Have art, will travel!

Have you visited the lively colored Art Carts that have popped up around the museum lately? An Art Cart is a mobile, educational tool that allows families and children an opportunity to interact with art in a fun and educational way. Inside the Art Carts are a variety of activities, ranging from coloring sheets of Helmutt the dog, a mosaic activity, try on reproduction armor, origami cats, and medieval board games. Just to name a few!

Come for a visit and see what we have out! Art Carts are located in the Renaissance Court, Salisbury Hall, and Helmutt’s House in Knights! Ask at our Information Desks for more on times and locations or see our website by clicking the link below:.

2015 Art Cart Hours

August
Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays 11:00-12:30, 12:30-2:00 & 2:00-3:30
Saturday & Sunday 11:00-12:30 & 12:30-2:00

September - December
Wednesdays 1:30-3:00
Saturday & Sunday 1:00-2:30 & 2:30-4:00

Learn more about Art Carts

- Neal Bourbeau, Knights! Education Programming Assistant

World Photo Day: From Hawaii to Worcester

Having moved to New England from Hawaii, I am always curious to see what artifacts have made it across land and sea before me. Here at WAM I was delighted to find a 19th century travel album featuring photographs taken on the island of Oahu. Many travelers from Europe and America stopped in Hawaii on their way to East Asia, purchasing images of places they visited from commercial photographers. The album in our collection is one of two that record an 1899 trip made to China and Japan by Frances Clary Morse, the founder and first president of the Worcester Garden Club.

The last decade of the 1800s was a contentious time in the islands, as the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown and Hawaii was annexed to the United States. Morse brought documentation of these events back to Worcester in two images, both by Frank Davey, a British photographer who had a commercial studio in Honolulu from 1897 to 1902. The first photo was taken at the Annexation ceremony on August 12, 1898, when Hawaii formally became a territory of the United States.

Olmec "Incised Standing Figure" may be a Star God

Together with Professor Karl Taube at the University of California, Riverside, I have been researching a WAM Olmec object formerly titled Figure of a Man, but now more accurately labeled Incised Standing Figure. The object was once owned by the famous Mexican caricaturist, Miguel Covarrubias, who was also an important archaeologist. He was a friend of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. All three artists shared a passion for Mexico’s history. When the object entered WAM’s collection in 1958, the marks around its mouth remained a mystery. Dr. Taube has now plausibly suggested the pattern of incisions relate to other Olmec glyphs of a star sign, probably the morning star more commonly identified as the planet Venus. Venus appears in the sky for roughly three hours after sunset and three hours before sunrise. Later Mexican cultures envisioned a great battle between the morning star and the rising sun, and the morning star seems to have held symbolic importance for warriors. The Maya, who succeeded the Olmec in coastal Veracruz and Tabasco, established the long count of their calendar system with the aid of Venus. So Worcester’s object may be one of the earliest depictions of this Mesoamerican star deity in human form – created around 2,800 years ago. To learn more about this object, watch for it in the Jeppson Idea Lab on the third floor opening November 14th.

Learn more about Incised Standing Figure

-John Garton, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Clark University

A Medieval Priest Teaches Swordfighting

Today I received my author copies of The Art of Swordsmanship by Hans Lecküchner. This gorgeously illustrated manuscript was composed 1482 by a parish priest, and it’s the single most substantial medieval source on how to fight with a one-handed sword. You might not expect a priest to know much about swordfighting, but Lecküchner had studied at the University of Nuremberg—Nuremberg students were already notorious for swordfighting in the Middle Ages. I first sent my completed translation of Lecküchner’s manuscript to a publisher in 2004, so you can imagine how glad I am that the book is now available!

The weapon used by the swordfighters is called a langes Messer (literally “long knife”). You can see a beautiful example, made for the Austrian court at about the time of Lecküchner’s manuscript, in WAM’s Knights! exhibition. Incidentally, you can also learn how to use swords like this from WAM’s swordplay instructor Krista Baker. But you’d better sign up soon—I hear next week’s class is already sold out!

- Jeffrey L. Forgeng, Curator of Arms & Armor and Medieval Art

Worcester’s Salisbury Cultural District

Click to enlarge.

On May 19, 2015, the Massachusetts Cultural Council Board unanimously approved State designation of the Salisbury Cultural District, the city’s first official cultural district.  For Application Team Co-Chairs Erin Williams, Worcester’s Cultural Development Officer and I, this was the culmination of a year long process which required multiple public hearings, approval of a resolution by Worcester City Council in support of the designation, a Memorandum of Understanding between The City of Worcester and Worcester Art Museum as the District’s “lead stakeholder”, an inventory of the district’s cultural assets and annual public events, and well as an extensive application outlining the proposed district’s mission, goals and management structure.  All this while simultaneously wrangling nine Founding Stakeholder institutions and three dozen participating district stakeholders to share a common, collaborative vision.  It was a process!

Worcester’s Salisbury Cultural District is conveniently located near Interstates I-190 and I-290 adjacent to the city’s historic Lincoln Square.  Within a two block radius of this Lincoln Square keystone a dozen historically significant cultural and civic buildings stand. Click to see a map of the Salisbury Cultural District.  The district includes cultural institutions such as: the Worcester Art Museum; the American Antiquarian Society; Tuckerman Hall (home to the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra); the historic Salisbury Mansion; and the main campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).  It includes Institute Park (with its Levenson Concert Stage and Gazebo) and Salisbury Pond (a historic mill pond fed by Mill Brook, one of the water sources for the Blackstone Canal which once connected Worcester to Providence, RI).  The district is home to six Houses of Worship (including the Armenian Church of our Saviour, the oldest Armenian congregation in America); 17 restaurants; 6 specialty galleries/gift shops; over 50 adaptively re-used properties; and 10 National Historic Register buildings.  These entities collectively host over 1000 community events annually.

Free Wi-Fi at WAM

The Member’s Council at the Worcester Art Museum knows how important it is to stay connected while on the go, which is why they sponsor WAM’s free, high speed Wi-Fi connection throughout the entire museum. Stop by and grab a coffee from the Sip Cart and catch up on your favorite blogs, or share your favorite piece in the museum on social media without tapping into your data!

Connecting to our Wi-Fi is easy and doesn’t require a password – just chose the WAM_PUBLIC connection on your device and you’re in.

- Casey Beaupre, Acting Visitor Services Manager

Come to the Japanese Gallery

Come to the Japanese Gallery to contemplate this serene grove of bamboo painted by Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754-1799).  Compared to trees in the forest, bamboo is relatively slight and unimposing, but bamboo is remarkably strong and flexible. Its robust root system and ability to bend with the wind allow bamboo to survive storms that topple trees. These features and bamboo’s simple but upright form have made it an enduring Asian symbol of endurance, resilience and integrity.

Read more about Nagasawa Rosetsu's Bamboo