead. Their power lies not only in their beetle form, but in the magical inscriptions, emblems, and pictorial images that were often added to their flat bases. Most scarabs are small (less than an inch), were worn as body adornments, and decorated with a range of motifs. These include symmetrically arranged designs, images of the gods, kings’ names in cartouches, good wishes, and protective mottos. The most prized examples are made of precious metal (rare) and semiprecious hardstones. Others are made of glazed steatite or in brilliantly hued faience. Excerpt from the exhibition catalog, Jewels of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Treasures from the Worcester Art Museum, by exhibition co-curators Peter Lacovara and Yvonne J. Markowitz.

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Conservation

In early 2022, Paintings Conservator Birgit Straehle conducts a condition check of the back sides of the panels depicting Saint Blaise and Saint Christopher.

Bringing two medieval saints back to life

his fall, a work of great beauty and significance from the Worcester Art Museum's collection was a highlight of a Getty Center exhibition. The Worcester Triptych displayed the skill, sophistication, and ambition of Paolo Veneziano, Venice’s premier 14th-century painter. Known for his use of jewel-like color and evocative depictions of iconic Christian scenes and saints, his works range from altarpieces to frescoes to smaller devotional paintings that thrill visitors and scholars even now, nearly seven centuries after they were created. In the Getty show, WAM’s The Seven Saints—seven wooden fragments that originally comprised the shutters of a portable altarpiece (shown on the opposite page)—were reunited with three other fragments and displayed as a triptych, their original form. (Art historians refer to the reassembled work as The Worcester Triptych.) Similar to an altar piece, but smaller, such triptychs were designed for individual devotion and could be opened and closed much like a shuttered window.

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“Seven Saints is one of my favorite pieces in WAM’s collection,” says Birgit Straehle, Paintings Conservator at WAM. When she first encountered it in 2006, she had no idea she would one day tackle the challenging conservation of the back sides of The Seven Saints in preparation for the Getty’s Paolo Veneziano: Art and Devotion in 14th Century Venice.* On two whole pieces of wood, Veneziano painted images on both sides of Worcester’s panels that made up the shutter doors. The shutters opened to great dramatic effect to reveal The Seven Saints. When the triptych was closed, Saints Blaise and Christopher appeared on the triptych’s exterior on a red background. While still elegant, the exterior figures are less refined than the seven saints sumptuously arrayed against gilded backgrounds. But in the 19th century, the triptych was disassembled and dispersed among various collectors for greater profit. The exhibition reunited ten of the eleven fragments comprising The Worcester Triptych—two from the Getty and one from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. One more panel has yet to be located.

“Spending time with an art object and facilitating the change, you are the first to see the magic happen. That is the sweet reward. It was a pleasure and privilege to bring the beauty and dignity back to life in this work by Paolo Veneziano.”

The story of the triptych’s place of honor at the Getty exhibition begins in a lab at WAM during the height of COVID-19. Straehle had only a few weeks to conduct a comprehensive conservation treatment of the exterior paintings worn by time, exposure, and use. The precious interior panels, meanwhile, were pristine. Straehle’s first thought when seeing the back sides of the shutters: “chaos.” She recalled in that moment that Veneziano painted as the bubonic plague raged. COVID-19 was taking its own devastating toll as she stepped up to restore the master’s work. Straehle documented her work in exacting detail throughout the process. “It was a very intense project,” she says, due to the abbreviated timeline, the panels’ condition, the fact that there was painting on both sides of each panel, and, to top it all off, the curved surface of the panels. Straehle studied Saints Christopher and Blaise, noting every visible detail. In hierarchical terms, those saints were less important, which explains their position on the exterior and the lack of gilding in the background.

Image shows how The Seven Saints were displayed at WAM for many years. To see the original panel configuration as a triptych, as shown in the Getty Center exhibition, Paolo Veneziano: Art and Devlotion in 14th Century Venice, visit Getty.edu. Paolo Veneziano (Italian, active 1333 – 1358), Panels from the Wings of a Triptych, mid 14th century, tempera on panel, Museum Purchase, 1927.19.

According to Straehle, the outside was so degraded it was difficult to see the saints’ forms and envision the color. Previous conservation campaigns left behind layers of varnish atop grime, old retouching and fills, and, in some places, bare wood was exposed. While Straehle removed the layers of non-original materials and grime, she discovered good news. The original paint she saw was vibrant and colorful. The more original paint she retrieved, the more information she had to inform the next steps in the conservation treatment that included repairing structural loss and color compensation.

“I did my best to be true to the artist’s style and intention,” the conservator explained. Now visitors can enjoy the depiction without being distracted by obvious visible damages. And future conservators will have an easier time making restorations to the work. “All materials I used for fills and retouching are nontoxic and easily reversible” she says.

Straehle worked until the last minute, stepping back finally to allow the panels to be readied for the trip to Los Angeles. “Spending time with an art object and facilitating the change, you are the first to see the magic happen. That is the sweet reward. It was a pleasure and privilege to bring the beauty and dignity back to life in this work by Paolo Veneziano.”

With these visible clues to what the originals looked like, Straehle was able to give the panels comprehensive conservation treatment and restore losses that had occurred over time, including Saint Blaise’s head and halo. On the other hand, since there were no traces of the bishop’s left hand holding the staff and Saint Christopher’s right foot, she color-matched the losses with their surroundings without suggesting a design. * To see the original triptych configuration, shown in the Getty exhibition, visit Getty.edu.

This image shows the five steps of Straehle's conservation treatment of the back side of one of the shutter doors—the one depicting Saint Blaise. This door had been sawn into three pieces when the triptych was dismantled in the early 19th century. The fully restored panel is on the far right.

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Education Lessons from the pandemic

“My favorite thing,” one student said, “was the Greek mythology. Looking at art made me think I can make that type of art because, before this, I could not make a cup or a pot.” Gains in confidence is a much-desired outcome for the program.

Worcester organizations were fast to respond.

“We are looking at the social and emotional well-being of students,” said Elizabeth Buck, Manager of Studio Class Programs at WAM. “Social and emotional needs are different from academic needs, but are every bit as important. During remote learning, these needs could not always be met by schools.”

hat Worcester’s educators learn from this pandemic will help students for decades to come. Overnight, learning shifted from a classroom to a screen on a kitchen table. Some students shared that table with breakfast dishes, siblings, and one or two parents working from home. Many families had only one computer, if that. Internet service was not always available. And teachers, also at home, were not yet up to speed on the platforms and apps they had to use.

With leadership from the Worcester Education Collaborative (WEC) and funding from the Worcester Together Fund, organizations across the city, including the Worcester Art Museum, sought ways to help the city’s students during the pandemic. Remote learning was far from ideal, especially for families with limited resources. Students lost daily contact with their support systems at school, and educators worried that important social and emotional skills would suffer. The urgency was palpable. Students needed the community’s help. “Learning loss was happening locally and nationally. It was an emergency,” says Marnie Weir, Director of Education and Experience at WAM. Groups asked: What can we do? One innovative program was Woo-Labs—‘Woo’ being the affectionate name Worcester residents have for their city. Organizations like the YWCA, the Boys and Girls Club, Girls Inc., Mass Audubon Broad Meadow Brook, Main IDEA, the EcoTarium, and the Worcester Art Museum took part in Woo-Labs’ effort to extend learning beyond the school day to address learning loss worsened by inequities plaguing public education. As can happen with social change, disruption spurs opportunity. Emily Dodge, Assistant Director of WEC, worked with Woo-Labs’ partners to set goals, seek data, build resources, share best practices, and leverage technology. Project-based learning outside the school day was a key tool. And this past summer, positive results began to emerge.

