Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. Celebrate creativity and culture through the experience of
American art, regional history, tranquil gardens, and more. As a
destination for people of all interests in ages, the Columbus
Museum has something for everyone. Today we're visiting the Columbus Museum.
Hight I talk with Mary Ann Richter, the director of
the Columbus Museum.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Columbus Museum. Here we are. This is great.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
You told me something about this table they were at too.
This is talk about table.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
We are sitting in a new space in the museum
called the Lampton Conference Room, and we have a beautiful
table that was specially made for this room that comes
from a tree that we had on the front of
our property that had a branch drop about a third
of the tree once summer a few years ago just dropped,
(01:02):
and so we had an incredible table made custom made
for this. This table is made by an artist named
Philip Schlei and it was done in memory of John Spencer,
who is Kathleen Amos's son.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Wow, it's so nice. It's like it's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
And as hard as nails.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It is.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
But this is a special space to us because it
is a smaller room. As you see, you could probably
get about twelve people here for a meeting, and it
is at no cost for people to use it. So
we will have community people who have a smaller meeting
sometimes calling to book this room. So it's very nice
(01:50):
to be able to offer it.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I love the museum just walking around a little bit
because you ride by out here, and I've ridden by
so many times, I've never noticed it until now. The
past a couple of years, you haven't talk about the museum.
Tell us what it's about.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, this is a one. As you said, it's a
wonderful museum. It is. It's almost seventy five years old,
and another three years will celebrate the seventy fifth anniversary.
It opened to the public in nineteen fifty three, and
it is on the site and incorporating the residence of W. C. Bradley,
(02:28):
who was the leading industrialist, industrialist and figure of Columbus
in the first part of the twentieth century, and his
estate was on this location, and when he died, through
a complicated process that I won't get into, his estate
(02:48):
was meant to become either it was meant to be
run either by the news consolidated school district or the
city and be an art gallery or museum. And so
the school district ended up in through state legislation, becoming
the owner of the property and so, but the school district,
(03:12):
not having a specialty in museums and public galleries, then
worked with a local group that had organized to be
a nonprofit that was involved in actually day to day operations.
So we've been a public private partnership from the start,
(03:32):
and so we have our collection that belongs to our nonprofit.
Much of our expenses related to daily operations are from
the nonprofit, but other things are school districts. So it's
a unique partnership and it works very well for us.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
This building seems to be like a new building. Was
it wasn't It was a newer building that you built.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yes, so the original house is actually in this contained
within this building in some of our galleries. But then
it was small, too small to be a museum for
a collection that continues to grow. So through the years
we've had several building projects. The outward look of this
building is from an expansion that happened in nineteen eighty nine,
(04:19):
and so The overall square footage of the museum at
this point is eighty nine thousand square feet and we
just finished a major renovation, so we didn't add to
the building, but we, through a really great architecture firm,
came up with ways to make better use of the
(04:40):
space we have.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
This is a beautiful building, it really is. It raised
a great central piece for a museum to be. It's
really great.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
I have to say that with this renovation, I'm always
happy walking around here. It makes it gives me a
lot of pleasure. But what really matters to me is that, well,
when I started in the museum field, it was always
focused on collections, and if you have great collections and exhibitions,
(05:13):
people will come. But the education part was always traditionally
in say the eighties the nineties, not as important. And
education is absolutely as important and connecting people is important.
So what makes what I see as our role is
to be connecting people with art or with in our case,
(05:37):
because we have local history with their past, and we
can't have one without the others. So education is very
important to us.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
How long have you been here in the museum?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Ten years?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Ten years?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Okay, okay, Now what's in this museum is it is
it central to this part of Georgia, in Alabama even
or in this area.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And we have two collecting focuses, and the first part
is regional history, and that is very much related to
this area and a sixty mile radius around it, so
that would include Alabama. And we are the only place
in town that has a tells a more comprehensive history
(06:20):
of Columbus and the Chattahoochee Valley. I would say it
will never be definitive because there's always things in history
to learn that you don't know about, and history is
being made. The other part of our focus is American
art and that we do at a national level, and
so we are particularly interested in connections to our region
(06:45):
or the Southeast. That's important to us. But we also
have work by artists who are were not based in
the South, but are important artists to have the collection.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Okay, so you do you look for things inside that
sixty mile area.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
For the history collection, absolutely, okay, Yeah, it needs to
be something with a connection to the history of the
Chattahoochee Valley. For the art it doesn't matter if somebody
if there is a connection, So examples would be we
were very fortunate that Alma Thomas is one of her sisters,
(07:25):
John Maurice Thomas donated archival material related to the artist.
