Museum Confidential

Museums acquire. They keep. They care for their objects. And it always causes a bit of a stir when a Museum decides to sell something from its collection. In May of 2018, at Christie’s in Hong Kong, an 18th century Chinese vase owned by Philbrook Museum of Art sold for $14.5 million. On this episode we chat with Philbrook Director Scott Stulen to learn the real story behind this potentially controversial decision.

The name "Edward Hopper" is synonymous with loneliness. Hotels and motels play a central role in Hopper’s art. "Edward Hopper and The American Hotel" recently opened at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. It is the first in-depth look at this side of Hopper’s work and features a recreated room based on Hopper’s “Western Motel.” The space serves as a fully functional hotel room. Every night sold out before opening day. On this episode we chat with the show’s curator, Dr. Leo Mazow.

Sometimes a place becomes a museum by accident. This takes the perfect mix of history, people, luck, notoriety, and course, art. One of the best examples of this rare occurrence is the legendary Chelsea Hotel in New York City. Acclaimed author Fiona Davis writes novels about famous New York buildings. She recently wrote about the Chelsea Hotel, so we checked in with her to talk all about it.

Bruce Springsteen just turned 70. But The Boss shows no signs of slowing down. In his hometown of Freehold, New Jersey, there’s a new exhibition at the Monmouth County Historical Association. It’s called, quite simply, SPRINGSTEEN: HIS HOMETOWN. On this episode we talk all things Bruce with Eileen Chapman, Director of The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University.

In 2013, while looking through a forgotten box of archival materials, Dr. Seuss’s widow, Audrey Geisel, discovered a folder containing a collection of sketches for a project called “The Horse Museum.” It was only about 80% finished and contained no completed artwork. Editors at Random House set out to complete the book and hired Australian illustrator Andrew Joyner to provide the art. A true love letter to museums and a wonderful primer on art history, “Dr. Seuss’ Horse Museum” was released a few weeks ago. On this episode we speak with Andrew Joyner from his small town home in southern Australia. 

Spoiler: Adam Lerner isn’t your average museum director. For the past 10 years, Adam ran the show at MCA Denver. His impact on the institution, the city, and in many ways, the industry, is undeniable. Adam recently stepped down to explore new adventures. We were asked to do an exit interview of sorts. Recorded live in Denver. 

During our summer break, we headed down to Atlanta to interview hip-hop artist and activist, Killer Mike. He’s known widely for his work with Run The Jewels, but this trip was to talk about museums. Specifically, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art. A little over a year ago, Mike became a board member at The High. We wanted to check in and see how it’s going. What follows is a chat with Mike and High Museum Director Rand Suffolk. Recorded in the studios of public radio WABE in Atlanta.

For our 2019 Summer Special we chat with photographer, actor, and legendary skateboarder, Jason Lee (Mallrats, Almost Famous). Lee spent a good portion of 2018 road-tripping through Oklahoma taking photos for his first solo museum show. On view at Philbrook Downtown until November 10.

For our Season 2 finale we headed down to the Big Easy for a live show to kick off the annual conference of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). We set up shop inside the beautiful and mouthwatering Southern Food and Beverage Museum for a chat with Don Wildman, host of the long running Travel Channel show, “Mysteries at the Museum.”

There are many examples of writers using paintings and other visual art as inspiration to create an entirely new work. Think The Girl with a Pearl Earring or even The Da Vinci Code. That’s exactly what award-winning writer Donna Baier Stein did when she decided to write a new collection of short stories based on works by iconic American artist, Thomas Hart Benton. The issues Benton dealt with through the height of the Great Depression and on still resonate and echo today. We recently sat down with Stein to talk about her new book (Scenes from the Heartland), how she landed on Thomas Hart Benton, and the one piece that inspired the whole project.