“At the end of the first eight-week session, we’ve seen signs of change, said Buck. “We’ve noted improvements in how the students relate to their peers. How they listen. How much more comfortable they are with each other. How confident they are communicating within groups. We see, also, an increase in problem-solving and a little more self-sufficiency. And we expect to see more.” When asked what she was looking forward to next, one student in the program said: “Sculptures.” And what did she enjoy about being with other kids her age? “We talked,” she said. And, finally, when asked what came as a surprise to her when making art, she said: “People can be so creative.” There is much to come. “In the throes of this pandemic, to come together to serve the youth of the area is a credit to the community of Worcester,” said Weir. “It shows the dedication of this collaboration, and, frankly, a love of children—wanting them to be their best selves. The need is now. We couldn’t wait. That would leave students behind.”

“We went through the first set of data and were thrilled to see improvements in five critical areas including relationship building and critical thinking,” said Dodge. WAM, too, is starting to see promising, often heartwarming, results. This fall, twenty students in kindergarten through fifth grade explored arts of the ancient world at WAM on Saturdays. These free sessions for the city’s youngest students will run through June. WAM’s studio class faculty, in collaboration with other Woo-Labs partners, used standardized tools to assess and report their findings. At WAM, students began each studio class with gallery explorations. One Saturday, they looked at Greek ceramics and discussed why ceramics were made, how they were made, and why makers took the time to decorate ceramics. Eager young students then began their own related art projects. Woo-Labs participants work on an art project at WAM this fall.

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Find yourself at WAM

Works of art speak to us in different ways; sometimes we find ourselves returning to the same piece over and over. Members of the WAM community tell us about their favorite works in the Collection.

Stories and symbolism speak to her I have many favorites at WAM, but I always try to include Andrea Del Sarto’s St. John the Baptist in my tours. I especially like to tell the story behind the acquisition of this painting. It was discovered in 1977 at All Saints Church in Worcester in a pile of cardboard boxes on the floor. It was unframed and dirty. All Saints Church was trying to get items ready to put in an auction sale to raise money for church repairs. The church secretary and a person who volunteered at WAM decided to take it to the Worcester Art Museum to have it evaluated. You could say it was divine intervention that the church got the money for their repairs and WAM got this wonderful painting. People remember “stories” about particular pieces of art, but St. John the Baptist also has rich vibrant colors and a graceful design. This painting also has the religious symbols that go with the Bible story. He wears coarse animal hair, and he points to a reed cross that symbolizes Christ. Even the frame around this painting is a work of art! St. John had a role in the Bible that I see as anticipation of a greater story. Raised Hispanic Catholic, I was very familiar with this story. I see that my role is to tell “stories” that challenge people to take a second look at many of our art pieces and remember these stories to pass on. Trudy Roybal is a retired teacher and a graduate of WAM’s 2018 docent class. She enthusiastically embraces her new role introducing others to art.

Worcester Hunt Floor Mosaic, detail, Antioch, early 500s, cubes of marble and limestone embedded in lime mortar, Excavation of Antioch and Vicinity funded by the bequests of the Reverend Dr. Austin S. Garver and Sarah C. Garver, 1936.30

Mosaics make a lasting impression All art provokes thought and contemplation beyond one’s daily tasks. Art allows us to connect history, cultures, and peoples. As a real estate developer and architect, I have seen design and art play a key role in community revitalization and vibrancy. My favorite piece at WAM is the Worcester Hunt Floor Mosaic in the Renaissance Court. As the Museum refocuses its attention on globalization and cultural exchange, what better piece exists at WAM to evidence its importance in everyday life. Mosaics, inherently designed and made one small piece at a time, collectively become a work of art; a single dining room floor can transition us back to Byzantine times! Like all of us as individuals, one by one we become a collective. As a community-based museum, WAM evolves and transforms much like the Antioch mosaics. One can see art within art in each of these treasures. When we look deeper at art, we look deeper at the people who created it and more importantly at the various peoples and cultures that make up greater Worcester today. Art of 1,500-plus years ago cements us all closer together. Each piece of art at WAM—be it the Antioch mosaics or the most recent thoughtful acquisition by our curators—transforms us to a different time for sure. But it also brings us to the singular present. By viewing WAM’s art we can all look a little deeper into our lives and our souls and how we can learn from our similarities and our differences. Lawrence H. Curtis is a new member of the Worcester Art Museum Board of Trustees. He is President and Managing Partner of WinnDevelopment in Boston.

Andrea del Sarto (Italian, 1486 – 1530), Saint John the Baptist, about 1517, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Museum Purchase through Restricted Funds; Gifts from Louise I. Doyle, Britta D. Jeppson, The Reverend and Mrs. DeWolf Perry in memory of Harriett Brooks Hawkins; the Worcester Art Museum Members' Council, and Anonymous Donors, 1984.38

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Collection The Pregnant Woman comes home

Traumatized by his experiences serving in WWI, Otto Dix (1891 – 1969) used art to present cynical social criticism, applying a hyperrealistic aesthetic to the documentation of post-war turmoil in German society. Dix developed an individual approach to New Objectivity, a movement that expressed the degeneration of Weimar Germany through a detached, seemingly documentary style. He also became preoccupied with diverse experiences of modern womanhood, including independent women, prostitutes, war widows, and working mothers. The subject of pregnancy and birth interested him throughout his career. In The Pregnant Woman (1931) he presented an unflinching depiction of the female body in late pregnancy, a radical approach that rejects a traditional idealization of the female nude for a male audience. The painting, which inspired WAM’s bold and acclaimed 2019 exhibition, With Child: Otto Dix/Carmen Winant, has been on loan to the Louisiana Museum of Art near Copenhagen, Denmark and the Kunsthalle Mannheim in Germany. It returns to the European galleries in spring 2022.

Arts of the Ancient Americas gets a refresh Last fall, our Arts of the Ancient Americas Gallery received a welcome refresh, with updated maps and labels reflecting current art historical research. The renewed gallery, guest curated by Louise Deglin, doctoral candidate in the Department of Art History at UCLA, explores the richness of art from ancient Mesoamerica to the Central Andes, and spans more than 3,500 years from the Olmec culture to the contact-era Aztec and Inca Empires. The collection was a natural link to a community ofrenda (traditional offering of gifts to spirits of deceased loved ones) installed adjacent to the gallery as part of a city-wide initiative to celebrate Día de los Muertos. This multi-day festival originated with indigenous traditions of ancient Mesoamerica and is today considered one of the most tangible representations of living heritage in Mexico and around the world.

Northern European, Viking Age Sword with Silvered Hilt, late 800s, steel (heavily oxidized) with silver, Museum purchase through the Higgins Collection Acquisitions Fund and Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis Fund, 2021.22

New addition to the Medieval Galleries Newly installed in the Medieval Galleries is a magnificent Viking Age sword, dated to the late 800s. The acquisition of this sword fulfills a decades-long goal for the Higgins Armory Collection, offering visitors a museum-quality example of a weapon that was the classic sidearm of these feared and adventuresome warriors. About 36 inches long, but weighing in at a nimble one and a half pounds, this object is a testament to the evolving metalworking skills that allowed medieval smiths to forge long yet light blade weapons that were beyond the technology of the Classical world. Its richly silvered hilt reminds us that in addition to being a tool for battle, the sword was also a status symbol and article of personal adornment.

Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1519) and Lorenzo di Credi (Florentine, about 1456–1536), A Miracle of Saint Donatus of Arezzo, 1475–1479, oil on panel, Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis Collection, 1940.29

Back from Paris — A Miracle of Saint Donatus of Arezzo This small but exquisite 15th-century altar painting was the subject of a 2018 special exhibition, The Mystery of Worcester’s Leonardo. The intimate presentation made the argument that the work was an early collaboration between Leonardo da Vinci and Lorenzo di Credi, fellow pupils in Andrea del Verrocchio’s Florentine studio. When WAM acquired the painting in 1940, it had already been published as an early work by Leonardo. Some 30 years later, it was reattributed to Lorenzo di Credi, who was six years younger than Leonardo. A years-long collaboration among colleagues at Yale University, the Louvre, and WAM reopened the question of authorship. That research led ultimately to the untangling of painting styles of these two different artists, who worked side-by-side in Verrocchio’s workshop—and a new dual attribution. After the WAM show ended, A Miracle of Saint Donatus of Arezzo, one of only a handful of works attributed to Leonardo in the United States, traveled to related exhibitions at Yale University and in Florence, Italy. The painting ended its international tour in Paris in the Louvre’s retrospective on Leonardo da Vinci (October 24, 2019 – February 24, 2020), marking the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death. The work is now on permanent view in the European Galleries.

Left: Urn with Human Figure, from the area of Oaxaca, Mexico, 300 BCE–200 CE, ceramic, Gift of Mrs. Aldus Chapin Higgins, Mr. & Mrs. Ernest Angell, and Mr. & Mrs. Milton P. Higgins in memory of Aldus Chapin Higgins,1961.37

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Community Celebrating a partnership in education and the arts

or over a decade, Worcester State University and the Worcester Art Museum have enjoyed a mutually beneficial institutional partnership. University students, faculty, and staff enjoy free, unlimited access to WAM’s extensive art collection, spanning centuries and cultures from around the world. The Worcester Art Museum is enriched by innovative approaches and creative thinking that faculty and students bring to our programs and initiatives—and by their regular, inspiring presence in our galleries. To honor this invigorating partnership and shared commitment to an education informed by the arts, the University invited eight wellknown writers from New England and four Worcester State faculty members to share, in essays, artworks from the Museum that inspire them. Beyond the Frame: Celebrating a Partnership in Public Education and the Arts, to be published in May of 2022, provides a window into our community’s spectacular art treasures—

here at the Worcester Art Museum. We are pleased to share below an excerpt from “Fugitive Work,” Kirun Kapur’s essay reflecting on the 16th-century Indian work, Birth of Ghazan Khan. Kirun Kapur grew up between Honolulu and New Delhi and her first job was for India’s groundbreaking feminist magazine, Manushi. In the United States, her work has appeared in Ploughshares, AGNI, Poetry International, and Prairie Schooner, among many other journals. Her newest book, Women in the Waiting Room, was a finalist in the National Poetry Series and included in the Best Books of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews. Her first collection, Visiting Indira Gandhi’s Palmist, won the 2013 Antivenom Poetry Award. Kapur teaches at Amherst College, where she is the director of creative writing. Beyond the Frame: Celebrating a Partnership in Public Education and the Arts, can be purchased for $25 in the Museum Shop, by emailing shopsales@worcesterart.org, or by calling 508.793.4355.

I visited the Birth of Ghazan Khan on a sunny day in June 2021, ten months after my father died. My father loved history. Had I visited the painting a year earlier, I would have called him: “Dad,” I’d have said, “I’m going to see a painting commissioned by the Emperor Akbar in 1596. It was painted in Lahore. Can you believe it’s here, in Massachusetts?” “Akbar?” he would have said. “You know he founded his own religion? You know there would’ve been no great Mughal art without him?” He’d have launched into a story about Akbar’s court musician Tansen, or reminded me that we’d visited Fatehpur Sikri, the city built by Akbar, where we’d leapt across the giant pachisi board, designed so the emperor could play with human pieces. I would have rolled my eyes, trying to get a word in but happy to hear him rattling off dates and facts, unwilling to tell him I already knew these stories, which he’d told me so many times. I would’ve been surprised—and not surprised—when, even in his nineties, he slipped in some new turn or tidbit, just when I thought I knew them all. And so, my father was with me, standing in the June sunlight, examining this painting. Ten months after he died, he was whispering grim facts about Mughal armies, witty tales about Akbar’s advisor Birbal. Right there, in Worcester, we were walking the streets of Lahore, turning down the narrow lanes he’d run through as a boy, just a stone’s throw from where the Birth of Ghazan Khan had been inked into life.

BEYOND THE FR AME Celebrating a Partnership in Public Education and the Arts

ADJUST BACKGROUND GREEN TO BE A LITTLE MORE YELLOW

*** When I said the miracle was happening right now, what I meant was you are here, in the twenty-first century, looking at a painting made four centuries ago in Lahore. It was made to illustrate a book, the Jāmi al-tawārīkh (Compendium of Chronicles), which was itself created seven centuries ago in Persia, in an effort to commemorate a birth that took place some eight centuries past on the shore of the Caspian Sea. You’re crossing a lot of time zones. You’re connected to many places at once. The painting was cut from its companion pages in New York, sometime in the 1930s, coming to rest, alone, seven thousand miles from where it was fashioned. If you’re lucky enough to see the work in person, you’ll be standing in a city the painters had never heard of, in a country they couldn’t have imagined. ***

Left: Rashid al-Din, The Birth of Ghazan Khan, folio from a Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh (“Gatherer of Chronicles”) or Chingīznāma (“Book of Genghis Khan”), detail, painting attributed to Basawan; Commissioned by Mughal Emperor Akbar (r. 1556 – 1605), Lahore, Pakistan, Mughal period, about 1596, watercolor, ink, and gold on paper; Jerome Wheelock Fund, 1935.12

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Kat O’Connor, Girl Next Door, 2021, acrylic on aluminum (ACP), image courtesy of the artist.

Best in show: Kat O’Connor, ArtsWorcester Biennial winner July 16 – October 16, 2022

orcester artist Kat O’Connor, winner of the Sally R. Bishop Best in Show Prize at the 2021 ArtsWorcester Biennial, will open a solo exhibition at WAM this summer. The recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a Mass Cultural Council Fellowship, O’Connor has shown her work nationwide for nearly 30 years. Her paintings and drawings are included in many private and corporate collections.

In her early work, O’Connor often depicted explorations of light and shape in scenes from her frequent travels to Greece and the American southwest. For over a decade, however, water has been her primary muse and artistic focus. Her recent body of work, which includes the Biennial winner, Dreaming of Snell’s Window, delves into the world above and below the surface of swimming pools. These almost otherworldly paintings show graceful, fluid

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portraits of women—diving, swimming, floating—from the unusual perspective of someone underwater. The figures have a dream-like quality, gently distorted by ripples, bubbles, and reflections as they move through the water. In describing her creative approach, O’Connor says she seeks to explore the way realism can push into and through abstraction. “My paintings capture what happens in a split second of weightlessness, a momentary realism in which rip currents tear away at the abyss and produce images and shapes that were once imperceptible,” she explains. This is evident when the artist incorporates ethereal, celestial light and weightlessness into portraits. Figures swim below or in the midst of an expansive night sky of stars, planets, and galaxies—an adroit melding of the earthly experience of swimming with the infinite vastness of the universe.

When announcing O’Connor as the Best in Show winner, Biennial juror Beth C. McLaughlin, Artist Director and Chief Curator at the Fuller Craft Museum, cited the artist’s skillful use of lush surfaces, a vibrant color palette, and energetic compositions. “In her paintings, light is the subject matter and in the case of her water paintings, the ancient dance of light and water take center stage,” McLaughlin said. We look forward to showing Kat O’Connor’s work this summer—and giving WAM visitors the opportunity to experience and delight in her luminous underwater worlds. This exhibition is organized in partnership with ArtsWorcester. It is funded in part by the Don and Mary Melville Contemporary Art Fund and Spear Fund for Public Programs.

