http://www.museumofauthenticity.org/

Museum of Authenticity, Salida, CO (2026)

03/05/2024

5 march 2024 tuesday, 4-5:30 pm
Museum of Authenticity Annex [gallery]
119-B E 1st Street, Salida CO 81201 303.585.1783
reception and signing at 4pm; reading and discussion at 4:30pm
books available for purchase [$43.60 includes tax, cash or check]

Edited by award-winning writer-artist, Thordis Simonsen, and first published by W.W. Norton in 1986, You May Plow Here is an intimate and singular account, vividly told by an African American woman who was born in 1911 in Alabama’s Black Belt and raised along with seventeen additional dependents on the 53 1/3-acre farm her father worked steadfastly to own and keep. Sara Brooks eventually joined the great migration North where, setting hope and determination against hardship, she ultimately achieved homeownership herself. YMPH fills a gap in African American history—we seldom hear about land-owning Blacks from that era, and an account by a woman is rare. The new edition of YMPH includes thirty-three duotone, black-and-white photographs of vestiges of the mule farming way of life in Sara Brooks’ Alabama home county and surrounding counties. Made in the 1970s by Thordis Simonsen, these images of people and place give a face to Sara Brooks’ vivid testimonial and help place it in a broader historical and cultural context. For more information:
museumofauthenticity.org events page: The Return of You May Plow Here

published by The Fundamental Note in cooperation with the Museum of Authenticity
museumofauthenticity.org / [email protected] / 303.585.1783

01/14/2024

A very appreciative woman from Colorado came into the Museum of Authenticity several months ago and purchased this archival ink reproduction of one of my 23 x 35" tempera paintings (the photo distorts the colors somewhat). She has moved out of town and hung it in her new abode. It is one of my favorite pieces. The original belongs to the Museum collection. Thank you, Janet!

Salida friends, don't forget the Salida library event on 1 February Thursday (see post below).

01/13/2024

Calling all Salida area friends—
Please mark your calendars:
1. 18 January Thursday at 9am I will be a guest on Rick White's KHEN 106.9 talk show, Sunny Side Up, with the newly released special limited edition of You May Plow Here: The Narrative of Sara Brooks. (The 18th is our beloved Bernice Strawn's 94th birthday, by the way.)
2. 1 February Thursday from 5-7pm—to kick off Black History Month—our beautiful Salida Regional Public Library is hosting the local release party for the newly published special limited edition of You May Plow Here: The Narrative of Sara Brooks. A book signing will be followed by a reading and discussion.
3. If you belong to a book club or other organization that hosts special programs, including programs by writer-artists, or just want to get a group of friends together for a reading and discussion, please let me know. I would love to be your guest.
For more information about this important book and a way to express your resistance to the current wave of book banning in the U.S., please click on this link to the Museum of Authenticity website Events page:
https://museumofauthenticity.org/.../the-return-of-you.../
Thank you all for your interest and support. I hope to see you soon. With best wishes, Thordis
Acknowledgment: The accompanying graphic is based on a Gee's Bend quilt pattern by Martha Jane Pettway, 1898–2003.
https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/martha-jane-pettway

01/10/2024

Calling all Denver friends—
Celebrating the release of the 2023 edition of YOU MAY PLOW HERE: THE NARRATIVE OF SARA BROOKS. Please join me and my gracious host for a signing and reading of the new book on 23 January Tuesday in her centrally located Denver home. Book signing at 2pm, reading and discussion at 3pm. Please contact me directly to RSVP and for her street address. Please invite friends who would also be interested.

The new edition includes 33 duotone black/white photographs I made in Alabama's Black Belt in the 1970s and a provocative introduction to the photographs.

Perhaps purchase a copy for one of the 107 Historically Black College and University Libraries.

https://museumofauthenticity.org/events/the-return-of-you-may-plow-here/

I hope to see you there.
Best to you in the New Year.

01/04/2024

Dear friends near and far, old and new—
I have said this before, but I believe it is worth repeating:

In the year ahead, may we bring to bear on the challenges we face all the wisdom of our years. May we cross our hurdles with grace. May we continue to find joy all around us. May a reverence for Earth be the force that guides us. May peace conquer turmoil.

