MassMu Earns Three Ohio Museums Association Awards

Saturday  |  April 4, 2015  |  14:06 PM

News Release:  MassMu Earns Three Ohio Museums Association Awards

The Massillon Museum received three prestigious awards at the Ohio Museums Association (OMA) annual conference in Independence on March 29. 

The “Ohio Museums Association Best Exhibition 2014” award was presented to the Massillon Museum for Imagining a Better World: The Artwork of Nelly Toll, which filled the main gallery March 8 through May 18, 2014. OMA recognized Imagining a Better World as an outstanding exhibition including the accompanying programming. For this award, the Museum competed with Ohio institutions with operating budgets of more than $500,000.

Nelly Toll was a child living in Poland when she and her mother were forced into hiding from the Nazis during World War II. She dared to dream, imagining a better world. In 60 bright watercolor images, she recorded her hopes and dreams. The Museum’s exhibition included the most complete assembly of her original artwork ever shown in addition to Kevin Anderson’s recreation of the space where she and her mother hid. Eight related events and educational activities accompanied the exhibition. Imagining a Better World was organized by the Massillon Museum staff with curatorial assistance from Craig Joseph. The exhibition has also received a “Museums for America” grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to become a traveling exhibition.

The Museum earned two honors in the OMA Visual Communication competition. Entries were judged by category on overall design, appropriateness of the design to the message, effectiveness of the design to the audience, and the function of the piece. The Massillon Museum’s entries were judged against those of other museums with operating budgets of $500,000 to $999,000—Level 4 of six budget classifications.

The Massillon Museum earned the Ohio Museums Association 2014 Viscom Gold Award in Level 4 for its Fragile Waters television commercial. The 30-second spot, which aired regionally, was visually striking because it featured breathtaking black and white images by nationally noted photographers Ansel Adams, Ernest H. Brooks II, and Dorothy Kerper Monnelly; it was audibly intriguing because the crisply edited narration replicated the voice of Morgan Freeman. Innis Maggiore created the ad, which invited the public to view photographs by Adams, Brooks, and Monnelly in the Fragile Waters exhibition (June 7 through September 14, 2014).

An OMA Viscom Silver Award (Level 4) was presented to the Massillon Museum for its 2013 Annual Report, a 24-page, two-color booklet designed around an 80th anniversary theme. The entire Museum staff contributed content for the report, which was designed by Margy Vogt and printed locally at Bates Printing.

At the conference, Heather Haden, Massillon Museum Education and Outreach Coordinator, presented a professional enrichment session, "EnCORE: Fostering Patronage through Integrating the Common Core."

The Massillon Museum is located at 121 Lincoln Way East in the heart of downtown Massillon. A visit to the Massillon Museum is always free. For information, call 330-833-4061 or visitmassillonmuseum.org.

Media Contacts:

Scot Phillips, Massillon Museum Operations Officer  -  330-833-4061

Johnna McEntee, Ohio Museums Association  -  614-297-2375

Margy Vogt, Massillon Museum Public Relations Coordinator  -  330-844-1525