100 Shows for 100 Years: National Centennial Celebration

Viktor Turns 100 Next Year: Help Us Plan the Party

We are looking for owners and exhibition venues who would like to help us celebrate Viktor Schreckengost's 100th birthday in style. An unprecedented series of exhibitions of Viktor Schreckengost's works will open around the country during the 100 days leading up to his centennial day, June 26, 2006.

The Viktor Schreckengost National Centennial Celebration is being organized by The Viktor Schreckengost Foundation and Schreckengost Exhibitions. At least 100 different venues will show Viktor Schreckengost art and design works between March 18 and June 26, 2006.

"Many potential hosts already have Viktor’s works in their collections; his pieces are widely held among major institutions in the United States," explains Chip Nowacek, the Foundation director. He names a few confirmed venues: The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Wadsworth Atheneum, The Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Zoo, home of Viktor’s architectural animal sculpture series. Not all hosts are major institutions, however; a few public schools that have been touched by Viktor’s influence will host exhibitions as well. Grant Elementary School in Lakewood, Ohio, which developed an arts education curriculum based on Viktor’s work, and Lakewood High School, which features another of Viktor’s architectural sculptures at its entrance, are on the list.

"We are also working with potential exhibition hosts that have not been able to acquire their own pieces, pairing them with owners who would like to loan their works for display," says Chip. He names a large university and an art museum, both in Ohio, that are hoping to find pieces to display. "We may not be able to accommodate everyone. One hundred slots will fill quickly." He encourages potential venues to contact him as soon as possible, and owners to consider loaning their works for this historic series. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for owners. Exhibited works increase in value, and to our knowledge, nobody has ever produced a coordinated, simultaneous exhibition series on this scale," says Chip. "When this is all said and done, this may qualify as the largest known exhibition of a single artist."

Updated information and application forms are now available on a new webpage. Click here.