Decorative Arts Center of Ohio -- Reese-Peters House
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New Exhibition Preview

6/30/2020

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Curated by Dr. Christine Fowler Shearer, 2 + 3 x 18: Diptychs and Triptychs by 18 Contemporary Ohio Artists displays art works created in a wide range of two- and three-dimensional mediums – including photography, paintings, glass, ceramics, mixed media and paper – and bearing stories with messages of topical relevance in today’s world.

Historically, diptychs and triptychs were largely devoted to paintings portraying religious subjects or political victories. The works in 2 + 3 x 18: Diptychs and Triptychs by 18 Contemporary Ohio Artists update these ancient genres with stories of contemporary experience.

“In the past, most diptychs and triptychs were done for religious purposes, but the artists in this exhibition have pushed beyond that initial idea and tradition to create unique and complex connections,” Shearer said. “The idea of the diptych and triptych was to tell a story—whether it be a secular or religious narrative, and this idea is definitely evident in the works in the current exhibition.” 

Stories among the exhibitions works range from narratives about the sometimes challenging relational between women to surviving cancer and questions about motherhood and hope for the future.
 
The exhibition will include The Circle, a linocut (linoleum relief cut) print diptych by University of Dayton art professor Erin Holscher Almazan, who will serve as the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio’s Artist-in-Residence Aug. 3-7 in conjunction with this exhibition. This work explores “the complexities and dualities that exist within our female identities,” said Almazan. “Sexual undertones, gendered rituals, memories of girlhood and the desire for approval are embedded within the work.”

By way of interactive videos created by Classic Interactions, guests also will have a chance to watch short videos of the artists working in their studios and to hear the artists explain how they create their work.
 
This exhibition is made possible by the Ohio Arts Council, the Fox Foundation and Fairfield County Foundation.
 
The exhibition opens on Saturday, July 18 and runs through Sunday, October 25.

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DACO Re-Opening Plan

6/29/2020

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We are re-opening on July 18 with our new exhibition, 2 x 3 x 18: Diptychs and Triptychs by 18 Contemporary Ohio Artists. Please see our Re-Opening Plan below, so you know what you can expect before you visit. 

Open to the public on Saturday, July 18, 2020
Temporary Hours: Wednesday – Friday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday & Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.
Senior Hours: Wednesday -­ Friday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.


Requirements for Entry:
• If you are experiencing signs of illness, cough, difficulty breathing, fever etc., or have had contact with a person with Covid-­19, please do not enter the Museum at this time.
• Face masks are required during your visit to the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio. Single-use masks are available for free inside the lobby. Thank you for helping protect our visitors, volunteers, and staff! 
• If there are guests in the lobby, please wait before entering.
• Number of guests inside the Museum, at any one time, is limited. You may be asked to wait before entering the lobby.
• We ask that you observe social distancing (six feet apart) while in the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio.

Lobby Precautions:
• There is a 30” tall plexi-guard on the Greeter Desk.
• Every guest will be asked to fill out a Visitor Information Card. Visitor information will be for our records, as well as any potential contact tracing by the Health Department.
• Signage will direct guests to keep the card with them until the end of their visit.
• Limited elevator usage to one person/party at a time.

Visitor Traffic Flow:
• Guests will enter though Lobby doors as usual.
• Greeter will instruct guests briefly about procedures.
• Guests will proceed to the main floor to view the Parlors and Rising Room as normal while maintaining Social Distancing.
• Social Distancing signs will be on stands inside both Parlors and the Rising Room. 
• Guests will not be allowed to sit on any of the furniture in in the Parlors, Hall or Rising Room.
• Plastic folding chairs will be available for anyone who needs to sit. We will
designate a place for 'used' chairs so we can clean them.
• Guests can proceed to the gallery level via the main staircase as normal.
• Normal flow of Gallery 1, 2, 3, 4.
• Guests will NOT be going back down the main staircase after viewing the exhibition.
• Guests will exit Gallery 4 via the back hall to the elevator. 
• Guests will take the elevator to the Ground Level.
• There will be at least 2 Survey Kiosks located in the Lower Level.
• Stylus pens will be available for guests to use for a no-touch experience. The stylus will be theirs to keep.
• Signage will remind guests to indicate their time out on the Visitor Information
Cards and there will be a place to deposit them.

