It had been two years since the last Morris Museum of Art gala.
Two years since people donned tuxedos and formal gowns to attend the celebration that is a major fundraiser for the art museum.
The gala also celebrated its latest exhibition — a group art show, and the artists were on hand that night to talk about their works.
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“It was a great exhibition, but hardly anyone saw it,” said Grogan.
Held on the first Friday of March annually, the gala was held only days before events began being canceled due to the threat of COVID-19 and businesses began closing. The museum itself was shut down for several months.
In 2021, the gala was a virtual one.
But much like the azaleas and forsythia that return every spring and are currently in bloom, the museum gala returned on the first Friday of March this year.
The lobby filled with guests who packed into the space. They spilled into some of the other galleries and to the space outside. There were hugs and smiles on faces of people who hadn’t seen each other in a while.
Nicole McLeod, who is in charge of the museum’s marketing and public relations, said that about 550 guests attended the event, which featured dinner and dancing beneath a tent that took up the lion’s share of the parking lot of the building the museum is located in.
Museum guests could also celebrate the opening of the “Immersed in the Seasons: Paintings by Luke Allsbrook” exhibition.
Allsbrook is a North Carolina native who grew up in Augusta and studied under Ed Rice. The works will be on display through May 29.
Another exhibition on display through May 8 features the works of Horace Talmage Day: Views of Augusta 1937-1941. Day was the Gertrude Herbert of Art’s first director.
One of his paintings which is part of the museum’s permanent collection is of Ware’s Folly, which houses the institute. One fun fact about the painting — Ware’s Folly is yellow, not white as it’s been painted for several decades.
While it might have been just a fancy dress party to the outsider, Grogan, who has been involved with museums and their operations for 51 years, said the Morris gala is different.
The museum and the gala are “deeply connected to the community,” he said.
And the reason for that connection is that museum supporters believe in not just the physical structure of the museum and the paintings and sculpture it houses, but in the many outreach programs the museum’s staff offers.
Some programs are obvious such as the monthly Artrageous! Family Sunday, artists lectures, Music at the Morris, Films on Friday and Art at Lunch – many of which are free and open to the public. But there are others that people don’t see such as outreaches with art to people with Alzheimer’s and with veterans at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center’s uptown division.
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Grogan called the 2022 gala a success.
“I’m very pleased with the big turn out,” he said. “It’s just nice to have people back in the building.”
The Morris Museum of Art, at One Tenth St., is open on Sundays with free admission. On March 13, Artrageous! Family Sunday returns with the Social Canvas event a party for all who are interested in art.
The event will feature live bands, a group painting project and ceramics demonstrations by the Mad Potters.
It will be held from 1 to 4 p.m.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor of The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
