Not Sew-Sew

Looking for some quick local culture, or maybe a place for a reception or even a kids’ educational field trip?

Try the Dennis and Phillip Ratner Museum on Old Georgetown Rd at Lone Oak (east). [Disclosure: the museum is a client of my law firm, which does tax-exempt organization law.] The first floor, as you walk in, has the rotating exhibits and this month’s is a doozy. “Threads of Change” is textile art, with the emphasis on art, rather than the medium. If you think textile art is just samplers or quilts, you need to see how artists can work with and in textiles as a unique medium. Six artists offer stunning stories on fabric, including commentaries such as “I Can See Russia From My House.” World-class works. It’s quick, local and free.

But hurry. The exhibit ends on July 27, and the Ratner is closed during the month of August. The September exhibit, “Intersect: Glass meets Art,” begins September 7.

 The regular exhibits, mostly on the second floor, include sculptures by Phil Ratner, whose works grace the Statue of Liberty Park, United Nations and elsewhere.  

Ratner is a local, but his works primarily interpret the Old Testament. 

 The separate galleries in the back building offer sculptures of children’s story and popular entertainment characters (for “adults,” there’s W.C. Fields, Groucho, and others the kids won’t recognize), as well as work from special artists, including masks painted by wounded warriors from Navy Med and other hospitals.

The museum is free, and only open limited hours Sunday-Thursday.

Barnaby Zall