“Galleries at Night” events focus on Shenandoah Valley vernacular chairs
Winchester, VA – The second Friday of each month, from February through June 2010, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) in Winchester will hold “Galleries at Night.” At each of these special events, the Museum’s new exhibit will be open for viewing. The remaining “Galleries at Night” dates for 2010 are February 12, March 12, April 9, May 14, and June 11.
The new exhibit “Come In and Have a Seat: Vernacular Chairs of the Shenandoah Valley” opened at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) in December 2009, and will be on view through June 20, 2010.
Those attending Galleries at Night are also encouraged to enjoy the rest of the Museum. From 4 to 9 p.m., visitors may experience all of the MSV galleries, purchase a glass of wine in the Museum Lobby, browse in the Museum Store, and visit the Museum Café. For Galleries at Night, the galleries, the Museum Store, and the Museum Café are open from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m.
History of vernacular chairs
It is the first exhibition devoted to the study of chairs that are distinctive to the Shenandoah Valley region. By 1800, the Shenandoah Valley was home to many craftsmen of German, Swiss, English, Irish, and Scottish descent. Using familiar European craft traditions, these craftsmen made durable and comfortable chairs, but they also were influenced by fashionable designs from cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore. Their creative blending of old and new ideas resulted in distinctive chair styles that speak of the Valley’s diverse cultural heritage and are called “vernacular.”
The MSV exhibition presents the three basic Valley vernacular chair designs: ladder-back, Windsor, and fancy chairs. The display includes 43 chairs on loan from nine different private collections, most of which have never before been presented in a public display.
Guest Curator Jeff Evans – an expert in vernacular chairs – is president of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, in Mt. Crawford, Virginia. Museums that have sought his expertise in early American glass and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Shenandoah Valley furniture, pottery, and glass include the Corning Museum of Glass, The Sandwich Glass Museum, and The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA), among others.
Evans presented a lecture, “Shenandoah Valley of Virginia Seating Forms of the Late Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Centuries,” at the 2009 MESDA Furniture Seminar and a related lecture at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) on January 8, 2010. In addition, he was guest curator and author of the catalogue, “A Great Deal of Stone & Earthen Ware,” at the Shenandoah Valley Folk Art & Heritage Center (Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society) in Dayton, Virginia.
(He has authored a catalogue to accompany the MSV exhibition. The publication will be available in March of 2010.)
Special pricing, food, and drinks
In honor of the Museum’s fifth anniversary in 2010, general admission to Galleries at Night is just $5. The event is free to MSV Members. In 2010, the Museum Café will also celebrate the fifth anniversary by offering a light dinner for $5 during Galleries at Night events. This Friday’s dinner option is a combination of a cup of soup and a half sandwich for $5. In addition to the one dinner option, the café’s Galleries at Night menu will also include a variety of desserts and more than 20 types of tea. Just for Galleries at Night, the café will serve a free cup of Shenandoah Blend tea with each dessert purchase.
MSV Executive Director, Jennifer Esler, announces resignation
In a separate release, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) announced that its executive director, Jennifer Esler, will be leaving the Museum to become the President and CEO of the Battle of Franklin Trust in Franklin, Tennessee. Her resignation ends more than 12 successful years serving as the chief professional officer of the MSV.
According to MSV President of the Board Kit Molden, the Museum is saddened by but supportive and understanding of Ms. Esler’s decision. “Jenny has directed this Museum extremely well over the years she has been with us,” he says, “and she deserves immense credit for what the MSV has become today. We hate to see her go, but also understand and support her decision.”
“I have enjoyed working with the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley over the past twelve years, am extremely proud of what we have accomplished together, and will greatly miss the Museum family and all my other friends and colleagues in Winchester and the Shenandoah Valley,” says Ms. Esler. “But I am also excited and pleased that a new career opportunity that so perfectly suits my experience, skills, and interests has been offered to me, and I am looking forward to joining my husband in the Nashville area.”
Ms. Esler will remain with the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley until February 28. A nationally-focused search effort to hire her replacement will get underway immediately.
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The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV complex — which includes the Museum, the Glen Burnie Historic House, and six acres of gardens — is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The house and gardens are open March through November; the Museum is open year-round. The historic house and gardens are not open for tours during Galleries at Night. Additional information is available by calling (540) 662-1473, ext. 235, or on the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley web site.
