July 23, 2010 – January 9, 2011
Price-Strongwell Galleries
Exhibition Reception: Tuesday, July 27
Members and Lenders 5-6 pm, Public 6-8 pm
About the Exhibition
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, wealthy, educated men set aside entire rooms of their homes to house collections of antiquities, natural history specimens, or other unique objects, often with exotic or novel qualities. Called wunderkammers, these cabinets of curiosities were the early modern predecessors to the museum of today. A Cabinet of Curiosities is a wunderkammer of extraordinary material culture from Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee, but with some twists incorporated – are all of these objects’ stories absolutely true?
Related Events
Stories from the Field: Tuesday, August 3, 7 pm
Marcus King, original Cultural Heritage Project Field Researcher, gives a special gallery talk
Family Day with Storytelling: Saturday, September 11, 10 am – 1 pm
Join us for a fun day of art-making and tall tale-telling.
Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder:
Read the book that inspired the show! Join book discussions at the Washington County Public Library in the month of September and attend a talk with Curator Elyse D. Gerstenecker at WCPL on Sunday, September 19.
Artist’s Talk with Daniel Essig: Tuesday, October 12, 7 pm
Book sculptor Daniel Essig will speak on wunderkammers and their relationship to his art.
