Museum of Russian Icons Annual Report 2016 V2 Annual Report 2017 | Page 12

TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
Discovering St. Nicholas
On view from November 20, 2015,
through January 23, 2016
The traveling exhibit Discovering St.
Nicholas originated from the St.
Nicholas Center in Holland, MI.
The exhibition showcased a vast
collection of art, icons, symbols,
toys, statues and other treasures
from around the world. Displays
depicted stories and legends
that have been passed from
generation to generation, and
Nicholas’s place within
faith traditions and
international customs.
Toys, Trinkets, and
Treasures:
The Story of the
Nesting Doll
On view February 11
through June 25, 2016
Featuring several
hundred dolls from the
remarkable collection of
nesting dolls generously
donated to the Museum
in 2015 by Pamela Kruskal,
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this exhibition traced the history of the nesting doll, and examined its
regional differences across Russia and in other countries, including
Poland, Ukraine, and Japan. The nearly encyclopedic collection was
supplemented with loans of several contemporary nesting dolls from
the collection of Museum docent Larissa Dyan. The doll sets ranged
from three to twenty pieces. In addition to the traditional nesting doll
figure of a mother, the exhibition featured dolls depicting animals,
fairy tales, and even cosmonauts. The exhibition was a focal point of
the MA-MAtryoshka Festival held in May at Clinton Town Hall.
In Company with Angels: Seven Rediscovered
Tiffany Windows
On view July 14 through November 6, 2016
(extended from October 16)
This exhibition included seven rare Tiffany stained glass windows
created in 1902 for a Swedenborgian church in Cincinnati, OH. The
windows were displaced when the church was razed in 1964, and
were packed away for many years before being moved, in unmarked
crates, to a barn at a Swedenborgian Church in Pennsylvania in 1991.
Ten years later, the new minister opened the crates and rediscovered
the remarkable windows. They were carefully cleaned and restored,
and are now shared with the public by the nonprofit organization
“In Company with Angels,” which organized the exhibition. The
windows represent the Seven Churches of Asia described in the
Book of Revelation: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis,
Philadelphia, and Laodicea. In addition to the windows, the exhibition
included several icons of angels from the Museum’s collection, as
well as Tiffany glass and silver objects from the collections of Frank
W. Ford and other private collections.