Speaker 1 (00:00): Coming up on Art Palace. And her eyes too are just so kind of this weird stare kind of almost spooky, kind of haunted, Speaker 2 (00:10): Right. I Married Who, Speaker 1 (00:25): Welcome to Art Palace, produced by Cincinnati Art Museum. This is your host, Russell eig. Here at the Art Palace, we meet cool people and then talk to them about art Speaker 2 (00:35): In honor of Speaker 1 (00:35): Valentine's Day. Today we are talking with Jill and Tom Dunn whose romance is intertwined with the museum since it is Valentine's Day. Maybe I should put on my Delilah voice or sort of Hello? Hello. Sweet Spirits Speaker 2 (01:02): Seduce, those listeners. Speaker 1 (01:03): Yes. I just get right Speaker 2 (01:04): In their ears and just, whoa. Speaker 1 (01:06): Oh yeah. Speaker 2 (01:06): Hello. Speaker 1 (01:07): Yeah. Yeah. So since it is Valentine's Day, I thought we'd bring in a real live couple from the Wilds. Pulled them in. Jill and Tom Dunn and Jill's, no stranger to the museum. You're the director of marketing and communications. Speaker 3 (01:29): Yes. Speaker 1 (01:29): Yes. Speaker 3 (01:30): Very proud to be. And I want to recount the olden days when we had, I had my first experience at the museum. Speaker 1 (01:39): Yes. So you guys, was it your first date or? Speaker 3 (01:43): Yes, it was. The Speaker 2 (01:44): Very first time we met was right here at the Cincinnati Art Speaker 1 (01:47): Museum. So it was actually the first time you met? Not even like, Speaker 3 (01:49): Yeah, we had talked prior, but we'd never met in person. So we were here really setting eyes on each other for the very first time. Speaker 2 (01:56): Indeed. Speaker 1 (01:56): Wow. Wow. Speaker 3 (01:58): And it was Tom's suggestion. I will say that we meet at the museum. It was on a Sunday afternoon. And I will say that that gave him some major points in his favor by suggesting that we meet here. I've always been a big art nerd and I've loved the art museum. Always, always. It's been one of my favorite places in the tri-state growing up, and I was a big art nerd in high school and college, so I was like, good suggestion. Speaker 2 (02:23): I will acknowledge that I've been losing those points ever since. Speaker 1 (02:26): Yeah. It's all downhill. Speaker 2 (02:28): It is. I sort of peaked very early on our relationship Speaker 1 (02:30): First date was the best, Speaker 2 (02:32): Most Speaker 1 (02:32): Points gained. And then just like luckily you had enough to burn through these. Speaker 2 (02:37): Exactly. Years so far it's been 10 years. You're Speaker 1 (02:40): Getting close. Speaker 2 (02:41): I, I'm down to the bottom of the barrel. I'm afraid you Speaker 1 (02:44): Have to plan another trip to another museum. Speaker 2 (02:46): Exactly. That's what, well, I'll tell you, for our honeymoon, we went to Paris to see the lube, so I did get a little jumpstart there. But again, you've Speaker 1 (02:54): Been building a cache of, Speaker 2 (02:56): I've been trying to Speaker 1 (02:57): Of museum points. Speaker 2 (02:58): See for me, I am a graduate from ucs School of Design. I've got my master's and bachelor's degrees there. So art has always been an important part of my life. And when thinking of a good place for a first date for me in a way, I hate to say it, it was almost kind of weeding out someone that wouldn't be interested. Anyone that says, no, I don't really like art museums and things like that. I can know that, well, that's a big part of my life there that I really want to share with someone. And the fact that Jill was so enthusiastic about it really got me excited about coming here to meet her. Speaker 1 (03:30): Yeah. If she liked a painting you really hated, would it maybe have not have worked Speaker 2 (03:34): Or would you be willing to talk Speaker 1 (03:36): Through it? No, Speaker 2 (03:37): Actually, I really appreciate differences of opinion about things like that. Jill can tell you I'm very opinionated, most things, but especially about art. But luckily we're actually very largely in agreement. I think we both will tell you that Vincent Van Gogh is one of our all time favorite artists. Kind of an easy choice. And obviously he was just here for a big exhibition with the undergrowth. But something about his work has always really resonated very strongly with me. And then the first time I was at Jill's old apartment, I saw she had two different Van Gogh paintings hanging on the walls. And I was like, well Tom, you've done good. Speaker 3 (04:13): Yes. They were not original. I was Speaker 1 (04:14): Going to say Prince Speaker 3 (04:14): Probably despite those, Speaker 2 (04:16): Wait, they're Prince. You told me you Speaker 1 (04:19): Thought you had it made, you thought Speaker 2 (04:20): You into money. Speaker 1 (04:21): I know you thought you had married like an heiress or something. Speaker 3 (04:24): My two man goes over my Ikea furniture. Speaker 2 (04:29): It was a fashion choice. I didn't know. Speaker 1 (04:31): Wait