Louisville, KY

Picture by nkzs-875251-www.sxc.hu

The latest exhibit to open at the Speed Museum is For Safekeeping: The Kentucky Sugar Chest, 1790-1850. Clifton Anderson and Professor Marianne Ramsey of Eastern Kentucky University curated this exhibit, and the collection is part of the Speed Museum’s commitment to preserve Kentucky’s artistic and folk heritage.

For Safekeeping will display over forty pieces of sugar chest in various forms that show a variety of design and construction features. The social and cultural impact of sugar and its uses during this time periods will also be explored.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries white sugar was a high priced commodity that was a sign of status, and protecting this valuable food product was the impetus behind the variety of this type of protective furniture. The Speed’s collection includes sugar chests, desks, and presses.

This exhibit is also part of the Speed’s long-term goal to become “the nation’s leader in the preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of important Kentucky fine arts, decorative arts, folk arts, and design.” Also see www.koar.org for more information on the Speed’s award-winning Kentucky Online Arts Resource.

There will also be a clinic on October 20, 2007 in conjunction with this exhibit. Professor Craig T, Friend of North Carolina State University will give a talk about life on the early Kentucky frontier, while Marianne Ramsey will discuss inlaid furniture. Andy Anderson, a Kentucky antiques dealer, will lecture about the form of the sugar chest. Tickets for the clinic are $10 or $5 for members.

The exhibit run from October 9-December 2, 2007
Admission to the event is free.

The Speed Art Museum
2035 South Third Street
Louisville, KY 40208
502-634-2700

See the Art History Guide for more on art in general.

The Speed Art Museum, Sugar Chests, Kentucky Decorative Arts