NEW HAVEN - –On Wednesday, April 30, 2014, from 5 to 8 p.m. April 30, the New Haven Museum will hold
an opening reception for an exhibition that pairs "powerful interpretive art
created by seven well-known Connecticut artists with scientific analysis by
noted bioarchaeologists in 'Nothing is Set in Stone: The Lincoln Oak and the New Haven Green,'” according to a release.
The event will be "an informative and revelatory tribute to the historic Lincoln
Oak on the New Haven Green," the release said. "In October 2012, winds from Hurricane Sandy toppled
the mighty oak—planted in 1909 to commemorate the 100th anniversary
of Lincoln’s birth—revealing human skeletal remains in the tree’s exposed roots
and creating an enigmatic story that captured the imagination of the entire
country."
The opening reception is free. The exhibition runs through
Nov. 2.
"For the artistic portion of
'Nothing is Set in Stone: The Lincoln Oak and the New Haven Green,' area
artists were invited to use branches, limbs, or pieces of the trunk of the
Lincoln Oak to interpret the history of the tree and the discovery of the
skeletal remains beneath it. The exhibit includes two works by noted Hamden
sculptor, Susan Clinard, who says of her Lincoln Oak sculpture, 'Of the Same
Branch; Portraits of the Civil War, 2014,': “I found a long
branch from the Lincoln oak and wanted to tie the human experience together by
sculpting several seemingly very different people from the civil war era from
the same branch…to show a slave family and a Yankee and Confederate soldier. I
looked at hundreds of civil war photographs and drew inspiration from the many
hazy images I saw; trying to offer up each their story.”
Other artists included in the
exhibition are Lani Asuncion, Erich Davis, Michael Quirk, Jeff Slomba, Rachael
A. Vaters-Carr and Alison Walsh. The collected works include mixed-media
sculpture and video, the release said.
Photo contributed by Roderick Topping.
Also in the release:
"The New Haven Green was used as a
burying ground throughout Colonial times and until 1812. The Lincoln Oak was planted in 1909
by local members of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) —an organization of
Civil War veterans--in honor of President Abraham Lincoln. In 2012, the
uprooted tree revealed several surprises including two time capsules buried in
1909 by members of the GAR, and the remains of several 18th-century
residents of New Haven.
“One hundred fifty years later,
President Lincoln and the Civil War continue to fascinate us,” says New Haven
Museum Executive Director Margaret Anne Tockarshewsky. “We expect that the
public may have a strong response to both the artists’ interpretations and the
findings of the scientists who continue to examine the remains found beneath
the Lincoln Oak.”
The New Haven Museum was gifted with
the contents of the time capsules uprooted by the Lincoln Oak by The Committee
of the Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Lands of New Haven, and a
sampling of the artifacts is on display at the Museum.
The research was supported by The
Committee of the Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Lands in New Haven;
Yale University, Department of Anthropology; and Connecticut State Museum of
Natural History and Archaeology Center, University of Connecticut.
“Nothing is Set in Stone” follows a
panel discussion at the New Haven Museum on October 31, 2013, which revealed
the initial findings of the team of scientists charged with investigating the
human remains and time capsules discovered on the Green. The panel is expected
to reconvene and present concluding details of the team’s research in late
October, 2014, coinciding with the two-year anniversary of the toppling of the
Lincoln Oak.
About the New Haven Museum
The New Haven Museum, founded in
1862 as the New Haven Colony Historical Society, is located in downtown New
Haven at 114 Whitney Avenue. The Museum is currently celebrating 150 years of
collecting, preserving and interpreting the history and heritage of Greater New
Haven. Through its collections, exhibitions, programs and outreach, the Museum
brings 375 years of New Haven history to life. For more information
visit www.newhavenmuseum.org
or facebook.com/NewHavenMuseum or call 203-562-4183."
Editor's note: All information in this post was contributed. Click one of the buttons below to share it.
No comments:
Post a Comment