Media Contacts
Lynette Nyman, Minneapolis Institute of Art, (612) 870-3173; lnyman@artsmia.org
Tammy Pleshek, Minneapolis Institute of Art, (612) 870-3171; tpleshek@artsmia.org
Anne-Marie Wagener, Minneapolis Institute of Art, (612) 870-3280; awagener@artsmia.org
Holiday Traditions: Designed for Dining
Friday, November 24, 2006, through Sunday, January 18, 2007
Minneapolis, October 18, 2006—The finest ceramics, glass, and silver can transform a meal into a celebration, particularly during the holidays. Four centuries of objects designed for dining take center stage in this year’s “Holiday Traditions” exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA). The exhibition will be on view in the Bell Family Decorative Arts Court, Period Rooms, and at the Purcell-Cutts House starting Friday, November 24, 2006, through Sunday, January 18, 2007. Costumed docents offer tours from Thanksgiving through New Year’s. An annual tradition for many, close to three thousand people took guided tours of “Holiday Traditions” last year. For more information on tours, please call (612) 870-3131.
Purcell-Cutts House Holiday Tours
Holiday tours of the Purcell-Cutts House are once again a festive feature of “Holiday Traditions.” William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie designed the Prairie School-style house, and Purcell’s family moved in upon the home’s completion at Christmas 1913. The house will be decorated for the holidays to reflect the upper-middle-class, “progressive” lifestyle of the Purcells around 1915. Forty-five minute tours led by costumed docents will highlight the gifts, toys, food, and social traditions of the period that the Purcells might have enjoyed. For example, many people had begun to reject Victorian knickknacks in favor of useful gifts that reflected modern aesthetic values of simplicity and function. The house will also feature a Christmas tree decorated mainly with handmade paper ornaments, some in the Japanese style.
Tours will be offered for six weekends during “Holiday Traditions”: November 25 through December 31. Please note: There will be no tours on Sunday, December 24 (Christmas Eve), as the museum will be closed. Saturday tours are at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and at 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30 p.m. Sunday tours are at 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30 p.m. Visitors must use the shuttlebus from the MIA to the Purcell-Cutts House. Shuttle buses run Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon until 5 p.m. Members and the public can purchase Purcell-Cutts House holiday-tour tickets in advance by calling the Members’ Phone Center at (612) 870-6323 or (888) 642-2787, extension 6323, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
About the Minneapolis Institute of Art
The Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA), home to one of the finest encyclopedic art collections in the country, houses nearly 100,000 works of art representing more than 5,000 years of world history. Highlights of the permanent collection include European masterworks by Rembrandt, Poussin, and van Gogh; modern and contemporary paintings and sculpture by Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, Stella, and Close; as well as internationally significant collections of decorative arts, Modernist design, photographs, and Asian, African, and Native American art. General admission is always free. Some special exhibitions have a nominal admission fee. Museum hours: Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Closed Monday. For more information, call (612) 870-3131 or visit www.artsmia.org.
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