Exhibit top drawer for Crystal Bridges

Contemporary-art viewers top 127,000 for Crystal Bridges

Artist John Salvest stands in front of his work Forever at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville in this Arkansas Democrat-Gazette file photo from Aug. 8. The piece is one of 227 in the “State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now” show, scheduled to run through Jan. 19 at the museum.
Artist John Salvest stands in front of his work Forever at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville in this Arkansas Democrat-Gazette file photo from Aug. 8. The piece is one of 227 in the “State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now” show, scheduled to run through Jan. 19 at the museum.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art curator Chad Alligood received another reminder that all those miles traveled putting together "State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now" were worth it.

photo

Courtesy of Crystal Bridges

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art curator Chad Alligood.

More than 127,000 visitors, a museum record, have viewed "State of the Art," a collection of contemporary works from around the United States. With a little more than a month remaining, the exhibition is the most-viewed in the three-year history of the Bentonville museum. "State of the Art" ends Jan. 19 after a nearly four-month run.

Alligood was part of a team that traveled 100,000 miles to visit nearly 1,000 studios. An attendance record wasn't on his mind during those trips, but Alligood said he was hopeful the collection would resonate with the public.

"To see the way people share the exhibition with their family and friends has been really touching to me," Alligood said. "That is reflected in the number. When you hit the road with a big idea, you hope it comes to fruition in a way that is meaningful for people. You're uplifted by hope that it will, but that's all you've got. So to see the attendance numbers, yes, it's validating."

"State of the Art" eclipses the previous attendance record set by "American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell." That exhibition drew more than 121,000 people over 11 weeks in 2013.

Unlike with the Rockwell exhibit, the artists featured in "State of the Art" aren't household names. The staff at Crystal Bridges assembled an exhibition featuring 102 artists and 207 artworks that covers 19,000 square feet of museum space. It was the first contemporary exhibition at Crystal Bridges since it opened with "Wonder World" in 2011.

Among the artists included were Guy Bell and Delita Martin of Little Rock, Linda Lopez of Fayetteville and John Salvest of Jonesboro. Bell, whose Cain and Abel painting is part of the exhibition, said the number of visitors is a testament to the curatorial staff and the role that Crystal Bridges is playing in educating the state and region about art.

"Wow," Bell said when asked about the attendance. "I think it's a testament to the hard work of the curators and the museum staff; how nice they were to everybody; and how smartly they went about it."

In addition to the works of art, "State of the Art" featured a number of programs and opportunities to interact with the artists. President Bill Clinton, Jeffery Katzenberg and Deepak Chopra were among the speakers who joined artists for The Summit: Insights from a Changing America. More than 50 artists have returned to Crystal Bridges for workshops with more planned over the final month.

Sonya Clark will present a lecture, Hair to There: Weaving Tales and Textiles, on Friday. Vanessa German will take part is a series of performances and workshops Jan. 9-11.

Alligood will present a final lecture and reflections on the exhibition Jan. 18. He'll also be involved in staff discussions about the future of "State of the Art" at Crystal Bridges.

"We are in the middle of those conversations now," Alligood said. "We're definitely open to a number of scenarios. We're talking about what it would mean to travel "State of the Art" and how it would function elsewhere, and the future life of the objects. Some will return to the artists. Some will likely stay here. Those are long processes and are in progress."

Metro on 12/18/2014

Upcoming Events