Docent Dateline
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A Note from the Council Chair: Vincent Cimmino During the Association meeting last fall, I challenged the Docent-Volunteer community to bring new visitors to Reynolda as a way to bolster attendance and awareness, especially locally. I had always been surprised to learn of the many local guests who had not been to Reynolda in quite some time or, much more to my surprise, had never stepped through our doors! After all, we are a first-class museum and important historical site. I’m so pleased that many of you met the challenge, and I would like to share just a few of those experiences that have been reported to me. Allene Evans’ niece from Colorado, who is thinking of moving here, was impressed, and if she does relocate “… we have her hooked on Reynolda.” Susan Warren brought two Hendersonville relatives and “…shared everything about the House with them.” Pam Kahl treated four new visitors, her neighbors, to The Art of Seating.
Vince Cimmino, Council Chair
In November, Denise Washburn’s CareNet Counseling Services group got an abbreviated look around. In Denise’s words it was “…just enough to pique their interest because I want them to bring their families back during the holidays, which several intend to do.” I participated in leading a group of Mt. Airy Millennium Charter School parents, and twenty of them were here for the first time. And during the Candlelight Tours, we had 273 guests, 169 of them were first-time visitors!
I would love to hear more stories, so keep the new people coming; with our schedules of exhibits and tours this should be an easy objective for each of us to meet.
2014-2016 Docent-Volunteer Association Chair
Art-y-Facts: New Wing Helps Museum Soar by Barbara Kolesar As a relative newcomer to North Carolina in 2008, I didn’t know Reynolda House before the Babcock Wing, now entering its tenth year. In 1996 an American Association of Museums (AAM) re-accreditation report for the Museum, while largely positive, critiqued the Museum because it did not have a visitor orientation gallery to better serve its guests. So in 1998, Board President Barbara Babcock Millhouse and Executive Director Nicholas Bragg invited New York City’s Richard Blinder of the firm Beyer, Blinder, Belle to come to Reynolda House to advise. This firm was well known in New York as preservation architects, working on such famous structures as Ellis Island, Grand Central Terminal, Lincoln Center, and the Empire State Building. Blinder specialized in preserving architecture through restoration and was especially dedicated to buildings showcasing visual and performing arts. The mission was threefold: 1. build the Babcock Wing (32,000 square feet, with a reception area, auditorium, gift shop, exhibition hall, library, art studios, and staff offices); 2. restore the public rooms of the historic house to their 1917 grandeur (re-upholster some furnishings; create access to the butler’s pantry; and redecorate the sun porch, breakfast room, library, and game room); and 3. create amenities for visitors (orientation video, audio tour equipment, restroom facilities, Master Bedroom display of architect Charles (Continued on page two)
VOLUME 15, ISSUE 1
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George Catlin: A Picture of Note by Molly North Thanks to the works of American artist George Catlin (1796-1872), this spring we are able to view spectacular portraits of American Indians, their ways of life, and the buffalo they depended on. They are the result of five trips Catlin took to the plains of America between 1830 and 1836, visiting fifty tribes. He called the resulting 500 paintings his Indian Gallery. Among the original paintings that make up the Indian Gallery is one of particular interest that is not in our exhibition. It combines two portraits of the same Assiniboine warrior, Wi-jun-jon (or Pigeon’s Egg Head), into one painting. One portrait shows Pigeon’s Egg Head in full regalia: a splendid buckskin suit, feathered headdress and Catlinite pipe—a handsome, strong man worthy of admiration, as he traveled en route to meet President Jackson. The other shows him dressed in an army uniform and carrying a slim, black umbrella—quite the dandy. The work presents a contrast between the true nobility of this man—strength of body, chiseled features—versus the “civilized” Indian with none of these qualities apparent. I think this clearly shows which American Indian type Catlin most admired! Not only did Catlin preserve details about the people of the Indian nations and the buffalo of the West, he also captured the spectacular beauty in the landscapes that surrounded them. We are the inheritors of Catlin’s brilliant abilities as an artist and observer of the customs of the Plains Indians.
George Catlin, Wi-jún-jon, Pigeon’s Egg Head (The Light) Going To and Returning From Washington, 1837-1839. Oil on Canvas, 29 x 24 in. (73.6 x 60.9). Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr. 1985.66.474.
