Crystal Bridges debuts 2 overhauled galleries

Spaces lead visitors through 3 themes

Members of the media get a look at the redesigned early American art galleries at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville on Thursday.
Members of the media get a look at the redesigned early American art galleries at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville on Thursday.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art began working on a project two years ago designed to make its early American art galleries more inclusive and engaging for guests.

The results of those efforts are now on view at the Bentonville museum.

The two galleries -- which had been closed since January -- opened to the public Friday and feature 185 objects from both the museum's permanent collection and loans secured from institutions around the country. The overhaul is the first gallery redesign the museum has undertaken since opening in 2011 and part of what museum leaders described as the chance to rethink how American art is presented.

Rod Bigelow, the museum's executive director, believes the results "better reflect the complexity of the American story."

"We hope that the reinstalled galleries will increase access to more art, encourage broader perspectives, and facilitate unexpected learning moments," Bigelow said in a statement.

The new-look spaces were designed after the museum held numerous conversations with stakeholders, including members of the community, leaders, volunteers and employees. Curator Mindy Besaw said one of the big takeaways from those conversations was that people were ready for "complexity" in the way the museum told the American story through artworks.

Previously, Crystal Bridges launched guests directly into Colonial America when they walked into the galleries with period paintings and sculptures from its permanent collection. But the first work visitors now see when they enter the renovated galleries -- Nari Ward's We the People (2015) -- is symbolic of the new objective of presenting a more diverse view of America.

Ward's 28-foot piece featuring the first three words of the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, spelled out in dangling shoelaces, was previously featured in the museum's contemporary art gallery. Crystal Bridges decided to move the contemporary work into an introductory space that offers visitors a brief snapshot to the wide range of art and artists that make up the Crystal Bridges collection.

Other works in the introductory space include Charles Willson Peale's George Washington (1779) and, nearby, a sculpture dated from between 1450-1650 found in eastern Arkansas and lent to Crystal Bridges by the University of Arkansas Museum Collections.

"We're really trying to pull out the depth and variety of the people that make up the stories," Besaw said. "We don't have to tell a rosy, little history of American art. We embrace all of the things that make art history, art history. Nari Ward's reflection on that old 18th century text, but in a very 21st century way, is really meant to start you in that framework."

The reimagined galleries move visitors through three different periods and themes throughout early America: "Networks of Power," "People on the Move" and "Painters of Modern Life."

The paintings and artwork adorning the walls are joined by pieces lent to the museum from other institutions. Crystal Bridges has incorporated about 25 works lent from places like the Denver Art Museum; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo.; New-York Historical Society; and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, to provide more texture. Besaw said many of the loans are for one year.

The loans include Spanish Colonial and American Indian art, which is placed "in conversation" with Crystal Bridges works in many instances. One example: American Indian bandolier bags created around the same time as Thomas Sully's portrait Colonel Samuel Boyer Davis (1819). The bags and portrait are positioned next to each other to show ways social status was conveyed.

"Both of these are recognitions of prestige," Besaw said. "The women who made the bags, it was for special occasions and recognition. To have a full-length portrait was prestigious."

Every aspect of the redesign was carefully crafted by the museum with its goals of inclusion and access to art in mind. There are extended labels to provide information on every object. Text is in English and Spanish. Digital touchscreens and art-making stations are positioned throughout the galleries to add to the experience.

Crystal Bridges even evaluated wall colors and where the walls themselves should be positioned. Exhibition Designer Jessi Mueller said there was a complete renovation inside the second gallery meant to open up the space.

"We had a great opportunity here to move walls, which we're not usually able to do with our permanent collection," Mueller said. "So we [demolished] everything in here and started fresh."

Another eye-catching change comes at the end of the two galleries with 40 paintings positioned tightly together, salon-style. The grouping explores beauty and artistic style from the late 19th and early 2oth centuries. Information for each work in the section can be accessed on a touchscreen table positioned in the middle of the room.

Crystal Bridges also carved out space for mini-exhibitions, which will change twice a year, and a 105-foot experimental area called The Niche that will rotate projects even more frequently.

The first rotating mini-exhibition -- "How Do You Figure?" -- features 35 works from the permanent collection that show different ways of depicting the human body. Many of the works are on view for the first time.

The initial theme for The Niche focuses on how designers choose paint colors in the gallery.

"This is our permanent collection," Besaw said about the renovation. "We have time to live with this, to hear from our guests. If something is not quite working as we intended or as we think it could be presented, we can change it. ... We have that freedom to really work with it and make it flexible and also serve the needs of our guests. It's ongoing. It's meant to be experimental."

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Mindy Besaw, curator at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, talks Friday about the newly remodeled early American galleries.

photo

NWA Democrat-Gazette

Stace Treat, interpretation manager at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, shows of interactive displays at the museum Thursday. The has museum opened its early American galleries, which were closed to the public for a couple of months for a redesign.

Metro on 03/17/2018

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