Around the MAG

Picturing the Story

At first glance, an ancient Mycenaean vase, a 17th-century Flemish painting and a 20th-century Antelope Crest figure from West Africa don't have much in common. But as a new, interactive MAG website makes clear, these objects have stories to tell that can teach life lessons, celebrate our common human experience, even help explain the unexplainable.

With four other works from the Gallery's permanent collection, they're the focus of Picturing the Story: Narrative Arts and the Stories They Tell. The site, which was funded by a federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is geared to teachers and students but has much to interest any art-loving member of the general public.

Federal Grants Will Support Education Programs

2009 was a good year for for the Memorial Art Gallery, which received major federal funding for two educational programs.

In July, director Grant Holcomb announced a stimulus grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The $50,000 award will support staffing and other enhancements for Passport to the Past, an award-winning program that complements the state’s 6th–10th grade social studies curriculum.

Then in August, Holcomb announced that the Gallery has been awarded $150,000 by the Institute for Museum and Library Services' Museums for America program. This grant will launch Windows on the World, a multimedia initiative that will put information about the collection onto handheld devices—and into the hands of visitors.