Aullwood hosts winter speaker series

In 2002, artist Julie Zickefoose began a 13-year project documenting the daily changes in 17 bird species — from hatching to fledgling. The result is her new book, “Baby Birds: An Artist Looks Into the Nest.” It contains more than 500 life studies that hop, crawl and flutter through the pages.

Zickefoose will be the featured speaker at the next installment of Aullwood Audubon Center’s Winter Speaker Series. The program is scheduled for 2:30-4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan 22. She’ll be sharing her artistic process as well as her artistic influences.

Zickefoose, who lives on an 80-scre wildlife sanctuary in Appalachian Ohio, says she loves to introduce people to bird-watching. She speaks at festivals around the country and now leads natural history excursions abroad. Her other books include “Letters from Eden,” and “The Bluebird Effect,” and she is a contributing editor to “Bird Watcher’s Digest.”

Next up in the Winter Speaker Series program will be botanist Andrew Gibson from the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. He’ll be discussing “The Orchids of Ohio and Their Habitats” at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Jan 29.

Aullwood will also host a Snow Moon Walk from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan 12. The walk will begin at the Center, 1000 Aullwood Road. You’re advised to bundle up!

General admission to Aullwood includes these events and is $5 for adults and $3 for children. Members are admitted free. For more information call (937) 890-7360 or check out www.aullwood.org

For doll and fashion lovers

One of the current exhibits at the Toledo Museum of Art focuses on The Libbey Dolls, the product of a World War I aid effort. Originally known as the Doucet Dolls, they were created in porcelain factories at Limoges and Sèvres that put wounded soldiers, unemployed artisans and young men back to work making French novelties.

The 78 fashion figures depicted French style and were purchased in 1917 by Toledo Museum of Art founder Edward Drummond Libbey at the Permanent Blind Relief Fund’s Allied Bazaar in New York. It was hailed as the “greatest single purchase made at the Allied Bazaar.” The dolls sold for $30,000, the equivalent of about $680,000 today.

The Libbey Dolls are connected with Jacques Doucet, a prominent French couturier of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He created the dolls’ clothing using inspiration from works of art by great French artists as well as drawings and engravings from late 19th-century fashion publications. “

“They weren’t really considered dolls, at least not in our modern sense of the term,” said Marissa Stevenson, the art conservation intern tasked with researching the objects for the exhibition. “They are representative fashion figures. No detail was spared making them.”

“The Libbey Dolls: Fashioning the Story” explores the fascinating story of this collection while showcasing French fashion design and the strong connection between fashion and the art world. It will be on display through Feb. 12.

The Museum is open six days of week and is free of charge. It was just voted the Best Art Museum in the state by Ohio Magazine’s “Best of Ohio 2016 Reader’s Poll” and has a TripAdvisor ranking as the number one attraction in Toledo. It’s located at 2445 Monroe St. at Scottwood Avenue. For more information, visit toledomuseum.org or call (419) 255-8000.

Wright State’s Madrigal Dinners have ended

A variety of factors contributed to the discontinuation of Wright State University’s festive Madrigal Dinners this holiday season. According to spokesman Seth Bauguess, there are no plans to hold the dinners in the future.

In 1983, the University Center (now the Student Union) and the Department of Music (now the School of Music) embarked on the special evenings. For 33 years, the Lord and Lady of Wright Manor graciously welcomed nobles, players, and peasants into their great hall. The evenings were always filled with feast, song, merriment.

Baugess says the decision to end the program was partly a result of the switch in the academic calendar from quarters to semesters. “The Madrigal Dinner would now fall during vocal or final exams which creates additional challenges for the students,” Bauguess says. “And it’s an extremely busy time for the building and staff. “

He said another consideration was the rising costs of food and labor.

Those of us who were fortunate to have attended one of the special evenings over the years are grateful to all of those who helped provide such a wonderful evening of entertainment. It was a special community event that will be missed.

The Seldoms will perform at Aronoff

If you love modern dance, you’ll want to know about the excellent series offered by the Contemporary Dance Theater in Cincinnati. CDT brings in wonderful dance troupes from the United States and other countries as well.

The organization is marking its 44th Anniversary Season. Founder and artistic director Jefferson James has been dubbed the Grande Dame of Cincinnati Modern Dance.

The group’s next concert features The Seldoms, a Chicago-based dance group. Their performance is slated for 8 p.m. Jan. 20-21 at the Aronoff Center for the Arts. The dance-work explores the nature of political power and its relationship to social action and change.

Carrie Hanson, artistic director of The Seldoms, says she considers politics as performance. The show combines physical action, dance, spoken words, historical recordings, visual design and installation art.

Tickets start at $32. For information, call (513) 621-2787.

DAI European Galleries now open

The Dayton Art Institute’s Berry Wing of European Art reopened this week following gallery renovations.

The replacement of many original exterior windows, with high-efficiency units that maintain the historic building’s original appearance, necessitated temporary closures of the Dicke Wing of American Art and the Berry Wing of European Art during the fourth quarter of 2016.

Ongoing projects that are continuing in early 2017 include the construction of an ADA-accessible pedestrian walkway on the museum grounds, extending from Riverview Avenue to the Entrance Rotunda, as well as the renovation of the museum’s original Lower Court restrooms. The restroom renovations will continue to affect the neighboring Asian galleries, with a number of Chinese artworks deinstalled during those renovations.

The Dayton Art Institute’s distinctive museum building, which opened in 1930, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


Arts writer Meredith Moss shares news about the people and events making arts news in our region. If you have information you would like to have included, contact Meredith: MMoss@coxohio.com

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