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Barton Keen’s designs, parking spaces, and new signage). This final phase of the project was managed by Director of Public Programs Phil Archer and Director of Collections Management Rebecca Eddins. Phil became the “owner’s representative” in 2002, following the affiliation with Wake Forest University, and the groundbreaking took place in 2003. He describes the staff accommodations and visitor “amenities” before the wing as rather sparse, relying on visitor guidebooks that had to be revised every time a painting was moved. This renovation would clearly elevate the Museum to a world-class institution. At first, there was a question about where the new structure should be placed. Possibilities included the garden end of the house, in the woods, or behind the guest house/pool area. Blinder was devoted to preserving the visitor’s initial view of the bungalow, and he decided to build behind the guest house to make the wing barely visible. Adding such a structure to a historical home is quite complicated. Decisions regarding climate control, UV lighting, building materials, even down to screws and nails, must be made in line with codes related to historic restoration. The year 2003 was one of the wettest on record, and the three-story structure was actually built top down! I-beams, which rested on concrete piers sunk vertically into the site, supported construction on the second floor (where the auditorium is now) and third floor (where the library is now), while the lower level (staff offices, archives, document storage) had time to dry out. Some additional interesting facts: The builders were a Winston-Salem firm, Frank L. Blum Construction Company Noted exhibition designers Staples and Charles worked on interpretive panels, art object labels, and signage.
Cost: $12 million, which the Museum raised in 2000 – 2001. The grounds were also spruced up with an additional 1,092 plants in forty-one varieties.
Phil sent original roof tiles in light green, dark green, and grey to the Ludowici Roof Tile in New Lexington, Ohio, the factory that manufactured Reynolda’s original tiles. They were able to obtain the exact same style for the new structure. The gazebo was moved from the pool side of the house to its present location.
The connecting corridor between the pool and new wing was originally space where the family stored all their inflatable pool toys. Despite the rainy season of 2003, construction of the Babcock Wing was completed on schedule in 2004 and opened to the public in spring of 2005, making 2015 its ten-year anniversary. The wing has truly made Reynolda a world-class museum, wonderfully friendly to visitors, with the ability to showcase art as well as teach folks about the home and family who lived here. I can’t imagine Reynolda House without it.
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Save the Date: Events, Programs, and a Training Opportunity of Interest Community Day: Pow Wow Cultural Festival | Saturday, April 11, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Join us for a Pow Wow on Reynolda’s front lawn. Representatives from North Carolina tribes will share traditional art, storytelling, drumming, and dance. Art activities, games, and food vendors will add to this spring celebration for all families. The event is presented in partnership with the Guilford Native American Association, the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs, and the Museum of Anthropology at Wake Forest University. It is sponsored by Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Carolinas Realty and the Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County. Cost: Free. Spring Docent-Volunteer Meeting | Monday, April 13, 10 a.m. - Noon. (Invitation to follow) Lakota Voices from the Great Plains: A Staged Reading | Thursday, April 16, 7 p.m. In association with the exhibition George Catlin's American Buffalo, four enrolled members of the Sicangu Lakota Nation (Rosebud Lakota, South Dakota)—Nelly Two Elk, John Iron Shell, Sylvan White Hat Sr., and Allen Wilson—will present an evening of Sicangu Lakota performances and practices that are interactive and traditional, yet address contemporary concerns of cultural revitalization and culturally-based responses to the United States’ encroachment on Lakota homelands. As present-day Lakota elders perform the words and music of their own ancestors, listeners will be invited into a culture that persisted against all odds, maintaining continuities with the past. The experience will shed light on the era that the artist George Catlin portrayed in his paintings of the 1830s, currently on view at the Museum. This event is co-sponsored by Interdisciplinary Performance and the Liberal Arts Center and the Office of the Provost of Wake Forest University. Cost: Free.
Photo taken on November 6, 2010, during a Guilford Native American Association Pow Wow, who are our co-sponsors this year for Community Day. Photo by Sue Vaughan.