Museum Shop Precautions:
• Limited number of guests allowed.
• Hand sanitizer will be available near the Shop door.
• Plexi-barrier is in place at the checkout.
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Watercolor Weaving with DACOatHome

5/31/2020

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We've all made some artwork that doesn't come out quite as expected. Next time that happens, don't toss it - turn it into a "keeper" with this Watercolor Weaving lesson! Check it out here. 
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Paper Apple Project with DACOatHome

5/28/2020

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Apples are delicious. They are also super fun for little ones to learn about and create! Check out our latest DACOatHome Virtual Art Lesson by clicking here.
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Pop Art Project with DACOatHome

5/28/2020

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Are you a Warhol fan? Take a few minutes to view his work online and get inspired before you create your very own Pop Art! Check out the art lesson by Teaching Artist Barbara Ery by clicking here. Have fun and share your creations with us on social media!
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Cartoonist Barbara Shermund’s Niece Uncovers Lost Family History

5/4/2020

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PictureAmanda Gormley poses with a Barbara Shermund etching from 1919, when she was in art school. It is a drawing of Mission Dolores in San Francisco and was published in “A City of Caprice,” a book of poems written by Neill Compton Wilson in 1921-1922, who may have introduced Shermund to the editor at the New Yorker, Harold Ross.
A nearly decade-long investigation yields fine art, family facts and a final resting place for the artist.

Like many family histories, Amanda Gormley’s has a lot of holes, or “caverns” as she calls them. Having inherited a collection of original art signed simply “Shermund,” Gormley, who knew she had an aunt who was a New York artist, decided to delve deeper into her family’s history to learn more. For most people, this task would be daunting, but as a long-time professional investigator, Gormley had the skills and the wherewithal to uncover her aunt’s lost history. She began by collecting Barbara Shermund’s work. 

“She was born in 1899. That was about all I knew,” says Gormley. “My grandfather, who was her father, died when I was one-year old.” Without living family members to share information, Gormley scoured auction houses to track down and purchase Shermund’s work. She probed sellers for information about how they obtained the work with the ultimate goal of finding out where Shermund was buried. 

“If I could figure out where she was buried, I could work out the background,” the investigator says. “My goal in finding her was that I felt that I was violating her privacy. I didn’t know her and I am poking around in her private life. I thought I should apologize—at least put flowers on her grave.”

Gormley had a general idea where Shermund had died and began calling around to area funeral homes to try to obtain information about her burial. Finally she landed on John Pfleger Funeral Home in Middletown, New Jersey. “He said, ‘You are looking for your aunt? She’s still here,” says Gormley. Nobody had claimed her ashes for 35 years. 

Gormley let her husband know that they would be having a family member stay with them for a while and the funeral home shipped her the ashes. “She was in a temporary receptacle, what looked like a paint can,” says Gormley. “I was feeling very shell-shocked, partially elated, then very, very said. I felt it was kind of reckoning; that I had her permission and that I was doing the right thing. But it was like carrying two dozen eggs in your shirt. I didn’t want to break it. I didn’t know what to do with her. So I put her in my china cabinet.”

She says sometimes she would talk to her ashes, trying to piece together the history aloud. “Her mom died in 1918, and my mom didn’t know much about her. When my mother was born, Barbara was 35 years old. My grandfather was around 60 when she was born.” That large age gap would prove difficult for Gormley’s grandfather, who would later request money from Shermund, as he was close to 70 years old and not working anymore, but had a child (Gormley’s mother) and family to support. 

The next step in Gormley’s search was to find Shermund’s mother. She used her professional investigative resources and found the death notice in the San Francisco paper. Shermund’s mother had died in 1918 during influenza pandemic when the artist was only a teen. “In funeral homes, they have these huge ledgers and they were able to pull that out and tell us where Barbara’s mother was buried in an unmarked grave near San Francisco.” 

