MassMu Exhibition Is on View in Amsterdam

A significant portion of the Massillon Museum’s Moniker: Identity Lost and Found exhibition (June 23–October 21, 2018) is on view now through April 28 at the STRAAT Museum for Street Art and Graffiti in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Scot Phillips, MassMu’s operations officer, co-curated the original 2018 exhibition and orchestrated the effort to share it with the STRAAT Museum for its Moniker: An Origin Story exhibition.

The Massillon Museum shipped 37 steel sheets, 18'' by 18'' each, to be included in the current exhibition 27 panels of original marks by railroad graffiti artists and 10 panels in tribute to famous deceased moniker artists.

Phillips, also a well-known regional muralist, traveled to Amsterdam and painted a large replica of an iconic moniker on a 20' by 10' exterior door of the Straat Museum. The mural, History Hereafter, in honor of the late moniker artist buZ blurr, depicts blurr’s mark, “Colossus of Roads.”  Emmy Butler, blurr's wife, and her family helped Phillips complete the mural in time for the exhibition opening, which hundreds of people attended.

“I’m honored to be part of this exhibition, which highlights the artistic career of my friend BuZ, and to have MassMu included," Phillips said.  “He just passed in January, so this exhibition is serving as a timely tribute. I hope this is the first of many opportunities to share the Massillon Museum’s unique exhibit around the world.”

The original exhibition catalog was reprinted as a softcover, second edition in Spring 2022, in partnership with Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture and Burn Barrel Press. All 400 hardbound copies sold out on opening night at MassMu.  Copies of the second edition are available in the Massillon Museum’s shop, OHregionalities. The original catalog and portions of the 2018 exhibition were funded in part by a grant from Ohio Humanities.

During this time that the Massillon Museum is represented in Amsterdam, a document from its permanent collection is on display in Washington DC.  A roster of the second-class RMSTitanic survivors who were rescued by the RMS Carpathia is currently on view in the US Capitol Visitors Center as part of its Congressional Investigations exhibition.

To learn more about the STRAAT Museum, visit StraatMuseum.com. For more Massillon Museum information, call 330-833-4061 or visit MassillonMuseum.org.