King Tut's Beard

Last year King Tut’s Golden funeral mask was accidentally disfigured. An employee at the Cairo Museum accidentally knocked off the beard while working on the exhibits lighting. Hasty attempts were made to reattach the beard with epoxy glue, which is not soluble or museum quality. But experts stated that they would be able to restore the mask without any permanent damage. Restorers are now displaying the lab work that is being done on the mask, detailing what techniques will be used to remove the epoxy and discussing how to detach and reattach the beard to the mask. It is estimated that the work will take 1 to 2 months. It is uncertain how deep the glue has gone into the beard and mask, but specialists are doing their best to remove it. Wooden sticks are being used to remove the beard and glue and there is talk of trying to melt the glue off somehow.

                The discovery of King Tut’s tomb by Howard Cater in 1921 shook the world and cause a great deal of excitement and interest in Egypt. It is important to restore the beard and mask because King Tut’s mask is one of Cairo’s main tourist attractions, with people visiting it from all around the world. Restorers are using and viewing this situation in a positive way by capitalizing on the chance to learn more about the mask and how it was made. Researchers and experts will study the beard and mask, particularly the areas where the beard was broken off, to explore what material and techniques were used to make the mask. Manufacturing techniques used by Egyptians to create masks like this is still a mystery, this is a rare chance to change this. I think it is great that researchers are turning such a terrible incident into an optimistic project to learn more and let the world know about what is being done in this situation. 

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/researchers-put-king-tutankhamun-mask-restoration-on-display/

Visions of Conflict Exhibition

In light of the anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, The Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries presented the exhibition Visions of Conflict, a compilation of photographs. on display from October 18-November 15, 2015. The exhibition was curated by Benjamin J. Montague, Associate Professor of Art and included work by four photographers who create work in response to conflict and war. Ziyah Gafić, Louie Palu, Jessica Hines, and Larry Price were the photographers featured in the exhibition and each offered different techniques, styles, sizes, and printing of photography. Artist talks were given by Gafić (October 18th) and Palu (October 30th) followed by Q&As and receptions. Both artist talks and receptions drew in many people with a variety of questions for the artists.

The pieces in Ziyah Gafić’s series “Quest for Identity” were all photographs of items that belonged to people who were vicitms of genocide in Bosnia. These items were found in mass grave and were catalogued in hopes of returning the items to family members. Gafić photographed the items and printed them on square PVC plaques, he included 72 small pieces and 4 large pieces. In “Garmisir Marines” Louie Palu featured large formal portraits of soldiers returning from patrol in Afghanistan. Palu invited the viewer to experience conflict through the expressions on the faces of the soldiers. Larry Price’s “Redemption Songs” were portraits of adults from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who were survivors of conflict as child soldiers and women trapped in the sex trade. Price’s images share stories of hope and perseverance. Jessica Hines formed the series of images “My Brother’s War” based off of the experiences her brother had during the Vietnam War and how those experiences reflected on her.

Visions of Conflict attracted a total of 1,254 visitors in four weeks, with an average of 313 people visiting per week. Many Wright State Art and Art History classes visited to do projects, papers, and reports involving the exhibition. A good number of the public visited the show as well. The exhibition was a good addition to the peace talks and activities that were happening and have been happening in Dayton and all around the world. It gave people a visual representation of the tragedies of war and conflict and why the world needs peace and.

Source: http://liberal-arts.wright.edu/art-galleries/exhibitions 

The Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors

The Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors is an organization that has been around since the 1938 and has been highlighting local artists of Dayton ever since. DSPS was founded by local artists in 1938 who were associated with the Dayton Art Institute. DSPS meeting and exhibitions occurred at the Dayton Art Institute for many years, but it came time for the society to have their own space. The members bought a Victorian style house during Dayton’s urban renewal project located at 48 High Street in the St. Anne’s Hill District. 

                The house was built by Wesley Boren who moved to Dayton in 1836 from Tennessee. Boren actually walked to Dayton from Jonesboro, Tennessee and was penniless. He started his own business by using is training as a brick contractor, he started his own brick making yard in Dayton. He began building is own house at 48 High Street in 1869 where he and his family lived for the rest of his life. His daughter and her husband eventually moved back into the house after living just down the street from the Boren house. The family temporarily moved to higher ground during the 1913 flood, but thankfully the house was untouched by the water.

