Oberlin

 

Mary Edmonia Lewis, also known as "Wildfire" (c. July 4, 1844 – September 17, 1907), was an American sculptor. In 1859, when Edmonia Lewis was about 15 years old, her brother Samuel and abolitionists sent her to Oberlin, Ohio, where she attended the secondary Oberlin Academy Preparatory School before entering Oberlin Collegiate Institute(since 1866, Oberlin College), one of the first U.S. higher-learning institutions to admit women and people of differing ethnicities.The Ladies' Department was designed "to give Young Ladies facilities for the thorough mental discipline, and the special training. Sculpture above at the Allen Museum at Oberlin.

Dan agreed to facilitate my second attempt in two years to visit the Allen Museum at Oberlin College. As luck would have it (again) the museum was not open when we arrived on January 2nd, 2026. This time, Dan and I, both checked to make sure it would be open when we arrived around 11:30. I wanted to see, among other things, if the 3/4 bust of an Abolishionist (above by Mary Edmonia Lewis) and what might be on view from their collection. 

If my memory serves - the director of admissions at the University of Miami, of whom I reported as an admissions representative for two years (1979-1980, 1980-1981) worked in admissions at Oberlin before joining UM. George Giampetro gave me a wonderful opportunity to travel on behalf of the University of Miami in 12 states while visiting about 300 High Schools and a number of college fairs in the Northeast and Midwest. 

Oberlin appeared is a sort of interesting story as I was researching the career of character Edward Everitt Horton (1888-1970). He was dismissed from the college where he was studying German after pulling a sort of stunt from atop a building on campus. He threw a mannequin creating the appearance of a suicide jump. (Well talk about a dramatic stunt...) 

Note: I understood that my former boss at the University of Miami admissions office - Director George F. Giampetro once worked at Oberlin College. (No mention of that in obit.)

Coral Gables, Florida - George F. Giampetro Sr., of Coral Gables, Florida, passed away on July 6, 2021 at the age of 91 years old. George was born in Cleveland, Ohio on February 12,1930. His parents, Felix and Caterina Giampetro were Italian immigrants from Oriolo,Calabria, in Italy. From a humble upbring that included service in the US Navy, putting himself through college at Case Western Reserve by getting a wrestling scholarship, to a 20+ year career as Director of Admissions, at the University of Miami. He served for a few years at Saint Thomas University and the College Board. George retired only to go back to work at thier ice cream shop, Whip n Dip, which was started by his wife and daughter in 1985 and is still makeing and serving ice cream 36 years later. George met his first love, Nancy (Newman) Giampetro, on a blind date in New York City. After a 47- year marriage Nancy passed away in 2007. He found his second love, Diane Baker. They spent the last several years together traveling the world. George loved spending time with family and friends, playing golf, watching Hurricane football, and eating strawberry ice cream with hot fudge on top! We have been blessed for the time we got to spend with George and what we have learned from such a special man. George was definitely from the "Greatest Generation"! He is survived by his daughter, Kathryn (Kathi) Durham, grandchildren Ellen, Amanda, and Gregory, great-grandson Hunter, his son, George F. Giampetro Jr., and grandchildren Cassidy and George (Tripp) III.
To keep family and friends healthy, a celebration of life will be held honoring George Giampetro Sr. in the near future. Please email Amanda P. Durham (granddaughter) at amandapdurham@gmail.com if you are interested in attending.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to The Lung Cancer Foundation of America or to Shake-A-Leg in his name.

Holdings of American postwar art are especially deep, with works from all the major movements, including Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, New Realism, and Photorealism. Many of the towering figures of mid to late 20th-century American and European art are represented, among them Josef Albers, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, Willem de Kooning, Jim Dine, Jean Dubuffet, Jasper Johns, Yayoi Kusama, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Elizabeth Murray, Alice Neel, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, Diego Rivera, Mark Rothko, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol.

African American artists represented in the collection include Romare Bearden, Chakaia Booker, Willie Cole, Leonardo Drew, Renée Green, Horace Pippin, Alison Saar, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and Fred Wilson.

The AMAM also has strengths in Latin American art, with works by Enrique Chagoya, Edouard Duval-Carrié, Alfredo Jaar, Roberto Matta, Vik Muniz, Gabriel Orozco, Doris Salcedo, Fanny Sanín, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Francisco Toledo.

The grounds of the museum feature important early outdoor works by Mary Miss and Robert Morris, as well as Claes Oldenburg’s first permanent outdoor sculpture, Giant Three-Way Plug, installed in 1970. That same year, the AMAM purchased Eva Hesse’s seminal sculpture Laocoön, and subsequently accepted, as a gift from Hesse’s sister, the Eva Hesse Archive, the largest collection of material about and created by Hesse in any public institution, which includes working drawings, collages, photographs, diaries, datebooks, and letters.