By Louise Irvine Our scavenger hunts make visits to WMODA entertaining and educational for adults and children alike. There’s lots of fascinating trivia to discover as you explore the museum hunting for safari animals, questing for mermaids or chasing rabbits. The games fire the imagination of all the participants and

By Louise Irvine In ancient mythology, birds were believed to mediate between heaven and earth. They are also associated with fire in myths of the world. Alchemists observing them in flight recognized them as human souls undergoing spiritual development. Different birds symbolized the stages of soul alchemy from the black

By Louise Irvine Trick or Treat @ WMODA Wear a Halloween costume to WMODA on Saturday, October 29 and you will receive FREE admission to the museum from 10am to 4pm as our Trick or Treat gift to you! Enjoy some family fun with our entertaining scavenger hunts and start

By Louise Irvine Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day was an amazing success at WMODA on Saturday, September 17. Several hundred visitors flocked to WMODA throughout the day, many experiencing the museum for the first time. They learned about the fired arts on display in our galleries, some diving deeper by scanning

By Louise Irvine A celestial utopia is depicted on this rare Della Robbia ceramic panel modeled after the sixth day of creation by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. The Pre-Raphaelite artist wanted to portray “visions and dreams and symbols for the understanding of people” and visualized heavenly angels in paintings, tapestries, and

Glass becomes glamorous in the hands of Chelsea Rousso, local glass artist, teacher, and fashion designer. Chelsea makes corsets and bikini tops of kiln-formed wearable glass which are designed to dazzle on social occasions from glittering galas to playful pool parties. Wearable glass might seem like an innovative use for

By Louise Irvine Liberty’s of London offered one of the most exciting shopping experiences of the Arts & Crafts era. The emporium was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in 1875 to sell ornaments and objets d’art from Japan and the East. In the 1880s, Liberty began collaborating with distinguished designers

By Louise Irvine Glass teapots may appear to be a modern addition to the tea party but they have been with us since the Art Deco era when heat-resistant borosilicate glass was first used in domestic settings. In the US, we are most familiar with Pyrex which was introduced by

By Louise Irvine During Afternoon Tea Week, we featured some novelty teapots from the Art of Tea exhibition at WMODA. Now we are highlighting Rob Stern’s giant glass teapot and the whimsical showstopper by Christian Thirion which are on loan for our Mad Hatter’s Tea Party exhibit. Neither of these