Reynolda: An American Story | Tuesdays and Thursdays, May 5, 7, 12, 14, 19, & 21, 1:30 - 3 p.m. If you have not already participated, please consider taking this course this spring. The course examines the Reynolda estate through the lens of 20th-century American history, considering topics such as tobacco, the American Country Place Era, progressive agriculture, women’s history, and the story of the New South. For the first time, we are opening the course to the public, and will continue to offer it once a year. It is imperative that all active docents and greeters (new & seasoned) participate in this course! Cost: Free for docent-volunteers, as a training opportunity. Registration required, call 758.5900. Annual Docent-Volunteer Celebration on the Front Lawn | Tuesday, June 9, 5:30 – 7 p.m. Invitations will be mailed. Summer Adventures for Kids | June 29 – July 31 Have grandchildren in the area or visiting for the summer? Send them on a Summer Adventure at Reynolda House! Register online, by mail, or in person. Brochures available at the front desk, education office and in the gallery lobby. Creative Writing Workshop, completed grades 6-9, June 29-July 3, 9 am – 2:00 p.m. Cost: Members, $180 first child; $170 sibling enrollment. Non-members, $195 first child; $185 sibling. Writing Adventures I, completed grades 1& 2, July 6-10. Writing Adventures II, completed grades 3-5, July 13-17. Art Adventures I & II, completed grades K-5, July 20 – 24 & July 27-31. Cost: Members, $130 first child; $120 sibling enrollment. Non-members, $145 first child; $135 sibling. For a complete listing of programs and special events, refer to the Museum’s website: reynoldahouse.org or the Reynolda House member calendar
Opening Fall 2015 (October 3, 2015 - January 3, 2016)
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Museum News Katharine in full view! Lake Katharine, that is. Earlier this month, the Jaeger Company began some work on Reynolda’s landscape. The landscape restoration project involves a variety of work including extensive pruning of boxwoods (in the front garden as well as behind the Lake Porch), heavy cutting of limbs on several large trees located on the front and back lawns, removal of undergrowth and small trees in several areas, and removal of one large tree located along the edge of the field that stretches toward the lake. Much of this scheduled work is being done to help restore the vista toward the former lake, and also the vista looking toward the front of the house from the cross drive. Stay tuned for before and after photos, and more details about our landscape restoration plans over the next year. Signage positioned throughout the landscape will notify visitors of the work in progress.
Wanted: Volunteers Kid and family-friendly photographers Do you own a camera (besides the one on your smartphone), and enjoy snapping photos with it? Photo documentation of our kid and family programs like Summer Adventures, Family First, and Community Day is important for the Museum to have when applying for grants and sponsorships, when updating the website, and for advertising. Staff members are often occupied facilitating the programs and unable to properly document them with photos. So, we ask for your help! If you own a camera (other than your phone) enjoy using it, and enjoy interacting with the public, please let one of the education staff members know. We’d be happy to give you a media pass. Community Day: Pow Wow Cultural Festival Our annual Community Day will be presented as a Pow Wow this year! Many aspects of the event remain the same—art tables, food vendors, live performances—and a few will be new. The event, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., will be steeped in the traditions of our American Indian friends, who are co-presenting the event. We will need lots of volunteers to ensure this festival is a success. We are recruiting art table helpers, greeters for outside, the front lobby, and inside the historic house. Two shifts are available, 10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 1 – 3 p.m. Interested in helping? Please call or email Beth, 758.5389 or bhoover@reynoldahouse.org.
The Pool Restoration Project by Genie Carr Katharine Reynolds kept up with trends of the time, from home furnishings to the newfangled milking machines in the dairy barn. Her elder daughter, Mary Reynolds Babcock, Workers removing the birdcages from the pool deck for followed suit when it came time to update parts of the house—and add an indoor swimming pool.
restoration.
It was 1934. Mary and Charlie Babcock now owned all of the Reynolda estate, and wanted the best place for family and friends to enjoy themselves. Mary wanted the basement level to be, in her own words, more “modernistic,” notes Phil Archer, director of public programs, in a blog about the redesign. Manhattan architects Johnson & Porter updated the basement, introducing streamlined modern elements like the bar and other play areas. The pool’s “greenhouse” roof was a frame of cypress strips covered with metal and fitted with panes of glass. The pool remained in use for the next eighty years. That is a long time to house heat and humidity. Rebecca Eddins, director of collections management and pool restoration project manager, recently said, “About three years ago, we realized that with the crazy Winston-Salem weather there was too much risk with the panels of glass. The panels and the cypress had shifted a little bit, and there were fractures in a couple of the panes.” Fortunately, the timing was good. “We knew there was a capital campaign gearing up,” Eddins said. “The pool project was at the top of our list.” The project was undertaken by Ludy Greenhouse Corp., of Ohio, which had restored the Reynolda Gardens greenhouse in 1972. Frank L. Blum Construction Company was the general contractor. The new metal frames are strong, and the new glass panes have a slight ultraviolet tinting to lessen heat and fading inside. Below the glass roof, a saline cleaning system had replaced the original chlorine system in 2008, making maintenance easier and cheaper. With the help of Hayward Pools in Clemmons, a new saline system and a new filtering and plumbing system are part of the 2014-15 restoration. A heating element will keep the water at about 85 degrees. The tiles have been cleaned and grouted. The rusted bird cages, 13 feet high, 10.2 feet wide and 2.5 feet deep, have been restored. They can be raised from the bottom for cleaning (which would be particularly helpful if the cages still contained macaws). The cushions on the bamboo lounges have new covers. Low teak benches will provide seats for swimmers. Exterior work included pruning branches of nearby trees that hung over the roof and extensively trimming hedges that blocked the sliding door. More landscape restoration will come in the spring. In general, the nine-month project went smoothly, with the exception of a delay in delivery of the glass panes. The restoration will be completed soon. “We kept the design integrity of the building and (Continued on next page)
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George Catlin: In His Own Words by Jeremy Reiskind “All these nations of Indians speak different languages, and most of them differ in their dress, domestic habits, amusements, and if my life is spared for a few years, my unwearied exertions will enable me to lay a pretty fair representation of them, together with the other tribes of North America, before the world.” –George Catlin, July 15, 1832. Written from Ft. Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone River on the Missouri, George Catlin wrote these words and sent them back east to the New-York Commercial Advertiser. They were written just as he began his great journey. And yes, his life was spared and he succeeded in portraying the Indians he so admired.