In Memoriam Stephen Barlow Jareckie (1929 – 2021) When Stephen Jareckie was hired for the registrar position at WAM in 1969, he brought with him a keen passion for photography. That soon landed him a role as the Museum’s first curator of photography and the job of building a collection from scratch. At that time, Stephen Barlow Jareckie there were relatively few resource texts about the history of photography, so Jareckie had to be resourceful in his quest to learn about this new medium. His methodical research included meeting with several other first generation photography curators at their respective museums. Among these were Edward Steichen at the Museum of Modern Art, Hugh Edwards at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Nathan Lyons at Rochester’s International Museum of Photography. Through these encounters with curators, working with photographs and historic prints, he earned the trust and respect of his peers, while also honing his expertise and photography “eye.” Over the years, Jareckie built the Worcester Art Museum’s photography collection to over 1,800 pieces, including broad holdings in early European photographs, as well as respected mid 20th-century and contemporary photographers such as Dorothea Lange, Garry Winogrand, and Cindy Sherman. His expertise in German photography enabled the Museum to become one of the first in the country to aggressively acquire work by now canonical names like Ilse Bing, August Sander, and Albert Renger-Patzsch. During Jareckie’s tenure, a cache of 77 collotypes from Eadweard Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion series from 1877 was discovered in the WAM library. Jareckie accessioned these early photolithographs, thus adding this important body of early photography to the collection.

Eadweard Muybridge (American, born in Britain, 1830 – 1904), Gallop; thoroughbred bay horse Bouquet, from Animal Locomotion, 1887, collotype, 1973.157

A prolific curator, Jareckie organized 75 exhibitions in 33 years, researching for each with encyclopedic intensity. A Korean War veteran and ardent patriot, in 1976 he curated a large show to celebrate the United States’ bicentennial, American Photography 1840-1900, conducting scholarly research and writing an exhibition catalog. His 1986 exhibition, Photographers of the Weimar Republic, was the result of extensive research and featured works by Hugo Erfurth, August Sander, Werner Mantz, Laszlo MaholyNagy, Albert Renger-Patsch, and Dr. Erich Salomon. After opening in Worcester, the exhibition went on national tour. Stephen Jareckie passed away on September 25, 2021 at the age of 92. We are grateful for all he did for the Worcester Art Museum in his 35 years as an employee, and we, along with so many others, miss him. Through his collecting, his legacy lives on—here at WAM and beyond. We are grateful to photographer Peter Moriarty for providing many of these details of Stephen Jareckie’s contributions to the Worcester Art Museum.

Louise Virgin (1953 – 2021)

Takebe Ryotai (Japanese, 1719 – 1774), Tiger by Waterfall, 18th century, ink and color on silk, Stoddard Acquisition Fund, 2014.1189

Louise Virgin was curator of Asian Art at WAM from 2002 to 2014. Her many accomplishments included renovating the Japanese Gallery and establishing the Chinese Decorative Arts Gallery. During her tenure, Virgin also made notable acquisitions and is responsible for expanding our renowned Japanese woodblock print collection to include Louise Virgin masterpieces by the great ukiyo-e artist, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. She also established at the Worcester Art Museum the largest collection of haiga or haiku-inspired paintings in the United States. Virgin curated numerous exhibitions of Japanese, Indian, Korean, and Chinese art, including the popular 2003 exhibition, Samurai Spirit. One of her last acquisitions—and one of her favorites—is an arresting, 18th-century silk painting, Tiger by Waterfall (2014.1189), by Japanese artist Takebe Ryotai (1719 – 1774). We are grateful for Louise Virgin’s lasting contributions to the Museum’s collection of Asian art and mourn her passing. Connect with us E D S Q

Ongoing/upcoming Central Massachusetts Artist Initiative Sidney and Rosalie Rose Gallery Cesar Rodrigues Through May 8, 2022 Cesar Rodrigues is a Worcesterbased abstract artist who responds to the material properties of acrylic paint. Through explorations in color, texture, gravity, and viscosity, his paintings are recognized for their sophisticated and vibrant palettes. Rodrigues considers his body of work a metaphysical representation of what lies outside of our perceived reality. At an early age Rodrigues was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy which causes progressive muscle weakness. When he could no longer hold a paintbrush, Cesar Rodrigues, Untitled, 2008, acrylic Easterseals Massachusetts helped on canvas, © Cesar Rodrigues engineer a custom-built assistive device that pours paint and rotates a canvas using Bluetooth technology. Today, he is a beacon of inspiration in the greater Central Massachusetts art community. Supported by the Don and Mary Melville Contemporary Art Fund.

Nancy Diessner May 10 – November 10, 2022 Artist Nancy Diessner, a printmaker based in Florence, MA, explores the intersection of sculpture, photography, painting, and drawing in her current work. Her imagery is created through various alternative photographic and printmaking processes that use UV light to expose film to plates that she then prints like traditional etchings. She draws inspiration from rowing and the river environment. Moving her long, thin boat over the surface of water, Diessner has stated, “…my boat becomes an extension of my studio.” In her recent work she has used paper made from invasive plant species to shape the forms of her boat-like objects. In these pieces, figures and animals—often engaged with water—rest and float within the cocoon of the boat forms. Diessner works in low-toxicity printmaking processes and teaches workshops at Zea Mays Printmaking in Northampton. Supported by the Don and Mary Melville Contemporary Art Fund.

Nancy Diessner, Boat 1, 2019, © Nancy Diessner

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Japanese, 64-plate Hoshi Kabuto (rivet helmet), 1500s, iron, lacquer, copper alloy, gilded shakudo, leather, silk and fabric. The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.720

Japanese Case Rotation Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor Through February 2024 Samurai, members of Japan’s warrior class, ruled the country for nearly a millennium, from the 12th through the 19th century, and continue to be revered as symbols of bravery, loyalty, and honor. While they initially rose to power due to their military prowess, they maintained their elevated positions through political, financial, and cultural acumen. They were expected to hold administrative positions within their military government. In addition, and in contrast to the brutality of their profession, they also became highly-cultivated individuals, practicing and supporting the arts, such as calligraphy and painting. The elaborate arms and armor of the samurai thus speak to their duties as both warriors and statesmen. These materials could withstand the rigors of warfare, but were also aesthetic objects appropriate for ceremonial purposes and public display. During the peaceful Edo period (1615-1868), samurai arms and armor evolved from functional military gear to coveted symbols of wealth, status, and power. The objects on display here demonstrate not only the delicate balance between, and paradoxical relationship of, bu and bun—the arts of war and of culture—that characterized Japan’s great warriors, but also the evolving position of samurai arms and armor in Japanese society, culture, and craftsmanship.

Did you know? Every exhibition and program at WAM is only possible through the generosity of people who care about the Museum and the topic being presented. Individual donors are vital, along with foundations and corporations. If you would like to learn more or offer your personal support for one of WAM’s extraordinary exhibitions or programs, please contact Karmen Bogdesic at KarmenBogdesic@worcesterart.org or 508.793.4326.

YÄÉÜt Winter in

MARCH 3 – 6, 2022

Get a welcome taste of spring during WAM’s annual floral design extravaganza. Admission is by advance purchase ticket only. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required. Special hours and ticket prices apply. For tickets and program information, visit worcesterart.org/flora. 2022 Flora in Winter Chairs: Kim Cutler, Kathy Michie, and Sarah Ribeiro, and Committee Members: Sally Jablonski and Julie Lapham. Flora in Winter is supported in part by the Bernard G. and Louise B. Palitz Fund and the Spear Fund for Public Programs. Sponsored by:

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Tours and programs Guided tours Public tours begin at the Lancaster Welcome Center.

