ART
This winter SCI offers private docent tours of several museums in Savannah and one in
Jacksonville, Florida. Information about the tours follows and there is a sign-up form you may
use at the end of this document.
Cummer Museum in Jacksonville, Florida
February 12
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
$65 SCI Members, $75 non-members
SCI-member Karen Cassard has arranged for a catered lunch at the beautiful Cummer
Museum in Jacksonville, Florida, and tour of the magnificent exhibit: “Temples and Tombs:
Treasures of Egyptian Art from the British Museum.” This traveling exhibition of 85
magnificent objects spans the full range of pharaonic history — from shortly before the Third
Dynasty, about 2686 B.C., to the Roman occupation of the fourth century A.D. — and
provides a rare opportunity to view renowned Egyptian masterworks and lesser-known
treasures. A busload of 56 people can be accommodated.
Click on this link to obtain additional information about the Cummer Museum:
http://www.cummer.org/
_________________________________________________________________________
The following series of tours through Savannah museums, organized by Charlie Johnson and
Karen Cassard, may be purchased as a package. Many of these museums are linked in
some way and, as they say, “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” If you sign up for
all four tours, the price is $45.00. Individually the tours are $15 each which includes entry
fees into the museums.
Owens-Thomas House and Davenport House
January 6
Time: 10:00 a.m.
$15 for all attendees
The Owens-Thomas House is considered the finest example of English Regency architecture
in America by architectural historians. Inspired by classical antiquity, this style of architecture
takes its name from England’s King George IV, who ruled as Prince Regent from 1811 to
1820. The house was designed by the young English architect William Jay (1792-1837), one
of the first professionally trained architects practicing in the United States. The elegant
residence was built for cotton merchant and banker Richard Richardson and his wife Francis
Bolton.
The Davenport house is a Federal-style home completed by master-builder Isaiah Davenport
as his family residence in 1820. Authentically restored, the house museum features original
plasterwork, a cantilever staircase and furnishings true to the 1820s. Threatened with
demolition in 1955, the saving of the Davenport House was the first effort of the Historic
Savannah Foundation and the beginning of the historic preservation renaissance in this port
city.
Jepson Center for the Arts and Telfair Academy
January 20
Time: 10:00 a.m.
$15 for all attendees
The Telfair Museum of Art opened its new 64,000-sq. ft., state-of-the-art building to the public
in March 2006. The new building is the first expansion in the Telfair’s 119-year history.
Designed by architect Moshe Safdie, the Jepson Center for the Arts features two large
galleries for major traveling exhibitions; galleries for African American art, Southern art,
photography and works-on-paper; a community gallery; a 3,500-sq. ft. hands-on gallery for
young people; two outdoor sculpture terraces, education studios, a 200-seat auditorium, café,
and store.
Charlie Johnson, author of Mary Telfair, The Life and Legacy of a Nineteenth-Century Woman,
is an expert on the history of the museum and the remarkable Mary Telfair. Established in
1875, the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences includes the original Telfair Mansion designed
by English architect William Jay. The mansion was built for Alexander Telfair, whose father,
Edward Telfair, was governor of Georgia and a Revolutionary War patriot. Mary Telfair, a
highly educated and culturally-minded woman, was to be the last of the Telfair line. In her will
of 1875 Mary endowed numerous charities and founded the Telfair Academy of Arts and
Sciences.
Click on this link to obtain additional information about the Telfair Museum
http://www.telfair.org/
SCAD Museum of Art and the Ships of the Sea Museum
February 3
Time: 10:00 a.m.
$15 for all attendees
The SCAD Museum of Art collection includes approximately 3,500 items. The Newton
Collection of British and American Art is one of the finest in the Southeast. Among the
paintings are portraits by renowned 17th-century court artists including Sir Anthony Van Dyck,
Sir Peter Lely and Sir Godfrey Kneller, and 18th-century English and American artists including
William Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Allan Ramsay, George Romney, John Smibert,
Thomas Gainsborough, Joseph Wright of Derby and Gilbert Stuart.
Click on this link to obtain additional information about the SCAD Museum:
www.scad.edu/museum
The Ships of the Sea Museum, founded in 1966, exhibits ship models, paintings and maritime
antiques from the great era of Atlantic trade between England and America during the 18th
and 19th centuries. The Museum’s Collection is housed in the elegant home built for William
Scarbrough, President of the Savannah Steamship Company and a principal owner of the
Steamship Savannah.
Click on this link to obtain additional information about the Ships of the Sea Museum:
http://www.shipsofthesea.org/
Green-Meldrim House and Andrew Low House
February 17
Time: 10:00 a.m.
$15 for all attendees
Designed by New York architect John Norris and built in 1850 for cotton merchant Charles
Green, this Gothic Revival mansion cost $90,000 to build – a princely sum back then. The
house was bought in 1892 by Judge Peter Meldrim, whose heirs sold it to St. John’s Episcopal
Church to use as a parish house. General Sherman lived here after taking the city in 1864.
Sitting on Madison Square, the house has such Gothic features as a crenellated roof, oriels,
and an external gallery with filigree ironwork. Inside are mantels of Carrara marble, carved
black-walnut woodwork, and doorknobs and hinges of either silver plate or porcelain.
In 1847 the wealthy cotton factor Andrew Low chose John Norris to design a house for his
young family. Norris was an architect to whom the city’s leading citizens turned for the design
of their residences and business establishments. Along with the architects William Jay and
Charles B. Cluskey, John Norris formed a trio which left major imprints upon 19th century
Savannah.
Click on this link to obtain additional information about the Andrew Low house:
http://www.andrewlowhouse.com
Registration Form
Art:
 Cummer Museum
Feb 12
8 a.m.
Savannah Museum Series
Jan 6
 Owens/Thomas
Jan 20
 Jepson/Telfair
Feb 3
 SCAD/Ships
Feb17
 Green/Lowe
10 a.m.
10 a.m.
10 a.m.
10 a.m.
Bus at Baptist Church
Carpool from Baptist Church
Owens/Thomas (carpool 9:20 a .m.)
Jepson Center (carpool 9:20 a.m.)
SCAD (carpool 9:20 a.m.)
Green Meldrim (carpool 9:20 a.m.)
$65/$75*
Series: $45
$15
$15
$15
$15
* Price for non-SCI members is $75
Registration Instructions:
Please circle your selected offerings. If you and your spouse are using the same form, please
indicate which of you will be attending the offering. Add up the costs per offering and write
your check to Skidaway Community Institute. Include this form with the following information:
Name(s): __________________________________________________________
Home Address: _____________________________________________________
Telephone: __________________________
Email: ___________________________@_________________________
Email: ___________________________@_________________________
Note: If you are a member and not getting our emails, please check the instructions on
our website to unblock them from your email provider’s spam filter!
Mail check and this form to: Skidaway Community Institute, P.O. Box 15938, Savannah,
GA 31416
Questions: Call Mary Canavan at 598-7447 or Nancy McDaniel at 598-8751