July 19, 2024, Press Release from the Allen County Museum: On August 17, 2024, the last temporary exhibition of the year will open at the Allen County Museum. The exhibition is The Art of Domesticity and will focus on the decorative arts from the 19th and 20th centuries as well as works by contemporary artists.
The Allen County Museum staff organized the exhibition, which will include five contemporary women artists’ artworks. Historically, women have been pushed towards artistic expression in art forms considered acceptable for them—knitting, weaving, quilting, needlepoint, and porcelain painting—media that could be done at home. This exhibition will celebrate and investigate not only these works of art done in the past but also contemporary artists who have turned those media or subject matters into “fine art.”
The Art of Domesticity will be laid out in two sections. The first are vignettes of 19th and 20th century rooms with artifacts from the Allen County Museum’s permanent collection. This will show how the decorative arts were intertwined with the woman’s life at home, how she expressed her artistic talents in functional ways, like quilts and clothing, and more decorative ways, like samplers or hair wreaths. The other area of the exhibition will showcase the artworks of five contemporary female artists: Jen Blazina, Kristen Cliffel, Julie Friedman, Janice Lessman-Moss, and Kari Russell-Pool. These artists all utilize traditional craft media in their art pieces. In the case of Kari Russell-Pool’s Loves Me Loves Me Not, she uses glass to create a sampler. This reminds us of needlepoint, but the artwork is in her preferred media and expresses her contemporary ideas. The Art of Domesticity will compare and contrastartworks of the past with contemporary pieces to discuss the decorative arts and what constitutes “fine art.”
For further learning surrounding gender and the decorative arts, the Allen County Museum will be holding a lecture series as well as art workshops. The lecture series will start on August 29, 2024, at 6 p.m. with Dr. David Strittmatter, ONU Assistant Professor of History, presenting on “The Woman’s Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.” Next, Dr. Kimberly Hamlin, Miami University Professor of Global and Intercultural Studies and History, will speak on “Women’s Suffrage” on September 19, 2024, at 6 p.m. Lastly, Jeannine Falino, independent Curator of Craft and Design, will talk about “Women’s Craft and Design” on October 23, 2024, at 6 p.m. The art workshops, Creating “Women’s Crafts” Together, will be led by Allen County Museum staff and local artisans. These will require registration on the Allen County Museum website to attend. The series will start on September 25, 2024, with knitting and crochet workshops, held both at 1-3 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. Beginners to advanced in each craft type are welcomed to the workshops. The next week, October 2, 2024, there will be ceramic painting workshops, at both 1-3 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. The last workshops will be cross stitch and embroidery held on October 9, 2024, at 1-3 p.m. and 5-7 p.m.
The Allen County Museum is excited to open The Art of Domesticity, the last temporary exhibition of 2024, on August 17, 2024. In connection with the exhibition, an artist reception will be held on September 20, 2024, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Art of Domesticity will showcase decorative artworks of the Allen County Museum and contemporary women artists and will discuss craft, “fine art,” and gender. This exhibition has been made possible by support from the Ohio Humanities Council, Ohio Arts Council, Visit Greater Lima, and Cenovus: Lima Refinery.
The Allen County Museum is located at 620 West Market Street, Lima, Ohio 45801. Summer Museum hours (June 4-September 2, 2024) are Tuesday-Saturday 11:00 a.m.—5:00 p.m. and Sundays 1:00p.m.—5:00 p.m. The normal museum hours are Tuesday-Friday 1:00 p.m.—5:00 p.m.; Saturday 1:00 p.m.—4:00p.m.; and closed Sunday and Monday. For more information, please contact Dr. Christine Fowler Shearer at 419-222-9426 or visit us atwww.allencountymuseum.org.
