A Life in Service It took a small army to run this 79-room Gilded Age estate. See the mansion through the servants’ eyes, as they rose before dawn and toiled until after midnight. The tour—led by a costumed guide—will include visiting the unrestored servants’ hall. Even in its unrestored state, the hall is a striking artifact of servant life and work, featuring the servants’ dining room, the footmen’s bedrooms, and the tiled kitchen with its massive coal range.
A Conversation with Multimedia Artist Chelle Barbour Chelle Barbour’s multidisciplinary art practice reimagines the body of the Black female through the lens of Afro-Surrealism. Barbour’s collage portraiture portrays notions of allegory, desire, fantasy, femininity, fragility, tension, and the inherent complexity within the Black female imaginary. After the 10:30 a.m. conversation in Skinner Hall, we welcome everyone to a reception later in the day at the Bridge Building from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
CLOSE READINGS IN A VIRTUAL SPACE with Monica Youn - Free online poetry workshop This free, participatory event (taking place via Zoom) features Monica Youn, one of The Flow Chart Foundation’s favorite poets, leading an intimate, virtual group thinking-and-reading-through of “The Hell Poem” by Shane McCrae, followed by a short reading of her own work.
Talk: Staatsburgh and the Titanic: Objects & Stories As a sit-down alternative to our “Tales of the Titanic” theme-tour, this half-hour presentation explores Staatsburgh’s connections to the "Ship of Dreams” – from passenger lists to interior design. Presented in Staatsburgh's historic dining room, listen to tales of the Titanic while exploring facsimile objects and historic images from the ship. A tour of the mansion will be offered after the talk. Appropriate for ages 12 and up.