Highlights Tours These docent-led guided experiences explore significant art, artists, and cultures presented throughout WAM's galleries. Tours are held every Sunday at 1pm. Zip Zooms & Zip Tours Join us for our docent-led art discussions on selected works in the collection. These 30minute spotlights include time for audience comments and questions. Virtual Zip Zooms are on the following Wednesdays at 12:30pm: March 9, March 23, April 6, April 20, May 4, May 18, June 1, June 15, and June 29. Free; advance registration required. Visit our online calendar at worcesterart.org for topics and links to programs. Onsite Zip Tours on the same topics are on the following Saturdays at 12:30pm: March 12, March 26, April 9, April 23, May 7, May 21, June 4, June 18, and July 2. Mother’s Day Highlights Tour Sunday, May 8, 1pm, and 2pm This docent-led program showcases works of art depicting mothers and motherhood. Father’s Day Highlights Tour Sunday, June 19, 1pm, and 2pm Fathers and fatherhood in the galleries are the theme of this docent-led program. Group Tours To schedule an onsite adult or youth/student group tour, contact KaylaPeterson@worcesterart.org. Due to COVID-19, masks are required for all participants. Please check WAM’s website for more information.

Family programs Art Carts: Family Fun in the Galleries Think visiting a museum is just walking around and looking at “stuff?” Think again! Have fun learning with hands-on activities at our Art Carts. With the assistance of knowledgeable staff, Art Carts offer engaging explorations of different themes. Check our online calendar for dates and times. Arms + Armor Presentations The second and fourth Saturdays each month at 11:30am and 2pm. Free with Museum admission. Discover different kinds of arms and armor used by Roman soldiers, medieval knights, and more in this fun, interactive program. Events held in the Museum Conference Room. 11:30am demonstrations also streamed on WAM's Facebook Live page. Spring Community Day Sunday, April 3, 10am – 4pm Free Inspired by works in the collection, learn how the start of spring is observed around the world with a joyful day of art-making, music, and celebration.

CLASS SCHOLARSHIPS Scholarships are available for onsite and online classes. Individuals with financial need who would like to apply for a scholarship may contact us at 508.793.4339.

All programs are free with Museum admission, unless otherwise noted. Admission is free on the first Sunday of each month, except March 6, 2022. Information subject to change; please visit worcesterart.org for scheduling updates prior to coming to WAM.

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Studio art classes and workshops Whether you are an experienced artist, just beginning, or looking for in-person or virtual instruction, we have an art class for you! Go to worcesterart.org/classes for course descriptions, schedules, and to register. Spring Youth Classes: April 6 – June 11 Spring Adult Classes: April 27 – June 30 Summer Youth and Adult Classes: July 11 – August 19

April Art vacation week Elemental Art: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water April 18 – 22 School vacation week for youth and teens will celebrate the elements of nature through art. In a variety of media—drawing, painting, collage, and sculpture—we’ll explore how nature has influenced art and how art can reflect nature. Intensive workshops for teens on figure drawing, acrylic painting, sculpture, and more also available.

WAM Teen Council Do you know a teen that would like to be involved in developing Museum programming? We’d love to meet them! As part of grant funding from the National Endowment of the Arts, we are developing teen programs—spearheaded in part by Worcester’s own teens. Reach out to us at teens@worcesterart.org to get involved in programs such as teen docents, paid internships, teen nights, and more. This March and April, we are accepting applications for our next Teen Council.

MASTER SERIES 2022 The Worcester Art Museum’s Third Thursday Master Series features in-depth presentations by art scholars, providing insights and stories about works in the Museum’s collection or on view in special exhibitions. The art talks are held on most third Thursdays at 6pm. Hosted by the WAM Members’ Council, the Master Series is presented with support from the Bernard G. and Louise B. Palitz Fund and the Amelia and Robert H. Haley Memorial Lecture Fund. Sponsored by:

March 17, 6pm — Kimberly Juanita Brown, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing, Dartmouth College Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity This exhibition considers the ways artists from the last 40 years accentuate concepts like race and ethnicity through four formal devices: text, juxtaposition, seriality and pattern. Artists often employ one or more of these approaches as a means of storytelling, protest, and celebration. Kimberly Juanita Brown, a specialist in visual culture studies, will address selected works in the exhibition and share thoughts on the stories they tell.

Summer Film Series Join us outside in the Stoddard Courtyard for our summer film series, held in conjunction with Jewels of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Treasures From the Worcester Art Museum Collection. Bring a blanket to sit on the lawn, or use one of our tables and chairs. Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase. Members $12, non-members $18 (includes admission for two for a return visit), children (0-17) free. Friday, August 19: The Great Muppet Caper Jim Henson's Kermit the Frog, The Great Gonzo, and Fozzie Bear travel to England as reporters to interview a wealthy victim of jewel thieves. Friday, August 26: Night at the Museum A night watchman (Ben Stiller) at a museum of natural history makes a startling discovery when an ancient Egyptian curse is unleashed.

April 21, 6pm — Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, Ph.D., Curator and Head of Italian and Spanish paintings, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Pierre Subleyras’ Portrait of Maria Felice Tibaldi This WAM portrait is featured in By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500 – 1800, the first exhibition solely dedicated to Italian women artists. The co-curator of the exhibition, which started at the Wadsworth Atheneum and is now in Detroit, will share more about the portrait of this female artist and its role in the show. May 19, 6pm — Courtney Ann Stewart, Researcher of Islamic art history, and the history of jewelry and gemstones Amulets and Adornments from Islamic Lands As a prelude to the opening of Jewels of the Nile, Courtney Ann Stewart talks about jewelry and gemstones from the Islamic world, highlighting the various associations of such ornaments, from symbols of power to sacred objects of protection. Featuring stunning artwork from the WAM collection and others, Islamic jewelry will be contextualized and connected to precursors from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Images, top to bottom: Kara Walker, Scene of McPherson's Death, 2005, Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), offset lithography and screenprint on wove paper, Sarah C. Garver Fund, 2007.5; Pierre Subleyras, Maria Felice Tibaldi,1739–1749, oil on canvas, Gift of Helen Bigelow Merriman, 1901.54; Lapis Lazuli Scarab Ring, New Kingdom, ca. 1539–1077 BCE, Lapis lazuli and gold (modern), 1926.79; Amethyst Scarab Ring, Possibly Middle Kingdom, ca. 1980–1760 BCE, Amethyst and gold (modern), 1926.82; Faience Scarab Ring, New Kingdom, ca. 1539–1077 BCE, Faience and gold (modern), 1926.83; Carnelian Scarab Ring with a Human Face, New Kingdom, ca. 1539–1077 BCE, Carnelian and gold (modern), 1926.85;

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exhibition openings and community days to Flora in Winter and VIP tours, WAM is the scene Seen at WAM! From of many memorable art moments. We hope to see you here soon!

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Legacy Society spotlight

Lisa Kirby Gibbs When Peter, our two kids, and I moved from Newton to Worcester in 1999, one of the first things on our ‘to-do list’ was to become Salisbury Society Members of the Worcester Art Museum. I was so excited to be a part of an easily accessible art museum with a collection the caliber of WAM’s. I will never forget my first visit, entering the Renaissance Court, and falling in love with the spectacular, yet intimate space. Peter and I have been actively involved in the Museum all these years. After meeting the (then new) Director, Matthias Waschek, and learning of his vision for the Museum, I was delighted to become a trustee. I served on the Board for nine years, four of those as president. Now as a trustee

emerita, I have more time to focus on enjoying the art! I visit the Museum for inspiration and solace, surrounding myself with beauty, history and quiet. I also began painting again after a 40-year hiatus and relish my weekly painting classes with the Museum. Peter and I are excited to be part of the WAM’s Legacy Society. In 2019, we chose to include the Museum in our will as part of our campaign gift, along with annual personal gifts, and gifts from my family's foundation, the Kirby Foundation. I truly believe in supporting my home, Worcester, and particularly the Worcester Art Museum. I feel grateful to have the ability to make a lasting impact.

