CIVIL disobedience monumental RIGHTS
September 4, 2020 – January 3, 2021
An installation of the suite of lithograph prints of Billy Morrow Jackson’s Protest Drawings surrounding a proposed monument of Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee by figurative sculptor Edward McCartan. McCartan was one of six sculptors invited in 1935 to submit models for a monument to be erected in Baltimore, Maryland. Laura Gardin Fraser was selected and completed the monument in 1948. It was removed in 2017 after the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville – a protest against the decision to order removal of Confederate monuments and memorials from public spaces. The momentum to remove Confederate memorials increased after the Charleston church shooting of 2015, and continues to this day as part of the protests that followed the killing of George Floyd.
76th Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition
November 6, 2020 – January 10, 2020
In December of 1944, the Swope’s second director (1944-60), Dr. Allen Albert, and curator Hazel Dodge announced plans for a new and exciting annual exhibition where all artists of Terre Haute and vicinity could enter their work. They planned for it to become as permanent and noteworthy as the Hoosier Salon program, and the first Wabash Valley show opened May 6, 1945 to an outstanding attendance of 350 people.
The Wabash Valley Exhibition remains one of the Museum’s most popular events, attracting a diverse array of artists and patrons alike. Because of this, it is safe to say Dr. Albert and Ms. Dodge achieved their goal of furthering the support and interest in Midwestern art.