Arts Council to sponsor May 26 bus trip to Haan Art Museum

Thursday, April 28, 2022
The Greencastle Arts Council invites area residents to take a day trip to the Haan Museum in Lafayette on Thursday, May 26. In addition to the “Generations: Fine Art Sale and Exhibition,” currently on display, the museum is known for an exceptional collection of Hoosier paintings, pottery, sculpture and Renaissance Revival furniture.
Courtesy Haan Museum

If Covid left you longing to travel but you’d rather leave the driving to someone else, consider hitting the road with the Greencastle Arts Council on its maiden bus trip to the historic Haan Museum of Indiana Art in Lafayette on May 26. Tickets, including museum admission and roundtrip transportation on a professional, restroom-equipped Turner motor coach, are $40.

Travelers will meet at 8 a.m. in the Putnam County Museum parking lot at 110 N. Jackson St. in Greencastle. Following an 8:30 a.m. departure, the group plans to arrive in Lafayette at approximately 10 a.m., where they will enjoy a private tour of the museum’s collections. After viewing the exhibits and sculpture garden, next stop will be The Town & Gown Bistro in West Lafayette for a lunch and to say hello to owner Matt O’Neill, former chef at The Walden Inn. Cultivated and well-fed, the party will arrive back in Greencastle at about 4 p.m.

The Haan Museum, which is known for an exceptional collection of Hoosier painting and pottery, is housed in a 16,000-square-feet mansion, along with a major collection of antique 19th-century American furniture. Originally built to house the Connecticut state pavillion at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, the home was modeled to represent a 1760s gentleman’s country home. It also was designed with the intent of being auctioned off and relocated after the fair. As the buyers were Mr. and Mrs. William Potter, its final destination was Lafayette, where it was known for many years as Potter Mansion.

“The core of the museum’s permanent collection is an impressive body of the best works of T.C. Steele, the Hoosier Group and the Brown County Art Colony, collected over time by Ellie and Bob Haan, who later purchased the mansion from the Potters,” said board member Lane Ralph, coordinator of the trip. “The special show that we’ll be seeing, the ‘Generations: Fine Art Sale and Exhibition,’ is a selection of premier pieces by 10 painters currently working in Indiana, some of which also are for sale.”

Ralph continued, “This is the first time the GAC has organized a bus trip, so it is a bit of an experiment to sound out whether there is an audience in Putnam County for occasional cultural excursions like this.”

As seating is limited to 36 passengers, interested individuals are asked to purchase their tickets from a board member by the GAC’s next monthly meeting at the Putnam County Public Library on Monday, May 2. Alternatively, they may mail their payment to the Greencastle Arts Council (P.O. Box 631, Greencastle, IN 46135). Enter “Bus Trip” in the memo line of the check. For additional information visit the GAC website (greencastleartscouncil.org) or contact Lane Ralph at lane@greencastleartscouncil.org or 721-1519.

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