Legacy Society The Legacy Society was formed to recognize those individuals who have included the Worcester Art Museum in their will or estate plans. These generous and visionary Members ensure that the Museum is a vibrant institution that will deliver transformative experiences for future generations. We are grateful to the following individuals who have either left a legacy gift or have included the Museum in their estate plans, thereby making WAM a priority during their lifetime and beyond: Mrs. Margery A. Adams Anonymous Mr.* and Mrs. William C. Arthur Jr. Toni Begman Sarah and Allen Berry Philip H. Brewer Dr. Elaine and Mr. Robert* Bukowiecki Alexandra Cleworth and Gary Staab Susan C. Courtemanche Dix and Sarah Davis Brenda Verduin Dean Margery Dearborn Robert A. DeLuca Patricia and Richard Desplaines, Jr. Henry B. and Jane K. Dewey Maria and John Dirlam Andrea N. Driscoll Heath Drury Boote Stephen C. Fitzsimmons Dr. James and Mrs. Kathleen Hogan Frances* and Howard Jacobson Peter Jefts Lisa Kirby Gibbs and Peter Gibbs Joan Peterson Klimann David and Barbara Krashes Marcia Lagerwey and Loren Hoekzema Claude M. Lee III

Dr. Paul J. Mahon Jodie and David Martinson Mr.* and Mrs. Robert K. Massey Dr. and Mrs. Glenn A. Meltzer Linda and John* Nelson Edward J. Osowski Sarah and Joe Ribeiro Mr.* and Mrs. Chapin Riley Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. Rose Mr.* and Mrs. Sidney Rose Ruth R. Rubin Jennifer L. Saffran and Richard E. Saffran Dr. Shirley S. Siff and Robert M.* Siff Mary Skousgaard Mr.* and Ms. Jack Tobin * Deceased ________________________________ In Memoriam: Members who live on through their generous gift Harriet A. Alexander Anonymous Ann Baumann Mr. and Mrs. Howard M. Booth Karl and Dorothy Briel Eleanor H. Burke Douglas P. Butler

Dr. and Mrs. William T. Carleton William R. Carrick Mrs. Fairman C. Cowan Jeanne Y. Curtis Mary S. Cushman Janet B. Daniels Eleanor Daniels Bronson Hodge Shirley Look Dunbar James E. Lowell Maurice I. Hurwitz Mr. and Mrs. I. R. Freelander Esther and Howard Freeman Eleanor M. Garvey Judith S. Gerrish Robert D. Harrington, Jr. Mrs. Milton P. Higgins John and Marianne Jeppson Britta Dorothy Jeppson Mary Patricia Sarah Bramson Kupchik Irving and Marie Lepore Anne Lewis Sara Mallard Myles and Jean McDonough Ellen E. McGrail Don and Mary Melville Henry T. Michie

Jean H. Miles Mrs. David J. Milliken Mrs. Anne (Nancy) Morgan Haim G. Nagirner Viola M. Niemi Mary Ann Horner Pervier Marilyn E. Plue Richard Prouty Blake Robinson Louise and Elijah Romanoff Agnes B. Russfield Leonard B. Safford Edith Safford Katherine Sawyer John. R. Scarborough Norman L. Sharfman Hope and Ivan Spear Helen M. and Thomas B. Stinson Helen E. Stoddard Lois Tarlow Madeline Tear Richard S. Teitz Hester N. Wetherell Margaret Ray Whitney Irving N. Wolfson, M.D. Mrs. Ledlie L. Woolsey Elton Yasuna

If you are interested in naming the Worcester Art Museum in your will or estate plans, please contact the Development Office by calling 508.793.4404 or emailing us at MarillynEarley@worcesterart.org. Connect with us E D S Q

Member spotlight

Bronwyn Teixeira Even the pandemic could not keep us from visiting WAM. It is our go-to place. With membership comes the advantage of making many short excursions to WAM and seeing something that suits every day and every mood. Refuge from chaos? Absorb the calming scenes of Monet, Childe Hassam, Grandma Moses, or Frank Weston Benson. Need a laugh? Visit the ball-playing figures in the Arts of the Ancient Americas Gallery, where my son and I enjoy making up stories about what may be happening or what the audience might be saying. The more absurd or silly the better! Or maybe just a visit to old friends such as Hubert Robert's The Shipwreck or Roman Ruins, in which I notice something new with each visit and am always amazed by his use of light and dark.

Special exhibitions add learning and delight, whether it is Radiance Rediscovered: Stained Glass by Tiffany and La Farge (2019), which brought a better understanding of color and process and a new love for stained glass, or The Kimono in Print: 300 Years of Japanese Design (2021), where we learned the nuance and meaning in creating amazing wearable art. Every exhibition brings an idea to life. Some show history in the context of community, as in Rediscovering an American Community of Color: The Photographs of William Bullard (2018), and others share the trailing effects that shadow current issues, as with What the Nazis Stole from Richard Neumann (and the search to get it back) (2021). Worcester Art Museum truly is our go-to place. Left: Bronwyn Teixeira and her son, Tristan Teixeira Above: Model of a Ballgame, Mexico (Nayarit), 200 BCE – 500 CE, ceramic. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Aldus Chapin Higgins, 1947.25

WA M MEMBE

Be part of all that happens at WAM— become a Member! • RECEIVE free admission all year! • GAIN free admission to Flora in Winter. • DEMONSTRATE your support of a valuable organization. • ENJOY special tours, talks, reading groups, virtual presentations, and sneak-peeks, just for Members. • EARN discounts in the Museum Shop and on tuition for studio classes. Join or renew online at worcesterart.org/join, email membership@worcesterart.org, call 508.793.4300, or stop by one of the Guest Services desks at WAM.

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Featuring items inspired by art in the Museum’s collection and exhibitions.

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Salisbury Society Members enjoy access to unique art experiences Because of their philanthropic spirit, Salisbury Members are treated to exclusive benefits and programs.

Salisbury Spotlight: Andrew Athy, Jr.

Benefits for Salisbury Members include: • Free admission and reciprocal member benefits at over 1,400 museums • Unique access to the curators and the director • Salisbury Art Series (“Drinks with the Director/Cocktails with a Curator”) and free access to the recorded programs • Sneak previews of exhibitions with a speaker and private tours • Annual Salisbury Evening with a renowned speaker

Worcester Art Museum supporters can be found far beyond Central Massachusetts. One example is Salisbury Society Member and WAM Corporator Andrew Athy, who was born in Worcester and still has roots in the city. His family owns the multigenerational family-run Athy Memorial Home on Lancaster Street. With degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.) and Georgetown University (L.L.B.), Andrew has held a number of prestigious positions, including Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is now a practicing attorney in Washington, D.C. A collector of 18th-century French and 20th-century American art, Andrew has always been impressed by the breadth of the Worcester Art Museum's collection, especially in paintings and drawings. Through his involvement with WAM, Andrew not only nurtures his Worcester ties, but also his passion for art and for the Museum's collection. All donors to the Salisbury Society provide unrestricted support. These contributions help fund care for the extraordinary collection, mount enlightening exhibitions, and offer learning opportunities for students and the public. We are grateful for Andrew's dedication to WAM and for his commitment to supporting our mission. It is through these lasting relationships with donors and Members that we are able to connect all corners of our community to art that inspires and transforms.

For questions or more information about joining the Salisbury Society email Karmen Bogdesic, Senior Manager of Donor Engagement, at karmenbogdesic@worcesterart.org or call 508.793.4326. Connect with us E D S Q

The art of business

WA M

We’re proud to be celebrating 100+ Business Partners! These companies know that supporting the arts means good business. We thank them for their support.

