Last month began with a great review in the New York Times of our exhibition Compass: Folk Art in Four Directions, currently on display at the South Street Seaport Museum in collaboration with the Museum of the City of New York. In that review, Roberta Smith characterized Compass as an "exuberant and wide-ranging" exhibition that reveals the "Museum's collection to be one of New York City's great treasures."

This month, members of the museum are invited to join us on September 13 for the opening reception of two new exhibitions, Foiled: Tinsel Painting in America and Ooh, Shiny! Not a member? Click here to join today and become a part of this festive exhibition opening reception. Foiled: Tinsel Painting in America is the most comprehensive museum exhibition to focus on this under-recognized decorative art that was widely practiced in America from 1850 to 1890. One of the great revelations of the exhibition is the way this modest technique touched upon so many aspects of American life, innovation, and culture. The museum holds a wealth of tinsel paintings thanks to the prescience of donors Kristina Barbara Johnson and Jean and Day Krolik Jr. With the significant gift from the collection of Susan and Laurence Lerner, the museum is now the largest public repository of this fascinating artform.

An attraction to shiny things is a primal human impulse. It may be instinctive and emotional, or profoundly meaningful within a cultural context. In the visual arts this has been expressed through the use of myriad materials that glitter and reflect. Ooh, Shiny! will highlight three centuries of artworks—ranging from needleworks by 18th-century schoolgirls to sculptures by contemporary icons including Howard Finster—that are embellished with such materials as spangles, mica flakes, glass, marble dust, sequins, glitter, and aluminum.