C Magazine | 2018 - Volume 7 - Issue 3

CRYSTAL BRIDGES MEMBER MAGAZINE

DECEMBER 2018

VOL VII ISSUE III

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EDUCATION AND PROGR AMMING

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Acorn: The Influence Company ConAgra Brands Forrest and Charlotte Lucas Terra Foundation for American Art Becky and Bob Alexander Terri and Chuck Erwin Marlon Blackwell Architects Roy and Christine Sturgis Alturas Foundation Gelmart International Mattel Charitable Trust, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation George’s Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates, Bank of America, N.A., & Woodyard, P.L.L.C. Neff and Scarlett Basore Galen, Debi, and Alice Havner Trustee Procter & Gamble Robert and Nancy Brooks KFSM TV-CBS Univision Arkansas Harriet and Warren Colgate-Palmolive Company Kimberly-Clark Stephens, Stephens Inc. Adair Creative Studio Flintco The Segal Family Foundation Randy and Valorie Lawson / Lawco Energy Group Ken and Liz Allen Cindy Flynt Walters and Betty Flynt Dennis and Evelyn Shaw Leisurlist AMP Sign and Banner Harrison and Rhonda French Family Shindig Paperie MillerCoors Arkansas Community Foundation Sara Friedlander and Matthew Siegel Esther Silver-Parker Morris Foundation, Inc. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. The William M. Fuller Foundation Mark and Diane Simmons Charitable Fund Nice-Pak Products, Inc. Arts Consulting Group Denise and Hershey Garner The Sotheby’s Prize Nickelodeon Arvest Bank General Mills Steinway & Sons Northwest Arkansas Naturals Avis Bailey Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Arts Foundation Stephen and Claudia Strange Onyx Coffee Lab Frank and Pat Bailey Greenwood Gearhart Inc. Tartaglino Richards Family Foundation Perry Broadcasting Bank of America Government of Canada Demara Titzer Kyle, Maury and Finn Peterson Bentonville Film Festival Hearne Fine Art U.S. Trust, Bank of America Philander Smith College Lance and Sharon Beshore Private Wealth Management The Hershey Company Pinnacle Car Services Blakeman’s Fine Jewelry Visit Bentonville Hola! Media Group Premier Dermatology & Skin Blue Rhino Jim and Susan von Gremp Renewal Center Charles and Shannon Holley James and Emily Bost Howell & Vancuren Tony Waller Rational USA Juan, Marcy and Joaquin Camacho Landscape Architects Rebel Walls Sue and Charles Redfield Chip and Susan Chambers HOWSE Walmart AAOC Roblee Orthodontics Rick and Beverly Chapman inVeritas William Reese Company Frank and Ludmila Robson The Clorox Company J.P. Morgan Wright Lindsey Jennings Rockline Industries Harry and Erin Cornell Johnson & Johnson Deborah Wright JT and Imelda Rose Rhianon DeLeeuw and Joshua Mahony Just-Us Printers Felix and Margaret Wright The Russell Berrie Foundation Rui J.P. de Figueiredo Jr. Sharon and Charles Killian Saatchi & Saatchi X and Natalia Ferretti

MEMBER MAGAZINE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHIEF DIVERSITY + INCLUSION OFFICER

Rod Bigelow DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Sandy Edwards CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER

Jill Wagar DIRECTOR OF CURATORIAL AFFAIRS + STRATEGIC ART INITIATIVES

Greetings and Salutations! I am delighted to be writing my first letter

Margi Conrads

to you as the new editor of C. I was attending the University of Arkansas when Crystal Bridges opened its doors in 2011. Since then, my thirst for exploration has taken me around the world, and I have lived in both New York City and Dallas. Now having returned home to Northwest Arkansas I find that there is nowhere else I’d rather be.

To quote Nelson Mandela, “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

I think about that quote often. It’s not that Northwest Arkansas hasn’t changed significantly in the past seven years (it has), but there is still a sense of comfort in a space we once called home that lends itself to feeling unchanged, to have always been preserved in a moment of time. We can look at something familiar and discover something new, as we will soon learn in the upcoming temporary exhibition Men of Steel, Women of Wonder.

For example, when we think of superheroes, most of us immediately recall movies, TV shows, comic books, lunch boxes, theme parks, and all the fun stuff about being a kid. As we look forward to Men of Steel, Women of Wonder, Superman and Wonder Woman are center stage as familiar characters that have been with us for decades. Artists build on this to show us different perspectives and perhaps teach us something new about ourselves and the world around us.

I hope you see this issue as an opportunity to learn something new.

Whether that’s learning how Superman and Wonder Woman came to be, what personal space means to us, or finding a new date idea for you and your special someone at the museum, use C as a vessel with which to see beyond the horizon.

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

I’m looking forward to this next adventure, and I’m so eager to share it with you.