Catlin’s own words captured in the book, Miscellaneous Selections, Published as a Supplement to the Connecticut Courant, Volume III.
Here are some additional excerpts from the article, describing the river on which he traveled, and the steamboat in which he traveled. I think you will find them interesting. From the mouth of the Yellow Stone to the mouth of the Missouri, [the river] sweeps in one unceasing current, and in the whole distance there is scarcely a resting place. Owing to the continual falling of its alluvial banks, its water is always turbid and opaque, having more the appearance (in color) of a cup of chocolate…[I]n many places the whole bed of the stream are filled with snags, trees of the largest size,…tops pointing down stream…making travel upstream extremely hazardous. And so Catlin dubbed the Missouri the “River of Sticks,” with hell’s River Styx in mind. If anything did ever literally “astonish the natives,” it was the approach of the steamboat alongside of their villages. … Some called it the “Fire Boat,” and others called it the “Medicine boat with eyes,” for they declared it saw its own way, and went along without help. Catlin goes on to describe the Indian hunter as: armed with his simple bow and quiver, to plunge his steed amongst the flying herds of buffaloes, and with his sinewy bow, which he never bends in vain, to dive deeply in life’s fountain the whizzing arrow. The buffalo herds which always graze upon these beautiful prairies in countless numbers, afford them abundance of meat; and so much is it preferred to all other, that the deer, the elk, and the antelope, sport upon the prairies in herds in the greatest security, as the Indians never kill them unless they want their skin for a dress. He writes of hunting his own buffalo and sketching a wounded bull: I defy the world to produce an animal in his looks so furious and frightful as the [wounded] Buffalo Bull, when he is roused into a rage, with his long shaggy mane covering his shoulders, and falling to the ground. In this condition I drew my sketchbook from my pocket, and …was enabled to catch the very attitudes and expressions I wanted. Catlin concludes this article: The health and amusements of this delightful country rend it almost painful for me to leave it. Yet leave it he did, but not before creating a remarkable portfolio of native life, buffaloes and all. Lucky us!
All italicized text from Correspondent of the NY Advertiser, “Scenes on the Upper Missouri,” in Miscellaneous Selections, Published as a Supplement to the Connecticut Courant, Volume III (Hartford, Connecticut: Goodwin & Co. Printers, 1832), 140-142.
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made every effort to maintain as many original details as we possibly could,” said Eddins. “We kept the footprint.” Inside that footprint, the newly restored safety, comfort and “modernistic” beauty of the Reynolda pool house will also restore the sense of fun and relaxation that Mary Reynolds Babcock envisioned and enjoyed. Sidebar: The Hen Party Phil Archer recently wrote in a blog about one of the good times Mary Reynolds Babcock and her friends had with the renovated spaces. To learn about this “hen party” and more details about the pool restoration project, visit reynoldahouse.org/connect/community and select “#ReynoldaPool” search term.
Post Office Box 7287 Winston-Salem, NC 27109-7287 Telephone 336.758.5150 Toll-Free 888.663.1149 Website reynoldahouse.org
HOURS: Tuesday-Saturday 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sunday 1:30-4:30 p.m.
ADMISSION: Adults $14 Members free Children/students free WFU Employees free Affiliated with Wake Forest University and supported by the Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County