She grew up in Columbus and then moved to Washington,
d C. And so, but and Alma Thomas is at
this point nationally now we did it. We worked with
another museum on a major exhibition a few years ago.
(07:46):
But there's a tie to Columbus, so that matters to us.
The same thing. Amy Sherrold, who is known probably in
the public mostly for doing up the portrait of Michelle
Obama that is at the National Portrait Gallery, also grew
up with Columbus, but she's internationally known, so she has
(08:06):
a show currently at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
So that those connections are important. But we also last year,
for instance, acquired a Copley, which is a colonial portraitist
of a person who spent his life in Massachusetts and
was involved with and to some extent with the Boston
Tea Party.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Okay, but do you have people that go out and
look around the sixty mile radius and go because still
it seems to me, I'm saying, because there seemed to
be so many art forms or things that you look, wow,
this needs to be in a museum.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, something like that.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well, we have two curators on this, okay, so we
have a history curator and an art curator. So a
large part of their job is looking for things that
relate and then and I know that, for instance, our
history curator, how they do it varies a little bit.
Our history curator is often looking on things like eBay,
(09:03):
but also auction houses, because not everything in a history collections.
If it's a document or a photograph that relates, it
may not be It's not going to be like going
to Southerby's front painting, but it will be really important
for us to have it. And then we also will
get people contacting us with material which we love, and
(09:25):
then then we will meet with them or talk to
them to determine if it's a fit for our collecting focus.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Because people will probably always come up to them and go,
I have a thing a piece that you might be
interested in, and you might that that way or something
like that.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Sometimes that typically what we will ask is to send
us some photos and some information so we will we
will know if it seems like a fit.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
What are some of the do you have certain things
now have certain exhibits, and then they come for a
certain time and then come away.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
We do we have an adition into the permanent collection.
We also will have temporary exhibitions. So right now we
just opened a very big show on our third floor
which is called American Made Painting and Sculpture from the
Demel Jacobson Collection. And that's a beautiful exhibition that was
(10:20):
organized by another museum, the Mint Museum, and it features
the work of the Damel Jacobson Foundation, which its founder,
Diane Demel Jacobson, is collecting American art specifically to lend
the museums for exhibitions or and this is the first
(10:42):
time there's been a show of that collection in its entirety.
Typically a museum will get two or three works that
fit a topic that they're doing in an exhibition or
relate to their permanent collection. But this is a really
special show.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Hello, wom It be here for until through the end
of June.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Okay, all right?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And then you have other parts of the Indus the history.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Do you tell parts of the story of Columbus or.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yes, very much so, and we change those We have
exhibits for history that change regularly too. So currently we're
finishing a show on blues and folk music in the
Chatahoochie Alley, and next will be an exhibition about the
financial industries of Columbus because that turned into a major thing.
(11:34):
And then we have an orientation space in the lobby
that currently is showing the history of the museum itself,
going back to the W. C. Bradley and his family
for people when we because we had reopened after the renovation.
Our next exhibition is going to be about baseball and
Columbus because we have the Clingstones coming, so that will
(11:57):
be a focus.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
What are you doing on blues and I mentioned now we're.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Looking at the history of the of that in this area,
and there's a public musicology program at Columbus State, so
some other students worked with that. But of course my
Rainey would be yeah, I figures very strongly in that.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Well, they have a my Rainy house here in Columbus.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Do you work together with them?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
We We haven't specifically that much to date, but we
want to do more in the future very much.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So, Oh, that's great for music. I'm a fan of music.
So you hear music, Papa? What else? Baseball?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Now?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Baseball chef, you're gonna be doing.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Because we have the Klingstones will start, we'll start playing, yes,
and so, but we have a history of baseball in Columbus.
So this, this exhibition will really look at the story
of baseball and Columbus from the past.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Oh that W. C.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Bradley, of course is big and Columbus, I knows w readily.
