News for August 2011

Birmingham Museum of Art celebrates 60th year

From the article “At 60, Birmingham Museum of Art prepares for a dynamic future” by Michael Huebner in The Birmingham News:

Six decades after the Birmingham Museum of Art opened its doors at City Hall, Executive Director Gail Andrews sees the museum as a community galvanizer, where people of all ages can discover art, be educated, be dined and be entertained. “One of the goals in our 60th year is to deepen the engagement with our audiences, and to make people more aware of the museum,” said Andrews, its director since 1996, but who has worked in various positions at the museum since 1976. “We want it to be a place of ideas, where young and old can experience those ideas through art, to offer solace, to engage you in something new or something old.” To accomplish that, said Andrews, the museum must be constantly changing. In addition to regular traveling exhibitions, the permanent collection of 25,000 objects is rotated from basement storage areas to 180,000 square feet of gallery space on a regular basis. On a recently weekday, workers were making finishing touches on a new outdoor terrace outside Oscar’s Cafe. On the north wing, ladders and paint samples were visible as preparations were being made for expansion of the 18th century English space.

“At the end of October, we’re expanding the gallery into a second room,” said Chief Curator Jeannine O’Grody, competing with the din of carpenters’ hammers. “We’re going to do a break-through case so you can see through into the gallery.” Expansions are nothing new for BMA. New wings were completed in 1980 and 1993. More significantly modern, the museum is planning greater social media interaction as it adapts to 21st century lifestyles. Although cell phone audio tours are not yet available, the current exhibition, “Who Shot Rock & Roll,” has a cell phone audio guide. “We’re finding out what people would like to see at the museum,” Andrews said. “We have done a lot more with Facebook and Twitter, and we will have a mobile site soon, so if people are interested in an art work, they can read more about it and they can ask their own questions. People want more social spaces, bigger stores, better food and coffee, Wi-Fi space and places where they can gather and still use their phones. We don’t want people yammering away in the galleries, but we want them to take a picture of something, send it to a friend and say, ‘the museum is so cool.’” Those developments indicate the technological progress the museum has made since 1951, but its commitment to the artistic life of Birmingham is unchanged.

A Birmingham News arts editorial on April 9, 1951 called the opening “an epochal event in the maturing of this community.” A day earlier, arts writer Lily May Caldwell wrote, “Monday will be the most important day in Birmingham’s art history.” Works lent by 30 museums adorned four areas of City Hall. Artists included Rembrandt, Cassatt, Goya, Whistler, Dali, Delacroix and Matisse. It would be a place “for those who have already advanced in some degree in the appreciation of the fine arts and for those who would like to begin the development of such appreciation,” read the editorial. But with growth comes new challenges. Like most museums, BMA struggles with space. Only about 25 percent of its collection can be displayed at once. Although that is about average for museums its size nationwide, Andrews would like more to show more of its Wedgwood ceramics, African, Asian, American, Pre-Columbian African-American and other collections, some of which are among the nation’s finest.

“We need space, and if we don’t expand, we’re going to have to rethink how we’re collecting,” said Andrews. “We are really judicious with the money we spend. We will continue to buy, of course, but we will do it cautiously and thoughtfully. The same with accepting gifts of art works.” The number of programs the museum offers — many of them free — is daunting. Hands-on galleries, scavenger hunts, student exhibitions, First Thursday dinner series and Art on the Rocks are only a few. Lectures, concerts and films are held frequently in the 340-seat Steiner Auditorium. Societies for African and African-American art, Asian art, contemporary, European art, American art, photography and Indian art provide exclusive lectures and travel opportunities. “The museum is a treasure for Birmingham and this region,” said incoming board chairman Ralph Cook. “All of the cultural diversity that we have can make the city stronger, and the museum is a place where that can be displayed.” As it was in 1951, when The News editorial noted the museum’s “exciting, enriching journey that has no limits.”

For the complete article please see http://blog.al.com/mhuebner/2011/08/at_60_birmingham_museum_of_art.html.

Edited: August 24th, 2011

TODAY Show features Birmingham chef Chris Hastings

Chris Hastings, chef and co-owner of Birmingham’s Hot and Hot Fish Club, was featured on the TODAY Show last week. Hastings prepared his signature “Hot and Hot Tomato Salad” and his “Shrimp, Clam & Chorizo Bouillabaisse” with fresh Alabama Gulf Coast seafood. The TODAY Show segment can be viewed online at http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44143926/ns/today-food/.

Edited: August 24th, 2011

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile visits Treasure Island Bed and Breakfast

The wienermobile took the scenic-kraut and pulled into Treasure Island Bed and Breakfast for 3 days of franktastic fun. Turkey Dog Tyler and Schnitzel Itzel were bringing the 27 foot big dog to our Alabama Bed and Breakfast for some R&R. We had a bunderful time getting to know these young hotdoggers and experiencing their enthusiasm for the spreading the word about the famous Oscar Mayer wiener.

 

The wienermobile celebrated it’s 75^th birthday this year. That’s a lot of miles of smile across America. Hope you catch a view of the hotdoggers. If you do, tell them Treasure Island Bed and Breakfast says, ya’ll come back some time.

 

Edited: August 11th, 2011