Museum Highlights: June 2016

Little Dreams in Glass and Metal: Enameling in America
The Crocker Art Museum
Sacramento, CA
The Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA will host the traveling exhibition Little Dreams in Glass and Metal: Enameling in America, 1920 to the Present from June 19th September 11th, 2016. This is the first nationally traveling exhibition to survey the dynamic field of enamel arts in America in over 50 years, bringing together 122 works by 90 artists from the Windgate Charitable Foundation’s collection of modern and contemporary works.
Enameling is the art of fusing glass to metal through a high-temperature firing process, a technique whichgained widespread popularity in the U.S. in the mid-twentieth century. From jewelry to wallpanels, enameling represents a visually opulent but under-documented art form. This exhibition tracks its development over the past 100 years, highlighting its use by artists who were informed by contemporary practices. Key figures include Arthur Ames (1906-1975), Harold Balazs, who incorporated his Bauhaus design into enameled objects; and pop artists of the 1960s like husband-and-wife artists Ellamarie and Jackson Woolley. Recent artists include Jessica Calderwood, and her enamel-based psychological portraits, and Mary Chuduk’s mixed-media creations.
Little Dreams in Glass and Metal opens June 19th, 2016. The museum is open Tuesday – Saturday,10 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Thursdays until 9 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, and $5 for youth 7-17.

The Folk Art Collection of Elie and Viola Nadelman
The New York Historical Society
New York, NY
The New-York Historical Society is celebrating the pioneering art collection of the avant-garde sculptor Elie Nadelman and his wife Viola in the current exhibition The Folk Art Collection of Elie and Viola Nadelman. Running through August 21, 2016, this expansive show highlights over 200 objects from their collection, alongside Nadelman’s own sculptures. This juxtaposition illuminates the intersection between folk art and modernism.
Nadelman began collecting in 1914 and he and his wife went on to found the Museum of Folk and Peasant Arts in Riverdale, NY. In 1937 the couple donated the majority of their collection to the New-York Historical Society. This show is the first time these objects have been grouped together, with an aim to showcase the European roots of American folk art.  The works on display feature a wide range of media – including furniture, sculpture, paintings, ceramics, glass, iron, textiles and household tools.
Exhibition highlights include a monumental carved and painted wood statue Fire Chief Harry Howard, one of New York City’s most famous firefighters. Other objects are taken from everyday life, such as an 18th century Dutch baby walker and a beautiful piece of New York pottery – a spouted stoneware pitcher with cobalt blue flowers and vines.
After the exhibition ends at the NYHS, it will move to the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, MA in Fall, 2016. The Folk Art Collection of Elie and Viola Nadelman presents a wonderful chance to see a diverse range of objects in conversation and illustrate a lifetime’s passion in collecting.
The show is currently running, concluding on August 21, 2016. The New York Historical Society is closed on Mondays, but is open 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Tuesdays through Thursdays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. on Fridays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, $12 for students, and $6 for kids 5-13 years old.

Museum Highlights: June 2016