a minute, Speaker 3 (04:33): What's really cool? The first time we really just were going to look around the museum at the permanent collection and we did, and we were enjoying each other's company. Things were going really well. And we saw the temporary exhibition. It was a traveling show called Waking Dreams Experience The Enchantment. And based on that name alone, we decided we were going to go forth. Speaker 2 (04:54): Yes, indeed. I experienced the Enchantment right there. Speaker 1 (04:56): Say, did you in fact Speaker 2 (04:58): Indeed Speaker 1 (04:58): The Enchantment? Speaker 2 (04:59): It was some enchanted evening. I'll tell you Speaker 1 (05:01): Right there, probably afternoon because it Speaker 3 (05:03): Was the afternoon for sure. And what's hilarious is the way they described this, this whole exhibition was really around this romance and the pre raia lights. And so it literally says in their description, discover mystery, romance and sensuality as a unique museum experience leads you through the secret lives and loves of artists who rebelled against Victorian society. The lush and varied display, A pretty Raphael light art comes from blah, blah, blah. So anyway, I just found that to be just so charming and we were going through, it sounds kind of presumptuous on our first date to be going through such a sensuous display. But no, it really was romantic. And I noticed this great sense of humor. We were both laughing quite a bit. Here's our favorite thing that we'll always remember from that first visit is that we saw a book called Pre Rafi like cats, which was the art from the exhibition, but with cats instead of the people in the actual Speaker 1 (06:01): Nice. Speaker 2 (06:02): It's the first artifact of our romance. Yes. Speaker 1 (06:04): Oh, you had to bring it home. I Speaker 2 (06:06): Feel like cats. Oh, of Speaker 1 (06:07): Course. Speaker 2 (06:07): You've got to give those cats a home. That's what I had to do. I've never told Jill this before, but I was very aware of the premise behind Waking Dreams when suggesting we call our museum. You Speaker 1 (06:19): Knew Speaker 2 (06:20): She described it as presumptuous. And I thought to myself just now, I guess it was, Speaker 1 (06:25): Yes, you knew what you were Speaker 2 (06:26): Doing or Speaker 1 (06:27): No dummy. No, not at all. And here you've been thinking it was Speaker 3 (06:32): Kismet, this whole Exactly. I thought it was fate, but now I'm questioning everything that's right Speaker 2 (06:38): As you should. Very wise, Speaker 1 (06:40): Very Speaker 2 (06:40): Wise. Always stay on your toes. Speaker 3 (06:43): So again, that was 2006 and we had our first date here and it was in November, and then a few years later, Tom proposed and when we were looking for a venue to have, our wedding cam was absolutely at the top of our list. Speaker 1 (06:56): So you got married here too? We Speaker 2 (06:57): Did get married right in the Great Hall. Speaker 1 (06:59): Oh my gosh, Speaker 2 (07:00): This love story just doesn't stop, does it? Oh my gosh. Speaker 3 (07:02): We are so Cam through and through. Speaker 1 (07:05): Yeah, we did. We Speaker 2 (07:07): Considered a lot of different options and how traditional or non-traditional we wanted it to be. And it seemed like it almost, the idea sort of spontaneously arrived for both of us at the same time. I couldn't even tell you how we arrived at it exactly. But we thought, well, let's check it out and see what they do At the Cincinnati Art Museum, we knew people can get married here and came to check it out. And yeah, it was a great opportunity again for us. And we got married almost three years to the day that we met. It was literally one day later on the calendar. Yeah, Speaker 1 (07:36): It's a good thing you didn't have your first date at Dairy Queen or something too. Speaker 3 (07:39): It's a really good thing. Speaker 1 (07:42): Gotten married to Dairy Queen. Speaker 2 (07:44): I would've been okay with that. Would've been okay. Speaker 1 (07:46): And everyone And you were like, have a blizzard that you share together. Speaker 2 (07:50): Absolutely. A Speaker 1 (07:51): Chicken strip basket. Do Speaker 2 (07:52): You take this Kony you value meal as your lovely wooded dinner? I guess. I don't know, but oh Speaker 1 (07:58): Gosh. I'm imagining now you crisscross arms with a chicken strip and you dip it into gravy for each other. Speaker 2 (08:03): Hey, I think I know what we're doing for dinner tonight. Speaker 1 (08:10): I'm just trying to imagine as a part of a ceremony where somebody turns upside down a frost Speaker 2 (08:15): To show how thick Speaker 1 (08:16): It is. It's sort of like Speaker 2 (08:18): If any blizzard of Jack let a no man. Speaker 1 (08:21): Yes, Jack, turn your blizzard. Speaker 2 (08:22): Ice creamer. Yes. Right, right. Speaker 1 (08:26): But Speaker 3 (08:27): The wedding experience was wonderful. I always recommend this as a great venue for wedding, not just because I work here