Warmest of greetings everyone, from the University Museum and William Faulkner’s Rowan Oak. I have the great pleasure of sharing with you much exciting news and three Hold the Date calendar entries for the weeks ahead.
Let me start by reflecting on the great excitement we are all feeling to announce the hire of our new Membership, Events, & Communications Coordinator, Andrea Drummond. Andrea begins her position on Friday July 9 and will assume the duties of this tri-partite role that manages our membership program, all Museum events and facility rental bookings, and our public relations and marketing functions (under the ‘Communications’) rubric. This position also serves as a primary liaison for the Friends of the Museum Board in their planning and implementation of the Harvest Supper annual fundraising event (scheduled this year for October 21).
Andrea comes to us from her year of Americorp VISTA service at the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council here in Oxford. She is also a freelance Photographer and Designer, and a recent past Adjunct Instructor in Screen Printing & Graphic Arts at the Northwest Mississippi Community College. She has additionally been a manager and server at Oxford’s Proud Larry’s restaurant since 2015, and holds a Bachelor in Fine Arts Degree from Delta State University, and additional certification coursework in Graphic Design Technology from Northwest Community College. As you attend programs with us this Fall and going forward, please watch for the many opportunities that will arise to introduce yourselves to Andrea. The Museum’s professional staff and I are thrilled to welcome Andrea to our team!
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We have three significant calendar dates upcoming, the first of which is Tuesday evening, July 27, 5:00–7:00 p.m.—an Outdoor Sculpture Art Crawl with our partners in the Yokna Sculpture Trail of our four new works of public art sited along the University Avenue. This initiative has been funded with the support of an anonymous donor family, and has been project managed by the Museum’s Collections Manager and Curator of Exhibitions Melanie Antonelli. This is a walk-up, no-reservations-required outdoor event and it will include a Double Decker bus tour of the outdoor sculptures now on view at the Museum; the Arts Council’s Powerhouse; at Meek Hall, home of the UM Art & Art History Department; and the city’s Pat Lamar Park. Watch for further word to come regarding this public art celebration, we look forward to seeing you here on the early evening of July 27.
The second date of note is in so many respects the most exciting to share, the re-opening of the Museum galleries and Rowan Oak to the public on Tuesday, August 17. Those of you who follow our newsletter will be aware that we have been serving the academic needs of the University by being available to Faculty, Students, and Research Scholars during the past 10 months, as well as the public through content innovatively delivered online and in virtual formats or outdoor experiences. In upcoming issues of 5th & University we will provide overviews of our Exhibitions calendar, which of course can also be viewed later this month at our respective websites here and at Rowan Oak. Re-opening hours will be Tuesday to Saturdays 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. at both Museum and Rowan Oak, with an additional 3-hour open block of Sundays 1:00–4:00 p.m. at Rowan Oak.
Our third date of note will be the Exhibition Opening Reception on Tuesday, September 28 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. of our 2021-22 exhibition by N.Y-based artist Jacob Hashimoto. Titled ‘The Other Sun’, the exhibition will run from Tuesday, August 17, 2021–Saturday, August 20, 2022. As described by the Museum’s Collections Manager and Curator of Exhibitions Melanie Antonelli, “Whether it be small intricate drawings or massive hovering forms consisting of thousands of kite-like discs, Jacob playfully balances the dichotomies he observes in landscapes and constructed virtual worlds.”
More about Jacob’s extraordinary works can be seen here, and biographically also here. This major exhibition will be installed in three of our most prominent galleries, the Lawrence & Fortune Galleries, and also the corridor of the Hattie Mae Edmonds Gallery. Jacob will be in attendance on the evening of September 28 for The Other Sun Opening Reception and will also present an artist talk, but please note that works will be installed and fully available for viewing as of the re-opening date of the Museum’s galleries on Tuesday August 17. To express how tremendously thrilled we are to have an artist with such a national and international profile and reputation exhibiting with us, would be hard to overstate.
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We greatly look forward to seeing you this late-summer and Fall in our outdoor sculpture and Exhibition celebrations, and for the opportunities these visits will afford you to meet the three new professional staff highlighted in recent issues of this newsletter: Rowan Oak Assistant Curator, Rachel Hudson, Collections Project Manager, Grace Moorman, and as noted above, Membership, Events, & Communications Coordinator, Andrea Drummond.
With your attendance and participation, our Museum family will be complete!
With sincere regards,
Robert Saarnio
Museum Director
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