Penn Museum Announces Architect for Master Plan
On November 11, 2005, following an international search, Penn Museum announced the appointment of renowned British architect David Chipperfield to develop a comprehensive new master plan to take the Museum, its complex historical building, and its international research, collections, and educational outreach into the 21st century. Other museum work by David Chipperfield Architects includes the master plan for Museum Island and the restoration of the Neues Museum in Berlin, the expansion of the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, and the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. Beginning with an intensive, year-long process that reconsiders our Museum’s space in light of current and future objectives, the master plan will provide a holistic vision for the Museum, accommodating state-of-the-art exhibitions and research work.
David Chipperfield Architects will partner locally with Atkin Olshin Lawson-Bell (architects of the Museum’s Mainwaring Wing) and Olin Partnership (landscape architects of the Trescher Main Entrance garden). Keast & Hood Structural Engineers, Marvin Waxman Engineers, and cost consultant Davis Langdon round out the team. To learn more about the master planning process and David Chipperfield Architects, visit http://www.museum.upenn.edu/masterplan.
A “Treasures” Check for the Penn Museum
On November 18, 2005, The Women’s Committee of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology presented a check for $100,000 to the Museum to benefit its educational programs. This generous contribution was made possible by the new annual benefit event “Treasures…From the Silk Road to the Santa Fe Trail” which was presented by The Women’s Committee in the galleries of the Penn Museum during the last weekend of October 2005. The Women’s Committee also honored the co-chairs of the 2005 “Treasures” Show and Sale, Susan Catherwood and Elizabeth Haimes, by donating $1,000 in each of their names to the Museum, making a grand total contribution of $102,000.
“TREASURES” assembled more than 50 distinguished national and international dealers for Philadelphia’s first annual sale of exceptional fine art, antiques, jewelry, carpets, and textiles from Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. With a wide selection of rigorously vetted 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century works from tribal, ethnographic, and Asian traditions, the Show and Sale attracted more than 3,000 visitors, and both the regional and national press gave the Show excellent reviews. This fall’s “Treasures” Show and Sale will be held during Penn’s Homecoming Weekend: Friday–Sunday, October 27–29, 2006, with an opening preview on Thursday, October 26. For information, please contact The Women’s Committee at (215) 898-9213 or email treasures@museum.upenn.edu.
Tlingit Requests
After an extraordinary visit and loan in 2004 (see Expedition 47(2):9-19), Tlingit clan leaders in Alaska asked to borrow objects from the Museum’s American collections for a memorial potlatch for Tlingit matriarch, Cecilia Kunz, on October 14, 2005. Herman Davis, Sr., head of the L’uknax.ádi Coho Clan of Sitka, requested the Raven-of-the-Roof hat while Andrew Gamble, Jr., head of the Sitka Kaagwaantaan Wolf clan, requested the Eagle hat. In the 1920s Assistant Curator Louis Shotridge, a native Tlingit, collected both hats for the Museum. Lucy Williams and Stacey Espenlaub of the American Section hand-carried the hats to Juneau. Cecilia Kunz actively fought racial discrimination throughout her life and was the first teacher of the Tlingit language in the Juneau school system. She died in July 2004 at the age of 94.
American Section Purchase
The American Section’s newest purchase is Urban Galaxy 2, a 36”x 36” hand-woven tapestry by Ramona Sakiestewa. Born of Hopi ancestry, Sakiestewa is well known for her exquisite woven textiles that adapt techniques derived from prehistoric Pueblo weaving. Her textiles bridge Modernist concepts and Native American themes and expand our ideas of Native American art beyond the confines of tradition. Urban Galaxy 2 brings together time-honored life themes of place, time, change, and continuance, and reveals core values unique to the Native American view of the world. Sakiestewa has worked for over ten years as a member of the design team for the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. Her work is held by museums throughout the world.
Detective Party: Real or Fake? Egyptian-Style
On Thursdays, May 4, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm, The Women’s Committee will host a sleuthing party to benefit the Museum. Match wits with forgers of the past and enjoy exotic food and libations. Detective or period wear encouraged. To request an invitation, call (215) 898-9202.