Displaying items by tag: tours

1. Gropius House
68 Baker Bridge Road, Lincoln, MA 01773
For more information visit www.historicnewengland.org

Walter Gropius, the founder of the highly influential Bauhaus School, designed this striking home in 1938 after moving from Germany to Massachusetts to teach at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Combining traditional elements of New England architecture, including wood, brick, and fieldstone, with innovative materials such as glass block, acoustical plaster, and chrome banisters, the Gropius House was one of the most shockingly modern and progressive homes ever created in the United States. Modest in scale, the Gropius House adhered to the Bauhaus’ design philosophy, which emphasized simplicity as well as efficiency. The house, which is owned by Historic New England, still contains the Gropius family’s possessions, including a significant collection of furniture designed by Marcel Breuer and...

The Columbus Museum of Art announced that its new wing will be named the Margaret M. Walter Wing in recognition of Robert D. and Margaret “Peggy” Walter’s transformational $10 million donation to the Columbus Museum of Art. The Walters’ donation remains the largest gift in the Museum’s history and became the foundation for the Museum’s Art Matters Endowment and Capital Campaign.

The Walters are long-time supporters of the Museum. Peggy Walter began leading Museum tours as a CMA docent in 1971 and later joined the Museum’s Women’s Board auxiliary. She has also helped guide the Museum as a member of the Board of Trustees since 1994.

Have you always wanted to check out the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, but just never made the trip?

Well, the weekends are a great way to experience the world class museum with free guided museum tours, which take place at 1 and 3 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday.

These are docent-led tours that last 45 minutes to one hour and cover a range of topics including current exhibits, museum history and architecture. There is no need to pre-register, just show up, said a spokesperson.

Colonial Williamsburg got a big contribution toward an even bigger goal Thursday.

Susan and David Goode of Norfolk contributed $1 million for the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg to support efforts that include tours, teacher workshops and regular classes offered at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum's newly renamed Susan Goode Education Gallery.

According to Colonial Williamsburg spokesman Joe Straw, that's a contribution to the big plans the foundation has for the museums.

On May 2, Frank Lloyd Wright’s S.C. Johnson Research Tower in Racine, Wisconsin, will open to the public for the first time since it was completed in 1950. Visually striking but functionally flawed, the fifteen-story industrial tower was shuttered in 1982, but not before gaining National Register of Historic Places status in 1976.

Noted for its tree-like structure, the S.C. Johnson Research Tower is regarded as one of the country’s most important examples of cantilevered architecture. The Tower’s floors are supported by a central core, which houses a narrow stairway, small elevator, and utility lines. Glass tubes surround the tower, providing natural light, which proved overly efficient on hot days. Despite its imperfections, Johnson employees created some of the brands most ubiquitous products (Glade air freshener, Pledge furniture polish, and insecticides Off! and Raid) within the Tower's walls.

After researchers moved out of the Tower over thirty years ago, the building sat mostly empty until this year, when S.C. Johnson finished a five-year, $30 million renovation of the Research Tower and neighboring Administration Center, which was also designed by Wright and opened in 1939. The Administration Center relies on pillars for structural support, which allowed Wright to use glass tubing for exterior walls, much like he did for the Research Tower. Wright also designed the furnishings for the S.C. Johnson Research Tower and Administration Center.

Visitors to the S.C. Johnson complex can explore a new exhibit focused on Wright’s homes in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and Scottsdale, Arizona. The show was organized in partnership with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and includes some of the architect’s own home movies. A second exhibition presents a mock research lab from the 1950s, complete with beakers, flasks, centrifuges, balances, test tubes, and graduated cylinders found in company storage rooms.

Wright, a Wisconsin native, designed commercial buildings, apartment towers, recreational complexes, museums, religious houses, residences, furniture, lighting features, textiles, and art glass. According to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, “he redefined our concept of space, offering everyone the opportunity to live and grow in nourishing environments, connected physically and spiritually to the natural world.”

Free, two-hour tours of the Research Tower and Administration Center will be offered from 9AM to 2:30PM Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through September 27.

