Forever Deed
I read in the Kansas City Star about a new exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins Museum called Forever. Friday Paul and I went to the museum to look around and have lunch and I saw the sign pointing the way to the exhibit. The gallery is set up with three huge tables and on the tables are 1345 two-handled porcelain cups. The cups were replicas of a cup from 1702 in the Nelson's permanent ceramics exhibit. The Forever artist, Clare Twomey, had seen the cup and the rest of the ceramics exhibit while on a trip to the US from England. She also learned that the entire exhibit was deeded to the Nelson on what is called a 'forever deed" which means the museum cannot sell or give away the 1345 pieces in the collection. They cannot even add pieces to the exhibit.
She was inspired by the "forever deed" and decided to do an exhibit based on the original cup especially for the Nelson. When you go and see the exhibit you have the opportunity to receive one of the cups. I chose a cup, filled out a deed, put it in a big box and was notified Friday evening that I was the new owner of cup #948!! My cup, with my name on a card, and all the others will cups will remain at the Nelson until the end of the exhibit until January. The deed states that I will keep the cup forever---that is a long time.
