Earlier this month, Crystal Bridges curators introduced the museum's new Visions of America galleries. The new exhibits offer a high-level introduction to five centuries of American art. Ozarks at Large, as Jack Travis got a tour of the new gallery and brings us this report.
A place like Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art can ignite your curiosity, and the museum's latest gallery aims to achieve exactly that. “Visions of America” opened to the public on Jan. 17. The gallery marks a milestone in the museum's expansion project, as it is housed in the former Early Americans Gallery.
Last week, museum curators gathered the community to explain their ambitions for the space. Chief Curator Austen Barron Bailly says they've created an experience to sample their collection, while exciting guests for what's to come.
“What we've done is created five high level thematic sections to prime people for curiosity, to invite people in to see some of the greatest hits of our collection and showcase many new acquisitions, especially in Indigenous art and craft. We're highlighting artists' voices and technique. And you'll see many of that and hear more about that.”
The sections are as follows: We, Dreaming, Nature, Making Our Mark and We the People. Iconic and newer works of art engage guests throughout the gallery. Bailly says the first section, titled We, is a reflection of the people who make up America. “Rosie the Riveter” by Norman Rockwell sits in this gallery, as well as "Our Town" by Kerry James Marshall and Duane Hanson's lifelike sculpture “Man on a Bench”.
“In a nutshell, this section is really about reflections on the American people, kind of who we are thinking about, masterpieces like ‘Rosie the Riveter’, how that is symbolic of American experience along with the work of Terry Greaves, Laura McPhee, Kerry James Marshall and many more. So it's really reflections on the American people. And you'll see community portraits as well, and artists self-portraits, which is a sort of subset strength of our collection.”
The sections flow into each other both thematically and experientially. The Dreaming section, which curators say focuses on how artists can help us see a different world through the power of imagination and creativity, transitions into the Nature section via a skywalk. The covered walkway features a unique soundtrack created by submerging a waterproof microphone into a pond on the Crystal Bridges campus.
That sonic work blending of human technology with natural ambiance ties into the next section called Making Our Mark.
“Which is all about the power of objects and how we shape our built environments, our home environments, how we think about the objects that shape our cultures, our societies, and even the museum as a kind of object.
“Lastly, we will end up in a section called We the People, which is really looking at the unfolding story of America. We'll have that sort of five centuries suite. There's a real gravitas in this section. I think you'll appreciate looking at family, faith, tradition, national symbols, and of course, culminating instead of beginning, as you may remember, with Nari Ward's ‘We the People’.”
There are wholly new works in addition to familiar favorites. Curator of Indigenous Art Jordan Poorman Cocker says the museum commissioned multiple pieces for its collection, including an Osage ribbon blanket by Addie Roanhorse titled “Eldest Daughter” in the We the People section.
“One of the strengths of the Indigenous art collection at Crystal Bridges is really our collaboration with artists to bring their best work or most exciting works to our collection. For Addie Roanhorse, we have had her work in the collection. We actually, if you go to the Momentary, there's a glass wrap on the facade of the Momentary. She designed that glass treatment, and so to have her textile work in the collection was such a powerful way to build these stories.”
Craft has become a recent emphasis at Crystal Bridges through a gift from the Wingate Foundation. Curator of Craft Jen Padgett says they're attempting to bridge the gap between art and what we might think of as craft, because they're really one and the same.
“And the idea that it's not a separate part of the collection that we have. Here's the art collection and here's the craft collection. But instead, that craft is this powerhouse within the history of American art. And that’s when we start to pay attention to a wider range of materials. So thinking about ceramics, glass, metal, wood and fiber wood, we honor those diverse traditions that artists looking back to say, practices handed down through generations, or turning and looking at the innovation of using materials in different and unexpected ways, that we have a literally more textured story of American art.”
Nature also bleeds outside of the Nature section and is a consistent theme in the gallery. Padgett notes that many artists treat the natural world as a collaborator rather than a subject or medium. The collection of 24 Norm Sartorius hand-carved spoons offers a visually compelling example of such teamwork.
“Artists often look to nature as a source of inspiration, and when you have that additional level of the artist looking to nature as a collaborator, in thinking that it's not just about the artist having a vision and then executing it, but instead making decisions as they go along. It's something that you definitely see in the work of Norm Sartorius, who's carving individual spoons out of wood.
“And you can imagine that the variation of a tree's growth over time, the way that elements– even the roots of a tree– could be used as guidance for what that form might be, is part of what the artist's practice is. So when he is making a new spoon, he's looking at what is the nature of this wood as I'm going, what new layers are being revealed to me? And it's something that in art history reaches back as far as Michelangelo making decisions about how to carve the David based on how a vein of marble ran through it. So that idea of artists continually being in response to the material that they're working with is really energizing.”
Numerous gems and minerals are interspersed between artwork. Manager of curatorial affairs Laura Pratt says they embody the museum's dedication to displaying art and nature.
“And so what is a better way to show that demonstration of our commitment to that pillar than bringing nature inside, making it, um, in place right next to all these incredible examples of the architecture, the soaring ceiling, and these incredible works of art that really highlight luminosity and glow and texture.”
She says gemstones like Arkansas quartz not only provide a sense of place within the state, but also enable viewers to think about their grain and shimmer when placed in certain lighting.
To that point, Wingate curator Padgett says the new gallery is best viewed in person. Staff has worked to create an experience that encourages you to study the art up close, often revealing hidden details or another layer of the work.
“There's such a big difference between looking at an image on a computer screen, or seeing it printed and coming and seeing the work in person. And that's true of paintings and other works that are more two dimensional, but it's especially true of things that have three dimensional form. And when you come into the galleries and you see something, you might not only be surprised by how big it is. Sometimes when you see an image, you think, oh, that looks like a great reasonable sized sculpture, and you walk in and it's something that's monumental. Or sometimes it's a thing that's smaller than you expected, and it draws you into that world.
“So being able to come into the galleries to look closely and spend time with objects helps to activate a whole part of your imagination that we hope that people who come in see collection objects and then look more carefully at the world around them, and it's something that they can take away.”
One piece that certainly encourages folks to look closer is a sculpture by David Esterly that details Arkansas conservationist Dr. Neil Compton. Unlike a typical portrait, the sculpture captures the tools and objects that made up his life rather than his physical appearance.
“So a physician and somebody who previously owned the land that Crystal Bridges is located on, who was part of that campaign to save the Buffalo River, you could see the references to both that campaign through a bumper sticker and then his larger interests and efforts around cultivation. Native plants through the variety of species represented by the artists that's displayed next to a work by Thomas Hart Benton of the Buffalo River.
“Benton, who lived in Missouri, regularly came to the Buffalo and would go canoeing. And there's some great news and magazine articles about his experiences. So being able to have two works that have that strong Arkansas connection, you'll notice the through line in the galleries from the Arkansas quartz crystal to this moment of focus on Arkansas. That is something that weaves throughout.”
The new gallery “Visions of America” is now open to the public, as it is part of the Crystal Bridges collection. Admission is free. Art Enjoyers can stay tuned to Crystal Bridges. This summer, the museum will open another 114,000 square feet of new gallery space. You can visit CrystalBridges.org for more information.
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