Today we’d like to introduce you to Louise Irvine.
Hi Louise, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am very proud of what we have achieved at the Wiener Museum of Decorative Arts (WMODA) in Hollywood, Florida and of the role I have played in shaping it into the vibrant cultural institution it is today. This year, I am celebrating 50 years in the decorative arts world. From my first museum job at Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow, where I grew up, through my Fine Arts degree at Edinburgh University and postgraduate Museum Studies at Manchester University, I was fortunate to build an education and career that combined my passion for art with my love of museums. My time at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, as the co-curator of the Doulton Story retrospective exhibition, opened the door to a lifelong connection with Royal Doulton and the wider world of British ceramics.
I spent many years promoting the history of Royal Doulton from the company’s Piccadilly gallery in London and traveling internationally for exhibitions and collectors’ events. After consulting for museums, arts organizations, and private collectors across the UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the USA, a new opportunity brought me to Florida in 2010, where I met Arthur Wiener. His extraordinary passion for the decorative arts and his spectacular collection inspired the next chapter of my career. Together, we developed WMODA, which opened in 2014, and I have had the privilege of serving as Executive Director and Curator ever since.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The museum’s journey has not been easy. COVID brought major challenges, followed by the loss of our lease at our original Dania Beach location and the daunting task of relocating more than 15,000 fragile pieces of pottery, porcelain, and glass. Our closure lasted longer than we had hoped, and rebuilding our audience in our new Hollywood home after such a disruption has required enormous determination. Receiving the Florida Association of Museums’ Excellence Award in 2023 was a meaningful recognition of what the WMODA team accomplished during that difficult period.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Building WMODA has been one of the great achievements of my professional life. I am very proud of our 30,000-square-foot Hollywood museum and the way it brings ceramics and glass together under our playful mantra: “Glass is hot, and ceramics are cool!” We are certainly not your granny’s china cabinet!
Our museum galleries feature more than 3,000 artworks celebrating the creativity, craftsmanship, and imagination of artists and designers across centuries, continents, and cultures. From British Victorian art pottery and European Art Nouveau and Art Deco porcelain to Ardmore from South Africa, our ceramics galleries tell fascinating stories of innovation and creativity. Our Hot Glass gallery celebrates Dale Chihuly and other pioneers of the American Studio Glass Movement, while our programs and exhibitions also showcase talented contemporary artists from our own community.
I am especially proud that WMODA is more than a museum; it is a place where people can encounter and engage with art in unexpected and exciting ways. Initiatives such as Lloyd Goradesky’s Kindness Project, Let Love Guide Your Way, and Chelsea Rousso’s Unity in the Community: Transparency through Glass exhibition demonstrate the extraordinary possibilities of the Fired Arts. We are also thrilled to support community art projects like these, especially this year as the Broward County Cultural Division is also celebrating 50 years in the arts.
Every exhibition, workshop, and event is designed to reveal the skill, imagination, and technical ingenuity involved in transforming earth, air, fire, and water into enduring works of art. I love sharing fun facts through our programs to inspire lifelong learning, and I’ve devised lots of entertaining scavenger hunts to spark children’s curiosity. For the last ten years, I have enjoyed writing our monthly e-newsletter, Through the Looking Glass, to keep our WMODA members and supporters connected to our ongoing journey. I was thrilled to share the museum’s story through my interview for the TV show Art Loft on PBS South Florida, and the WMODA segment has aired several times. Most rewarding of all, however, has been seeing visitors discover the museum, fall in love with the collection, and leave inspired.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Many extraordinary people have helped make WMODA possible. Arthur Wiener’s generosity and unwavering belief in sharing his collection with the public have been fundamental to the museum’s success. Arron Rimpley and Gregg Whittecar encouraged him on this path and helped him build his incredible collections together with Ed Pascoe. I am equally grateful to our loyal management team, including Kimberly Sheridan, Carolina Bermudez, Lori Brown and Luis Montanez, who have worked with me for many years and helped carry the museum through its challenges. Our new Business Manager, Teresa Kowall, is also now helping to position WMODA for the future.
I am also indebted to all the museum visitors who consistently give us five-star reviews on Google and Tripadvisor. We may sometimes be described as a “hidden gem” in Hollywood, but my hope is that more people will discover us and acknowledge us as one of Broward County’s top-rated attractions. We are currently ranked #2 among Things to Do in Hollywood – maybe one day we will even beat the beach!
After more than a decade at WMODA, I remain as enthusiastic as ever and proud of the remarkable collections we share. We still have many more stories to tell, artists to celebrate, and thousands of dazzling works of art waiting to inspire visitors of all ages and backgrounds to see the decorative arts with fresh eyes.
Pricing:
- WMODA Admission Prices $15 Adults, $12 Seniors $5 Military & Students (with ID) Free for Children 5 & Under
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wmoda.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wmodamuseum
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wmodamuseum
