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MUSEUM HAPPENINGS |
March 8, 2024 |
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The first school bus of the field trip season pulled up to the museum's doors on Wednesday. Over the next six weeks about 750 ECASD third graders will be spending a day with us.
School tours make this a lively place, but so do weeknight and weekend programs. This newsletter is pverflowing with March and April programs. The calendar is FULL.
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Celebrating AmeriCorps Week March 10-16
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More than 1.25 million young adults have served in AmeriCorps since it launched 30 years ago. Chippewa Valley Museums became an AmeriCorps host site in 2022. Through its Public Health AmeriCorps program, Marshfield Clinic Health Systems placed Tim Hirsch at Chippewa Valley Museum to connect community members with museum. Tim is now serving his second year as an AmeriCorps member at Chippewa Valley Museums.
Tim's focus is to strengthen the museums' volunteer program. So many good things have happened during Tim's tenure -- more business and community volunteer groups tackling big projects, more volunteer engagement, and more service opportunities for community members. We are delighted to celebrate AmeriCorps week and cheer the work of all AmeriCorps members past and present. |
 | AmeriCorps member Tim Hirsch talking with museum volunteers August and Sam Niendorf at the 2023 US Open Chainsaw Sculpture Championship
Learn more about the Marshfield Clinic Health Systerms AmeriCorps programs. |
| March Calendar |
Art Experience: Raymond Kaselau
Saturday, March 16, 1:00-2:30pm |
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How's this for active participation? Enjoy a special presentation and gallery walk with exhibiting artist Raymond Kaselau of Empty Walls Art Collective. Afterward, help Raymond complete the first layer of a group sculpture featuring the 400 diesel train pulling into the Omaha Train Depot. The project will be finished after the class then displayed at Chippewa Valley Museums. Limit: 30 participants.
Cost: $17/adult, $15 senior, $10 student. $5 discount for museum members. |
| Register for Kaselau Art Experience
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Final Call for Venture & Voice Exhibit Closes March 23 |
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The video showcases artwork made by each of the eleven local artists with works in the exhibit. Museum Hours:
Tuesdays 5-8pm Wednesday - Saturday 12-5pm |
| April Calendar |
More information for all of these events can be found in the museums' online calendar. |
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Wisconsin for Kennedy Book Release
| Join Chippewa Valley author B.J. Hollars for a reading, conversation and book release event at Chippewa Valley Museums. Discover behind-the-scenes stories of regular, everyday people from Wisconsin who were part of a political campaign that changed the course of history. Books will be available for purchase.
This event is free and open to the public thanks to support from museum members. |
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April |
2 | 6:30-7:30pm |
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Civil War Program: The Controversial Major General George Meade
| Meet General George Meade who became known as the, “da!#ed old goggle-eyed snapping turtle”, as presented by Colonel (Ret) Gary Carlberg. From Meade’s younger years at West Point, to his achievements in command of the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War, the audience will experience an immersive retelling of events. |
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April |
9 | 6:30-7:30pm |
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Traveling Exhibit:
Working America | Artist Sam Comen presents photographs of American immigrants and first-generation Americans at work in the small businesses and skilled trades. The subjects share stories of economic independence and struggle, belonging and exclusion, faith and fear, and service to both community and family.
The Working America traveling exhibit is a meditation on American belonging and American becoming. This exhibit is included with museum admission. |
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Opens April 9 |
April 9 - May 25 |  |
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“Changes in the Land” with John Muetz of Beaver Creek Reserve
| As we approach the commemoration of Earth Day, Beaver Creek Reserve and Chippewa Valley Museums have come together to host this eco-friendly program. Discover how the Wisconsin landscape has changed throughout history and the impact that people have had on the environment.
Cost: $8 advance registration. Museum admission for walk-ins. FREE for Triple Play members. |
| Register
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April |
13 | 2:30-3:30 pm |
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Museum Thrift and Surplus Sale
| Mark your calendars for the granddaddy of all thrift sales.You will find past exhibit photos, surplus office furnishings and shop equipment, duplicate historic photographs and books, and all kinds of non-artifact things found in museum buildings. This sale includes a special collection of autographed sports memorabilia and books given to the museum to sell as a fundraiser. |
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April |
18-21 | Members Only April 18, 5-8pm
Fri. & Sat, April 19 & 20, 10-4 Sunday, April 21, 10am-1pm |
This sale does not include any artifacts from museum collections. |
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And if the above wasn't enough, registration is now open for Time Travelers summer classes, teens can apply to the summer Teen Guide Program, and we're still working on the Tall Tales exhibit.
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Even with all that's going on, staff was able to escape to Stillwater for a day to visit the Washington County Heritage Center. It was a much needed break. Now we're ready for a spectacularly busy spring. Peace,
Carrie Ronnander
Executive Director, Chippewa Valley Museums |
P.S. We are thinking about summer even though we just stepped into the spring season. During the off-season we upgraded lighting and audio-visual equipment in the logging exhibit center meeting room, added display furniture to the gift shop, improved lighting in restrooms, and completely upended the Tall Tales exhibit.
The short video below provides a glimpse to what's happened inside the Tall Tales gallery. Many volunteers and staff have put in long hours painting, building, and installing the exhibit, including this crew from Ayres Associates. |
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In January, museum Editor Diana Peterson launched a Tuesday social media series centered on logging history. Consider this series a very extended lead-in to the logging museum re-opening after Memorial Day. Below is the most recent post. Go to #CVMLogging or simply scroll through our Facebook and Instagram accounts for previous posts. |
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Choppers and sawyers tried to control how trees fell, but there were still many accidents in the woods. Almost every week of the winter and spring, the Eau Claire papers reported someone being severely injured or killed in a logging accident. Ole Johnson had a load of logs crush him in 1879; David Drummond suffered the same in an accident in 1894. In 1885, a swamper, who could not move fast enough, was struck by a limb and the blow fractured his skull and killed him instantly. Ole Foss died the same way in 1904. In 1915 a man near Eau Claire had both legs broken and both knees shattered when a tree he was cutting down fell on him. This image shows the size of trees men were working with.
In 1883, Richard Ryan had his leg crushed by a tree. He carved storage boxes for Bibles with the log that fell on him. Loggers are still considered to have dangerous conditions today. A BLS report noted that the average American’s work-related fatality rate is 3.2 in 100,000, but in logging it jumps to 91 in 100,000, thirty times greater. -- Diana, Editor
Below - One of Richard Ryan's storage boxes, 1883, donated to the museum by Ryan's grandson. It measures 9" w x 13.25" h x 4"deep. |
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