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The Holidays at the Renwick
December 8, 2009


Handmade ornaments at the Renwick

Handmade ornaments made by the Society of Decorative Painters.

This year the Smithsonian American Art Museum is displaying a decorated holiday tree at its Renwick Gallery, the museum’s branch for contemporary craft and decorative arts. The 15-foot, 1,000-pound, bulbed Douglas fir was provided and installed by the friendly folks at the Smithsonian’s Horticulture Services Division and the Office of Facilities Management. It is festively adorned with more than 500 handcrafted ornaments made specifically for the tree by members of the Society of Decorative Painters, who range in age from 6 to 80 years old. The ornaments, each inspired by one of the paintings currently on display in the Renwick Gallery’s Grand Salon, were donated by the Society for display on the tree; however they will not be accepted into the museum’s collection. We invite you to come see the tree, on display through January 3. And you can view photos anytime on the museum’s Flickr page!


Handmade ornaments at the Renwick

On December 5 members of the public attended the Renwick Holiday Festival to decorate their own ornaments and enjoy festive carols by the Smithsonian Encore Chorale.


Posted by Mandy on December 8, 2009 in Post It



Comments

I'm curious why the ornaments will not be accepted into the museum’s collection. Will the museum be keeping them just for display or will they be returned?

I work in a small museum and like to know the rationale behind other museums' decisions.

Thanks.

Posted by: gigi | Dec 9, 2009

The Smithsonian American Art Museum accepts only those works of art that truly fill a gap in or complement its collection, and then only after careful consideration by museum curators, administrators and directors will an object be acquired. Because of this rigorous selection process, the museum adds to its collection only a tiny percentage of what is offered. In this case, the ornaments donated by the Society of Decorative Painters did not fill such a need.

Currently there is no plan to return the ornaments, as they were a donation. We would hope to find a use for them again, but that decision has not yet been made.

Posted by: Mandy Young | Dec 9, 2009


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