“Cornerstone Bank is proud to partner with the Worcester Art Museum in support of their mission ‘to connect people, communities, and cultures through the experience of art.’ We believe that strong communities are supported and strengthened through a diverse variety of organizations and methods. Key among these in Worcester is the Worcester Art Museum’s distinct ability to bring culture, art, and history from across the globe to expand our community’s horizons through an understanding and appreciation of the world in which we live. When community building is done properly, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The Worcester Art Museum is, as Cornerstone Bank strives to be, one of these parts that makes up a stronger community in Worcester County.” —Randall Webber, President Cornerstone Bank

Join us!

BECOME A BUSINESS PARTNER portal.worcesterart.org/join

For information about how your company can co-brand with WAM through a Business Partnership or Sponsorship, contact Marleen Kilcoyne, Corporate Relations Manager, at 508.793.4323 or MarleenKilcoyne@worcesterart.org.

Busin pa R t n E s s ERs

“Gaudette Insurance Agency has been dedicated to serving our clients since 1926 and almost since the beginning, we have faithfully supported the local organizations that work hard to better our communities. Gaudette Insurance is proud to support many causes throughout Greater Worcester and the Blackstone Valley, focusing mainly on education, youth, food security, and the arts. We are proud to join the other Business Partners of the Worcester Art Museum. WAM is the centerpiece for cultural enrichment in Central Massachusetts and features an amazing range of exhibitions spanning centuries and continents.” —Lee Gaudette, President, CPCU Gaudette Insurance is an independent agency providing five star service and insurance products for individuals, families, and businesses from a wide range of the leading insurers in the USA. Gaudette Insurance has office locations in Grafton, Southborough, Shrewsbury, Westborough, and Whitinsville.

THAnk yoU to our Institutional Members Anna Maria College

Quinsigamond Community College

Assumption University

Saint John’s High School

Bancroft School

The T.E.C. Schools

Clark University

Worcester Academy

College of the Holy Cross

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

MCPHS University

Worcester State University

To learn more about Institutional Membership, contact Marleen Kilcoyne at 508.793.4323 or MarleenKilcoyne@worcesterart.org.

Learn more at worcesterart.org

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Thank You

Business Partners!

Together we make a difference for our community SPONSORS $25,000+ Samuel Adams $10,000+ AbbVie Cornerstone Bank Country Bank Fallon Health FLEXcon Gilbane Building Company The Hanover Insurance Group Foundation Interstate Specialty Products, Inc. Saint-Gobain Skinner Auctioneers UMass Memorial Health Care UniBank Unum WinnCompanies Worker's Credit Union $5,000+ Berkshire Bank The BHR Life Companies Bowditch and Dewey, LLP Cole Contracting, Inc. DCU Fidelity Bank Imperial Distributors, Inc. Rand-Whitney Container Reliant Medical Group Rockland Trust Webster Five Worcester Business Journal DONORS $2,500+ J.J. Bafaro, Inc. Herbert E. Berg Florist, Inc. The Boston Globe CCR Wealth Management, LLC Christie's Commerce Bank Fletcher Tilton PC Foley Incorporated Gaudette Insurance Agency Harvard Pilgrim Health Care iHeart Radio, 961 SRS & WTAG Kaplan Construction Lamoureux Pagano Associates | Architects Mirick O’Connell Spectrum Health Systems, Inc. TD Bank WBUR MEMBERS $1,000+ AAFCPAs Avidia Bank Bartholomew & Company, Inc. Bay State Savings Bank The Berry Group Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Central One Federal Credit Union Columbia Tech Cutler Capital Management, LLC Data Source, Inc. Davis Publications, Inc. Fiduciary Investment Advisors, LLC Gatorade Green Leaf Construction

Greenberg, Rosenblatt, Kull & Bitsoli, P.C. Greenwood Industries InThink Agency Kelleher and Sadowsky Associates, Inc. Leadership Transitions, LLC L.E.I. Corporation Lock 50 / Russo Mercier Electric Co., Inc. Merrill Lynch / The O'Brien Group Miles Press, Inc. Morgan Stanley, Mark Cote, Financial Advisor Russell Morin Catering and Events J.S. Mortimer, Inc. New England Disposal Technologies, Inc. Niche Hospitality Group Nitsch Engineering Penta Communications, Inc. Peppers Artful Events Phoenix Communications Polar Beverages Portland Group / Spritzo Provo Wealth Management Group Quaker Special Risk Risk Strategies Company Rollstone Bank and Trust Carol Seager Associates Seder and Chandler, LLP Sentinel Benefits & Financial Group Seven Hills Foundation Southgate at Shrewsbury St. Mary's Credit Union Sullivan Benefits Sunshine Sign Company, Inc. Table Talk Pies Stephen F. Wentzell, CPA The Wetzel Group at Morgan Stanley Thomas J. Woods Insurance Agency, Inc. Wings Over Worcester FRIENDS $500+ Akuity Technologies Applied Interactive Bisceglia, Steiman and Fudeman, LLC Burr Insurance Agency, Inc. Callahan Fay Caswell Funeral Home Coghlin Electrical Contractors, Inc. Concordia Exchange ConForm Lab Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. Erland Construction Erskine & Erskine LLC Franklin Realty Advisors, Inc. F.W. Madigan Company, Inc. George's Coney Island Grimes & Company Integrated Financial Partners JM Coull, Inc. Longden Company Marsh & McLennan Agency, LLC MSW Financial Partners NAI Glickman, Kovago & Jacobs Nypro, Inc. Joffrey Smith Financial Group Sotheby's Struck Catering Sullivan, Garrity & Donnelly Insurance Agency, Inc. The Willows at Worcester Tufts Health Plan Ay, Fan Bearer, Egyptian, 18th Dynasty, Ca. 1360 BCE, plaster As of January 21, 2022

on limestone, Austin S. and Sarah C. Garver Fund, 1949.42

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SALUTE TO FOUNDATIONS & GOVERNMENT PARTNERS The Worcester Art Museum gratefully acknowledges the following foundations and government agencies for their support during fiscal years 2020, 2021, and 2022 (as of 1/27/22). We are grateful to the many local and national foundations that make our work possible and sustain the Museum’s innovative exhibitions, public programs, and educational and community endeavors, as well as maintain and improve our facilities. We are particularly appreciative of the funders that generously

awarded us COVID-19 relief support during this challenging time. To learn more about WAM’s institutional priorities and ways that foundations and government agencies might assist, please contact Christine Proffitt, Senior Manager of Institutional Giving, at ChristineProffitt@worcesterart.org.

George I. Alden Trust Bill and Joan Alfond Foundation American Endowment Foundation Bank of America Charitable Gift Fund Barr Foundation The Bassick Family Foundation Benevity Community Impact Fund of the American Endowment Foundation The Blackbaud Giving Fund Boston Foundation Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation Community Foundation of the Ozarks The Crawford Foundation Jeanne Y. Curtis Foundation The Melvin S. Cutler Charitable Foundation Fred Harris Daniels Foundation Dirlam Charitable Trust East Bay Community Foundation Ruth H. and Warren A. Ellsworth Foundation

Carl Lesnor Family Foundation Henry Luce Foundation Lunder Foundation—Peter and Paula Lunder family The Manton Foundation Mass Cultural Council – Cultural Districts Initiative Mass Cultural Council – Cultural Investment Portfolio Mass Cultural Council – Universal Participation Initiative Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund Mass Humanities MassDevelopment C. Jean and Myles McDonough Charitable Foundation Mildred H. McEvoy Foundation The Murray Family Charitable Foundation National Endowment for the Arts National Endowment for the Humanities National Philanthropic Trust