                The house was turned into a rooming house by many of the next owners. One owner lost the house during the Great Depression. It was later auctioned off and bought by David L. Smith, Chairman of the Board of the DSPS in 1967. There have been some additions and changes made to the house, such as the kitchen being torn down and replaced and a handicap ramp added to the back. The DSPS remodeled and converted the house into an art gallery where local artists can display and sale their art. 

Source: http://www.daytondsps.org/index.php/history/our-building

Herbert Eustis Winlock

Name: I am the ghost of Herbert Eustis Winlock since I was born in 1884 and died in

                1950.

Occupation/known for: I am a world renowned Egyptologist and worked at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art climbing the ranks to Director in 1932.

·         I was a better Egyptologist and was better at excavations

·         I had to take the director’s position due to the Depression

·         Before I was Director of MMA I was Director of Excavations in Egypt

Accomplishments:

·         Found statue fragments of Queen Hatshepsut

·         Worked with Dr. J. Morton Howell

o   Which is the topic of why I am here today

·         I am here to tell you the story of how Dayton got a mummy

Dr. J. Morton Howell:

·         From Dayton

·         Doctor- specialized in children’s medicine & health

·         Author: wrote scientific, medical, and adventure books

·         Became U.S. Ambassador of Egypt 1922-1927

o   Appointed by President Harding

·         Brought Egyptology to Dayton

·         Arranged for two mummies to be brought to Dayton

o   I assisted him with shipping one mummy I found in 1922 at an excavation in Thebes. It was sent to the Dayton Society of Natural History (back in the 1920s & 30s it was still part of the Dayton Public Library)

o   Other mummy came from a French excavation in Deir el-Medina

Mummies:

·         late 1800s/early 1900s mummies were treated poorly and carelessly

·         some were displayed in private homes as center pieces or for show at dinner parties

·         Some were torn apart and different pieces were sold separately as tourist items and commodities

·         Some were destroyed from grave robbers

·         I reburied many of the mummies I found after taking intricate notes first, in order to preserve them and prevent these awful acts from happening

·         I was very happy to allow for and assist Dr. Howell in bringing a mummy to Dayton to be in a museum for educational and research purposes

Legalities involving antiquities during the 1920s

·         By the 1920s an Egyptian Antiquities law had been passed that prohibited giving antiquities to foreign officials (but it was still a bit flax)

·         There was still a ‘division of finds’ between the Egyptian govt. and foreign expeditions which allowed people like me on expeditions to donate finds

·         This is how I was able to give Howell a mummy for Dayton

Nesiur:

·         Mummy’s name is Nesiur (Esiur)

·         She was buried ca. 700 B.C. in a tomb near the Temple Deir el-Bahari

·         I gave Howell Nesiur, 4 limestone canopic jars, & a number of blue faience ushabtis (statues) to display at the museum.

o   Canopic jars: Baboon- lungs

·         Baboon-lungs

·         Human- liver

·         Jackal- stomach

·         Falcon- intestines

·         The canopic jars and faience statues are not from the same tomb as Nesiur but are from the same time period……I thought they would be good examples of burial goods to be displayed with Nesiur at the museum

Now the people of Dayton can learn about another far away culture and understand it a little better.

Source: http://archive.archaeology.org/0401/abstracts/egypt.html

               https://dictionaryofarthistorians.org/winlockh.htm

              Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, Dayton

The Biltmore Estate

The Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina is a very large estate with great history. Construction of the Biltmore began in 1889 and took over six years to build the French Renaissance chateau, making it the largest undertaking of residential architecture. George Vanderbilt had this house built for his family when he moved to North Carolina from New York in 1888. George was the grandson of the famous industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt, so he had the reputation and resources to take on a large project like this. On Christmas Eve 1895 George and his family were able to move into the house that had over four acres of floor space with 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces.

                George married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser in 1889 and had a little girl, Cornelia in 1900. Additions were beginning to appear around the house at this time too that included a dairy barn and horse barn. The horse barn served as both a social and agricultural network at the estate for farmers and other workers there and still remains a unique part of the estates history. In 1930 Cornelia opened the house to the public. The people of Asheville hoped this would increase tourism during the tough times of the Depression. During WWII, in 1942 the house is used to store art from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. to prevent any of the art from being damaged or stolen.