They had historical you know, factories and things like that.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
What did you do? You have them in here too.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yes, there's information about about W. C. Bradley, and this
this orientation space right now is all of it, has
a lot about that. And then in our history gallery,
in our kind of middle gallery, which is called Innovations,
we talk about the textile meal, importance of the textile
meals for Columbus, And I think something that makes Columbus
(13:33):
unique in my experience is that as the textile industry
was sort of dying out, Columbus switched to financial services
and so continues to really do well. There are a
lot of towns that never make that transition from a
previous industry to the next.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, they have a flat now, yes exactly, making industries
here absolutely, Yeah, she try to So do those companies
that they finance you in any way, or how do
you get your money?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
We we well, we we get we have a portion
of our budget from the school district because it's the
property owner, so that's about a third. Then we also
have we're fortunate to have investment income en dowment income
that we can use for operations, and then we that's
(14:25):
probably another third. And then the last third is donations,
and that would be through memberships, corporate sponsorships, and annual
fundraisers and earned income and things like that. And they
we've had very we have very generous corporate sponsors in town.
(14:47):
We did a capital campaign and several of those businesses
supported that. Others support our annual some of our exhibitions
each year or our annual fundraisers. So it's a very
generous channel.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, I guess, I bet it is. It really is.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
You know, back to the thing about the baseball when
baseball comes in, when they'd start to do it, well,
there's the team didn't come in, and will they be
here and they don't they want to come here, something
like that.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I don't know if we have plans yet. I know
we've been communicated with the person who's the kind of them,
the manager overall manager, not the manager the team, but
the GM to see whether there might be something we
could do as a partnership.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Because in this place, this place is great, it's beautiful museum.
So I was just using that as example to do
have when you have something like that come in, like
Ma Rainey or whoever, whatever you have, do they have
people come in then.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
And we're now, Yes, we're now because of this renovation.
One of the things that's John has put us more
top of mind for people and wanting to partner with us.
So we do. We partner a fair amount with say
the Springer, and we've partnered with the River Center and
(16:06):
the Symphony in Columbus State University. So there are a
lot of different things that we do with that, but
we are always and the library system is another great partner,
but we always look for additional ways to partner.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Now you're doing some more things here in the museum.
What are some other things that people might see if
they come to Columbus and want to see the museum
some other exambits that are permanent, for example.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Oh here, I'm really Our American art collection is terrific,
and people that who are museum goers who come from
elsewhere are always expressed surprise by that we besides Alma
Thomas and Amy Cheryl that I mentioned, we really have
(16:53):
some wonderful earlier works since sculpture, we have artists well
currently on you. I think we have the Mary Cassock
on view, but can't be on view all the time.
That's in our history of the museum because it's a
work on paper, so we have to kind of stage that.
We Also there's in town the Bo Bartlett Center. We
(17:16):
have an important work by Bob Bartlett in our collection
that a lot of people come to look at. A
real attraction right now always has been our Dale Chahuli,
which is now right at the end of the galleria
where you cannot miss it, and it's a really spectacular
example by Dale Chahuli. So there's there. I could go on.
There's just there's so many wonderful examples of of of
(17:40):
important artists in the collection.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Do they they don't necessarily have a connection to Columbus.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Correct, right, But Dale cha does not have a collection
connection to Columbus. There's an outdoor sculpture at the front
by an artist named June Connecto and does not have
a connection to Columbus, but is a major artist and
that's a recent donation as well.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Okay, what about Fort Benning, certainly with the military here,
do you have anything with him?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Well, we have a section in the history collection about
Fort Benning and its importance to Columbus, and in the
past we did an exhibition about both Fort Banning and
its predecessor, Camp Banning. So that's very important to us
to do that.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I guess would be I should have mentioned that first.
It's been pretty big. Well what else do you do here?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Do you also have rooms for people that can rent,
that want to come and have a.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
We have a very beautiful gallery of space that people
often like for events that they may have. Our weddings.
We have a wedding coming later in the month. Those
are always fun to see. And then we have meeting
a larger meeting room than this one that can hold
probably seventy people I think if you did it theater style.
