Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts

08/31/2026

On September 18, MESDA will welcome Laura Pass Barry as keynote speaker for our fall seminar, Artistic Liberties: Southern Paintings & American Identity.

Join us as Laura, the Carlisle H. Humelsine Chief Curator and Vice President for Collections, Conservation, and Museums at Colonial Williamsburg, explores how traditional paintings scholarship has shaped our definition of how we perceive American-made material and the impact of those philosophies on Southern painting.

To learn more and register, head to https://mesda.org/program/paintings-seminar/

Image:
Portrait of William Henry Capers, Ralph Earl, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1788. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Museum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund.

08/26/2026

Explore MESDA’s unparalleled paintings collection during the upcoming seminar, Artistic Liberties: Southern Painting & American Identity, on September 18-19!

Attendees will experience MESDA’s study galleries with curators and guides during two specialty tours! Join us to learn the ways that artists utilized subjects, color, and technique to reflect on an emerging nation.

Friday, September 18:
“Fresh Faces: New Additions to MESDA’s Portrait Collection” Pre-Conference Tour with Curator Lea Lane. (1 spot remaining!)

Meet some of the most recent portrait acquisitions in the MESDA galleries. Highlights include a revealing group of family pastels, the imposing likeness of a Vice President’s great-grandmother, a rather colorful self-portrait, and a sassy teenage Virginian.

Saturday, September 19:
MESDA Open House
(Open to all seminar attendees)

From the Backcountry and Piedmont to Edenton and Charleston Colonial galleries, curators and guides will highlight key paintings in the collection along with works rarely on view.

To learn more and register for “Artistic Liberties: Southern Painting & American Identity,” head to the link in our bio or visit mesda.org/programs.

Images:
MESDA Paintings Gallery

Hester Eliza Henrietta Van Bibber, Felix Thomas Sharples, Mathews County, Virginia, 1814-1823, pastel on paper, MESDA Purchase Fund (6153.2)

08/12/2026

Coming September 18th at the MESDA Paintings Seminar: a lively fight (er, lecture) to determine, once and for all, which of two young artists was the most “Sully-ed” by their time with portrait painter Thomas Sully in 1820-1830 Philadelphia. Looking at their self-portraits, it might not seem they learned a great deal – but there’s more than meets the eye. In one corner will be Chief Curator Johanna Brown, champion of Salem’s own Daniel Welfare. In the other corner, MESDA Curator Lea Lane will launch some facts in support of her hometown hero, Mt. Sterling, Kentucky’s mischievous painter Thomas Jefferson Wright. There will be drama. There will be dried peaches. There will be letters from dead friends. There will be a vote to determine the victorious student. Sign up for the Paintings Seminar today (link in comments below).

08/10/2026

07/21/2026

There's still time to register for Southern Furniture & American Identity, a MESDA Furniture Seminar on October 23-24!

We can't wait to learn from Tara Chicirda (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation) about Williamsburg cabinetmaker, John Hockaday. John Hockaday produced a number of pieces of furniture for St. George Tucker of Williamsburg at the end of the 18th and early 19th century. A handful of these objects survive in public and private collections, providing details that identify Hockaday’s construction and design.

To learn more about the program or register, head to https://hubs.ly/Q04mQ3YB0

Chest of Drawers, John Hockaday, 1805, Williamsburg, Virginia, Museum Purchase and the Sara and Fred Hoyt Furniture Fund (2008-21). Image courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

07/09/2026

Continue the journey through America’s history. As part of Old Salem’s America 250 Experience, MESDA has two exciting seminars that you won’t want to miss.

💠On September 18th and 19th, Artistic Liberties: Southern Painting and American Identity explores the ways that artists in the colonial and early American periods utilized subjects, color, and technique to reflect on an emerging nation and create a burgeoning American identity.

💠From October 22nd to 24th we will have our last seminar of the year, Southern Furniture & American Identity. This program explores the ways that craftspeople and cabinetmakers navigated the ever-shifting political and social landscape around the Revolution and the ways that they reflected shifting American and European tastes and identities through their craft.

Learn more at https://hubs.ly/Q04mMMl90

06/30/2026

Have you ever wanted to learn more about early American paintings and portraits? Join us on September 18-19 for Artistic Liberties: Southern Paintings & American Identity!

We are looking forward to learning from Elle Shushan, independent scholar and owner of Elle Shushan Fine Portrait Miniatures. During her lecture, "Face Painting Well Performed: The Remarkable Life of Artist Mary Roberts," Shushan will focus on Mary's life as one of America's first miniature painters.

The first miniaturist in America, Mary Roberts arrived in Charleston with her husband, Bishop Roberts, circa 1734. Bishop Roberts, who advertised as a painter and engraver, died in 1839, leaving Mary and a disabled son. Mary struck out on her own, advertising “face painting well performed.” This talk will explore new information documenting the Roberts’ life in London and her struggle as a widow on her own in Colonial Charleston.

To learn more or register, head to https://hubs.ly/Q04mM5l80

Mary (Jones) Keating Broughton, Mary Roberts, Charleston, South Carolina, 1740-1750, watercolor on ivory, Gift of Davida Deutsch in memory of Frank L. Horton (5494)

06/27/2026

With Final Presentations complete, our Summer Institute fellows’ time at MESDA is complete. An enormous congratulations to the Summer Institute class of 2026, our 50th group of alumni!

06/25/2026

Join us tomorrow virtually for Summer Institute Final Presentations!

Our Summer Institute fellows have spent the last month closely looking at and researching their objects, exploring Fall Line landscapes in person, and learning from makers and craftspeople. We can't wait to learn about their research tomorrow.

Join us from 10am-3:00 pm via Zoom. Lectures will also be recorded and shared with registrants. To register, head to https://hubs.ly/Q04mF8sN0