Final farewells of the 19th century are at the center of the 2014 Decorative Arts and Preservation Forum and Antiques Show and Sale.
“Coming For to Carry Me Home: 19th Century Mourning Customs” is the theme of the three-day event that begins Thursday at 7 p.m. with a complimentary wine and hors d’oeuvres reception to open the Forum’s Antiques Show at the Rosenzweig Arts Center in downtown Columbus.
The Southeast Tourism Society’s Top 20 Event for October, presented by the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation, brings together leading historians, authors, floral designers, educators and antiques dealers to celebrate the arts and rich culture and heritage of Columbus and the South. The public is urged to enjoy the events, most of which are free.
Queen Victoria and the long goodbye
This year’s theme is a compelling one.
“Mourning has really been being talked about; it’s a very trendy topic,” said Dixie Butler, a co-organizer of the Forum. She and Mississippi State University Plant and Soil Sciences Professor Jim DelPrince help coordinate the event, assisting Nancy Carpenter, executive director of the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation.
It’s difficult for modern women to comprehend, but there was a time when long, drawn-out mourning periods, wardrobe and elaborate practices were dictated by society. Widows could be expected to dress in black for up to two years, refrain from most social settings, even use mourning stationary. (Men usually had it easier, often adding only a black armband to their daily garb.)
Grief was more than an emotion for Americans during the 1800s; it was a way of life, says the National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas. Their collections include clocks, quilts, portraits and jewelry from the hair of decedents that show how everyday items were transformed into ways to memorialize the dearly departed.
The protracted constraints and grand-scale observances were, in part, thanks to Queen Victoria of England. The long-reigning monarch went into deep mourning following the death of her Prince Albert in 1861 and remained so until her own death in 1901.
Dr. Graham Boettcher, curator of American art at the Birmingham Museum of Art, is one of five speakers at the upcoming Forum.
“Because the Queen of England was in mourning for her departed prince consort, that helped create a fashion around mourning attire and mourning jewelry as well,” said Boettcher, whose talk is titled “Mourning a la Mode: The Art of Victorian Bereavement.” “I’ll be talking about the costumes, certainly, but also other customs, including the difference between ‘full mourning’ and ‘partial mourning.'”
From food to flowers
Sharing the Rosenzweig Arts Center Omnova Theater stage with Boettcher during Forum weekend will be renowned chef and restaurateur Robert St. John of Hattiesburg to talk about “Funeral Foods of the South”; Ty Leslie of Charleston, South Carolina, on “Opulent Floral Design” inspired by Charleston’s historic cemetery; award-winning author Kate Sweeney of Atlanta discussing “American Afterlife: Cemeteries in Victorian and Modern Context”; and collector and lecturer Terri Cournoyer of Louisville with “Gone but Not Forgotten: A Study of Victorian Mourning Jewelry.”
“I love this jewelry; it’s touching,” explained Cournoyer. “People cared so much and put so much craftsmanship, so much art, into it.” In her talk, the collector will show pieces and elaborate on the custom of wearing only black jewelry while in mourning. Most was made of jet, vulcanite or gutta-percha, a hardened substance using latex from Malaysian trees.
Floral designer Ty Leslie is the first Forum speaker, at 10 a.m. Friday morning.
“Ty has demonstrated floral design to audiences all over the world,” said DelPrince. Leslie was a feature writer for “Floral and Nursery Times,” and has created flowers for the Academy Awards. His designs have appeared in film, television and print, and his clients have included politicians, royalty and celebrities.
Sweeney’s latest book, “American Afterlife” (University of Georgia Press), gives a lively tour of the way we say good-bye and the “why” behind it, taking time out, as one reviewer said, to relish the “magnificent oddities” along the way.
Celebrity chef St. John is well-known to much of the Golden Triangle audience. The former Mississippi Restaurateur of the Year is the author of eight books, including collaborations with acclaimed Mississippi watercolorist Wyatt Waters. He has been featured on “The Food Network,” “Martha Stewart Living” and “The Travel Channel,” among others. His topic, funeral foods, is one the Deep South in particular embraces.
All lecture presentations are free.
Music, antiques, grand dinners
In addition to speakers at the Rosenzweig Arts Center, a free musical program at Mississippi University for Women’s Poindexter Hall at 7:30 p.m. Friday is open to the public. Dessert and coffee follows.
The antiques show and sale will be open during Thursday’s reception from 7 to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admittance is free.
Ticketed events include two Grand Patron dinners, one at the home of MUW President Dr. Jim Borsig and the other at Rosedale, the home of Gene and Leigh Imes, plus a Friday morning breakfast at the Arts Center.
Grand Patron tickets with access to all events are $150. Individual tickets to the breakfast are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. For tickets, contact the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau, 662-329-1191 (ext. 7151) or 800-920-3533. Checks should be made payable to the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation.
“I really think this year will be one of our best programs!” said Carpenter. “We have amazing lectures and exceptional Antiques Show vendors, including a new linen dealer from North Carolina and a new rug dealer from Memphis as well as returning dealers from Mississippi, Kentucky, Florida and Tennessee. And the restoration specialist will be here to work on site and to take pieces to be worked on.”
Boettcher concurs. “I always enjoy coming to Columbus and being part of the Forum, and I think this year’s will be particularly exciting. I love the roster of other speakers and the added bonus of it coinciding with All Hallow’s Eve and All Saints’ Eve.”
For Cournoyer, too, a history major in college, the Forum topic is compelling.
“There’s no little bit of this that is not interesting to me. You can learn so much,” she said of the eternal theme.
Whether it’s done with a tattoo on a calf, a decal on a truck or, as the Victorians often did, with a piece of jewelry made from a lock of their departed’s hair, people will always want to commemorate loved ones lost, Cournoyer said. “There really is no difference.”
Decorative Arts and Preservation Forum and Antiques Show and Sale
Oct. 30-Nov. 1
Thursday
■ 7-9 p.m. – Complimentary Antiques Show opening reception
Friday
■ 10 a.m.-5 p.m. – Antiques Show and Sale open
■ 9 a.m. – *Breakfast (ticket required)
■ 10 a.m. – Ty Leslie, AIFD, “Opulent Floral Design”
■ 11:15 a.m. – Kate Sweeney, “American Afterlife”
■ 6 p.m. – *Grand Patron Dinner, home of MUW President Dr. Jim Borsig (ticket required)
■ 7:30 p.m. – Musical program followed by dessert and coffee, MUW’s Poindexter Hall, (compliments of MUW)
(Note: The Stephen D. Lee Home museum at 316 Seventh St. N., with its collection of mourning items, will be open Friday until 4 p.m.)
Saturday
■ 10 a.m.-5 p.m. – Antiques Show and Sale
■ 8-8:30 a.m. – Coffee and pastries
■ 8:30 a.m. – Dr. Graham Boettcher, “The Art of Victorian Bereavement”
■ 9:45 a.m. – Robert St. John, “Funeral Foods of the South”
■ 11:15 a.m. – Terri Cournoyer, “Study of Victorian Jewelry”
■ 7 p.m. – *Grand Patron Dinner, Rosedale, home of Gene and Leigh Imes
All events are at the Rosenzweig Arts Center, 501 Main St., Columbus, unless noted otherwise. Events are free and open to the public unless designated. For information or Grand Patron tickets, call 662-329-1191 (ext. 7151) of 800-920-3533.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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