Toledo Museum of Art event combines glass blowing, German culture
Written by Jason Mack | | jmack@toledofreepress.comThe Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) is bringing German culture to the Glass Pavilion on Oct. 21 with Artoberfest, presented by the 2445 Series.
“When we sat down for this event, one of our directives from [TMA director] Brian Kennedy was everything we do must seek to add value and connect with art,” said Nabeel Jabarin, development officer for planned giving at TMA. “I gave those parameters to the TMA Cultivation Committee. Through a lot of discussion, different things came about like flashlight tours and how to have the event in the Glass Pavilion. Having it on Fridays is successful for us since people are already out and the museum is already open.”
While the event is centered in the Glass Pavilion, the highlight is a scavenger hunt involving art in the Glass Pavilion and the main museum.
“I am really excited about the scavenger hunt,” said Dustin Hostetler, a Toledo artist and member of the TMA Cultivation Committee. “I have purposely not looked at the questions and answers yet, because I want to take part the night of the event. It’s a great excuse to rediscover some of the pieces in the museum’s collection.”
The scavenger hunt involves art centered around the themes of Artoberfest. The art included depicts people drinking, objects used for drinking or art made of objects used for drinking.
“It draws people across the street to the main building to look at the collection,” said Dana Syrek, development officer for foundation and corporate funding at TMA. “It makes looking at the collection fun and accessible and part of the evening activity instead of something separate.”
The hunt will take approximately 30 minutes. Participants receive a free raffle ticket for a drawing to win one of five glasses made for the event by Jeff Mack, the manager of the Hot Shop at the Glass Pavilion.
“The glasses I created for this event were inspired with the idea of function first and foremost,” Mack said. “They are things I want people to enjoy using. For the event, the planning committee picked out works of art for a fun museum-wide scavenger hunt that focuses on October-festive themes relating to the table, abundance and celebration. I looked at these works of art for inspiration, in some cases translating the glass directly from paintings. Such was the case with the roamer design, borrowed from Pieter Claesz’s “Still Life with Oysters,” or the tall flute form taken from Diego Velazquez’s “Man with a Wine Glass.”
Mack made the glasses in the furnace at the TMA and will be demonstrating glass blowing at Artoberfest.
There will be a sample of German beers and wines available in the Glass Pavilion “Bier Garten” along with a cash bar from Heidelberg Distributing, which is a sponsor of the event along with the TMA Cultivation Committee and Toledo Free Press Star.
The menu for Artoberfest includes streuselkuchen, currywurst, German potato salad, potato pancakes, chive creme friache, apple chutney, cheese, pretzels, smoked almonds, fruit and crackers.
Toledo City Councilman Steve Steel and Old West End Records owner Ben Langlois will provide the German music for the event.
“We both play accordion, which is not a common instrument in the music scene these days,” Steel said. “Me and Ben are going to do sort of a dueling accordion-type show. In general, we’ll be doing sort of German-type polka music.”
Steel and Langlois have known each other for years, but Artoberfest will be their first live performance together.
“We’ve never played together publicly, but we’ve been involved in a number of projects where our paths crossed a lot,” Steel said. “We’ve jammed together before, but we’ve never actually put it together as a show. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Artoberfest will run from 6-9 p.m. Oct. 21. Tickets are available in advance at $15 for members and $25 for nonmembers. Tickets at the door cost $20 for members and $30 for nonmembers. On Oct. 21, nonmembers buying tickets can apply the $30 to the cost of a membership, which is $55. To purchase tickets in advance, call (419) 255-8000 ext. 7432. TMA is located at 2445 Monroe St.
“The new director of the art museum is working really hard to make it play a larger role in the community,” Steel said. “Anything they can do to increase the outreach is a benefit. It’s one more way to get people to the art museum and spread the amenities of the museum into the community.”
“It’s a really stimulating way for people to interact with and celebrate art and each other,” Mack said. “This is the traditional time for the harvest festival, the Oktoberfest, especially in this region with its strong agricultural roots. It only makes sense for the museum to want to participate in that.”
Following Artoberfest, a flashlight tour of the museum is available at 10 p.m. at $5 for members and $10 for nonmembers. There are 100 tickets available, and flashlights are not provided. The tour takes approximately one hour.
“They take you to different parts of the museum you normally don’t get to see as well as highlighting some objects that look considerably different by flashlight than they do by the light of day,” said membership sales manager David Urbank. “One of the statues, by using the flashlight the shadow looks like the horse is galloping.”
Tags: Artoberfest, Brian Kennedy, Dana Syrek, Dustin Hostetler, Glass Pavilion, Nabeel Jabarin, TMA Cultivation Committee, Toledo Museum of Art
