Public Events --

Brownbag Lectures: The Urge to Embellish

Brownbag Lectures: The Urge to Embellish

• Location: ISM Research & Collections Center, Springfield
• Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Presented by:
Jim Zimmer
Director of the ISM Lockport Gallery 

The "Urge to Embellish" is a basic human impulse and a central theme in the current and extremely popular exhibition of the same name at the ISM Lockport Gallery. Jim Zimmer, the exhibition curator, will provide a PowerPoint presentation featuring an eclectic array of new acquisitions and rarely-seen works from the ISM collections, many of which were made by non-professional artists. Zimmer will discuss the ways in which the objects reveal how embellishment has been guided by experimentation, learned behavior, social expectations and tradition. Included are commemorative, ceremonial, decorative, functional and whimsical objects spanning two centuries. Many date from the mid- to late-nineteenth century when effusive ornamentation reached its peak in American homes. The exhibition and this presentation will include examples of both two- and three-dimensional objects in various materials, including beads, ceramics, feathers, fibers, hair, metal, paint, porcupine quills, wood, and other materials. 

One of our Brownbag Lectures

Weekly lectures held at the Museum's Research and Collections Center. Lectures are usually held during lunchtime on Wednesday. The RCC is located at 1011 E. Ash Street in Springfield. Access to the building is from 10 ½ Street (between Ash and Laurel Streets), where there is ample visitor parking in the west parking lot. For more information, please call 217-785-0037. Brown Bag Lectures are free and open to the public.

Also, if you want to be informed of upcoming lectures by email, you can sign up for the brownbag announcement list.