Sebring announces exhibit

Sebring site of the Viktor Schreckengost Centennial Exhibition to open April 18 http://www.sebringohio.net/index.asp

The Strand Theater in Sebring, the local site of the Viktor Schreckengost National Centennial Exhibition, has been changed from a previously announced opening date of March 18 to April 20.

The historic Strand Theater, home of the Sebring Historical Society, is in the final stages of renovation and could not meet the national exhibit target opening date.

According to Historical Society President Dery Zeppernick, April 17 is the membership meeting with guest speaker Craig Bara. Bara is a graduate of West Branch High School, historian and author of “Images of America - Sebring, Ohio.”

Bara is the curator at the Schreckengost Foundation in Cleveland. Bara will speak about Schreckengost and his contributions to the world of art which range from creating Art Deco ceramics, to works of architectural sculpture, to toys beloved by generations of children, lawn furniture that can still be found at homes across the country, and the first cab-over-engine truck design.

This is the largest exhibition in U.S. history - and a fitting tribute to the man who has been called “America’s da Vinci.”

Across the country on March 18, 100 days prior to Viktor’s 100th birthday, an unprecedented national exhibition will begin of one of America’s most important, influential, and inspired designers: Sebring native Viktor Schreckengost.

Over the course of those days, more than 100 different venues will showcase Schreckengost’s art and design works, culminating in a Centennial Exhibition celebration in Cleveland.

The Strand Theater exhibit will run April 18 to July 26. There will be a private opening on April 18 for members of the media, special guests and people who have loaned items for the exhibit. The first day the exhibit open to the public will be April 20. Regular scheduled days are Thursday from noon to 2:30 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. On Sundays, the exhibit will be open from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Special tours for groups can be arranged by contacting Zeppernick at (330) 938-2387.

Among the venues showcasing Schreckengost collections or individual objects are the Cleveland Zoo and Lakewood High School, plus an eclectic mix of other organizations dedicated to various disciplines in which Schreckengost’s designs made a mark - the Bicycle Museum of America, the Tallahassee Antique Car Museum, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The variety of exhibition spaces reflects Schreckengost’s role as an industrial designer.

Viktor Schreckengost is perhaps best known today as the creator of “The Jazz Bowl,” a seminal piece of American Art Deco ceramics that he created for Cleveland’s Cowan Pottery at the request of Eleanor Roosevelt. Drawing on his trips to Manhattan, where he took in shows at the legendary Cotton Club, Schreckengost etched the bowl with soaring buildings, musical motifs, and an ocean liner, then cast it with a cobalt blue glaze to capture the quality of city lights at night. The result was a striking vision of New York City in the Jazz Age. The Jazz Bowl’s renown, and value, have only grown. In 2004, Sotheby’s sold one for $254,000.

Chip Nowacek, director of The Viktor Schreckengost Foundation, said “There is a misperception that Viktor’s reputation was built on the Jazz Bowl. He was actually better known for other things. He was a true designer’s designer, moving from company to company in the Northern Ohio area and adapting his genius to the particular needs of each.”

Among Schreckengost’s most important designs were the first mass-produced dinnerware line, for American Limoges, the first cab-over-engine truck, for White Motors, and the first economical pedal cars for children. He also broke new ground with printing presses, electrical fans, lawn chairs, seated lawn mowers, and the many bicycle models he developed for the world’s largest manufacturer, Murray.

Schreckengost’s influence on American life was felt in other ways as well. When his career was interrupted by World War II, Schreckengost joined the U.S. Navy and developed a system for radar recognition that won him the Secretary of Navy’s commendation.

And in his 65-year career as a teacher at the Cleveland Institute of Art, that has an Industrial Design program he launched, Schreckengost was a mentor to generations of students, among them the future designers of the Ford Mustang and the Crest Spin Brush.

According to John Nottingham, who developed the latter product with partner and fellow Schreckengost student John Spirk, “Viktor’s part of our DNA . He designed for the average person out there, and the genius of what he designed was figuring out how to give the sense of something, the quality, but give it an every day price.”

According to Nowacek, “Viktor’s career truly reflects the last century of American life, so it’s only fitting that America serve as the ‘gallery‚’ for this exhibition. His ability to design for the needs and desires of the common man was unparalleled, which is why his legacy is so enormous. We’re excited by this opportunity to provide a fittingly ambitious summation of that legacy, and to introduce hundreds of thousands of people across the country to the man who created so many of the products that were part of their lives.”

As the Foundation indicates:

“Almost every adult living in America has ridden in, ridden on, drunk out of, stored their things in, eaten off of, been costumed in, mowed their lawn with, played on, lit the night with, viewed in a museum, cooled their rooms with, read about, printed with, sat on, placed a call with, seen at a zoo, put their flowers in, hung on their wall, served punch from, delivered milk in, read something printed on, seen at the World’s Fair, detected enemy combatants with, written about, had an arm or leg replaced with, graduated from, protected by, or seen at the White House something created by Viktor Schreckengost.”

For more information on The Viktor Schreckengost National Centennial Exhibition, contact Philip Barr of the Viktor Schreckengost Foundation, (216) 334-9591.