(18:59):
We have an auditorium that's also used for that, which
can take several hundred.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
You have people talking that the auditorium to people.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
We actually last month had a specialist person who specializes
in blues music. Women blues artists come to speak about
mam Rainy.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
For us really.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Oh so that that was in conjunction with that exhibition. So, yes,
we've had all kinds of programs there and we also
do some things for kids there too as well.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Okay, oh it's sright to day's the day. It looked
like some classes were.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
We have to most most of the time school groups.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
It's very popular, I guess, so right here, it's great.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, we love we love seeing that because that's really
the future and kids really enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah, a lot of them were there this morning.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yeah, yes, that's pretty typical. This is a time of
year that it gets very busy.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah, springtime and come to a museum and Columbus exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
And then in the summer we're popular because we have
a lot we have summer camps, but we also have
a lot of programs that we offered during the day
on the weekday mornings, and for people who are in
town maybe can't get away from the heat, it's a
nice place to take their kids. And also it's not
(20:22):
the only reason people come, but there is also really
good air conditioning at a museum.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
God. Yeah, we have in the summer kids it's very
popular to be here with families, which we love.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
What do you have coming up the next few months
that people will want to know about and come to Columbus.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Well, this current show, the American Made Show, is just beautiful,
So that's going to be great. And then I will
put in a plug for a show that I'm working
on that will open in August. That is It's a
glass We're an artist who works in glass whose teaches
Illinois State University, and what he does is diner food
(21:04):
and basically it kind of recalls the fifties and sixties,
but in glass and not to scale, often larger than scale,
so there'll be things like oversized French fries and a
container and he'll have some diner booths and hamburgers and
everything in glass. And it's been shown elsewhere. Each time
(21:25):
it's a little different, so we're working on how we
organize it, but it's going to be a lot of
fun and it'll be open all fall.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
And it's free, and it's all Is it clear like
glass or colored?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Color?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Is it? Will it will be? It is colored to
make it look it'll be clearly glass. We'll know it's glass,
but a hamburger will look exactly like a hamburger with
the dyes and everything, and French fries and the potato
chips and the doughnuts all with sprinkles, all look like
they're the real thing.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
That sounds interesting.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
It's going to be a fun show.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
And would it be like a like a diner setup,
like he.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Has some diner booths that we will have in the
exhibition to sort of do some sections as a setup
like that.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yes, and when does he start?
Speaker 3 (22:11):
That will open around I think it's the ninth of August.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Okay, so you want to come for that? That sounds
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yes, that sounds And.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Where should they go to look if they want to
check you out?
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And oh, www dot comu GA dot org which is
co m u g A dot org. So in addition
to our collections, the other things that we were able
to do with this renovation is make drastic improvements to
(22:44):
our children's spaces. We used to have a children's gallery.
It was located on the lower level and it wasn't
easy to find, and now it is front and center
off the lobby and it is about two thousand square
feet inside and about the same size outside with activities
for kids to enjoy and that it has been a
(23:07):
huge hit and it's really it's pretty amazing if I
taste so myself. It has things that are analog in
other words, there's, for instance, a little miniature museum, so
if you want to have fun hanging putting artwork on
the walls of the mini museum you can. There's a
treehouse with a slide. But there's also an area where
(23:30):
we have a really great high tech thing, a technology
that is shows an image of an artwork and if
you stand on one of two pods on the floor
and you move around, you can see yourself in the artwork.
It's really fun for kids. And then we also have
(23:52):
done extensive work and are continuing to do to our
historic Bradley Olmsted Garden, which was designed by the Almost
brothers in the nineteen twenties but with great input by W. C. Bradley,
and it's absolutely beautiful. Currently it's about to be at
its peak for Azalea season, but it's beautiful any time
(24:12):
of year. And I want to mention that we are
free and that's always been the case, always will be,
so we're happy for that. And we also have some
other fun activities here. We have added a little grab
and go cafe, and then we have an orientation space
where we have images of objects on view and the
(24:35):
collection and then on the if you take the card
and you reverse it, it will have either a little
information about the work or question. And there's a map
that you can take a photo of and then go
look for works yourself and we call that design your
own guide.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
So the best place to go to find out about
it before we comes to the webwitsite.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Www dot com, a dot org.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Well, I think people should come to Columbus Museum. It's
a great museum. It's a beautiful museum.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Well, we love having people visit. We would be excited
to see anybody and everybody good.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Well, thank you so much for talking.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
About It's my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
That's Mary Ann Richter, director of the Columbus Museum. To
find out more about them, you can visit Columbus Museum
dot com Columbus Museum dot com. For questions and comments
about today's program, you can email me John Clark at
Georgiannewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you
next week right here on your favorite radio station on
Georgia Focus
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
News Network. Celebrate creativity and culture through the experience of
American art, regional history, tranquil gardens, and more. As a
destination for people of all interests in ages, the Columbus
Museum has something for everyone. Today we're visiting the Columbus Museum.
