Webb Deane Stevens Museum to host lectures from leading voices in American material culture and landscape architecture

The Webb Deane Stevens Museum will present two leading voices in the fields of American material culture and landscape architecture next month.

Expansion and Inspiration: Recent Acquisitions to the Winterthur Collection
Webb Deane Stevens Museum • 211 Main St, Wethersfield, CT 06109
April 27, 2024
To register click here

Expansion and Inspiration: Recent Acquisitions to the Winterthur Collection

Alexandra Deutsch, Director of Collections at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Delaware, will speak on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. Celebrated Landscape Architect David Rubin, founding principal of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective in Philadelphia, will discuss his firm’s empathy-driven design on April 25, 2024 at 6:3 p.m., in advance of receiving the prestigious Elvira Broome Doolan Medal from the Garden Club of America.

“Having worked extensively with both Alexandra and David in Delaware, I am thrilled that we can now share their brilliance with the Webb Deane Stevens community,” said Brenton Grom, Executive Director of the Webb Deane Stevens Museum. “These evenings are sure to delight and inspire all who are able to join us.”

Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Alexandra Deutsch, John L. and Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, will present “Expansion and Inspiration: Recent Acquisitions to the Winterthur Collection.” Ms. Deutsch will speak about recent acquisitions and the ways in which collecting there has evolved while remaining anchored in Henry Francis du Pont’s legacy. Ms. Deutsch oversees the mansion’s 175 museum rooms and adjacent galleries, along with the world’s largest and most celebrated collection of American decorative arts.

A complimentary reception will be held at 6 p.m. Ms. Deutsch’s talk will begin at 6:30 p.m. NSCDA-CT and Museum Members: $15 / General Public: $20. The Webb Deane Stevens Museum is at 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, Connecticut. Free on-site and street parking is available. To register click here.

Alexandra Deutsch

Alexandra Deutsch, a graduate of Vassar College and the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, is the John L. and Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections at the Winterthur Museum. She leads Winterthur’s Collections and Interpretation Division. Prior to arriving at Winterthur in 2019, she was Vice-President of Collections and Interpretation and Chief Curator at the Maryland Center for History and Culture, formerly the Maryland Historical Society.

Her tenure at the Maryland Center for History and Culture was distinguished by nationally recognized exhibitions that included In Full Glory Reflected: Maryland and the War of 1812, Woman of Two Worlds: Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte and Her Quest for an Imperial Legacy, and Spectrum of Fashion. From 2010 until 2019, she worked to establish the Fashion Archives, now named the Barbara P. Katz Fashion Archives at the Maryland Center for History and Culture. Since arriving at Winterthur, she has spearheaded a re-envisioning of the museum’s gallery building and led multiple exhibitions, including Outside In: Nature-inspired Design at Winterthur (2020), Jacqueline Kennedy and Henry Francis du Pont: From Winterthur to the White House (2022), Ann Lowe, American Couturier (2023) and is currently curating a major reinstallation of the permanent collections on view in Winterthur’s galleries.

Her publications include Ann Lowe, American Couturier (2023), Spectrum of Fashion (2019), Structure and Perspective: David Brewster Explores Maryland’s Social Landscape (2017) and Woman of Two Worlds: Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte (2016). She has written and lectured about diverse topics in American material culture throughout her career with a particular emphasis on women’s and fashion history.

The Landscape of Future History

The Landscape of Future History
Webb Deane Stevens Museum • 211 Main St, Wethersfield, CT 06109
April 25, 2024
Click here to register

Landscape architect David Rubin will be in conversation with Executive Director Brenton Grom. Mr. Rubin, the founding principal of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, joins us in advance of receiving the Elvira Broome Doolan Medal from the Garden Club of America at its annual meeting in Hartford. During “The Landscape of Future History,” Mr. Rubin’s remarks will explore the firm’s ethos of “empathy-driven design,” followed by a fireside chat with Mr. Grom about their recent collaboration at the George Read II House & Gardens in Old New Castle, Delaware, which resulted in a new design for the landscape that will unite many layers of history while serving as a gathering place for the community that helped shape the plan.

DAVID RUBIN Land Collective practices landscape architecture from a mission of empathy, problem solving on behalf of their clients, and empowering constituencies through accessibility (which they define as an “invitation to participate”). Because of their belief that landscapes are written to be read, they strive to manage change in historic landscapes rather than to preserve them wholesale. They “lift the bell jar” off of historic sites in an effort to ensure that contemporary society can access and value what has come before, allowing these public treasures to be loved and understood by the 21st century.

A complimentary reception will be held at 6 p.m. Mr. Rubin’s talk will begin at 6:30 p.m. NSCDA-CT and Museum Members: $20 / General Public: $25. The Webb Deane Stevens Museum is at 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, Connecticut. Free on-site and street parking is available. Click here to register.

David A. Rubin

David A. Rubin, PLA, FASLA, FAAR is the founding principal of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, a landscape architecture, urban design, and planning studio committed to practicing with an emphasis on socially purposeful design strategies. David’s visionary contribution to the field in “empathy-driven design” is a hallmark of the studio, earning increasing renown for fusing issues of social justice in cities with excellence in the design of public spaces. Educated at Connecticut College and Harvard University, he has taught and lectured at a number of institutions, including Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, Louisiana State University, and Southern California Institute of Architecture. David is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and recipient of the 2024 Elvira Broome Doolan medal which recognizes innovative work in landscape architecture with emphasis on city planning and civic improvement in urban areas. He was appointed by the U.S. State Department to serve on their Industry Advisory Group (IAG) to promote best practices in landscape architecture in Overseas Building Operations (OBO). His projects have received awards and honors from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Society of College and University Planners, and the American Institute of Architects, among others.

David’s current work includes Grand Junction Park in Westfield, IN, a socially-purposeful, environmentally-resilient, and inclusive park focused on human engagement; the National World War I Memorial, new comfort stations throughout the National Mall and the Tidal Basin Master Plan; Franklin Park, and an expanse of riverfront along the Anacostia in Washington, D.C.; multiple projects for the Fort Wayne Riverfront in Indiana; and a new plaza for Temple University in Philadelphia. His studio’s work includes diverse typologies in locations from Los Angeles to Rome, Berlin, Cape Town, New York City, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia.

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