Olio Curtain

Title: Olio Curtain
Type: Showboat Artifacts
Description: This olio curtain is a replica of one chosen by the Waterfront Museum from the collection of University Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. We commissioned scenic painters to recreate the design for Showboats ‘Round the Bend, an exhibit produced in collaboration with the Theatre Museum.

David Sharps searched University Art Museum at the University of Minneapolis, Minnesota collection website for rivers, lakes, streams, tugboats, barges, whatnot and this was one of the choices, which reminded him of the Palisades.

It served as the model for this replica for an exhibit on showboats that was a partnership between The Theatre Museum and The Waterfront Museum. Helen Guditis and David Sharps with Mary Habstritt as curator, filled the barge with panels that explained the showboat era both in New York and in general. The exhibition on showboats was donated to the Maritime Industry Museum at Fort Schuyler, SUNY Maritime in the Bronx.