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The Observer
NEWS
Hard Times for Historic Houses
In 2007, Style 1900 named the Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff and the Marston House in San Diego as two of America’s “must-see” Arts and Crafts sites. Now, however, these important house museums face closure as the poor economy takes its toll.
The Marston House, a 1905 Arts and Crafts masterpiece by William Hebbard and Irving Gill, closed to the public in February. As we go to press, SOHO (Save Our Heritage Organisation), San Diego County’s leading historic preservation group, hopes to assume operation of the house (and tend to critical deferred-maintenance issues). For the latest, see www.sohosandiego.org or www.marstonhouse.org. The Riordan Mansion (www.azstateparks.com/Parks/RIMA) is a remarkable time capsule with Ponderosa siding and original Stickley furniture. The Mansion is part of the Arizona State Parks system, an agency that brings in more than enough revenue to pay for itself—or would, if the proceeds weren’t routinely diverted to other state needs. With Arizona’s budget in crisis, legislators propose to skim so much money from the parks system in 2009 and 2010 that up to a third of the sites, including Riordan, may close. Collateral damage would include the tens of millions of dollars that parks visitors spend at restaurants, hotels and the like. To help, see www.arizonastateparksfoundation.org; submit an online comment to the parks board (http://azstateparks.com/mailer2.html); email Rep. Tom Chabin (tchabin@azleg.gov) and Senator Albert Hale (ahale@azleg.gov); and contact Governor Jan Brewer, 1700
W. Washington, Phoenix AZ 85007, 1-800-253-0883.
…And for Artisans, Too
Not since the Great Depression have craftspeople felt such a financial pinch. The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) provides emergency money to sustain craft artists through difficult times or after natural disasters, and to fund professional development. Since 1987, CERF has helped hundreds with over $1 million in aid. To see a video
montage sampling of the artists CERF assisted in 2008, visit www.youtube.com/user/craftemergency. For more information or to contribute, call 802-229-2306 or visit www.craftemergency.org. Nelson-Atkins Opens New Galleries
The American galleries at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, are now resplendent after a $7 million project
that funded the restoration of more than 20 paintings, the historically accurate reframing of 20 more, and the creation of a new gallery dedicated entirely to American works on paper. The collection includes work from Gilded-Age artists like Frederic Edwin Church and John Singer Sargent, early Modernists like Marsden Hartley, George Bellows and Reginald Marsh, and famed regionalists like Thomas Hart Benton. Many of the decorative works of art—from a Nathaniel Gould chest to a Frank Lloyd Wright chair—have not been on view for decades (816-751-1278 or www.nelson-atkins.org).
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