As many of you know, Sharon Herbert is on sabbatical in Jerusalem as the Annual Professor at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research. As Acting Director, I look forward to an exciting and eventful year.
The academic year has already started on a high note with the installation of a new exhibition, “The Fabric of Everyday Life: Historic Textiles from Karanis, Egypt.” Historic textiles of the Roman period and later antiquity are extremely rare in most parts of the world. The Kelsey is fortunate to own approximately 3,500 textiles from the site of Karanis, a Graeco-Roman village that was occupied for more than 500 years. Most of the textiles on display were used in daily life-remnants of cloth, rugs, and containers that evoke intimate aspects of people’s lives. Kelsey curator Thelma K. Thomas will discuss the significance of these rare bits and pieces of antiquity in a lecture on the evening of October 19, 2001.
We are also deep in the throes of planning another exhibition, “Cavafy’s World: Ancient Passions” (see story). This exhibition reflects an unusual transatlantic collaboration, as well as a partnership between the Kelsey Museum and the programs in Modern Greek Studies and Comparative Literature. Three different exhibitions on campus will feature Cavafy’s work. The main one, housed in the Kelsey, will highlight pieces from the Museum’s collections in conjunction with those poems that focus on the ancient world. The Museum of Art will display a series of moving etchings, based on Cavafy’s poems, by the well-known British artist David Hockney, and the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library will devote a section of an exhibition to various international publications of the poet’s work. Opening February 21, 2002, the exhibitions are part of a Cavafy year on campus honoring the poet and the establishment of the Constantine P. Cavafy Professorship in Modern Greek Studies and Comparative Literature. Watch your mailbox for invitations to the many events surrounding the celebration of this poet!
Finally, we are delighted to announce the addition of two outstanding individuals to the Kelsey’s roster: Suzanne Davis, our new Curator of Conservation, and Scott Meier, the Kelsey’s new Exhibit Preparator. Suzanne is a graduate of the conservation program at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts who has worked most recently at the Smithsonian Institution and the Naval Museum, both in Washington, D.C. Scott received a BFA in Graphic Design at Indiana University and has worked for Design Craftsmen, a leading exhibit design and fabrication firm, and The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. He will replace Dana Buck, an invaluable member of the Kelsey team for more than a dozen years who helped design and install nearly 30 Kelsey exhibitions. We will all greatly miss Dana’s humor, talents, and unflappable nature. We wish him great success in the next chapter of his life.
As always, we look forward to seeing you at the many Kelsey events, lectures, and Family Days that are planned for this year.
—Lauren Talalay, Acting Director