ERICA HARMON EDITOR

Diane Carroll EDITOR

Erica Harmon CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Anna Vernon SENIOR DESIGNER

Olivia Walton JUNIOR DESIGNER

Andrew Brott CONTRIBUTORS

Alejo Benedetti Mindy Besaw Allison Glenn Lauren Haynes Jen Padgett Shane Richey EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Alison Nation PHOTOGRAPHY

Stephen Ironside Daniel Moody Dero Sanford MEMBERSHIP + DEVELOPMENT

Ana Aguayo Robyn Alley Jodi Burks Brandi Cline Emily Ironside Amanda Magoffin Megan Martin Kaylin Mason Laura McArthur Loria Oliver Will Watson Ashley Wardlow Christy Witt

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CRYSTAL BRIDGES MEMBER MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2018 VOL VII ISSUE III

18 Francis Criss, Day Shift, 1943. See it in Men of Steel, Women of Wonder!

MUSEUM STORE

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MEMBER RESOURCES

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PERSONAL SPACE

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DATE NIGHT

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CELEBRATIONS

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PHILANTHROPY

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LAST WORD

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MUSEUM NEWS

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FOCUS EXHIBITIONS

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ACQUISITIONS

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COMING SOON

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OUR SUPERHEROES, OURSELVES

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30 Felix Gonzales-Torres, “Untitled” (Placebo – Landscape – for Roni), 1993 C MAGAZINE IS THE MEMBERSHIP PUBLICATION FOR CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART.

Member Priority Line: 479.418.5728 MON • TUE • 8 am to 5 pm WED • THU • FRI 8 am to 9 pm SAT • SUN 10 am to 4 pm Purchase gift memberships with a 10% discount at CrystalBridges.org/ Membership.

STAY UP TO DATE ON MUSEUM NEWS WITH THESE ENGAGING PLATFORMS Crystal Bridges Blog Your one-stop site for interviews, exhibition highlights, and more, including the #ArtistatCB series which introduces museum visitors to the work and studios of new and exciting contemporary artists!

Museum Way Podcast Hear directly from the museum staff and visiting artists as they discuss behind-the-scenes topics on our podcast. Available on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Google Play.

CB Museum App Tour the galleries from your phone and get bonus videos and commentary.

CB Outdoors App Download interactive trail maps and plant guides straight to your phone.

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MUSEUM NEWS

ARTIST YATIKA FIELDS COMPLETES NEW MURAL DOWNTOWN Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now brought contemporary Indigenous art front and center at Crystal Bridges this past fall. After an educational and rewarding run, and with a roster of complementary programs, the exhibition will close on January 7, 2019.

However, the legacy of the exhibition will live on in downtown Bentonville.

Artist Yatika Fields, a painter and muralist based in Tulsa, created a large mural titled Astonishment of perception as part of the exhibition. The mural can be viewed on the corner of Main and Second streets on the wall of the Cripps Law Firm Building.

Fields took inspiration from this building’s long-standing history as a law firm to create the elements of this mural, including Lady Justice and a pocket watch referencing the history of Arkansas over a long period of time.

Yatika Fields, Astonishment of perception, 2018

CRYSTAL BRIDGES RECEIVES KNIGHT FOUNDATION GRANT FOR INNOVATION SHANE RICHEY CREATIVE DIRECTOR, EXPERIMENTATION & DEVELOPMENT

Crystal Bridges was awarded a unique grant by the Knight Foundation’s Prototype Fund which helps tech innovators develop early-stage ideas quickly. Knight Foundation is a national organization that invests in journalism and the arts. What makes this grant unique is the way they approach the grantor/ grantee relationship. Instead of just funding the project, Knight Foundation provides coaching in tech design and development as well as making sure that the grantees (12 in all) are familiar with each other’s projects and have a way to work together, share ideas, and collaborate.

Crystal Bridges’ project is an immersive audio experience that will allow a museum visitor to put on a pair of specially designed

headphones, slip an audio-paired device in their pocket, and simply walk through the gallery while hearing a soundtrack with each artwork. If successful, this could be one new approach to delivering audiobased interpretation in the gallery, giving us a chance to experiment with content to accompany the art on our walls.

The museum is producing a prototype of this audio experience that will be tested in the upcoming temporary exhibition Men of Steel, Women of Wonder (opens February 8 for members). The prototype will provide Crystal Bridges with valuable design input toward a possible final device that we can make available to all visitors.

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MEMBER TRAVEL

EMBER BENEFITS

2019 TRAVEL EXPERIENCES

FEBRUARY 20–22

SPRING 2019

PALM SPRINGS, CA

ART IN THE OZARKS DAY TRIP

SUSTAINING CIRCLE AND KINDRED SPIRITS LEVELS

Discover an oasis for art and architecture in Palm Springs with visits to extraordinary buildings, galleries, and museums that evoke all things Desert Modernism.

Also in store are behind-the-scenes tours of private art collections and a visit to Sunnylands, the former Annenberg Estate.

ALL MEMBER LEVELS

Join us for a day trip to visit local artists in Arkansas, including visits to art studios, galleries, and much more.

