Dale L. Couch, the Georgia Museum of Art’s curator of decorative art and director of the Henry D. Green Center for the Study of the Decorative Arts, will officially retire this year (at the end of February) after 11 years with the museum. This will be the second time he has retired, as he enjoyed a full career at the Georgia Archives before starting at the museum. Couch has been an employee since 2009, but his professional relationship with the museum extends much further back.
In 1986, Couch was a Horton Fellow at the Institute for Southern Material Culture at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts. Afterward, he consulted for the Georgia Museum of Art’s exhibition “Georgia’s Legacy: History Charted Through the Arts.” He was invited to join the Decorative Arts Advisory Committee (DAAC) in 2000. He went on to collaborate with the museum’s first curator of decorative arts Ashley Callahan, serving as co-curator of several exhibitions and speaking at several Henry D. Green Symposia of the Decorative Arts. Couch occupied this role for eight years before being hired as curator. He also consulted for projects at the Atlanta History Center as well as the High Museum of Art and other institutions. The Georgia Association of Museums named Couch Museum Professional of the Year in 2019, and in 2008 he received a Governor’s Award in the Humanities.
Although his position at the museum is technically part time, those familiar with Couch’s work would assume otherwise. Couch has taken on a range of responsibilities during his time as curator, one being the aforementioned Green Symposium. He’s spoken at many of these events throughout the years and has been heavily involved in its organization. The event is vital to decorative arts studies in both the museum and state, and its mission is one of education.
“I think that I have been able to channel my connections in the field to the expansion of Georgia decorative arts scholarship and to include students and interns in that. I am satisfied with our efforts and with the success of those symposia,” said Couch.
Upon joining the staff, Couch also had specific goals for his own scholarship. He wished to publish new approaches to dealing with Georgia material culture that broadened understanding of the material and set a pattern for future scholarship. His position at the museum gave him the opportunity to do so. Couch attributes these motivations to his initial attraction to the subject, stating that he dedicated a large part of his career to decorative art due to its unrecognized diversity.
He said, “I am not attracted to only expressions of ‘elite’ art. I’m attracted to subjects in which a variety of people are represented, and southern decorative arts has that. It’s unavoidable. The diversity spanning class, wealth, literacy, race and culture is the big story for me in this field.”
Couch has made significant advancements in diversifying his field of study, and his recent exhibition and book “Material Georgia 1733 – 1900: Two Decades of Scholarship” are especially notable. Together, they took a comprehensive look at the diverse contributions of early decorative arts, proving that the presumed homogeneity of the American South’s artistic culture is inaccurate. “Echoes from the Continent: Franco-Germanic Chairs in Georgia” was an exhibition jointly presented by the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center and the Georgia Museum of Art, and Couch considers it one of his most gratifying projects. He has a particular interest in
Georgia period furniture but has worked on a number of exhibitions outside his immediate expertise.
“Georgia’s Girlhood Embroidery: ‘Crowned with Glory and Immortality’” was the first comprehensive exhibition to focus on colonial and antebellum girlhood embroideries, and it highlighted the history of feminine education in the state. “Artful Instruments: Georgia Gunsmiths and Their Craft” emphasized rifles as works of art for the silversmithing, casting and woodworking involved, representing the highest level of craft in 19th-century Georgia.
“Although I know little of textiles and rifles, my friends and contacts in the field supplied subject expertise as contributors and guest curators. I am proud that I stepped aside from my focus to publish a record of contributions on materials largely untreated by the Georgia canon,” said Couch.
While such work has been a defining factor of his success, Couch said his proudest accomplishment is his work with students. “Hands down, my greatest achievement has been inciting interest in the decorative arts with interns and promoting their success,” said Couch. “My students shadow me. If I write, they write. If I research, they research. If I design and implement, they design and implement. They go where I go, and I give them real work in real time. I just think that if my work here isn’t useful to them, then it isn’t useful at all because they are the future of this field.”
Couch’s time at the Georgia Museum of Art has been a fulfilling experience, and he’s served many with his expertise and mentorship. He stresses that the relationship he’s developed with the Athens art community will not be abandoned in retirement. “I want to continue to participate in museum programs and the director has asked me to assist with special projects. I would like to remain connected and work on my scholarship,” he said. “Many of my closest friends are associated with the Georgia Museum of Art.”
Reflecting on the future of the decorative arts at the museum, he hopes to leave the next curator with the greatest possible flexibility, but his primary wish is for the program to remain universal while not abandoning its commitment to regional material. One area he desires to receive more attention is 20th-century studio craft. “It deserves work that it hasn’t fully had yet. We’ve gone a long way, but it remains underrepresented in our collection. I hope to see studio craft as a regular inclusion in the program,” said Couch. He added: “I also hope to see contemporary decorative arts and crafts added to the program and parallel the other divisions within the museum.” An example of this interest has been Couch’s creation of a strong collection of modern and contemporary objects in wood (some of which is now on display in the museum’s permanent collection wing).
He closed by saying, “I owe so much to so many people for our successes with the Green Center. Bill Eiland’s support for our program was essential; DAAC, (helmed by Linda Chesnut) supporters and Green family have been awesome; friends and colleagues throughout this field; donors and lenders. And I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the museum team who makes our program possible.”
By Anna Morelock
