EXTENDED! Jeppson Idea Lab — Master Vases from Ancient Greece

Co-curator Amanda Reiterman and I are delighted to inform our visitors that this multi-media exhibition was extended. Open since the fall of 2016, this show has been used extensively for teaching classics and archaeology by professors of local universities and colleges. Several classes were even designed and scheduled around this exhibition. Come visit and find out about the exciting discoveries that were made during conservation of these vases. Used for storing wine and perfumed oils these vessels were fully disassembled and reassembled from dozens of fragments. Watch a video that takes you into WAM’s conservation lab and, on an interactive iPad, learn about the fascinating story of these exquisite pots made over 2000 years ago. The show will remain open until further notice.

- Paula Artal-Isbrand, Objects Conservator   

#5WomenArtists

During the month of March, in honor of Women’s History Month, WAM joins the National Museum of Women in the Arts and hundreds of other museums around the world in the campaign #5WomenArtists to share important contributions by women represented in our collections. Why is this important? Can you name five women artists? Many people can’t. If you can, it probably takes you much longer to think of five female artists than five male artists. #5WomenArtists directly addresses the gender imbalance in the presentation of art in the United States and abroad, assuring great women artists a place of honor now and into the future.

This year, WAM highlights two female painters from our collections, Mary Cassatt and Grace Hartigan; two photographers, Julia Margaret Cameron and Brooke Williams; and one sculptor, Louise Nevelson. From the 19th to the 21st century, each female artist has made a unique contribution to the history of art.  

The Worcester Art Museum has participated in the #5WomenArtists campaign since its inception three years ago. Other female artists represented in WAM collections include Berenice Abbot, Judith Leyster, Joan Mitchell, Rona Pondick, Kate Sage, Doris Salcedo, Joan Snyder, and Marguerite Zorach.

To find out more about this campaign, see Hashtag: #5WomenArtists and the website https://nmwa.org/womens-history-month. (Also include WAM links.)

--Martha Chiarchiaro, Interim Associate Curator of Education & Experience

Image:  Julia Margaret Cameron, Merlin and Vivien, about 1874, albumen print from wet collodion negative, Stoddard Acquisition Fund, 1986.75

Meet Stephanie Cyr, Worcester Art Museum librarian

Stephanie Cyr joined the Worcester Art Museum as Museum Librarian on November 28, 2017.  In this capacity, Stephanie also serves as the Art Museum Librarian for the College of the Holy Cross.

Most recently, Stephanie served as the Associate Curator at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, where she planned and executed exhibitions.  Her work focused on varied topics from weather and climate, geology, mining, and current subjects such as hydraulic fracturing, to maps of fantastic and imaginary lands in fiction.  During her career as a librarian, Stephanie has worked in reference and readers advisory and cataloging, and brings over a decade of experience in public, academic and special library settings to the Worcester Art Museum library. Stephanie looks forward to working with all visitors to the Museum, and welcomes neighbors, guests and students of all ages to learn about and utilize the vast resources that the library has to offer. Browse dozens of art magazines, read about current exhibitions, or conduct personal research in the reading room, which is open to the public. 

Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from UMass Amherst, and a master’s degree in library science from Simmons College in Boston. Her favorite book is Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, and her favorite work of art is Thomas Cole’s View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm-The Oxbow (1836). She lives in central Massachusetts with her husband and two young children.

We're delighted that Stephanie has joined WAM! Please stop by the library to meet her when you are next at the Museum.

--Gareth Salway, Director of Museum Services and Chief Registrar