Thursday, February 26, 2026

Can We Touch the Scarab Vase?: A Story of Failure, Darkness, and Discovery
Everson Museum of Art

Price: Pay what you wish
Hosmer Auditorium, Everson Museum
401 Harrison St., Syracuse

In 1910, Adelaide Robineau spent 1,000 hours on a single vase. She carved into fired porcelain, glazed only the raised edges, and created something that turned the ceramics world on its head. Then she published her methods so others could learn from what she'd discovered. 115 years later, the Everson Museum asked Stephanie and Isaac Budmen to digitize that vase. They thought they knew how. Twelve hours of scanning, months of processing: complete failure.

What followed was a two-year investigation into light, material, and the questions you don't think to ask when you're confident. The breakthrough required scanning in total darkness — which shouldn't have worked at all.

Join the Budmens for the full story of how following curiosity through failure led to the Scarab Vase becoming touchable for the first time in 115 years. Stay after to see, and touch, the result.