Published: March 18, 2008 09:33 pm         

Swope seeing strong response in director search

TERRE HAUTE — The search is on for a new director of the Sheldon Swope Art Museum, and committee members said things are going well so far.

After only two weeks of advertising the position, search committee chairwoman Sheron Dailey said the response has been strong.

“We have 10 applicants from literally all over the country,” Dailey said.

The deadline for applications is April 30 but, “we’re going to start considering candidates before that time,” Dailey said, adding that she considers the quality of applicants as very high.

Committee member Harriet McNeal agreed that the quality of applicants has been high, and she expects more to come.

“I’d say that’s pretty good,” she said. “We would hope to have a director by August.”

Former director David Vollmer tendered his resignation in January to accept a position in Houston, Texas.

The Swope Museum was established with funds from, and in memory of, Terre Haute jeweler Sheldon Swope, who died in 1929.

The first director, John Rogers Cox, bought important new works by living artists, such as Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, Charles Burchfield and Edward Hopper. This original core group of American Regionalists remains the feature for which the Swope is best known nationally and internationally.

On Sept. 26, 1939, the first board of managers was appointed by Judge John W. Gerdink, under the terms of Swope’s will. The Swope opened with nationwide attention in 1942, and was featured in The Art Digest.

The museum opened in 1942 with paintings by Wood, Benton, Burchfield and Hopper among those featured.

The museum at 25 S. Seventh St. is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.

The group’s Web site is www.swope.org, and the director’s position is advertised under “employment.”

Brian Boyce can be reached at (812) 231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.

     

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