Category: Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum

The Board of Directors of the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum work to preserve and to promote the legacy of Connecticut author, illustrator, and artist Eric Sloane (1905-1985). We work in concert with the state of Connecticut and the Eric Sloane Museum to develop programming and events held on the museum grounds throughout each season. Our board members receive no compensation and we are a welcoming and inclusive group.

Meet a board member! Jeffrey Bischoff:

The Board of Directors of the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum work to preserve and to promote the legacy of Connecticut author, illustrator, and artist Eric Sloane (1905-1985). We work in concert with the state of Connecticut and the Eric Sloane Museum to develop programming and events held on the museum grounds throughout each season. Our board members receive no compensation and we are a welcoming and inclusive group.

Meet a board member! Jeffrey Bischoff:

Jeffrey Bischoff, Vice President. Jeff is the owner of Old Greenwich Consultants, a financial services recruiting firm. A graduate of Villanova University (BA, English), Jeff was head of recruiting for the UBS Private Bank after serving as the National Recruiting Officer for Citigroup’s private wealth management division, Smith Barney.
A published author himself, Jeff was moved by the works of Eric Sloane when he was given Eric Sloane’s Diary of An Early American Boy on a trip to Old Sturbridge Village in 1972. Sloane’s stories of early American settlers and their “Yankee ingenuity” inspired him to take up many hobbies that are still drivers in his pursuit of happiness: organic gardening, reading about and exploring stone walls, barns, farms, and American history. Jeff resides in Old Greenwich with his wife and two children.

Barbara S. Russ, Museum Liaison. Barbara is one of five children born to Roger and Cornelia Straiton from Bridgewater, CT. She graduated from Shepaug Valley Regional High School in 1975 and Americo Academy of Beauty Culture in 1977. When Barbara entered the museum world, she had been a licensed beautician, Dental Assistant, Teacher’s Assistant for Special Ed, and an EMT for an inner city camp for children. In 1995 Barbara was hired by the State of CT to be a Museum Guide at the Sloane-Stanley Museum and became the Museum Assistant in 1998, a position she holds today at the renamed Eric Sloane Museum.

The Board of Directors of the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum work to preserve and to promote the legacy of Connecticut author, illustrator, and artist Eric Sloane (1905-1985). We work in concert with the state of Connecticut and the Eric Sloane Museum to develop programming and events held on the museum grounds throughout each season. Our board members receive no compensation and we are a welcoming and inclusive group.

Meet a board member! Lia Brassord:

Lia Brassord, Treasurer. Lia earned her B.A. in Economics at Smith College in 1983. She earned certification as an Employee Benefits Specialist at Wharton in 1985. In an interesting historic twist, Lia was Manager of Employee Benefits for The Stanley Works, New Britain, CT from 1985-1988 and also served as a Museum Educator for the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum in Wethersfield, CT from 1988-1997. Additionally, Lia served as a board member for the Amherst Historical Society in Amherst, Massachusetts from 1998-1999. Currently, Lia serves as the Senior Assistant Director of Admission for Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, a position she has enjoyed since 1999.

You are needed as a member of the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum. For a limited time, if you join at the Sponsor, Director, or President’s Circle Membership Level, you will receive a complimentary signed and inscribed copy of Aware: A Retrospective of the Life and Work of Eric Sloane. Help us promote and preserve the Eric Sloane Museum and get a great book as a bonus!

Thanks to New and Renewing Members of the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum!

100% of your membership support in the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum supports events and programming of the Eric Sloane Museum. You help to further the mission of the Eric Sloane Museum and to preserve and promote Eric Sloane’s legacy. Thank you!

New Members:

Bill Bachrach (Family)
Lia Brassord (Sponsor)
Nancy Buescher (Individual)
Carol Brown (Individual)
Nancy Hipsher (Individual)
Paul Kirsch (Sponsor)
Charmaine Sloane-Thacker ($500 donation)

Renewing:

Richard and Alice Mandel (Family)
James E. and Rebecca E. Mauch (President’s Circle)
James W., Edith M., and Elizabeth K. Mauch (President’s Circle)
Harold and Marie Stewart (Sponsor)

“Being a long time fan of Eric Sloane’s, I am excited about joining this group. Thanks for keeping his Legacy alive.”
-Recent Member of the Friends group

In honor of the theme established for the Eric Sloane Museum by the staff of the museum and the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum for 2014, here is an example of what Eric Sloane termed a “cloudscape”.  He reasoned that paintings that depicted urban and rural scenes were called “landscapes”, why not call paintings of cloud formations “cloudscapes”?  Image used with permission from Aware: A Retrospective of the Life and Work of Eric Sloane.

Pictured below is pet sheep, Emmy Noether, sporting the latest in fashionable head gear – a style-enhancing, comfortable, well-made, adjustable baseball cap emblazoned with the log of the Eric Sloane Museum.  Get yours today through the Eric Sloane Museum of Kent, Connecticut, and show your support for this national treasure!

Won’t you join with like-minded individuals from across the country who are organizing to help support, preserve, and to promote the Eric Sloane Museum of Kent, Connecticut? We are firm in our belief that Eric Sloane is a national treasure and the museum he founded is an important destination for anyone interested in early American life and culture. Support for the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum can come in many formats:

1. Membership in the Friends organization.
2. Financial support to fund specific projects. The Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum works in concert with the staff at the Eric Sloane Museum to identify projects that need attention. Some projects are very modest in scope (as little as $75.00), while others require greater financial commitment.
3. Volunteer for events and programs held on the grounds of the Eric Sloane Museum.
4. Volunteer your professional expertise.
5. Volunteer to join the board of the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum. We are a friendly, inclusive group dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the legacy of Eric Sloane. We meet approximately 6 times per year at the Kent Town Hall in Kent, Connecticut.

For these and other support opportunities, please email Jim Mauch at [email protected]. Thank you.

For the 2014 season, the Eric Sloane Museum, in conjunction with the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum, will be dedicating themselves to the exploration of Eric Sloane’s treatment of the sky and weather.  I’ll be posting updates concerning specific dates and events, but for now I thought I might share some photographs of a mural that was created by Eric Sloane very early in his career.  No doubt you’ll be able to guess from what kind of building the mural was removed, but do you know where the mural currently resides?  A hint – it is in a public building on Long Island, NY…

          The Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum have, with the permission of the estate of Eric Sloane, released a set of blank notecards with an image of Eric Sloane’s painting February on the front.  These Eric Sloane themed notecards are blank inside, 5 to a pack with envelopes.  Packs are $7.00 each, and 100% of the sales goes to the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum.  Cards are for sale at the Eric Sloane Museum, or can be purchased through the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum.  When ordering, please include $1.75 for 1st class USPS postage.