Longmont Museum Announces 2009 Exhibit Schedule

Longmont, CO – The Longmont Museum & Cultural Center announces eight special exhibitions opening in 2009, with wide-ranging topics from global warming to contemporary and traditional quilts.

January 24 – April 5, 2009
The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World
The Longmont Museum & Cultural Center presents over 40 largeformat photographs by wildlife photographer Steven Kazlowski in The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World, on view January 24, 2009 to April 5, 2009. With camera in hand, Kazlowski has worked for over eight years to document the immediate impact of global warming on the Arctic ecosystem as seen through the story of climate change’s most compelling icon, the polar bear. This exhibit was developed by the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, in collaboration with Braided River, the conservation imprint of The Mountaineers Books.

January 24 – March 22, 2009
Jennifer Falck Linssen: Beyond Katagami
Katagami is a paper stencil used in printing Japanese kimono fabric. Colorado artist Jennifer Falck Linssen hand carves these intricate and abstract stencils, then shapes them into stunning paper sculptures. The organic forms of her art evoke both East and West.

April 4 – May 10, 2009
Portraits of Longmont’s Parks by Luc Nadeau
There are 34 parks in Longmont, each with its own distinctive personality. Photographer Luc Nadeau has photographed each park through the seasons, often seeing things that many of us might miss. His images record the hidden beauty of every park in Longmont.

April 18 – July 26, 2009
John H. Empson: Longmont’s Robber Baron
While New York industrialists and financiers like John D.Rockefeller and Henry Clay Frick are the best known of the late 19th century “robber barons,” Longmont had its own industrial giant. John H. Empson, founder of the Empson Cannery, was an innovator, an
industrialist, and a collector. This exhibit explores his multiple roles through historic photographs, artifacts, and Asian art from the Longmont Museum’s Empson collection.

May 23 – August 2, 2009
Little Builders
Young children become movers and shakers in Little Builders! Children age 2 and up play and learn while exploring the concepts of construction, motion and simple machines. They hand-operate a pulley and conveyer belt to explore cause and effect, or turn the wheels of a gantry crane to transport cargo from a freighter ship to a railroad car. They can build structures with blocks, pipes, bricks, cranks, and gears, while learning about size, weight, shape, balance, gravity, and stability.

August 8 – September 27, 2009
2009 Colorado Pastel Society Mile High National Exhibition
Works by more than 50 of the finest pastel artists from all across the United States are shown at the Longmont Museum in this juried exhibition.

October 10 – November 15, 2009
La Ofrenda de los Muertos: Honoring Days of the Dead
Join the Longmont community in celebrating the traditional Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. The exhibit will feature community altars, photographs of celebrations in Mexico, and more. The Longmont Museum’s signature event, the Día de los Muertos FamilyCelebration, occurs October 31, 2009.

November 27, 2009 – February 7, 2010
Connecting Threads: Traditional and Contemporary Quilts
Traditional and contemporary quilts are connected through elements common to all forms of quilting: fabrics, fiber, piecing, layering and quilting. Techniques and design link the quilts with a common thread. Traditional quilts from a local collector and the Museum's collection, and a juried show of art quilts from the Front Range Contemporary Quilters will appear in adjoining galleries.