collaborative project between the GCNC and the NC Museum of Art

Yesterday at the President's meeting this was mentioned and this is a copy of an e-mail from the museum about their idea.  If you are interested please let Andrea, Ruth in main office or your
president know you would like further information.

Good morning, Ruth, and thank you so very much for taking the time to talk with me.

As I mentioned, the North Carolina Museum of Art  is preparing for a fabulous exhibition this fall, Visual Feast: Masterpieces of Still Life from the MFA Boston.  As you might imagine, many of the works are stunning floral still life paintings from some of art history’s greatest masters:  Renoir, Cezanne, O’Keeffe, Matisse, and so many more. 

In a recent meeting, the idea of working with our North Carolina garden clubs in a special program was discussed, and I volunteered to start the conversation.  We would like to propose that several garden clubs each  ‘adopt’ a work from the exhibit to interpret in a floral arrangement to be displayed in the Museum’s Great Hall adjacent to the exhibition.  The floral art work would have signage crediting the artist, her or his garden club, and an accompanying image of the painting that inspired the arrangement.   Acknowledgement would also be in the Museum’s PREVIEW publication and on our Web site.

We will provide a special  lecture to participating clubs about the exhibition that explores the works on view and features a special component by one of our conservators, who will talk about the joys and challenges of working with floral materials in a museum setting.  

I would love to set up a meeting  to discuss the project in full.  I worked for many years at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond on its Fine Arts and Flowers exhibition; through the VMFA’s program I enjoyed the privilege of working with garden clubs throughout Virginia.   I believe a similar collaboration between the North Carolina Museum of Art and the Garden Club of North Carolina would result in a wonderful program for our mutual constituencies.

Thank you so much for your help, Ruth, and I’ll hope to hear from you or another representative very soon.

With best regards,

Sandy Rusak