| 115th Year, 29th Issue | Thursday, February 26, 2004 | Sparta, North Carolina |
After eight months of negotiation, teapot collectors Sonny and Gloria Kamm and New River Community Partners (NRCP) signed a memorandum of agreement in early December 2003 setting forth the conditions for bringing the entire Kamm Teapot Collection to Sparta.
The Kamms have committed their entire collection and a permanent endowment for the curatorial aspects of maintaining the collection in Sparta.
NRCP and the Town of Sparta have committed to raising the funds necessary to establish a high quality museum in Sparta as an appropriate home for the Kamm Teapot Collection.
In addition to the collection, the museum will offer additional rotating exhibition space, multi-purpose educational rooms, retail space and restaurant space.
NRCP Director Patrick Woodie said in an interview that several locations are being looked at, but declined to be more specific. Printing such information can have negative consequences on land transactions, Woodie noted.
He said local officials are in the early stages of selecting a site at this point and plan to look in the downtown area.
"The project is proceeding well," said Woodie. "It is a long-term project and people will begin to hear a lot more about it very soon."
The Collection
Breaking attendance records at museums and galleries in Napa,
Montgomery, Toronto, Long Beach, and Chicago, "The Artful Teapot," a
traveling exhibit of 250 pieces of the Kamms collection, arrived at
Charlotte's Mint Museum of Craft + Design Feb. 1 for a four-month visit
before traveling to a gallery in Manhattan. Residents and community
leaders from Sparta and Roaring Gap hosted an evening of food and
fellowship at the Mint on Jan. 31 welcoming this portion of the Kamm
Teapot Collection to its new home state and marking the beginning of a
$7 million fundraising campaign.
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