Hight I talk with Mary Ann Richter, the director of
the Columbus Museum.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Columbus Museum. Here we are. This is great.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
You told me something about this table they were at too.
This is talk about table.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
We are sitting in a new space in the museum
called the Lampton Conference Room, and we have a beautiful
table that was specially made for this room that comes
from a tree that we had on the front of
our property that had a branch drop about a third
of the tree once summer a few years ago just dropped,
(01:02):
and so we had an incredible table made custom made
for this. This table is made by an artist named
Philip Schlei and it was done in memory of John Spencer,
who is Kathleen Amos's son.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Wow, it's so nice. It's like it's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
And as hard as nails.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It is.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
But this is a special space to us because it
is a smaller room. As you see, you could probably
get about twelve people here for a meeting, and it
is at no cost for people to use it. So
we will have community people who have a smaller meeting
sometimes calling to book this room. So it's very nice
(01:50):
to be able to offer it.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I love the museum just walking around a little bit
because you ride by out here, and I've ridden by
so many times, I've never noticed it until now. The
past a couple of years, you haven't talk about the museum.
Tell us what it's about.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, this is a one. As you said, it's a
wonderful museum. It is. It's almost seventy five years old,
and another three years will celebrate the seventy fifth anniversary.
It opened to the public in nineteen fifty three, and
it is on the site and incorporating the residence of W. C. Bradley,
(02:28):
who was the leading industrialist, industrialist and figure of Columbus
in the first part of the twentieth century, and his
estate was on this location, and when he died, through
a complicated process that I won't get into, his estate
(02:48):
was meant to become either it was meant to be
run either by the news consolidated school district or the
city and be an art gallery or museum. And so
the school district ended up in through state legislation, becoming
the owner of the property and so, but the school district,
(03:12):
not having a specialty in museums and public galleries, then
worked with a local group that had organized to be
a nonprofit that was involved in actually day to day operations.
So we've been a public private partnership from the start,
(03:32):
and so we have our collection that belongs to our nonprofit.
Much of our expenses related to daily operations are from
the nonprofit, but other things are school districts. So it's
a unique partnership and it works very well for us.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
This building seems to be like a new building. Was
it wasn't It was a newer building that you built.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yes, so the original house is actually in this contained
within this building in some of our galleries. But then
it was small, too small to be a museum for
a collection that continues to grow. So through the years
we've had several building projects. The outward look of this
building is from an expansion that happened in nineteen eighty nine,
(04:19):
and so The overall square footage of the museum at
this point is eighty nine thousand square feet and we
just finished a major renovation, so we didn't add to
the building, but we, through a really great architecture firm,
came up with ways to make better use of the
(04:40):
space we have.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
This is a beautiful building, it really is. It raised
a great central piece for a museum to be. It's
really great.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
I have to say that with this renovation, I'm always
happy walking around here. It makes it gives me a
lot of pleasure. But what really matters to me is that, well,
when I started in the museum field, it was always
focused on collections, and if you have great collections and exhibitions,
(05:13):
people will come. But the education part was always traditionally
in say the eighties the nineties, not as important. And
education is absolutely as important and connecting people is important.
So what makes what I see as our role is
to be connecting people with art or with in our case,
(05:37):
because we have local history with their past, and we
can't have one without the others. So education is very
important to us.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
How long have you been here in the museum?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Ten years?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Ten years?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Okay, okay, Now what's in this museum is it is
it central to this part of Georgia, in Alabama even
or in this area.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And we have two collecting focuses, and the first part
is regional history, and that is very much related to
this area and a sixty mile radius around it, so
that would include Alabama. And we are the only place
in town that has a tells a more comprehensive history
(06:20):
of Columbus and the Chattahoochee Valley. I would say it
will never be definitive because there's always things in history
to learn that you don't know about, and history is
being made. The other part of our focus is American
art and that we do at a national level, and
so we are particularly interested in connections to our region
(06:45):
or the Southeast. That's important to us. But we also
have work by artists who are were not based in
the South, but are important artists to have the collection.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Okay, so you do you look for things inside that
sixty mile area.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
For the history collection, absolutely, okay, Yeah, it needs to
be something with a connection to the history of the
Chattahoochee Valley. For the art it doesn't matter if somebody
if there is a connection, So examples would be we
were very fortunate that Alma Thomas is one of her sisters,
(07:25):
John Maurice Thomas donated archival material related to the artist.