Now, Gormley had a tough choice. “I didn’t feel like I knew her enough to decide, do I bury her next to her mother? Do I spread her ashes on the Jersey Shore, where she lived?” she asks. So she continued her investigation and let the story unfold on its own.

Gormley learned of an antique dealer on the Jersey Shore who had artwork and personal letters from Shermund, so she traveled from her home in San Francisco to New Jersey to see it for herself. “I was very upset, elated, hurt. This woman had all these letters. It was like walking into a store and seeing your life history on a shelf.”

As she read through the letters from her grandfather to Shermund, Gormley learned that the artist was secretly married to Ludwig Sander, an accomplished American painter. “I was able to find an interview with him, and he talked about her, but he didn’t say her name. His second wife destroyed everything, but there was a single picture of Barbara Shermund and on the back it said ‘Ludwig’s first wife, Barbara.’” The letters were an incredible find, steeped in history. Sander wrote home to Shermund from the frontlines of WWII—sometimes on U.S. Navy envelopes or U.S. Army or Gestapo letterhead. “The juxtaposition of him being in Germany and then the content of his adoration for her is amazing. He wrote about how they were going to go on leave and would bring some watercolors and charcoals. He was still doing his art in the middle of WWII,” Gormley says. 

All this time, Gormley continued collecting Shermund’s artwork. “Every piece of art represents a different part of her life,” she says. “I started reading about who she worked with and what her life was like. Then I turned to the plates my father gave to me.”

Those plates turned out to be etchings created by the artist herself. “I found someone who was cleaning the etchings, and she said you have to take a look at this one plate. It’s never been inked. It was very small, almost completely corroded.” When it was cleaned up, it was sent back to Gormley, and she took it as an omen. “It says ‘Greetings from Barbara Shermund.’ It was another sign to me that I was on the right track, that she wanted me to do this.”

After taking a break in 2015 from her research and collecting for about a year, Gormley got back at it. She continued her research at the New York Public Library and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at the Ohio State University and continued to connect the dots of Shermund’s story and her own personal history, finding many books that Shermund had illustrated. 

In 2017, Gormley reached out to Caitlin McGurk at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, who was working on putting together an exhibition of Shermund’s work. “When I came out, I brought some etchings, sketch books and all of the materials I had uncovered over 7 years. Caitlin had enough artwork, but didn’t know the story,” Gormley says. “Caitlin curated this fabulous exhibit and did a successful fundraiser so we could bury Shermund. It was amazing. I am very proud and I just feel great that it came out the way it did.” 

The Decorative Arts Center of Ohio is pleased to exhibit “Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life & Art of Barbara Shermund. You can see the Virtual Exhibition here!



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Virtual Exhibition with DACOatHome

5/3/2020

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BIG NEWS! We have missed you all so very much, but mostly we've been disappointed that you have been missing our fantastic Barbara Shermund exhibition while our doors have been closed. That's why DACOatHome is bringing the exhibition to YOU! 

Check it out here and let us know what you think!
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Tea Bag Painting with DACOatHome

5/3/2020

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Our own Teaching Artist Lisa Schorr has a beautiful art project for you, perfect for a Mother's Day gift or a nice addition for your own home. Save your tea bags; they are needed for this gorgeous little project. Check it out here!
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Ring Holder with DACOatHome

5/3/2020

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Mother's Day is approaching this week and do we have some great gift ideas for you! Grab the kids, or make these on your own. The lady in your life is sure to love a handmade gift. Check out the instructions and make your own here.
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Contour Drawing with DACOatHome

4/13/2020

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Practice your drawing by using common household objects are your subjects. When it comes to drawing, make it a daily ritual for best results. Practice, practice, practice! Thanks to Teaching Artist Barbara Ery for this lesson. Click here for the drawing lesson.
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Decorative Arts Center of Ohio
145 E. Main St.
Lancaster, Ohio 43130
Phone: 740-681-1423