Museum Director

wandaw@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - As an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin, Joseph Ruzicka was on the road to becoming a doctor. "I never intended to go into art history," Ruzicka said. "I was on a pre-med track. Then one year, I took a Renaissance to modern art class and that was it. " The "it" was an insatiable desire to pursue a professional career in art history and museum work. Looking back on his life, Ruzicka said his early childhood also played a role in his decision to switch career paths.

Fundraising efforts for a $2.5 million glass enclosure over the courtyard of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts got a boost Wednesday when it was announced that a local foundation has agreed to give $400,000 toward the project. But there is work to do to get the money. Because the $400,000 would come through a 2-to-1 matching grant, $200,000 will have to be raised to secure the money, officials said Wednesday afternoon during an announcement ceremony at the museum. The $200,000 needed was reduced to $150,000 when Lee Stine said he has agreed to give $50,000.

When she became the director of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Rebecca Massie Lane said it was as though she were handed a gem - one that she wants everyone to see shine. Lane officially began her duties Aug. 1 as the director of Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. As director, Lane is in charge of managing the museum's day-to-day operations and giving the museum a sense of direction, said board member William G. Plavcan, who was board president during the hiring process.

Masterpieces of the floral nature were on display during this weekend's Art in Bloom at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. The annual event features floral arrangements by members of regional garden clubs, said Wallace Lee, the museum's director of development. "It's a way to bring garden clubs throughout the area together," Lee said. Lee said 25 garden clubs from as far away as eastern Maryland created floral arrangements to put on display. The participants were given a work of art that already was on display in the museum and told to interpret it through a floral arrangement.

The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts 75th anniversary exhibition catalog, Our Fondest Dreams and Hopes, has won the Silver Medal ADDY Award in the 2007 Greater Frederick Advertising Federation (GFAF) ADDY Award Competition. The catalogue, which kicked off the museum's anniversary year beginning in September 2006, was designed by Lori Jenkins of Hagerstown Bookbinding and Printing Inc. "It was the first book we had created and published in decades," museum Director Joe Ruzicka said in a prepared release.

At a recent holiday event at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, I chanced into a conversation with a young man from Clear Spring as we both stood in front of one of the museum's most beloved paintings: Norman Rockwell's "The Oculist. " The young man was astounded to discover such a national treasure in his hometown museum. He engaged me in animated conversation for 15 minutes as he recounted the many Norman Rockwell paintings he had seen and those he still wished to see. Washington County's Rockwell painting was created by an artist whose reputation has grown exponentially since the work was created in 1956.

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. - Berkeley Castle once again will be the site for the annual Yule Tea to benefit the Museum of the Berkeley Springs. Sunday, Dec. 2, marks the fifth year for this unique event. The first serving from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. is sold out; some tickets remain for the 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. serving. "It's hard to identify a single segment of the event that makes it so popular," said Tamme Marggraf, the museum's executive director. "People love everything from the beautifully decorated castle and all the silver to Rosa Suit's historic character performed by Jill Klein Rone and the tasty food.

Wendi Perry is new to Hagerstown, but she is learning much about its history as curator/collections manager for the Doleman Black Heritage Museum. The museum contains the lifelong collection of Marguerite Doleman, who died in 2000. “What Miss Doleman was doing was unintentional museum director. She was trying to preserve her culture, her history. Once people knew, they started giving her things,” Perry said. Perry, 43, commutes from District Heights, Md., about two weeks each month and hopes to get the community involved.

A new director has been chosen for the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, museum trustees said Thursday. Joseph T. Ruzicka, executive administrator of the Association of Art Museum Curators in New York, will become the museum's director effective July 1, according to a statement from the trustees. He replaces former curator Jean Woods, who served as the museum's director for 21 years before retiring last July. Ruzicka holds a bachelor's degree in art history from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a master's degree and a doctorate from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

Museum won't need to repay part of loan The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts will not have to repay $100,000 of a $300,000 loan from Washington County for a museum courtyard enclosure project, the Washington County Commissioners decided Tuesday. The commissioners voted 3-1 to convert that portion of the loan to a grant in response to a request from museum officials. Commissioner Kristin B. Aleshire voted against the decision and Commissioners President John F. Barr abstained, saying his company, Ellsworth Electric, had ties to the project.