The decorative arts have been an important part of the Museum collection from the very beginning. FODA programs are entertaining and informative and provide opportunities to make new friends. Annual dues are $20, in addition to Museum membership. To join, please contact Membership Coordinator Bailey Nicholas: bnicholas@fine-arts.org or 727.896.2667, ext. 250. Non-FODA members can attend programs for $5, plus MFA admission. Carolyn Nygren is the volunteer coordinator. These programs will be held on the second Tuesday of the month at 2 p.m.

2013 – 2014 Schedule:

October 8 – Alex Klahm on various metal working techniques

November 12 – Victoria Boyko of Viktoria Richards chocolates

December 10 – Sally Nisenson on Walter Gropius

January 14 – Jim Sweeny on Art Deco New York

• Noted collector James Sweeny will take participants on a tour of “Art Deco New York” without leaving St. Petersburg.  More than 20 major Art Deco skycrapers were built in Manhattan between 1927 and 1932.  The most famous are the Empire State and the Chrysler Buildings and Rockefeller Center.  Mr. Sweeny will discuss these grand creations, as well as other gems like the Waldorf Astoria and the Chanin and Fuller Buildings.

February 11 – Carol Mickett and Robert Stackhouse

• Artists Carol Mickett and Robert Stackhouse will introduce their current exciting projects, Art-in-Transit for St. Petersburg and Gateway Plaza for Richmond, Virginia. The highly innovative Mickett and Stackhouse make site-appropriate sculpture, paintings, and prints. Their work addresses issues of identity, collaboration, and the importance of the environment in shaping our interactions with the world. Joining them will be the Museum’s former Chief of Design Thaddeus Root, their partner in the Art-in-Transit project.

March 11 – Dr. John Schloder on Asian Art

• Director Emeritus John Schloder greatly expanded the Museum’s collection of Asian art and created two Asian galleries after the addition of the Hazel Hough Wing. He will examine some of the MFA’s choice Asian objects and will trace the evolution of Chinese ceramics, from Han dynasty tomb sculptures for use in the afterlife to Qing dynasty porcelains. The latter were exported to Japan, Korea, and eventually to the “china” collections of European nobility.
• A superlative curator and educator, Dr. Schloder worked with one of the country’s foremost Asian collections at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where he was the Assistant Director in charge of Public Programs. As a director, he was responsible for the reinstallation of the Asian galleries at the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama and the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha. He has curated many exhibitions of Asian art, including at the MFA, and is a past recipient of a Visiting Scholar grant from the Japan Foundation, Tokyo, among many other awards.

April 8 – TBD

May 13 – Assistant Curator of Art after 1950, Katherine Pill