On May 23, 2013, after a two and a half year renovation, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will unveil 45 updated and expanded galleries of European paintings. The new space, which has increased by about a third, boasts 600 works of art dating from 1250 to 1800. Arranged in chronological order and grouped by country, the collection includes the Met’s renowned holdings of early Dutch, French, and Italian paintings.

The reimagined European painting galleries include 23 high profile loans, mainly from private collections. Works by Jan Van Eyck (1395-1441), Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), and Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) will be on view for at least six months thanks to the generosity of the Met’s trustees, and patrons.

The Met’s European painting galleries have not been fully renovated since the early 1950s. When the new galleries open next week, the Met will offer various walking guides as well as online versions of the tours.

A Grand Tour: Trade Winds of Influence
16th Annual Charleston Art & Antiques Forum
March 13–17, 2013
Old Courtroom, 23 Chalmers Street, Charleston, S.C.
For information visit www.CharlestonAntiquesForum.org or call 800.926.2520

The forum will bring together an impressive group of speakers from the US and Europe who will demonstrate the influence of the Grand Tours of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries on the architecture, furniture, silver, art, and gardens of Americans and Europeans alike. Dame Rosalind Savill, Director Emeritus of the Wallace Collection, London, England, will deliver the keynote address, focusing on her experience with French decorative arts. The mission of the Charleston Art & Antiques  Forum is to present the best fine and decorative arts scholarship, and to benefit arts education and preservation. Sponsors of the 2013 Forum are Charlton Hall Auctions, PDI, and the Florence Museum.

10th Annual Charleston Antiques Show
March 22–24, 2013; preview March 21
Memminger Auditorium, 56 Beaufain Street, Charleston, S.C.
66th Annual Spring Festival of Houses and Gardens
March 21–April 20, 2013
For information visit www.historiccharleston.org or call 843.723.1623

Inspired by the rich historical, architectural, and cultural heritage of Charleston, the 10th annual Charleston Antiques Show is a premier destination for collectors and enthusiasts who enjoy seeing and learning about incorporating antiques into modern-day décor. Attendees will find English, European, and American period furnishings, decorative arts, and fine art, architectural elements, garden furniture, vintage jewelry, and silver. In addition to attending the show, visitors can sign up for special events such as a luncheon lecture with the award-winning classical architect Gil Schafer, behind-the-scenes tours with experts, and study tours. While in Charleston, enjoy walking tours through the city’s historic district showcasing Charleston’s distinctive architecture, history, and gardens during the 66th Annual Festival of Houses and Gardens and experience the intimate charm and elegance found within private gardens and historic homes.

Best known for his dynamic and powerful seascapes, painter Winslow Homer (1836–1910) spent the last twenty-seven years of his life working diligently in a studio in Prout’s Neck, Maine. It was here, isolated on the craggy coast, that Winslow’s work matured and he created some of his most admired paintings. While in Maine, Homer became fascinated with the untold power of the natural world and often explored the theme in scenes of man versus nature, particularly the ocean.

Beginning September 25^th, after a multi-year, $2.8 million restoration by the Portland Museum of Art, Homer’s studio will be open for public tours. After Homer’s death, the studio was passed down from family member to family member and ultimately landed in the hands of his great-grandnephew, Charles “Chip” Homer Willauer. Willauer, now 74, spent many summers living in his great-granduncle’s studio and began to worry about the future of the building. Hoping to preserve the significant piece of American art history, Willauer sold the studio to the Portland Museum of Art in 2006 for $1.8 million.

The Museum took the undertaking very seriously and went to work on renovations. The foundation was stabilized, the balcony and windows were replaced, the chimney was restored, and the exterior returned to its original green hue with brown trim. The museum ultimately raised $10.6 million to pay for the purchase and renovation of Homer’s studio as well as an endowment and educational programs and exhibitions.

To celebrate the renovation and opening, the museum will present the exhibition “Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine,” featuring 38 oil paintings, watercolors and etchings that Homer created in his secluded studio. “Weatherbeaten” will run through December 30^th.