The exhibit includes color sketches and architectural studies that Ronnebeck submitted for New Deal art-program commissions — two of which she won. Ronnebeck was hired to create murals for the post offices in Grand Junction and Worland, Wyoming; today the Worland mural is in a federal building in Casper. The Grand Junction piece is still in that building, “but it was lost for about thirty years,” says Kaitlyn Mellini, the gallery’s assistant director, who organized this show. “Everyone had forgotten about it. Ultimately it was located in New York City, were it was sent in the ’50s to be conserved.”
So could Ronnebeck’s Nativity scene still exist? “It could be hidden in some nook and cranny,” Mellini concedes. “We just need an organized effort to track it down.”
Start the hunt by seeing Ronnebeck’s existing treasures at the Byers-Evans Museum, 1310 Bannock Street, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Visit www.historycolorado.org/be or call 303-620-4933.
Dec. 10-Feb. 28, 2010