                Now the house is a great get-away and tourist attraction where people can visit for tours and programs at the estate, participate in wine tasting, visit the gardens, and experience outdoor recreational activities hosted by the Biltmore. Visitors can also stay at the Biltmore Inn located minutes from the house and can visit the Antler village located next to the Biltmore Estate to do shopping, dine out, have a spa day, or take in the local sites. The Biltmore is also known today for its success in environmental stewardship with its use of solar panels and tree protection project.

 Source: http://www.biltmore.com/

Dayton Peace Accords Anniversary

This year marked the 20^th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords, an agreement reached on November 21, 1995. The agreement was made by the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia to end the war in Bosnia and to create an outline a General Framework Agreement for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is known as the Dayton Peace Accords because negotiations happened at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

                This was an important move because brutal war over territory, power, and independence was happening in the former Yugoslavia region in the 1990s. The issue escalated when Croatia and Bosnia/ Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia. Ethnic Serbs retaliated against this with many attacks. Around the same time Croats and Bosnian Muslims began fighting each other over territory. There was so much conflict in the area with 100,000 people that died from this war and 2 million forced to abandon their homes. Former president Bill Clinton decided something needed to be done. Laying the final framework for peace talks in Dayton was not easy, but it eventually happened and peace has endured in Bosnia since.

                This year many events occurred in Dayton to celebrate the Peace Accord’s anniversary. Former president Clinton visited the University of Dayton to be the keynote speaker at a luncheon. Discussions and conferences all around Dayton were scheduled to happen involving current and former world leaders. An exhibition, Visions of Conflict took place at the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries at Wright State University that presented photography of the issues, emotions, and effects of this war through the work of Ziyah Gafic, Louie Palu, Jessica Hines, and Larry Price. Artist talks occurred along with the exhibition opening in October highlighting Ziyah Gafic and Louie Palu. Gafic lived in Bosnia during the conflict and photographed items that were found in mass graves in the region in hopes of returning these items to family members and loved ones of those who lost their lives. Palu did photography in the region and areas of Africa that highlighted survivors of sex trade and child labor.

                The Dayton community contributed a great deal when peace talks were being negotiated. Locals of Dayton sent food to the negotiators on base, held peace vigils, and displayed artwork done by local school children. The fact that the peace talks happened in Dayton gave Daytonians great pride in being a part of such a life altering event.

Ziyah Gafic, Quest for Identity series

Dayton Peace Accords 

Dress Codes

After watching Grease 2 during Thanksgiving Weekend, I thought about the changes made for females and how they dress for school since the 1950s. My mom told me when she was in high school in the mid-1950s all the girls wore the blouse or sweater with a poodle skirt and saddle shoes or penny loafers. The times when she was not able to get a ride to school during the winter months, she wore her overalls similar to ski pants. She told me she wore pants on the weekends and non school days.
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/fashion/sixties-dress.jpg

Then came the 1960s. This decade has a lot of options for women. There were those who chose to dress like First Lady Jackie Kennedy. This was a very classy, pulled together look. This was also the decade when Twiggy made her debut in fashion. The Mod look was in. This was straight lines, mixing colors. Pants were being more accepted in the schools.There was more of a scandal with the debut of the mini skirt and hot pants. There were rules on how short skirts could be for school. One could be sent home for the hemline being too short.

The 1970s brought the bell-bottom jean and halter top. The jumpsuit came into popularity and clogs were the footwear of choice in the early 1970s. Then came the era of disco. I remember getting my first pair of high heels. They were Candies and had a three inch heel. All one has to do is to watch The Partridge Family or The Brady Bunch to get a good sense of the clothes for families in this time frame. There were stricter rules for what to wear to school. The ones I attended required no bare midriffs and no mini skirts.

In came the 1980s. Shoulder pads, stirrup pants, harem pants and the preppy look was the hot new fashion. Also in the decade came the mini mini skirt, which was banned from schools for being too short. For the preppy look, it was all about the uplifted collar of the shirt or blouse. Colors of pink and green were hot. The saddle shoe came back into popularity for a short time for young women.
http://www.popsugar.com/fashion/photo-gallery/25505790/image/26844337/Working-colored-jeans-neon-belts-cropped-denim-jackets

Television shows had a great deal of what was in fashion during these decades. When MTV started airing videos, these also influenced kids on fashion.