MSV Day Activities Highlight Exhibitions and Collections with Free Gallery Tours
Winchester, VA 02/13/19…Admission to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) will be free during MSV Day, which takes place this Saturday, February 16, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.
An eagerly anticipated annual event, this year’s MSV Day is especially notable as it will offer visitors the opportunity to experience two recently opened exhibitions—Our Strength is Our People: The Humanist Photographs of Lewis Hine and Vital Force—and enjoy free gallery talks.
In addition and throughout the day, children and families may create their construction paper quilts in the MSV BB&T Learning Center. Visitors may also enter a free drawing to win a one-year Family Membership to the MSV.
Just opened in the MSV Changing Exhibitions Gallery, Our Strength is Our People: The Humanist Photographs of Lewis Hine presents more than 60 vintage silver gelatin prints by acclaimed photographer Lewis Hine (1874–1940). Spanning three decades of his work, Hine’s riveting images document the immigrant experience, the American worker, child labor, and more. All works featured in Our Strength is Our People: The Humanist Photographs of Lewis Hine are from the collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg. At the MSV through May 5, 2019, the exhibition is organized by art2art Circulating Exhibitions and its MSV display is funded, in part, by The Winchester Star and sponsored by Shenandoah Country Q102.
Vital Force, another new exhibition, highlights the MSV’s growing collection of twentieth and twenty-first century art. Vital Force presents 15 works representing a variety of artistic styles that ranges from the 1942 painting Down in Shenandoah by renowned artist Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses to Roadhouse Siren, a sculptural painting created by Neil Stavely in 2013 that pays tribute to Patsy Cline. Several paintings in Vital Force are recent acquisitions on first-time public display in the exhibition, including Harvest Ghost by Sally Veach, a poignant interpretation of the Valley’s changing landscape; Wild Horse, a vibrant abstract by Ren Crawford; and Modern Day Presidential by Michael T. Davis, a work inspired by the social and political climate surrounding the 2016 presidential election.
Three free gallery talks will take place during MSV Day. At 11:15 a.m., MSV Director of Education Mary Ladrick will lead the tour “African American Artists, Objects & Subjects.” At 12:15 p.m., MSV Deputy Director of Arts and Education Nancy Huth will discuss select works in the exhibition Albrecht Dürer and Master Prints, and at 1:15 p.m., Huth will highlight famous photographs during an interactive gallery tour of Our Strength is Our People: The Humanist Photographs of Lewis Hine.
Galleries in the MSV tell the story of the Shenandoah Valley and display permanent collections and rotating exhibitions. In addition to Our Strength is Our People: The Humanist Photographs of Lewis Hine and Vital Force, special exhibitions currently on view include Terry Ward’s Infinite Mash-Up and Albrecht Dürer and Master Prints featuring more than 50 woodblock prints and engravings by German Renaissance master printmaker Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528).
Throughout the day and in the Museum lobby, visitors may enter a free drawing to win a one-year Family Membership to the MSV ($75 value). Refreshments from the Espresso Bar and Café will also be available for purchase in the lobby.
A regional cultural center, the MSV is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV complex includes exhibition galleries, the Glen Burnie House, and seven acres of gardens. The galleries are open year-round; the house and gardens are open April through December. Admission is $10 or $8 for seniors and youth ages 13 to 18. General admission is always free to youth ages 12 and under and to MSV Members, and, thanks to generous sponsorship from Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc., it is free to all every Wednesday. Additional details are available at www.theMSV.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235. –END–