ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A new museum opened in St. Pete this month that doesn’t just pay tribute to a certain kind of art, but an entire art movement. It’s called The Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement.
“This building was built 100% for the collection,” said Director of Operations Andrea Morgan.
Inside the 137,000-square-foot museum on 4th Street, you’ll find more than 800 pieces from the 1890s to the 1930s. Today we call it art, but back then, it was part of a cultural shift.
“The American Arts and Crafts Movement is a reaction to the industrial revolution where a lot of products were being sorted of quickly made in factories by many people,” said Morgan.
According to Morgan, everything from the furniture, to the pottery, to the tiles were some of the ways Americans were rebelling against assembly lines of mass production.
“This idea that you would have a one-of-a-kind piece in your home, designs that were made by artists and handcrafted so they were high-quality pieces,” said Morgan.
Every corner of the museum was designed for specific items.
“The Frank Lloyd Wright windows were positioned in such a way where you can look through them and see the way the light plays on the windows,” said Morgan.
What’s so unique about this new museum is the building itself is a work of art, highlighted by a large spiral staircase that goes from the second floor all the way to the fifth floor.
Morgan believes it’s perfect timing for a museum like this because history always seems to repeat itself.
“I think that there’s a little bit of a resurgence of this rebelling against mass-produced products and people are willing to go out and find those objects made by an artist and have that as part of what makes their house a home,” said Morgan.
For more information go to www.museumaacm.org.