She grew up in Columbus and then moved to Washington,
d C. And so, but and Alma Thomas is at
this point nationally now we did it. We worked with
another museum on a major exhibition a few years ago.
(07:46):
But there's a tie to Columbus, so that matters to us.
The same thing. Amy Sherrold, who is known probably in
the public mostly for doing up the portrait of Michelle
Obama that is at the National Portrait Gallery, also grew
up with Columbus, but she's internationally known, so she has
(08:06):
a show currently at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
So that those connections are important. But we also last year,
for instance, acquired a Copley, which is a colonial portraitist
of a person who spent his life in Massachusetts and
was involved with and to some extent with the Boston
Tea Party.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Okay, but do you have people that go out and
look around the sixty mile radius and go because still
it seems to me, I'm saying, because there seemed to
be so many art forms or things that you look, wow,
this needs to be in a museum.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, something like that.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well, we have two curators on this, okay, so we
have a history curator and an art curator. So a
large part of their job is looking for things that
relate and then and I know that, for instance, our
history curator, how they do it varies a little bit.
Our history curator is often looking on things like eBay,
(09:03):
but also auction houses, because not everything in a history collections.
If it's a document or a photograph that relates, it
may not be It's not going to be like going
to Southerby's front painting, but it will be really important
for us to have it. And then we also will
get people contacting us with material which we love, and
(09:25):
then then we will meet with them or talk to
them to determine if it's a fit for our collecting focus.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Because people will probably always come up to them and go,
I have a thing a piece that you might be
interested in, and you might that that way or something
like that.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Sometimes that typically what we will ask is to send
us some photos and some information so we will we
will know if it seems like a fit.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
What are some of the do you have certain things
now have certain exhibits, and then they come for a
certain time and then come away.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
We do we have an adition into the permanent collection.
We also will have temporary exhibitions. So right now we
just opened a very big show on our third floor
which is called American Made Painting and Sculpture from the
Demel Jacobson Collection. And that's a beautiful exhibition that was
(10:20):
organized by another museum, the Mint Museum, and it features
the work of the Damel Jacobson Foundation, which its founder,
Diane Demel Jacobson, is collecting American art specifically to lend
the museums for exhibitions or and this is the first
(10:42):
time there's been a show of that collection in its entirety.
Typically a museum will get two or three works that
fit a topic that they're doing in an exhibition or
relate to their permanent collection. But this is a really
special show.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Hello, wom It be here for until through the end
of June.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Okay, all right?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And then you have other parts of the Indus the history.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Do you tell parts of the story of Columbus or.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yes, very much so, and we change those We have
exhibits for history that change regularly too. So currently we're
finishing a show on blues and folk music in the
Chatahoochie Alley, and next will be an exhibition about the
financial industries of Columbus because that turned into a major thing.
(11:34):
And then we have an orientation space in the lobby
that currently is showing the history of the museum itself,
going back to the W. C. Bradley and his family
for people when we because we had reopened after the renovation.
Our next exhibition is going to be about baseball and
Columbus because we have the Clingstones coming, so that will
(11:57):
be a focus.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
What are you doing on blues and I mentioned now we're.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Looking at the history of the of that in this area,
and there's a public musicology program at Columbus State, so
some other students worked with that. But of course my
Rainey would be yeah, I figures very strongly in that.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Well, they have a my Rainy house here in Columbus.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Do you work together with them?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
We We haven't specifically that much to date, but we
want to do more in the future very much.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So, Oh, that's great for music. I'm a fan of music.
So you hear music, Papa? What else? Baseball?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Now?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Baseball chef, you're gonna be doing.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Because we have the Klingstones will start, we'll start playing, yes,
and so, but we have a history of baseball in Columbus.
So this, this exhibition will really look at the story
of baseball and Columbus from the past.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Oh that W. C.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Bradley, of course is big and Columbus, I knows w readily.
