Vintage galore this summer...

We have vintage toys on display, vintage fashion photographs, and today I've just put up a small show of vintage travel posters. Although the travel and war posters in our vaults are not part of the official art collection, they've been part of the museum's history since the very beginning. Ella Bradley, the museum's first director and librarian, collected advertising and war posters and, according to legend, stored them under an Oriental rug in her office. In the late 1990s, Museum staff called on experts in vintage posters to help us decide which to keep, frame, and exhibit. That project resulted in the retention of 60+ high-quality vintage posters. We occasionally exhibit them here, and sometimes send them out on loan to other organizations.

Since we had some room left over in the Lower Level Galleries after installing the Vintage Toys and Games show, I went ahead and selected twenty travel posters to hang in the Lecture Hall. Of those, four are posters for travel to the Mississippi Gulf Coast via Illinois Central Railroad. These have never been exhibited at the Museum, having been unframed until a year or so ago. Two feature golfers, and two feature horseback riders. The styles of the posters range from illustration-style to Art Deco to somewhat Cubist, and locations from Biloxi to Germany.

Two shows opened this week

Lauren Rogers Museum of Art will present two summer exhibitions for 2011 - Curator’s Choice: Focus on Fashion and Laurel Collects XI: Vintage Toys and Games. Both exhibitions will be on display from June 21 - August 14, 2011.

The public is invited to attend the opening for the exhibitions on Sunday, June 26. David Longest, guest curator for Laurel Collects XI, will give a Gallery Talk at 2 p.m. and LRMA Curator Jill Chancey, PhD will speak on photography. A reception will follow.

Curator’s Choice: Focus on Fashion features a selection of fashion photographs ranging from the 1940s to early 1960s. Laurel native Charlotte Payne worked in New York, Japan, and Europe during that time period, and her personal and professional photo collection is currently in local hands. Those who have been watching the TV show Mad Men, or who remember the styles of the ‘50s and ‘60s, will find a lot of familiar material in this exhibition. This nearly twenty-year survey will show how quickly fashion and images of fashion changed during the post-war years and how clothing and styling changed again around 1960.

Charlotte Payne was crowned “Miss Laurel” in the late 1930s. After a brief marriage and a stint working for the war effort in Jackson in the early 1940s, she moved to New York and signed with the prestigious John Robert Powers Agency. She began as a juniors model. Her baby face and “girl-next-door” look kept her in juniors for nearly ten years before she “graduated” to more sophisticated work. She appeared in hundreds of ads and on the covers of such magazines as Life, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Junior Bazaar, and many others.

The exhibition will feature approximately 60 photos, tear-sheets, proofs, and contact sheets that show the development of both the fashions in the photos, and the style of fashion photography. The show will also illustrate the career arc of a successful fashion model during the pre-supermodel years, from juniors catalogue work to the cover of Vogue, when models were meant to be anonymous chameleons, not celebrities.

Curator’s Choice is generously sponsored by Gilchrist, Sumrall, Yoder & Boone, LLC.

Laurel Collects XI, organized by LRMA and the Laurel Arts League, will feature vintage toys and games from Laurel and Jones County collections. Previous “Laurel Collects” exhibitions have been devoted to furniture, portraiture, Asian art, and the work of Laurel native Billy Ford. Toys in the show include rare early Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls – and even rarer, their nanny, Beloved Belindy; three different kinds of train sets; Barbie and GI Joe dolls and many more. Visitors will find familiar faces and traces of childhood memories in this exhibition.

David Longest, a lifelong collector of toys, has written nine books on antiques including Collecting Disneyana, Toys, Antique and Collectible, Character Toys and Collectibles, and Santa Claus Collectibles. He was a feature writer and contributing editor of the national Toy Shop news magazine as well as a feature writer for Collector’s Showcase magazine. Longest has been a guest lecturer on the subject of antiques for various regional organizations and is also a published playwright. He is an award-winning high school theatre director whose drama program has been featured on Showtime and The Movie Channel cable networks and in the arts section of The New York Times. Longest has won numerous national teaching awards including the D.A.R.’s National American History Medal and the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award.

LRMA Director George Bassi said “Laurel Collects is a terrific tradition in our community, and we are pleased to present this latest installment with the continued cooperation and assistance of the Laurel Arts League. Over the decades, thishttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif unique exhibition series has staged a variety of collectible shows, and vintage toys will surely please visitors of all ages.”


Laurel Collects XI is generously sponsored by Laurel Arts League and Laurel Bone & Joint Clinic.

Visit us on Facebook to see installation views of each of these exhibitions.

Guest Blogger: Angie King

Summer Art is Hot at LRMA!

The summer is in full swing at Lauren Rogers Museum of Art. This Wednesday will be the last Free Family Art day for the summer, so don=t miss it! Swing by our Museum Annex between 1 and 4 p.m. on June 29 to create a fun, Fourth of July-themed project.

For more free art activities from the LRMA education staff, check out some of your local libraries. LRMA staff will offer an art activity on Monday, June 27 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Mize Public Library and an activity from 2 to 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 30 at the Petal Public Library. These collage activities are based on the summer reading theme, AOne World, Many Stories.@

Local art teacher Cassie Marcellino is offering a concentrated drawing class for ages junior high to adult every Thursday in July from 10 a.m. until noon beginning July 7. There are still a few spots open in this class, so call now to make your reservation! Also being offered in July is "Aqueous Painting" with LRMA Registrar Tommie Rodgers. This class will teach participants about alternative techniques for printing and painting with water-based media. This is a one-day workshop on Wednesday, July 13 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and includes lunch. This class is open for junior high students to adults. Both weeks of the annual LRMA Summer Art Camp are booked this July but there is a waiting list for those who are still interested. In August, the education staff is offering an all new class called "Girls' Night Art." This class is designed for adult participants of all skill levels to come and make a fun and creative still-life painting to take home that night. This class will be held on Thursday, August 25 from 6 - 9 p.m. in the Carriage House Studio. Make your plans now and call to sign up. Paint supplies will be provided. To find out more about dates or class information, please call the Museum at (601) 649-6374.

The Guild of Docents and Volunteers turned forty this year...

The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art Guild of Docents and Volunteers held its annual Awards Luncheon Tuesday, May 17 at the Museum. This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the LRMA Guild which began with its first class of docents in 1971.




Those present from the 1971 class of LRMA docents pictured from left to right are:
Mary Anne Sumrall, Read Diket, Stephanie Robinson, Bobbie Lou Green, Bonnie Jones, Jean Ellis Davis, Peggy Schneider, and Margie Hauenstein.




Past Presidents of the LRMA Guild were honored. Pictured from left to right are:
Read Diket (1974-75), Louise Welborn (2009-10), Mary Anne Sumrall (2006-07), Pat Chesser (1980-81), Beth Thompson (1997-98), Donna Applewhite (1999-2000), Dell Scoper (1991-92), Barbara Sauls (2002-03), Joan Brumfield (1998-99), Bobbie Lou Green (1978-79), Gay Morgan (2001-02), Margaret Ann Fortenberry (2005-06), Catherine Nowicki (2008-09), Peggy Schneider (1975-76), Bunny Windham (1989-90), Jean Ellis Davis (1976-77), Dianne Dudley (1986-87), Lizabeth Brumley (2004-05), and Rosemary Norton (2010-11).