and because I got married here, but because Speaker 1 (08:34): Special is paying you under the table also because bills. Speaker 3 (08:39): But I have to say, our photos are gorgeous. You cannot find another location that's going to have priceless works of art. Like Speaker 1 (08:46): The Cincinnati Speaker 3 (08:46): Art Museum and the team we had at the museum at that time that I worked with that were wonderful, really easy. We wanted something low key. We are not pretentious people. And so we wanted something really fun and people still tell us what a great wedding it was. It was relatively small. We had both the ceremony and the reception here and it just turned out beautifully. It really worked out well. Speaker 2 (09:10): What time Speaker 1 (09:10): Of year was it? Speaker 2 (09:12): November. November the 12th. I think you hear that everyone, Jill thinks Speaker 3 (09:19): So. Our first date was on the 12th, but I think we got married on the 14th. Speaker 2 (09:23): Oh, that's right. The 14th. Speaker 3 (09:24): So it actually is hard for me to remember as well because it's either the 12th or the 14th, but I do know that five years from the day we met, or no, five years from when we married, but eight years to the day that we met here, I started working here Speaker 2 (09:40): The first day. Speaker 3 (09:40): Yes. Speaker 2 (09:41): Everything related to Cam is right about the middle of November. Of November. Speaker 1 (09:44): Did you choose it on purpose or was it also just an accident? Speaker 3 (09:47): It was both. Put my two weeks in after I accepted this position here and I looked at the calendar and I'm like, well, Speaker 1 (09:55): Yeah, it's so close. Speaker 3 (09:56): It makes sense to start on the very day we met here. So that's exactly what we did. Speaker 1 (10:01): That's such a cute story. So you're still, and Tom's still getting brought into the museum for new things. So Tom, you're now with Drastic to Hill Speaker 2 (10:11): Opening. Speaker 1 (10:11): Yes. You've contributed something for Art after Dark, is it? Speaker 2 (10:16): Yes. I got a chance to work on some of the social media posts and various other design elements, things like design that goes on the shirt. I'm a huge fan of Japanese art and culture, and that sounds kind of silly to say. I'm a fan of the culture. I've got my anime DVDs at home and the like, but particularly feudal Japanese works of arms and armor, which is exactly what this upcoming exhibit is about, is just one of my topics of interest that I've always been something that I've always studied and including courses in college. So the opportunity to do something for the museum that also lined up with my own interest just seemed like a wonderful alignment of opportunities. Speaker 1 (11:02): Yeah. So what are your big anime fan too? Speaker 2 (11:05): Yes, yes. A little less so now that I'm a little older, not quite the young man I once was and not plugged in the same way, but yeah, off through the nineties and the early aughts, definitely. So Speaker 1 (11:20): Now I'm always going down tangent. So now tell me about your favorite anime. Speaker 2 (11:25): This is what I want to know about. Well, if you want to know, I want to Speaker 1 (11:27): Know about the dorky stuff. Speaker 2 (11:29): Well now see, I'm not that esoteric with my anime. My favorite is it was fairly mainstream, came out in the late nineties called Cowboy Bebop. Speaker 1 (11:36): Oh sure. Speaker 2 (11:37): Yeah. And I would hold that up generally as probably my favorite work. There is one somewhat Samurai related. I mentioned to Jill as a possibility for showing a screening at Art for Dark called Samurai shampoo, which is kind of like, you mean Samurai Stir Fry in a way? And it's sort of a futile Japanese period piece with Samurai, but set to modern hip hop music kind of things. It's really a peculiar juxtaposition of styles. It's really a good series Speaker 1 (12:05): I've been trying to get. I really wanted, we have a Japanese theme family first Saturday coming up and I really wanted to do a screening of a Miyazaki movie Speaker 2 (12:14): For the Speaker 1 (12:14): Kids. And you just can't get the rights because Speaker 2 (12:17): Disney Speaker 1 (12:18): Holds those rights. It's in the vault, Disney vault, and there's nothing I can do to get it. Speaker 2 (12:25): Us copyright law doesn't make it really easy to do that anyway. Speaker 1 (12:27): And Jill Speaker 2 (12:28): Can tell you, we were talking about things that you could show. We could have a screening up here at Art After Dark, and I was recommending any of Kira's Samurai films would be great, but almost everyone's heard of if they haven't seen the film Seven Samurai. But unfortunately anything produced after 1954 and the United States is still copyrights still protects that. Congress keeps extending that for business reasons. And there were very few films of his that are before that. Speaker 3 (12:54): Good news. Speaker 2 (12:55): Whoa, we have late