They had historical you know, factories and things like that.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
What did you do? You have them in here too.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yes, there's information about about W. C. Bradley, and this
this orientation space right now is all of it, has
a lot about that. And then in our history gallery,
in our kind of middle gallery, which is called Innovations,
we talk about the textile meal, importance of the textile
meals for Columbus, And I think something that makes Columbus
(13:33):
unique in my experience is that as the textile industry
was sort of dying out, Columbus switched to financial services
and so continues to really do well. There are a
lot of towns that never make that transition from a
previous industry to the next.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, they have a flat now, yes exactly, making industries
here absolutely, Yeah, she try to So do those companies
that they finance you in any way, or how do
you get your money?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
We we well, we we get we have a portion
of our budget from the school district because it's the
property owner, so that's about a third. Then we also
have we're fortunate to have investment income en dowment income
that we can use for operations, and then we that's
(14:25):
probably another third. And then the last third is donations,
and that would be through memberships, corporate sponsorships, and annual
fundraisers and earned income and things like that. And they
we've had very we have very generous corporate sponsors in town.
(14:47):
We did a capital campaign and several of those businesses
supported that. Others support our annual some of our exhibitions
each year or our annual fundraisers. So it's a very
generous channel.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, I guess, I bet it is. It really is.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
You know, back to the thing about the baseball when
baseball comes in, when they'd start to do it, well,
there's the team didn't come in, and will they be
here and they don't they want to come here, something
like that.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I don't know if we have plans yet. I know
we've been communicated with the person who's the kind of them,
the manager overall manager, not the manager the team, but
the GM to see whether there might be something we
could do as a partnership.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Because in this place, this place is great, it's beautiful museum.
So I was just using that as example to do
have when you have something like that come in, like
Ma Rainey or whoever, whatever you have, do they have
people come in then.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
And we're now, Yes, we're now because of this renovation.
One of the things that's John has put us more
top of mind for people and wanting to partner with us.
So we do. We partner a fair amount with say
the Springer, and we've partnered with the River Center and
(16:06):
the Symphony in Columbus State University. So there are a
lot of different things that we do with that, but
we are always and the library system is another great partner,
but we always look for additional ways to partner.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Now you're doing some more things here in the museum.
What are some other things that people might see if
they come to Columbus and want to see the museum
some other exambits that are permanent, for example.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Oh here, I'm really Our American art collection is terrific,
and people that who are museum goers who come from
elsewhere are always expressed surprise by that we besides Alma
Thomas and Amy Cheryl that I mentioned, we really have
(16:53):
some wonderful earlier works since sculpture, we have artists well
currently on you. I think we have the Mary Cassock
on view, but can't be on view all the time.
That's in our history of the museum because it's a
work on paper, so we have to kind of stage that.
We Also there's in town the Bo Bartlett Center. We
(17:16):
have an important work by Bob Bartlett in our collection
that a lot of people come to look at. A
real attraction right now always has been our Dale Chahuli,
which is now right at the end of the galleria
where you cannot miss it, and it's a really spectacular
example by Dale Chahuli. So there's there. I could go on.
There's just there's so many wonderful examples of of of
(17:40):
important artists in the collection.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Do they they don't necessarily have a connection to Columbus.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Correct, right, But Dale cha does not have a collection
connection to Columbus. There's an outdoor sculpture at the front
by an artist named June Connecto and does not have
a connection to Columbus, but is a major artist and
that's a recent donation as well.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Okay, what about Fort Benning, certainly with the military here,
do you have anything with him?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Well, we have a section in the history collection about
Fort Benning and its importance to Columbus, and in the
past we did an exhibition about both Fort Banning and
its predecessor, Camp Banning. So that's very important to us
to do that.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I guess would be I should have mentioned that first.
It's been pretty big. Well what else do you do here?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Do you also have rooms for people that can rent,
that want to come and have a.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
We have a very beautiful gallery of space that people
often like for events that they may have. Our weddings.
We have a wedding coming later in the month. Those
are always fun to see. And then we have meeting
a larger meeting room than this one that can hold
probably seventy people I think if you did it theater style.
