Holiday Open House to Feature Jewelry Show
Lansing’s Main Street will be alive with
holiday happenings on Saturday, December 6, when the Michigan Women’s
Historical Center hosts its annual, free Holiday
Open House, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day.
Visitors to the
Historical Center—housed in a 1903 building that was once the governor’s
residence—will enjoy refreshments, tours of the museum’s history
galleries, half off selected items in the gift shop, and a special
one-day-only event: a jewelry show featuring the designs of Lansing
resident Rachele Dagley.
Dagley has fashioned an
array of dramatic necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and ring--using
semi-precious gemstones, glass, crystals, bone, horn, fossils, wood,
seeds, and leather--and will be on site
selling them individually and in sets at affordable prices. Surrounding
her work will be quilts from the Capitol City
Quilt Guild and Lansing Area Patchers, also available for sale.
Additionally, in the Scott House, the white building east of the
Historical Center, the Garden Club of Greater Lansing will be hosting
its annual Greens Market that day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free parking for
the Scott House and the Historical Center is
available in a city lot located between the two buildings at the
intersection of Capitol Avenue and Main Street.
New Quilt
Exhibit Opens
at Museum
A new art exhibit by area quilters--entitled
“Quilts: True Art IV”--will be
displayed November 2, 2008 through January 24, 2009 in the Belen Gallery
at the Michigan Women’s Historical Center.
In this exhibit, a group of area artisans led by Cindy Mielock and Linda
Kuhlman challenged themselves to create quilts that represented songs.
Said Mielock of the project, “We thought it would be fun for the viewer
to try to figure out the song related to the quilt,” noting that “some
will be serious and others will be whimsical.” Quilts with circles and
curves will also be exhibited.
This will be the fourth
quilt exhibit that Mielock and Kuhlman have curated for the Historical
Center’s gallery. A number of the participating artisans will be from
the Capitol City Quilt Guild and the Lansing Area Patchers.
Soifer to Direct the Michigan Women’s Historical Center
Sandra Soifer, formerly an assistant
director for the Michigan State University (MSU) Alumni Association, has
been tapped to be the next executive director of the Michigan Women’s
Historical Center and Hall of Fame in Lansing. She succeeds Dr. Gladys
Beckwith, founder of the Historical Center and its executive director
for the past 21 years.
Soifer was selected for
her strong background in the administration of nonprofit organizations.
Said Dr. Beckwith, “We were impressed with her experience in marketing,
membership development, and the creation of partnerships with
corporations. We feel she is uniquely qualified to lead the Historical
Center into a financially secure future.”
Before her MSU
experience, Soifer served as community relations director for the Child
Abuse Prevention Services in Lansing. Her volunteer commitments include
board membership for the MSU Jewish Student Center and Jewish Studies
Program as well as the Lansing Area AIDS Network. She also created and
co-chairs the Howard Soifer Memorial Endowed Lecture Series in Sports
and Entertainment Law at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
For her commitment to
community service, Soifer received the Unsung Hero Award from the
Lansing State Journal in 2004. Soifer, a native of New
York City, earned a B.A. at Boston University.
Michigan’s Female Olympians Recognized in New Exhibit
Despite being banned from the ancient Olympics
under penalty of death, relegated to non-contact sports in the early
years of the modern era, and even today lacking equal representation,
women have embraced the Olympic movement from its inception and excelled
at its sports. And Michigan women were no exception…
The first woman from
this state to make her mark at the Games was swimmer Margaret Woodbridge
Presley in 1920. Since her time, about 100 other female Olympians have
also called Michigan home: growing up here, training here, or retiring
here after their competitive years.
The trials and triumphs
of these elite athletes—and of their worldwide counterparts—are
described in a new museum exhibit, called “Faster, Higher, Stronger:
Michigan Women in Olympic History,” developed by the Michigan
Women’s Historical Center and set to be displayed there July 13-December
28, 2008.
A variety of information
is presented on the text panels of this exhibit, from the effect of
Title IX on expanding girls’ athletic opportunities to a timeline
marking the great strides women have made in achieving equality as
Olympic athletes, coaches, and administrators. What’s more, five women
are highlighted for their extraordinary achievements. They include the
state’s first female Olympian (Margaret Woodbridge Presley of Detroit),
Michigan’s only honoree in the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame (diver Micki
King of Pontiac), our most decorated female Olympian (speedskater Sheila
Young Ochowicz of Birmingham), Michigan’s ‘iron woman’ of the Olympics (speedskater
and cyclist Constance Paraskevin Young of Detroit), and the
world’s first female three-sport Olympian (Sheila Taormina, a
swimmer, triathlete, and now pentathlete, of Livonia).
Audio and video elements
enhance the visitor experience. Additionally, the exhibit features
hands-on activities for younger visitors, such as a
design-your-own-medal station, a chance to stand on a kid-sized winners’
podium, and a miniature basketball game (representing one of the sports
at which Michigan women have excelled). Visitors are also invited to view
authentic Olympic memorabilia on display, including Micki King’s
swimsuit, the softball mitt of Ann Arbor’s Jennifer Brundage, and the
hockey skates of Holland’s Lisa Brown Miller—all gold-medal winners.
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