© Thordis Niela SImonsen, monotype print #211

12/17/2023

The Museum of Authenticity is pleased to announce a new exhibit—it opened July first, 2023! HOMING—prints by mid-century artists that to me evoke a feeling of home and/or the road home. Many remind me of places in Greece that I know and love. These are juxtaposed, as I am inclined to do, with artwork of my own that was inspired by the Greece I love so much. The exhibit closes the end of June 2024.
$10 admission cash or check, kids free.
Open year round most days and times.
The phone number is posted on the door. Your phone call serves as doorbell. Please don't hesitate to call. I look forward to welcoming you in

04/18/2023

The Museum of Authenticity is excited to be launching GENUINE ENCOUNTERS—spring 2023 arts & culture program series—with:

travelogue: greece
20 april 2023 thursday, 1 pm and 6 pm
museum of authenticity annex
119-b east 1st street, salida CO 81201
$10 cash or check; reservation optional but appreciated

Museum founder, Thordis Niela Simonsen, has been an independent specialty small-group travel guide in Greece since 1995. In a program for armchair travelers and travelers to Greece alike, Thordis' anecdotal slide presentation will bring to life the Greece she knows and loves.

additional information—museumofauthenticity.org/events/

Beginning in 1981, Thordis sojourned annually in Elika, a village in the Peloponnese, for nearly four decades. She attended weddings and wakes. She picked olives and reaped wheat. She kneaded dough with women in their kitchens and sipped retsina with men in their tavernes. More remark-ably, Thordis single-handedly restored an abandoned roofless village house that had been used to stable sheep.

Beyond her village, Thordis has stood at the center of the Sanctuary of Athena at Delphi, founded, according to legend, by Zeus. She has traveled by motorboat to the partly submerged mouth of the Cave of Hades. She has explored the labyrinth of Knossos where Theseus slew the legendary Minotaur. She has climbed stairs to a 14th century monastery suspended in air.

The handmade utilitarian objects and folk art now on permanent display in the Greek Room in part motivated Thordis to create the Museum of Authenticity.

Rich in appreciation and understanding, autographed copies of Thordis' poetic book Dancing Girl: Themes and Improvisations in a Greek Village Setting will be available for purchase ($30.50 cash or check).

01/15/2023

Museum of Authenticity. So much rides on a name.

I created MoA to share art and objects of great beauty as a way to express gratitude for the many gifts I have received in my lifetime. Ironically, a gift to the museum (through me) largely accounts for its's ability to fulfill its giving mission. That gift is its name, bestowed by my special friend, William Biety, director of the Carson Gallery in Denver until it closed. Here's the short version of the story—

I told William about Orhan Pamak's museum in Istanbul (and novel by the same name) called the Museum of Innocence. Without skipping a beat, William proclaimed, "You can call your museum the Museum of Authenticity." Because curiosity about the name draws so many of MoA's visitors in, I often think that William's was the best of all the gifts I have received.

12/09/2022

Season's Greetings dear Friends new and old, near and far—

While I hope that you are enjoying the HOLIDAY SEASON, I know that your time is limited and precious, so I will be brief and direct. The Museum of Authenticity is a valuable resource for gift shopping in addition to viewing art!

Seasonal and/or other notecards make lovely gifts for family, friends, and party hosts, and they can be framed. Two creative non-fiction books written by me and praised by reviewers and readers alike are a good choice for book lovers. And you might know someone who would enjoy one of my original monotype prints or archival ink reproductions.

These items will be on display for purchase at Salida's HOLIDAY ART MARKET:
Saturday 10 December, 11am–6pm
Sunday 11 December 10am–2pm
Salida SteamPlant Ballroom

Please come prepared with cash or check.

AND/OR

Notecards, books, and art are also available from the Museum of Authenticity Annex at 119-B East 1st Street in Salida (not a mailing address) AND from MoA's website shop any time. www.museumofauthenticity.org

All sales fulfill your shopping needs AND help sustain Salida's museum of art & culture.

We sincerely thank everyone for your patronage—past, present, and future.

11/15/2022

THE MUSEUM COMPLEX
The Museum of Authenticity encompasses two adjacent locations. Following 7 ½ years of remodeling—in which founding director/curator Thordis Niela Simonsen participated fully—the Museum itself opened in October 2020. Located at 124 E 2nd Street (not a mailing address), it houses changing exhibits (https://museumofauthenticity.org/exhibits/) and a permanent exhibit entirely devoted to things Greek. In addition, the Museum houses a small shop for the sale of notecards made especially for MoA as well as Thordis' books (https://museumofauthenticity.org/shop-homepage/ ). The Museum space is at once elegant and intimate. adults $10 cash/check; youth free

The Museum of Authenticity Annex opened in the spring of 2022. Located at 119-B E 1st Street (not a mailing address), it houses a large gallery of artwork available for purchase as well as MoA’s notecards and Thordis' books. In addition, the Annex is home to Thordis' first ever art studio.

An extensive garden located behind the Museum bridges it to the Annex across the alley. It’s a colorful and blissful oasis in the heart of Salida’s downtown commercial district. We hope you will visit it often; the gardens offer a respite from the challenges of everyday.

MUSEUM ADMISSION
Whether the lights are on or off, both the Museum of Authenticity and the Museum of Authenticity Annex/gallery are open all seasons, most days and times, by reservation or by chance. Please dial 303.585.1783 in advance or at the door. I am likely in the Museum or the Annex or gardens, and the ring serves as doorbell. I look forward to welcoming you in sometime soon.
adults–$10 cash/check; youth–free

Museum of Authenticity

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