during his time as curator, one being the aforementioned Green Symposium. He’s spoken at many of these events through- out the years and has been heavily involved in its organization. The event is vital to decorative arts studies in both the museum and state, and its mission is one of education. “I think that I have been able to chan- nel my connections in the field to the expansion of Georgia decorative arts scholarship and to include students and interns in that. I am satisfied with our efforts and with the success of those symposia,” said Couch. Upon joining the staff, Couch also had specific goals for his own scholarship. He wished to publish new approaches to dealing with Georgia material culture that broadened understanding of the material and set a pattern for future scholarship. His position at the museum gave him the opportunity to do so. Couch attributes these motivations to his initial attraction to the subject, stating that he dedicated a large part of his career to decorative art due to its unrecognized diversity. He said, “I am not attracted to only expressions of ‘elite’ art. I’m attracted to subjects in which a variety of people are represented, and southern decorative arts has that. It’s unavoidable. The diversity spanning class, wealth, literacy, race and culture is the big story for me in this field.” Couch has made significant advance- ments in diversifying his field of study, and his recent exhibition and book “Material Georgia 1733 – 1900: Two Decades of Scholarship” are especially notable. Together, they took a compre- hensive look at the diverse contributions of early decorative arts, proving that the presumed homogeneity of the American South’s artistic culture is inaccurate. “Echoes from the Continent: Franco-Germanic Chairs in Georgia” was an exhibition jointly presented by the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center and the Georgia Museum of Art, and Couch considers it one of his most gratifying projects. He has a particular interest in Georgia period furniture but has worked on a number of exhibitions outside his immediate expertise.
DALE COUCH to retire…again
Dale L. Couch, the GeorgiaMuseumof Art’s curator of decorative art and director of the HenryD. Green Center for the Study of the Decorative Arts, will officially retire this year after 11 years with the museum. T HIS WILL BE THE SECOND TIME HE HAS RETIRED, as he enjoyed a full career at the Georgia Archives before starting at the museum. Couch has been an employee since 2009, but his professional relationship with the museum extends much farther back.
decorative arts, Ashley Callahan, serv- ing as co-curator of several exhibitions and speaking at several Henry D. Green Symposia of the Decorative Arts. Couch occupied this role for eight years before being hired as curator. He also consulted for projects at the Atlanta History Center as well as the High Museum of Art and other institutions. The Georgia Associa- tion of Museums named Couch Museum Professional of the Year in 2019, and in 2008 he received a Governor’s Award in the Humanities. Although his position at the museum is part time, those familiar with Couch’s work would assume otherwise. Couch has taken on a range of responsibilities
In 1986, Couch was a Horton Fellow at the Institute for Southern Material Culture at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts. Afterward, he consulted for the Georgia Museum of Art’s exhibi- tion “Georgia’s Legacy: History Charted Through the Arts.” He was invited to join the Decorative Arts Advisory Committee (DAAC) in 2000. He went on to collabo- rate with the museum’s first curator of
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