PORTSMOUTH- The Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center (SOMACC) has a plethora of events being planned for or are currently in session, from the newer Make It Take It craft nights to the more storied Cream of the Crop exhibition, from the annual music series to the current Easter-themed egg hunt in downtown Portsmouth. Regardless of whichever events the community decides to participate in, there are plenty of SOMACC hosted functions to add to your calendar.

SOMACC employees are currently deep in the process of showcasing one of their permanent collections by Clarence Holbrook Carter, which features silhouettes of eggs as inspiration, in order to get people out and about in the community.

According to SOMACC, “Clarence Holbrook Carter’s paintings are in major museum collections throughout the country, but the largest single concentration of them, covering every aspect of his artistic development and including a trove of masterworks in oil and watercolor, are housed at the Southern Ohio Museum in his hometown of Portsmouth. The abundance of Carters allows a healthy and ever-changing rotation of works in and out of the gallery dedicated to their exhibition.

“After Carter’s death in 2000, the museum received a vast assortment of the artist’s correspondence, catalogs and publications, critical reviews, personal files and hundreds of the unknown photographs he used to inspire and form many of his most important paintings.”

Starting on April 2, SOMACC began hiding special prints of Carter’s work in places throughout downtown Portsmouth, hoping people would track them down and report their findings. Those who report finding a piece are then eligible to win a limited-edition Clarence Holbrook Carter sticker featuring his work.

The museum began releasing clues for the hidden artwork on Facebook starting April 2 and has since released four different hidden eggs and many clues to their whereabouts. There will be a total of 6 eggs stashed away before long.

So far, nobody has been able to crack the codes and find any of the eggs.

This event was once tested as a prototype event prior to Covid and Museum Educator Heidi Bender Kauffman and Collection Manager and Performing Arts Coordinator Jenna Stewart decided to give it another go, tweaking things and making many improvements to foster an even better hunt.

“This is a little different,” Stewart said. “We’ve kind of restructured things and I hope we’ve made it more accessible as well. However, people have been really positive about and engaged in the event, but we haven’t had anyone find the eggs yet. It may be that, since this is the first time in this form, we may need to explore how difficult is too difficult,” Stewart said. “We are looking at what clues will give the best results. This is kind of a test for us, because we are walking the line of making it challenging enough to be fun, but, not so challenging that people are struggling with it and not finding the egg images. We’re in the process of figuring this out.”

Stewart said events like this one are important to highlighting the permanent collections cared for by SOMACC.

“The permanent collections we care after are a core element of the museum,” Stewart said. “Making sure people have access to them, that they feel like they have a connection to the work, is extremely important to the Museum’s mission.”

There are other benefits to the event outside of the more obvious ones that make people take ownership of these works of art that are in the permanent collection of SOMACC.

“As the weather is warming up, this event gets people out in the community, moving around and connecting with each other. There are some people planning group hunts. It is an activity that is open to any age. It also gets people into a lot of our local businesses, so, it isn’t just about the museum; it’s about the whole neighborhood.”

Stewart explained that the hidden egg images all have the SOMACC logo identifying them as a piece of the hunt. If anyone comes across a hidden egg, they’re asked to take a photo of it to post on social media, tagging the museum and the location. Stewart asks that egg hunters leave the works of art alone, so that others may stumble on them before the museum ultimately relocates the discovered work to start the hunt over. If anyone isn’t keen on social media use, they may take a photo of the work and show a museum employee that they have found the eggs.

“We want the public to know who is participating and give a little exposure to the businesses that have been helping us,” Stewart said. “We’re also going to remove the images and relocate them to a new spot so the hunt may go on throughout the month.”

The Clarence Holbrook Carter Egg Hunt will run through the entire month of April. For more information on SOMACC sponsored events, including Cream of the Crop, The ACID Art Walk, the Music Series, Make It Take It, and other happenings, follow them on social media or online at www.somacc.org.

The Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center is at 825 Gallia Street. Someone may be contacted by telephone at 740.354.5629.

Reach Joseph Pratt at (740) 353-3101, by email at [email protected], © 2024 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved.