The Owensboro Museum of Fine Arts will launch its annual Holiday Forest Festival of Trees this Saturday with a preview gala. The festival will feature two exhibitions —”The Forest of Trees” and “A Galaxy of Glass.”
The gala will take place from 6-8 p.m. Saturday. Highlights of the evening will feature a celebration of the conclusion to the museum’s “Campaign for the Future,” which raised $2.3 million to refurbish the museum’s facility and establish an operations endowment.
A highlight of the evening will be an unveiling of a donor acknowledgment wall, the naming of designated galleries to honor especially significant contributions, and the opening of the new Jack T. Wells Entrance to the museum galleries from Frederica Street.
The gala will feature holiday cuisine and entertainment by the Louisville Jazz Trio. Admission is $50 per person, discounted to $40 for subscribers to the OMFA Friends of the Foundation. Attendees can reserve a spot by contacting the museum at 270-685-3181 or [email protected].
The festival features two exhibitions. “The Forest of Trees” features 19 monumental Christmas trees designed to interpret the exhibit “A Galaxy of Glass.” The Glenmore Distillery has been the sole sponsor of the exhibitions since their inception in 1977.
Contributors of trees include the Owensboro Herb Society, St. Stephen Cathedral, and the Woven Together in Western Kentucky Basket Guild. A special feature is a showcase of designs by Gary Tunget, who created decorations for the galleries of the Medley Decorative Arts Wing. His exhibits include trees complementing the era of the historic structure, which was built in 1859.
“A Galaxy of Glass” is the result of a partnership with guest curator and Owensboro native Brook Forrest White, Jr., a well-known Kentucky glassmaker and owner of Flame Run Gallery in Louisville. White and Flame Run produce a range of works from individual glass vessels to large installations. White was a student and protégé of the internationally recognized glassmaker the late Stephen Rolfe Powell (1950-2019). OMFA has also partnered with Duncan McClellan Gallery in St. Petersburg, Florida, to exhibit a collection of Powell’s works.
Complementing the exhibition will be excerpts from the museum’s collection of more than 300 works of art in a wide variety of glassmaking techniques including blown, cast, etched, slumped, and carved objects dating from the mid-19th century to the present by major American and European artists.
The Holiday Forest Festival of Trees will remain on view through December 31. Beginning November 12, admission is $3 for adults and $2 for children.
A special activity for children during the 6-week holiday exhibition will be free art instruction in the museum’s interactive art studio, ARTLAND, where they will create holiday take-home decorations. ARTLAND, sponsored by the Michael E. Horn Family Foundation, is presented free to the public during regular museum hours.
OMFA is located at 9th and Frederica streets and is open Tuesday through Friday from 12-5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 p.m.
