Open your 2010 holiday season with a "Once upon a time . . ." visit to Elisabet Ney's 1907 studio Formosa on the evening of Saturday, December 4, 5-9 PM.
 
The castle-like former studio of Elisabet Ney in Hyde Park is particularly beautiful at night, "candle-lit" and filled with natural greenery and music of the period including songs by Ney's dear friend Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink and Enrico Caruso who visited Ney at Formosa while performing in Austin.
   
Moving through the rooms of the former studio, surrounded by life-portraits of European philosophers and kings, Texas heroes, governors, and influential Texas women and friends who gathered at Formosa over a hundred years ago to "envision a new Texas, rich in arts and education,” provides interesting connections with the past that resonate with the present.  Young children will particularly enjoy climbing the steps of the stone tower to discover the secret door!
 
There will be a festive Children's Holiday Tent outside on Ney's recently restored terrace where parties for friends, young and old, and others took place so many years ago.  The Children's Holiday Tent will be filled with a sparkling Christmas tree decorated with a collection of dolls from around the world, Father Christmases and the music of Tchaikovsky’s well-loved Nutcracker. Colorful illustrations from J.R. Tolkien's Letters from Father Christmas will also be among the decorations.  There will be a worktable to make old fashioned garlands to take home.  Holiday punch and sugar cookies will be served. The evening is free.
 
We hope you will join us.

Happy Holidays!

Elisabet Ney Museum
304 East 44th Street
512-458-2255 telephone