breaking news. We Speaker 3 (12:57): Are paying the copyright fee so we can play seven. Say, oh Speaker 2 (13:00): Well, Speaker 1 (13:00): Fantastic. Speaker 2 (13:02): How about that? Speaker 1 (13:02): Yeah, as you were saying, I was like, whoa. I guess I happen to know something too, Speaker 2 (13:07): Jill. It's like we never talk anymore. It's Speaker 3 (13:09): True, but it's cool. So at The Art After Dark, which is going to be on February 24th, it's five to nine. We're going to have sushi, we're going to have Saki, we're going to have seven Samurai movie playing. Fantastic. Speaker 2 (13:23): So Speaker 3 (13:24): We're also going to have some kendo performances, so some traditional Japanese art. We're hoping to maybe do some origami. And Speaker 1 (13:36): There were some really great hand emotions there to telegraph, origami. It was really nice. Speaker 3 (13:41): So I think it's going to be a lot of fun. And art after dark is actually one of the areas that falls under marketing. And just so you know, I was not just hired because I got married here. That's not that Speaker 2 (13:54): She really is legitimately qualified. Speaker 3 (13:57): I am. So I have a background in marketing and pr and I worked for five years at the Newport Aquarium, which is a living museum. So I kind of got my feet wet, if you will. Oh Speaker 1 (14:10): My God, this is so clearly not the first time you've Speaker 2 (14:12): Used these rope tell Speaker 3 (14:14): So many times. So many times. But I also worked for an agency for a few years and I also worked at the Cincinnati Metro Transportation Agency. So I was with them for about four and a half years before coming to the museum. And I've always worked in marketing and pr, loved to write and loved to do pr, social design events. So it was really the perfect opportunity. And again, because of my love for the museum, I went after it like a rabid dog. I wanted it. It was just a perfect fit for me and everything worked out. Speaker 2 (14:48): When she gets excited, she does fun with the mouth. It's true. Speaker 1 (14:54): Now I'm also just imagining if the museum only hired people who got married here and just how weird that would be. What's your qualifications to be curator again? Well, I got married here. Maybe I should drop off an application I hadn't thought about though. You're like, oh, you got married here. You don't say, well, I thought we could go look at some art now if you guys have some time still. Sure. So we'll head out into the galleries. So we are looking at Hyman by Thomas Wilmer doing, and I wanted us to look at this painting today because it is actually not only by Thomas Wilmer doing, but also by now this is tricky. I almost said Mariah because of Mariah Longworth nickel store, but I'm assuming this one just goes by Maria. Maria Okie doing. And so this is a painting that was actually made by a married couple, and it's a painting of the Greek goddess of marriage, and it was also given as a wedding gift too. So it has all of these romantic stories around it, which I thought was pretty cool. Speaker 3 (16:19): It is a gorgeous piece. I just love it. I mean, it's from 1884 to 86, the style is just completely, it just draws you in the colors themselves. There's a beautiful teal on the bottom, ethereal tone. I adore this painting. Speaker 2 (16:41): It's really interesting to me to be able to see the process that went into a painting like this. There is a torch sort of in the figure's right hand that's done in gold leaf and you can tell it was actually not part of the original composition. If you look closely, you can see where the gold leaf actually goes over when the fingers in one of the hands as it creates the entire composition. It's really quite unique. Speaker 1 (17:05): Yeah, it's got a whole, when you were kind of talking about otherworldly feeling, I think she painted the background first. His wife was known for these garden scenes, and so that's her specialty is plants. And so I think she did the background first and then he painted the figure over top of that. So they were already kind of working in that way of just painting on top of things that I don't know who did the gold leaf for that staff that she's holding or torch. But yeah, just right on top of it. But it kind of gives everything this, I don't know, you don't think of really necessarily in real space. Speaker 2 (17:47): Right. The staff itself really have any depth cues or anything. It's very flat. Speaker 1 (17:52): Right. And her eyes too are just so kind of this weird stare kind of almost spooky, kind of haunted, I Speaker 2 (18:04): Married who, Speaker 3 (18:09): But I like how her face, it feels like it is in the shadows. I think it's purposefully drawn very lightly so that it seems like it's almost translucent so Speaker 1 (18:21): You can Speaker 3 (18:21): Kind of almost look through her. So it's just beautiful Speaker 1 (18:25): And it has a relationship to the idea of being a goddess and again, standing for