EDITO1'\'S COLUMN JACQUELINE M. ATKINS
THE CLARION Jacqueline M. Atkins, Editor and Publisher Ellen Blissman, Art Director Mell Cohen,Publications Associate Marilyn Brechner, Advertising Manager Hildegard 0. Vetter, Production Manager Craftsmen Litho,Printers Nassau Typographers, Typesetters
MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART
s the opening article in this issue indicates, the Museum of American Folk Art has recently become the happy recipient of major holdings from the Historical Society of Early American Decoration. The addition of this collection, which enriches the Museum's own holdings of eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury painted and ornamented objects, significantly expands the opportunity for further appreciation of this decorative tradition. A number ofitems in the collection were originally discovered by Esther Stevens Brazer, a pioneer in the research of painted and decorated ware and herself an accomplished artist dedicated to maintaining early American decoration as a living art form. The extensive documentary files accompanying the artifact collection will be lodged in the Museum's Library and Research Center and offers scholars as well as practitioners of the decortive arts an unusually rich opportunity for study. Access to Art: All Creatures Great and Small is a popular exhibition that draws to a close this month in the Museum's Eva and Morris Feld Gallery at Lincoln Center. The colorful and creative animal sculptures that comprise this exhibit have delighted and intrigued visitors and opened the world of contemporary southwestern animal carving to a wider and very receptive audience. Dana Everts-Boehm furthers the appreciation of this art form in a lively article on the woodcarving tradition in the southwest, and Jeanette DeBouzek, in an accompanying piece, provides a look behind the scenes in a series of interviews with some of the artists whose work was included in the exhibition. It is always pleasant to revisit old friends, and the article on J.A. Davis by Arthur and Sybil Kern provides us with an excellent opportunity to review the work of this artist. The Kerns began their painstaking research on Davis nearly ten years ago and have now compiled a substantial body of evidence that convincingly establishes the identity of this artist. I am pleased to note that theircoriginal preliminary identification of Jane Anthony Davis as the artist J.A. Davis appeared first in The Clarion in 1981. The brilliantly colored, mystical drawings of Minnie Evans have long sparked excitement and discussion in regard to the origin of her images, and Sharon Koota has done an admirable job in reviewing the arguments that tie Evans' work to African origins. Her thought-provoking article will stimulate a closer look at Evans' creative output in light of her African heritage and the Kongo cosmology. As noted in "Museum News;' we are now in the process of expanding our in-house computer system. We will,from this month on, be producing mailing labels for The Clarion and other Museum information in-house. We anticipate a smooth and trouble-free conversion, but please be patient with us should you experience delays in receiving your material.
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Administration Dr. Robert Bishop, Director Gerard C. Werticin, Assistant Director Luanne Cantor, Controller Virginia Dillon, Assistant Controller Beverly McCarthy, Assistant to the Director Mary Ziegler, Administrative Assistant Sylvia Sincicler, Shop Accountant Maryann Warakomski, Accountant Brent Erdy, Reception Luis Fernandez, Manager, Mailroom and Maintenance Collections & Exhibitions Ralph Sessions, ChiefCurator Alice J. Hoffman,Director ofExhibitions Ann-Marie Reilly, Registrar Karen S. Schuster, Director ofthe Eva and Morris Feld Gallery Catherine Fukushima, Assistant Gallery Director Stacy C. Hollander, Assistant Curator/Lore Kann Research Fellow Lucille Stiger, Assistant Registrar Regina A. Weichert, Assistant Gallery Director/Education Coordinator Elizabeth V. Warren, Consulting Curator Mary Black, Consulting Curator Howard Lanser, Consulting Exhibition Designer Departments Beth Bergin, Membership Director Marie S. DiManno,Director ofMuseum Shops Susan Flamm,Public Relations Director Johleen D. Nester, Director ofDevelopment Edith C. Wise,Director ofLibrary Services Janey Fire, Karla Friedlich, Photographic Services Chris Cappiello, Membership Associate David E. Gluck,Development Associate Programs Barbara W. Cate,Director, Folk ArtInstitute Lee Kogan, Assistant Director, Folk Art Institute/Senior Research Fellow Phyllis A. Tepper,Registrar, Folk Art Institute Dr. Marilyn Karp,Director, New York University Master's and Ph.D. Program in Folk Art Studies Dr. Judith Reiter Weissman, Coordinator, New York University Program Cathy Rasmussen,Director ofSpecial Projects Irma J. Shore, Exhibition Coordinator, Access to Art速 Eugene P. Sheehy, Museum Bibliographer Mary Linda Zonana, Coordinator, DocentPrograms Howard P. Fertig, Chairman, Friends Committee Museum Shop Staff Managers: Dorothy Gargiulo, Caroline Hohenrath, Rita Pollitt; Mail Order: Vivian Adams, Volunteers: Marie Anderson, Laura Aswad, Judy Baker, Olive Bates, Marsha Becker, Jennifer Bigelow, Elizabeth Cassidy, Ann Coppinger, Sheila Coppinger, Sally Elfant, Annette Ellis, Tricia Ertman, Millie Gladstone, Elli Gordon,Inge Graff, Cyndi Gruber, Edith Gusoff, Carol Hauser, Elizabeth Howe, Bonnie Hunt, Carole Kaplan, Eleanor Katz, Nan Keenan, Teresa Lamb, Annette Levande, Katie McAuliffe, Nancy Mayer, Theresa Naglack, Pat Pancer, Marie Peluso, Mary Rix, Diana Robertson, Frances Rojack, Phyllis Selnick, Lorraine Seubert, Myra Shaskan, Denise Siracusa, Maxine Spiegel, Doris Stack, Sonya Stern, Mary Wamsley, Marian Whitley, Doris Wolfson.
MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FOLK ART BOOK AND GIFT SHOPS 62 West 50th Street New York, NY 10012 212/247-5611 Two Lincoln Square(Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th) New York, NY 10023 212/496-2966
THE CLARION