August 15, 2019

Cedar Rapids, IowaThe Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (CRMA) is pleased to announce that Executive Director Sean Ulmer was selected to speak about the Grant Wood Studio at a conference on historic artist homes and studios in London this fall.  Ulmer was one of eight speakers from the United States invited to participate at the conference “Homework: Artists’ Studio Homes and their Afterlives in Britain and the United States.”  The two-day conference, September 30-October 1, will be held at the Paul Mellon Centre (London) and at the Henry Moore Foundation (Perry Green, UK), 30 miles outside London.  The conference is a collaboration between Historic Artists' Homes and Studios, the Paul Mellon Centre and the Henry Moore Foundation.  It is made possible with support from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Paul Mellon Centre, with additional support from the Henry Luce Foundation, the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, and the Henry Moore Foundation.  Ulmer’s expenses to travel to the conference will be offset by a generous grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art.

The Grant Wood Studio, where Grant Wood lived and worked from 1924 to 1935, is the second floor of a late 19th century carriage house.  The modest red brick and wood building sits next to a large, elegant mansion that once housed two of Cedar Rapids’ most prominent families, the Douglas’s and the Sinclair’s, before becoming Turner Mortuary in 1924.  It was gifted to the CRMA in 2002 by the Linge family, owners of Cedar Memorial, who acquired the Turner Mortuary in 1978.  Both the mansion and the studio were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, owners and operators of the Grant Wood Studio, is a member of the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios (HAHS) group, a division of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  HAHS is a coalition of more than forty homes and working studios of American artists across the United States. 

The conference in London is a follow up to a conference held this past April in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, by HAHS.  Ulmer was one of more than 80 participants at that gathering, after which he decided to submit a proposal for the London conference.  “Homework: Artists’ Studio Homes and their Afterlives in Britain and the United States” will focus on three major tracts:  The Research Landscape: Methods and Methodologies, The Artistic Landscape: The Place of the Artists’ Studio Home in Art History, and The Physical Landscape: The Issue of Authenticity.  Ulmer’s presentation will focus on the latter category.

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The mission of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art is to excite, engage, and educate through the arts. The Museum’s collection contains more than 7,800 works of art by hundreds of artists, including the world's largest collection of works by Grant Wood. The collection is too comprehensive to be displayed all at once. That means chances are good that you'll see different, breathtaking pieces each time you visit! For more information on exhibitions or related programs call the Museum at 319.366.7503 or visit the Museum's website at www.crma.org. Museum Hours: noon to 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday; noon to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday; 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Grant Wood Studio Hours: noon to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday (April-December).  For more information please visit www.crma.org or find us on Facebook or Twitter.