something and not necessarily this is a literal person, but it has this almost that ghostly quality to it and the way she's kind of looking out and there's a lot of authority to her figure as well. I think the way she stands very, Speaker 2 (18:46): That in my experience does sum up marriage in general, female authority figure, just kind of standing strong Speaker 3 (18:55): And thinking about it. I cannot even imagine the process of working with someone else in a project like this. I don't Speaker 2 (19:02): Know how we have to work on our husband and wife painting tandem tagging in and out. I'm not sure it really is a very interesting work arrangement they must've had. Speaker 1 (19:12): There's a lot of trust in that. Oh gosh. Sort of being willing to turn it over and just say, okay, your turn. Speaker 2 (19:18): Yeah, don't screw it up. Speaker 1 (19:19): Yeah. Yeah. Just letting somebody take over. And I want to say the tree in the back is also an orange tree, and I believe there's some sort of, again, another marriage Speaker 3 (19:32): Connection. Oh, sure, sure. Orange tree. Yes. Symbol of marriage in the background. Of course, there's marriage all over the place on this painting, Speaker 1 (19:40): So it's another connection. The artist is, a lot of his paintings look pretty different from this too. I mean, probably the fact that his wife worked on it with him is part of that reason. But he does have a lot of women in his paintings and a lot of times they're in these kind of misty environments as well. So he does play with that kind of push pull of realism and then going into these impressionist brushy worlds as well. So there's a little bit of that connection with his other work here too. Speaker 3 (20:17): Well, I think if anyone visits the museum on Valentine's Day, they should absolutely see this painting. It's in a gorgeous gold frame and everything about it is just perfect for romance and everything that goes along with it. Speaker 1 (20:32): Actually, if you are here too, because we're really close to another one that I said, oh, actually there's two paintings really close to each other that I wasn't sure which one to decide to, because right next to it you have the approach of love. Speaker 3 (20:43): Exactly Speaker 1 (20:44): As well. With a little cupid, we can kind of just look over real quick. We don't have to talk too much, but I mean this is another perfect one for if you're coming on Valentine's Day. So we're in, I don't know, I didn't say we're in Gallery two 16 right now, so we're on the second floor in the American galleries. So if you're here, you definitely want to make a stop. You've got two very romantic pieces right next to each other. So this one we're looking at the approach of love by Kenyon Cox, and we have a little cupid climbing up onto this sort of stone bench with the naked lady, Speaker 3 (21:21): And there's a Cincinnati connection to this as well, which always makes it extra great. But this is another beautiful piece, and again, could not be more perfect for Valentine's Day. Speaker 1 (21:29): Yeah, he was from Ohio as well, so local boy. That's right. Uncle boy. Can he done all that for Speaker 4 (21:36): Himself? Yeah, Speaker 1 (21:37): Yeah, yeah, he did. He has another painting downstairs in the Cincinnati wing too, so have a few pieces by him. Well, thanks guys. Do you have anything else you wanted to Speaker 4 (21:47): Say while we're here? Speaker 3 (21:50): No, not, I mean, Speaker 4 (21:53): I'm speechless. Speaker 1 (21:54): You're speechless. Well, happy Valentine's Day everyone. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to Art Palace. We hope you'll come visit the Cincinnati Art Museum and have conversations about the art yourself. General admission to the museum is always free, and we also offer free parking. Special exhibitions on view right now are dressed to kill Japanese arms and armor, transcending reality. The woodcuts of Saka Gaje, the poetry of place, William Cliff, Linda Connor, and Michael Kenna. The book of only Enoch and the Jackleg Testament, part one, Jack and Eve, and employed a staff art exhibition, which closes on February 19th. A program you might be interested in is gallery games. Meet your Match on Thursday, February 16th, five 30 to 7:30 PM this night. We'll include an anti Valentine's Day scavenger hunt board games, a boobs and butts tour Speaker 3 (22:57): And Speaker 1 (22:57): More. By the end of the night, you'll be matched up with a work of art that you can love and cherish forever, cash bar and appetizers for sale in the Terrace Cafe and enter to win prize packages. For a night of fun. For program reservations and more information, visit cincinnati art museum.org. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Our theme song is Musical by Balal. If you haven't already done so, be sure to rate and review us on iTunes as it really helps others discover our show. I'm Russell Iig, and this has been Art Palace, produced by the Cincinnati Art Museum.