FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Division Museum of Ceramics and Glassware
DM.0086, Salem, MA: A Local Map of Broken Glass

Saturday Sept 22, 2007. Opening Reception from 6pm-8pm.

 

The Division Museum of Ceramics and Glassware is pleased to announce DM.0086, Salem, MA: A Local Map of Broken Glass . The first exhibition to be initiated by the Museum's Education Department, resident archeologists Barb Choit and Jen Liu have led the museum in tracing the origins of an anonymous donation to the collection. Accessioned object DM.0086, a small fragmented purple glass, was mailed to the Museum with no return address --the only clue to its origins was a postmark from Salem Massachusetts.

The Division Museum is known for its ever growing, and always visible, permanent collection of broken ceramic and glass items. The collection was founded through gifts from The Friends and Founders of The Division Museum of Ceramics and Glassware. More recently, an enthusiastic public has started to actively donate their broken dishes and glasses to the institution. Engaging the public in the process of building a considerable collection has been positive in terms of volume. However, unpredictable factors such a lack of documentation of provenance or material composition, has provoked the need for an in-house archeological residency program.

Dm.0086, Salem MA: A Local of Broken Glass is a presentation of the results of Choit and Liu's archaeological expedition to Salem Massachusetts. Salem is a city that has long been haunted by the brutality of the famous witch trials of 1692.   In recent decades, it has capitalized on this history, tourism supplanting industrial production as the core basis of its economic survival. Despite this, many long-time residents and historical sites attest to a string of odd and unaccountable events and personas inhabiting the city to this day. Choit and Liu's exhibition centers around the layer of broken translucent and purple colored glass, similar to that of object DM.0086, that they discover scattered throughout the city.

In this preliminary investigation of DM.0086, Choit and Liu have come to two opposing conclusions based on field methods combining surface excavations and investigative observation.   Their divergence begins at the explanation of the fragments' frequent proximity to rocks.   Choit hypothesizes that this is merely a chance event, or that it may have to do with the soil displacement caused by the weight of the rocks over time.   Liu, on the other hand, hypothesizes something more otherworldly, related to the ancient myth of the 'rain of stones'. The Museum is pleased to present two thought-provoking positions on an artifact that represents a milestone in the history of our collection.