Should you visit the website for the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, I don’t think you’d be surprised to find EXHIBIT CLOSED DUE TO PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERNS stamped in big red letters over a photo of Increase Lapham closely studying a meteorite. The exhibition is entitled Collections and Connections: 150 Years of The Wisconsin Academy. According to Jody Clowes, the exhibit “recreates the natural history and archaeological collections gathered by early Academy Members. Clowes is the Director of the James Watrous Gallery for the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. Clowes curated the exhibition with former director and artist Martha Glowacki and in this edition of Radio Chipstone, Clowes tells contributor gianofer fields that the beauty of the collection is found not only in the objects but also in the collaborative spirit it took to bring the objects to the exhibit.
About the Host:
gianofer (JON nah fer) fields is an Art Historian and Material Culture contributor and curates the Radio Chipstone series. The project is hosted by the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and funded by the Chipstone Foundation; a decorative arts foundation whose mission is preserving and interpreting their collection, as well as stimulating research and education in the decorative arts.
About the Guest:
Jody Clowes is the Director of the James Watrous Gallery for the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters located in the Overture Center for the Arts. As an exhibition curator, gallery programs developer, and art writer, she has held senior positions at Milwaukee Art Museum, Detroit’s Pewabic Pottery, and UW-Madison’s Design Gallery at the School of Human Ecology’s Center for Design and Material Culture.
Image: detail of installation case within the exhibition Collections and Connections: 150 Years of the Wisconsin Academy. Image appears courtesy of the James Watrous Gallery. According to Clowes, the exhibition will reopen as soon as public health concerns permit.
