Suzanne Pollak and Lee Manigault are bossy in the best sense of the word. After bonding at a cocktail party at Darla Moore’s house 4 years ago, they dubbed themselves the ‘Domestic Deans.’
“Why? Because we hold the only two PhD’s in ‘Food and It’s Many Uses’ and ‘Managing a Household’ ever awarded. We each spent decades of time, logged thousands of miles spanning all the continents, and raised six children between us to become the two most knowledgeable authorities in our respective fields,” write Pollak and Manigault in the intro to their book The Charleston Academy of Domestic Pursuits.
The book was released on April 15, 2014 and the Deans are gearing up for a busy spring and summer touring the southeast to promote their book. As part of our Art With a Twist series, the Gibbes is pleased to host the Deans on Monday, May 12 at noon for a lunchtime lecture and book signing. The Deans will speak to guests about using a museum to develop your eye. “We’ll walk you through the rooms of your home and teach you how to develop your taste over a lifetime,” says Suzanne. The book is laced with witty humor, practical tips, and charming illustrations that celebrate the time honored art of entertaining.
“We are two experts who are not afraid to tell you what to do. We have been living in, and proudly running, our houses for 25 years. People ask our advice all the time because they can see that we enjoy living in our houses and we make it look easy. This is because we have given so much thought and energy into how we do our jobs around the house. We celebrate everything. One of us gave an Emancipation Proclamation dinner dance on a moonlit barrier island when she got divorced, while the other hosted a Go Green dinner when her son mowed the lawn without being asked,” write Pollak and Manigault.
Suzanne was kind enough to stop by and talk with me about the book and her upcoming lecture at the Gibbes. As someone who did not grow up in the south and missed out on etiquette training, I was nervous about our meeting. With a house full of loud, messy boys, I wasn’t sure that their world of entertaining would apply to me. However, I was pleasantly surprised with Suzanne’s warm demeanor and drawn to her energy and passion. All jokes aside, Suzanne spoke about the importance of bringing the community back into our homes. She explained that our busy lives have taken us away from the home as a gathering place for family, friends, and neighbors. The Charleston Academy of Domestic Pursuits teaches readers that entertaining at home doesn’t have to be a big production and is filled with practical tips such as:
- How to involve all available hands to make light work.
- How to impress with a meal in mere minutes.
- The Deans even suggest readers make-do with crates and cushions, should they not have enough chairs for a dinner party.
These women will share their joie de vivre as well as their knowledge and varied life experiences with guests. Join us for an entertaining and informative event on May 12th!
—Amy Mercer, Marketing and Communications Manager, Gibbes Museum of Art
Suzanne Pollak, author of Entertaining for Dummies and The Pat Conroy Cookbook is one of the USA’s foremost experts on entertaining, parties and food. She is a wife and the mother of four adult children. After living in Africa for her first 18 years and then answering her own family’s questions for the next 25, she became the spokesperson for a division of Federated Department Stores (covering seventy-seven stores spread out over ten states), giving forty seminars a year on subjects ranging from home decorating to entertaining, including cooking demonstrations and bridal fairs. She became the “face of the home store”.
Lee Manigault is an internationally educated cook, who can set a table with over 100 utensils and butcher a side of beef. She is also a mother of two school-age daughters. She married into one of Charleston’s most prominent families 20 years ago. She lives in a meticulously restored 18th-century house that has been in the family since it was built. Her house is one of the few private houses in town to boast a ballroom and in it she has hosted a huge array of activities from lectures and formal dinners to intimate family holidays. Manigault’s children are the first to have lived in the house since the Civil War, so she has spent a considerable amount of her time re-acquainting the house to young children.
Art With A Twist
Monday, May 12, Noon
THE ART AND SCIENCE OF LIVING AT HOME: Turning Your House into a Work of Art
With Suzanne Pollak and Lee Manigault
For more information or to purchase tickets please visit gibbesmuseum.org/events or call 843.722.2706 x21.
Photo of the Deans by Vicki Stone.
Published May 1, 2014