J. Irving England & Jane L. England Charitable Trust Sherman Fairchild Foundation, Inc. Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Fidelity Foundation FJC Foundation Fletcher Foundation George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation Greater Worcester Community Foundation Hanover Insurance Group Foundation, Inc. The Richard A. Heald Fund Bradley C. Higgins Foundation John W. & Clara C. Higgins Foundation Highland Street Foundation Hoche-Scofield Foundation Institute of Museum and Library Services Rita J. & Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation, Inc. The Judy and Tony King Foundation The Kirby Foundation The Klarman Family Foundation

Paine Charitable Trust Arthur M. and Martha R. Pappas Foundation Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund Joseph Persky Foundation Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation Umberto Romano & Clorinda Romano Foundation Schwab Charitable Fund The Schwartz Charitable Foundation Siff Charitable Foundation Stoddard Charitable Trust Terra Foundation for American Art Texas Instruments Foundation TIAA Charitable Gift Fund Verizon Foundation White Companies Charitable Trust Worcester Arts Council Worcester Educational Development Foundation, Inc. Wyman-Gordon Foundation

TRIBUTE TO ENDOWMENTS Worcester Art Museum was founded on a passion for art and community made possible through philanthropy. For nearly 125 years, the Worcester Art Museum has relied on the generosity of donors who believed in the value of the Museum. We honor and recognize the following families, who have supported the Ruth and John Adam, Jr. Exhibition Fund George I. Alden Trust Assistant Director of Education Fund George I. Alden Trust Docent Education Fund Harriet B. Bancroft Fund S.N. Behrman Library Fund Sally Riley Bishop Fund Barbara A. Booth Flower Fund Karl L. and Dorothy M. Briel Library Fund Alexander H. Bullock Fund Burrow Movie Fund Isabel Baker Carleton Memorial Fund Abbie S. and Mildred L. Cather Fund Douglas Cox and Edward Osowski Fund for Photography Dorothy Frances Cruikshank Education Fund Charles E. Culpeper Conservation Laboratory Fund Dwight A. Davis Fund Alexander and Caroline Murdock DeWitt Fund Docent Education Fund Ruth and Loring Holmes Dodd Fund Frank F. Dresser Fund Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis Fund J. Irving England & Jane L. England Charitable Trust

Museum by creating endowed funds. The income produced by these funds is used to support the purposes communicated by the donor. These funds provide important financial support to WAM and its programs. The Museum is grateful for this enduring legacy of support provided by the following endowed funds:

David Freelander Memorial Education Fund Jacob Hiatt Scholarship Fund Romanoff Education and Library Fund David J. Freelander Scholarship Fund Higgins Armory General Endowment Fund Marion Olch Ruhman Education Fund George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Conservation Fund The Higgins Curator of Arms and Armor and William S. Sargent Fund Thomas Hovey Gage Memorial Fund Medieval Art Endowment Fund Norman and Dorothy Sharfman Education Fund Austin S. Garver Fund Hoche-Scofield Foundation Helen Sagoff Slosberg Fund Sarah C. Garver Fund Christian A. Johnson Discovery Fund Ethel M. Smith Education Fund Edward F. Goggin Fund Christian A. Johnson Exhibition Fund Spear Fund for Public Programs Nehemias Gorin Foundation Fund The Christian A. Johnson Resource Center Stoddard Acquisition Fund Greater Worcester Community Foundation Fund Stoddard Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings, Booth Family Fund for Education and Outreach Frances A. Kinnicutt Fund and Photographs Endowment Fund Martha A. Cowan Fund Philip Klausmeyer Conservation Fund Stoddard Charitable Trust Directors Fund Jeppson Memorial Fund Macomber Conservation Fund Stoddard Discovery Fund Louise R. and John F. Reynders Fund Jean and Myles McDonough Director St. Wulstan Society Fund Marvin Richmond Fund Endowment Fund Sudbury Foundation Scholarship Fund Chapin Riley Fund Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Conservation Alice Eliza Waite Memorial Fund Helen M. and Thomas B. Stinson Fund Fund Miriam Washburn Trust Fund Nathan and Barbara Greenberg Discovery Fund Don and Mary Melville Contemporary Art Fund Karl B. A. Wass/Lundquist Family Scholarship Nathan and Barbara Greenberg Education Fund Michie Family Curatorial Fund Fund Amelia and Robert H. Haley Memorial Lecture John M. Nelson Fund James A. Welu Curator of European Art Fund Fund Paine Charitable Trust Mary Louise Wilding-White Fund Charles A. Hamilton Fund Eliza S. Paine Fund Worcester Art Society Richard A. Heald Curatorial Fund Bernard G. and Louise B. Palitz Fund Edith Florence Hendricks Scholarship Fund Hall and Kate Peterson Fund you are interested in establishing a fund, The Worcester Artand Museum grateful to ourFund corporateIf sponsors for understanding Herron-Dresser Publications Fund Mary E. Irene L. is Piper Scholarship please call 508.793.4363. Chester D. Heywood Scholarship Fundthe value of Susan Ella Reed-Lawton Fund making the Museum’s exhibitions, projects, and programs possible. Hiatt FAME Fund Arthur J. Remillard, Jr. Youth Education Fund

SALUTE TO SPONSORS

AUCTIONEERS

For more information about how your company can co-brand with WAM through a Business Partnership or Sponsorship, contact Marleen Kilcoyne at 508.793.4323 or MarleenKilcoyne@worcesterart.org. 30

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WORCESTER ART MUSEUM fifty-five salisbury street worcester, massachusetts 0160 9 WORCESTERART. ORG

Save time when you arrive, reserve your admission tickets in advance. Visit worcesterart.org for COVID-related visiting updates. Wednesday – Sunday, 10am-4pm Open during the following holidays: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Patriots Day, and Indigenous Peoples’ Day THE MUSEUM CAFÉ Check worcesterart.org for reopening date. ADMISSION Members: Free Adults: $18 Seniors and Students: $14 Youth 0-17: Free First Sunday of each month: Free EBT, WIC, ConnectorCare cardholders: Free

THE MUSEUM SHOP Open during Museum hours. For curbside pickup or mail delivery, call 508.793.4355 or email shopsales@worcesterart.org

BUSINESS PARTNERS / SPONSORSHIPS INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS / ACCESS ADS 508.793.4323 MarleenKilcoyne@worcesterart.org

LIBRARY 508.793.4382 library@worcesterart.org For library hours and information, visit worcesterart.org/library.

GUEST SERVICES 508.793.4362 guestservices@worcesterart.org

CLASSES Higgins Education Wing classes@worcesterart.org Registration: 508.793.4333 GROUP TOURS 508.793.4338 KaylaPeterson@worcesterart.org MEMBERSHIP 508.793.4300 membership@worcesterart.org

Free First Sundays are sponsored by Sandy Hubbard SALISBURY SOCIETY & BENEFACTOR and Thomas J. Logan and Saint-Gobain

MEMBERSHIP / ANNUAL FUND 508.793.4325 membership@worcesterart.org

ACCESSIBILITY All entrances provide barrier-free access. Wheelchairs and walkers are available for loan on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please request upon arrival.

EDSQM

m 508.799.4406

General operating support is provided by the Mass Cultural Council, Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation, Carl Lesnor Family Foundation, Paine Charitable Trust, Jeppson Memorial Fund, Greater Worcester Community Foundation, and J. Irving England and Jane L. England Charitable Trust.

access magazine Spring / Summer 2022

Articles inside

Seen at WAM

Ongoing/upcoming

Tours and programs

Kat O’Connor, ArtsWorcester Biennial winner

Collection news

Lessons from the pandemic

Bringing two medieval saints back to life

Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity

Jewels of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Treasures from the Worcester Art Museum

Celebrating a partnership in education and the arts

From the Director

Find yourself at WAM