(18:59):
We have an auditorium that's also used for that, which
can take several hundred.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
You have people talking that the auditorium to people.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
We actually last month had a specialist person who specializes
in blues music. Women blues artists come to speak about
mam Rainy.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
For us really.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Oh so that that was in conjunction with that exhibition. So, yes,
we've had all kinds of programs there and we also
do some things for kids there too as well.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Okay, oh it's sright to day's the day. It looked
like some classes were.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
We have to most most of the time school groups.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
It's very popular, I guess, so right here, it's great.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, we love we love seeing that because that's really
the future and kids really enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah, a lot of them were there this morning.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yeah, yes, that's pretty typical. This is a time of
year that it gets very busy.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah, springtime and come to a museum and Columbus exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
And then in the summer we're popular because we have
a lot we have summer camps, but we also have
a lot of programs that we offered during the day
on the weekday mornings, and for people who are in
town maybe can't get away from the heat, it's a
nice place to take their kids. And also it's not
(20:22):
the only reason people come, but there is also really
good air conditioning at a museum.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
God. Yeah, we have in the summer kids it's very
popular to be here with families, which we love.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
What do you have coming up the next few months
that people will want to know about and come to Columbus.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Well, this current show, the American Made Show, is just beautiful,
So that's going to be great. And then I will
put in a plug for a show that I'm working
on that will open in August. That is It's a
glass We're an artist who works in glass whose teaches
Illinois State University, and what he does is diner food
(21:04):
and basically it kind of recalls the fifties and sixties,
but in glass and not to scale, often larger than scale,
so there'll be things like oversized French fries and a
container and he'll have some diner booths and hamburgers and
everything in glass. And it's been shown elsewhere. Each time
(21:25):
it's a little different, so we're working on how we
organize it, but it's going to be a lot of
fun and it'll be open all fall.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
And it's free, and it's all Is it clear like
glass or colored?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Color?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Is it? Will it will be? It is colored to
make it look it'll be clearly glass. We'll know it's glass,
but a hamburger will look exactly like a hamburger with
the dyes and everything, and French fries and the potato
chips and the doughnuts all with sprinkles, all look like
they're the real thing.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
That sounds interesting.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
It's going to be a fun show.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
And would it be like a like a diner setup,
like he.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Has some diner booths that we will have in the
exhibition to sort of do some sections as a setup
like that.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yes, and when does he start?
Speaker 3 (22:11):
That will open around I think it's the ninth of August.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Okay, so you want to come for that? That sounds
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yes, that sounds And.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Where should they go to look if they want to
check you out?
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And oh, www dot comu GA dot org which is
co m u g A dot org. So in addition
to our collections, the other things that we were able
to do with this renovation is make drastic improvements to
(22:44):
our children's spaces. We used to have a children's gallery.
It was located on the lower level and it wasn't
easy to find, and now it is front and center
off the lobby and it is about two thousand square
feet inside and about the same size outside with activities
for kids to enjoy and that it has been a
(23:07):
huge hit and it's really it's pretty amazing if I
taste so myself. It has things that are analog in
other words, there's, for instance, a little miniature museum, so
if you want to have fun hanging putting artwork on
the walls of the mini museum you can. There's a
treehouse with a slide. But there's also an area where
(23:30):
we have a really great high tech thing, a technology
that is shows an image of an artwork and if
you stand on one of two pods on the floor
and you move around, you can see yourself in the artwork.
It's really fun for kids. And then we also have
(23:52):
done extensive work and are continuing to do to our
historic Bradley Olmsted Garden, which was designed by the Almost
brothers in the nineteen twenties but with great input by W. C. Bradley,
and it's absolutely beautiful. Currently it's about to be at
its peak for Azalea season, but it's beautiful any time
(24:12):
of year. And I want to mention that we are
free and that's always been the case, always will be,
so we're happy for that. And we also have some
other fun activities here. We have added a little grab
and go cafe, and then we have an orientation space
where we have images of objects on view and the
(24:35):
collection and then on the if you take the card
and you reverse it, it will have either a little
information about the work or question. And there's a map
that you can take a photo of and then go
look for works yourself and we call that design your
own guide.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
So the best place to go to find out about
it before we comes to the webwitsite.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Www dot com, a dot org.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Well, I think people should come to Columbus Museum. It's
a great museum. It's a beautiful museum.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Well, we love having people visit. We would be excited
to see anybody and everybody good.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Well, thank you so much for talking.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
About It's my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
That's Mary Ann Richter, director of the Columbus Museum. To
find out more about them, you can visit Columbus Museum
dot com Columbus Museum dot com. For questions and comments
about today's program, you can email me John Clark at
Georgiannewsnetwork dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you
next week right here on your favorite radio station on
Georgia Focus
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.