CEDAR RAPIDS MUSEUM OF ART, IOWA: Grant Wood, Conger Metcalf, Mauricio Lasansky and More, Guest Post by Barbara Siebenschuh

Corn Cob Chandelier for Iowa Corn Room.
Grant Wood (February 13, 1891-February 12, 1942) is Iowa's most famous artist and one of the most celebrated American artists of the twentieth century.

My friend and fellow art student (at Grinnell College and University of Iowa) Barbara Siebenschuh recently went with friends from Iowa City for a day at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.  I think you will enjoy reading Barbara’s report. Note: The Ladiez of Leisure is a group of retired women in Iowa City who get out periodically to visit museums and other places of interest in the area. Their tour of the CRMA was led by the husband of one of Barbara’s and my college classmates, Sharon Sandford.

In early May, the remaining LOLs, Ladiez of Leisure, went to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art for a tour given by docent Floyd Sandford. It was fun, and the event was one of the last we will be able to have with Daphne who will be moving to New Hampshire. We saw an exhibit of French paper art: i.e. prints, drawings, etc. by some really major artists. And we saw the Roman Sculptures and coins. There were other exhibits of photos, etc. There is a permanent showing of Grant wood art, including jewelry, wrought iron work, paintings and an unusual chandelier made of iron painted green and looking like corn and corn stalks. But the lovely wooden bench he made was missing at this point.

My Brother Malcolm by Conger Metcalf

We also saw art by Conger Metcalf. Born in Cedar Rapids, Conger Metcalf began his art studies at the Stone City Art Colony, after which he enrolled at Coe College and studied under Marvin Cone. During his service in World War II and on subsequent trips afterward, Metcalf studied the European masters, who were very influential on his work.



The Lasansky room had recently had a change over of his works. I was glad. Many I had never seen. The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art was given a whole ton of Lasansky works. There is a permanent room at CRMA and his art works are rotated and will be shown there forever, is my understanding. [Mauricio Lasansky taught printmaking for many years at the University of Iowa. Both Barbara and I studied with him when we were graduate students.] We saw his print of Leo Tolstoy, depicted with bushy white hair. We also saw his print of Darwin, another one in his famous people series.

We all were too tired to see the new Cedar Rapids Library across the square. I have seen it. We will hold it for another day. Instead of eating at Rileys near downtown Cedar Rapids as planned, we turned off instead into a small town near the airport, Swisher. There we had a wonderful lunch with their famed coffee and treats. It is a good thing we got there before a huge crowd of ladies, some club or something. We were too late for breakfast but instead enjoyed lunch.

We went home along a route that allowed us to visit the town of Mount.Vernon. There is a neat consignment Antiques Shop there and we spent some time searching treasures. The landscape was green, but the whole day was overcast, some light rain and cold enough for jackets. By the time we came to Iowa City, we all decided we would eat again and take home leftovers for the next day. This we did across from A.C.T. at "Bob's Your Uncle". It was a fun day, a long time in the planning, as our lives have gotten a bit complicated lately.

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT’S PINS, Czech Museum, Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Guest post by Barbara Siebenschuh

Madeleine Albright's Pins at the National Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

 My friend and fellow art student (at Grinnell College and University of Iowa) Barbara Siebenschuh recently went with friends from Iowa City to see the exhibit of Madeleine Albright’s brooches at the Czech Museum in Cedar Rapids.  Until now, I had not appreciated that Madeleine Albright originally came from the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) nor had I realized that her pins became her hallmark as a diplomat.  I think you will enjoy reading Barbara’s report. Note: The Ladiez of Leisure is a group of retired women in Iowa City who get out periodically to visit museums and other places of interest in the area.

Yesterday all five Ladiez of Leisure set off for Cedar Rapids to go and see the Madeleine Albright "Read my Pins" exhibit at the Czech Museum in Cedar Rapids. We went by way of Ely, Iowa, and on the way were delighted to be able to drive by many tractors (antique and otherwise) on one of their yearly "migrations". In our case, they were all going the opposite way from us. Great fun and one can hardly plan for these surprises.

Once in the Cedar Rapids area, we set about looking for a place to eat. We ended up at "Gringos" where we all had plenty of food in a nice friendly setting. When we parked on First Ave. S.E. down from "Gringos" we had to navigate a new system of paying for parking. There are Pay Stations at intervals and one enters the parking 4 digit number near the car. It did not entirely go smoothly. It accepted my coins but then when I requested a receipt, none came out. I am not sure how it works but the "Gringos" help seemed to find it problematic as well.

The Czech Museum was accessible by an elevator from parking lower down than the museum. This museum will not flood in the future. [The Cedar River had a devastating flood in 2008, damaging much of the downtown.]

We all looked at every pin of Madeleine Albright. They were amazing. One pin was inspired by Alphonse Mucha, whose posters, paintings, photos, etc. we had seen previously in a huge Czech Museum exhibit. There were precious materials and there were political buttons and more like costume jewelry. Madeleine had many that were insects, butterflies, dragonflies; she had sea life, birds and animals, turtles, reptiles, etc. Some of the pins were so large that it almost looked like wall art. One in particular, a zebra, was shaped so that it could be worn over the shoulder and indeed, she did wear it like that to meet with Nelson Mandela.

Her botanical pins were wonderful. She also had pins with "edge" and we saw swords, assault rifles, etc. Some were so modern it was hard to imagine where they were made and some were patriotic - using the American flag in many various artistic ways.

This silver "Liberty" brooch by Gijs Bakker allows both Albright and her guest to tell time.

One could not take pictures of these pins. [You can see a slide show of some of the pins at the Bowers Museum website, the New Yorker blog, and the Mint Museum website.]There was a book in the gift shop featuring the exhibit. Madeleine had also loaned her festival dress from when she was about ten or twelve back in the old country. It was on display nearby with a photo of her.

The gift shop featured an artist I have admired for some time. Much of his work is for sale at a local shop called Glassando. His name is Michael Michaud and he does delicate and accurate botanical designs in jewelry. Unfortunately, he is pretty pricey. We then proceeded to Mount Vernon to a wonderfully packed antique shop where we all had our take on vital nostalgia pieces. We stopped at the Dairy Queen too on the way back to Iowa City. It was a lovely day without rain and just working up to hot and humid.

Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection
May 11-Oct. 27, 2013
National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library
Open Monday-Saturday 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday Noon- 4 p.m.
(319) 362-8500
www.NCSML.org