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Treasures from the Vault: Ernest Withers

Professors from universities around the area bring their students to the Print and Drawing Study Center at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art to see works on paper from the permanent collection that are currently in storage. One of the most frequent requests is for the I Am a Man portfolio by African American photographer Ernest C. Withers (1922-2007). He is best known for his works documenting the Civil Rights Movement. Our Curator of Print and Drawings, Sachi, provides the background for Withers' photography career and the impact he had on the movement for equality.

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Art Term Tuesday: Texture

Every day we get visitors who let us know how badly they want to touch the artwork but know they shouldn’t. It’s true, the first rule of the museum is “Do Not Touch”, but artists use their skills to help people imagine how their art would feel through texture. Artists choose different materials to express different things, including how something might feel. Read on to learn how to discover texture in artworks without touching them!

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Fort Wayne Fashion Icon Bill Blass

Our current exhibit, 1026 West Berry Street, shines a light on the Fort Wayne Art School and when we return from the holidays we will begin working towards the 2019 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and exhibit. This post remembers Fort Wayne native Bill Blass — king of fashion, handsome heartthrob, most available bachelor, darling of the fashion press — all words written about this icon of high fashion who had ties to both the Art School and to the Scholastic Awards.

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Art Term Tuesday: Installation

Do you know if what you are looking at is an installation by an artist? Each of the installations at FWMoA has encouraged visitors to get into, walk around, and experience the space in different ways. What makes these pieces of art installations? Read on to find out!

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Do You Get to Touch the Art? Working in a Museum: A Day with the Vice President and COO of FWMoA, Amanda Shepard

When people learn we work in a museum, the first question we often get asked is "What do you do all day? Do you just get to stare at art?". The follow-up question is, usually, "Wait, do you get to touch the art?". It often comes as a surprise, therefore, when they learn that many museum jobs do not include handling objects at all! Therefore, I sat down with Amanda Shepard, our Vice President and COO, to talk about her background, what her job entails, and if she is ever disappointed that she doesn't get to touch the art.

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Treasures from the Vault: Dale Enochs’s “Double Exposure”

Today’s ‘treasure’ is a little different than others we’ve selected. Dale Enochs’s Double Exposure is set apart from other treasures we’ve featured because they don’t often leave the vault. On the contrary—this sculpture is permanently installed in our atrium! It may seem as though I’m betraying the identity of this blog series, but I ask you this – how often do we become so used to seeing a work of art that we no longer take notice of its presence? My task today is to compel you to give this particular work a second look.

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Art Term Tuesday: Matting Artworks

When we visit art museums we often take for granted that art will be there, hung up on the wall for our enjoyment. In the last few weeks, FWMoA has experienced multiple galleries being deinstalled, prepared, and installed with new exhibitions. Because exhibitions at FWMoA change every 6-8 weeks, we are constantly taking art down, putting art up, and storing art. It wasn’t until I came to work at an art museum that I realized how much goes into prepping artwork for an exhibition, in fact, it takes a whole team of people! A collaborative process between artists, galleries, curators, registrars, and technicians, the artworks go through multiple states before they are displayed for all too look at and enjoy. One of those stages is our term Tuesday: Matting. 

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The FWMoA Fridge

Museums have always served as sources of inspiration for artists so today, we’re highlighting visitor artwork that appears to be directly inspired by something they saw or experienced at FWMoA. Take a look at these artworks with Director of Children's Education Alyssa Dumire, can you figure out what the artists were inspired by?