FALL 2019

JUNE 2019

VENICE & FLORENCE

TULSA ARTS DISTRICT

ITALY

ALL MEMBER LEVELS KINDRED SPIRITS LEVEL

Space is limited on this exciting two-part visit to Venice and Florence, Italy this summer. Join us and experience the Venice Biennale, a large-scale, contemporary, visual art exhibition held in Venice every two years, and see some of the most stunning palazzos (palaces) and museums the city has to offer. We will then head to Florence, Italy for a few more days of art, culture, cuisine, and private collections.

Let’s embark on a journey to meet the artists in residence at the Tulsa Artist Fellowship in their innovative space, explore the historic and world-renowned Philbrook Museum of Art, and venture into the contemporary world of new galleries all in Tulsa’s Art District!

OCTOBER 15–18

HUDSON RIVER VALLEY KINDRED SPIRITS LEVEL

National Geographic Traveler named the Hudson River Valley one of the top 20 must-see destinations in the world! Appreciate the beautiful Hudson River Valley during their famed season of fall foliage as we explore a few of the cultural institutions that have inspired our vision for the Momentary.

LORIA OLIVER IS THE DONOR RELATIONS MANAGER AT CRYSTAL BRIDGES. SHE OVERSEES THE MEMBER TRAVEL PROGRAM. CONTACT LORIA FOR INQUIRIES ABOUT MEMBER TRAVEL. LORIA.OLIVER@CRYSTALBRIDGES.ORG 479.418.5789

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MUSEUM NEWS

MOMENTARY PAUSE Momentary Pause is a new section that will provide updates and information on Crystal Bridges’ satellite contemporary art space, the Momentary, opening in Bentonville early 2020.

FREE GENERAL ADMISSION TO THE MOMENTARY Earlier this year, Crystal Bridges announced a $2 million gift from Walmart for access and innovation projects at the Momentary. Access will come in the form of free general admission to all visitors. In addition, funds for innovation will go toward initiatives that align with the mission through festivals, major exhibitions, artist programs, culinary

MEET ADDIE ROANHORSE Addie Roanhorse, a graphic designer, mixed media artist, and resident of the Osage Nation reservation in eastern Oklahoma, is the first artist to be commissioned to create art at the Momentary. Roanhorse has created design elements for the building that are inspired by traditional Osage attire and pay homage to the history of the land around the Momentary. “Inspired by traditional finger weave patterns, the designs woven in the past are identical patterns my generation continues to weave today,” said Roanhorse. The patterns are printed into the building’s entryway, loading dock, and elevator tower glass, and play a functional role in filtering light.

“I have great admiration and respect for Crystal Bridges and the Momentary and I am honored to have this opportunity to acknowledge my ancestral territory with a visual representation of Osage culture.”

FACEBOOK The Momentary TWITTER/INSTAGRAM @themomentary

Sign up for the Crystal Bridges eNewsletter, and select the Momentary as an interest!

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David Levinthal: Barbie and Baseball March 2– August 2019 LAUREN HAYNES CURATOR, CONTEMPORARY ART

The focus exhibition David Levinthal: Barbie and Baseball will examine over two dozen photographs by the American photographer David Levinthal that are part of Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection.

Between 2017 and 2018, Crystal Bridges was gifted over 400 photographs by Levinthal, and this exhibition will be the first time a selection of this important gift is on view at the museum.

Levinthal—who was born in San Francisco in 1949 and currently lives and works in New York City—is known for images of toys and collectibles he photographs using a Polaroid 20 × 24 inch-format camera. In his work, Levinthal explores the relationship between history, memory, myth, and fantasy. Some of his well-known series include Modern Romance (1983-85), Wild West (1986-89), Desire (199192), Barbie (1997-98), Baseball (1998-2004), and History (2010-15).

This free exhibition centers on images from Levinthal’s Barbie and Baseball series. The Barbie series depicts the fashion icon in her classic outfits from the 1960s. Levinthal worked with stylist Laura Meisner, who dressed and posed the dolls. Not only are we able to look at a specific moment in American history with these images, we can also see the evolution of fashion as evidenced

David Levinthal, Untitled, 2004

through the evolving sartorial choices of Miss Barbara Millicent Roberts (yes, that’s her full name!).

After his time with Barbie, Levinthal decided to take a look at America’s pastime: baseball. This series began in 1998 with a set of 16 baseball figurines and a stadium from an electronic football game as a backdrop, and grew a few years later as Levinthal amassed more figures and hired a model maker to build a ballpark backdrop out of cardboard. Through his process of documenting icons of Americana, Levinthal allows the viewer to see into popular culture through the double lens of nostalgia and contemporary photography.

David Levinthal, Untitled, 1997

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FOCUS EXHIBITIONS

Tempera April 6–October 14, 2019 JEN PADGETT ASSISTANT CURATOR

The focus exhibition Tempera will feature 23 works exploring the unique material possibilities of tempera painting. The medium, generally made with egg yolk (or milk proteins) and pigment in a waterbased solution, has existed for thousands of years and was widely used up until the Renaissance. It faded from popularity when oil painting emerged and became the popular choice for painters. Modern and contemporary artists have rediscovered tempera, responding to the history of it and experimenting with new possibilities. A quick-drying medium, tempera can be applied in layers with meticulous precision, creating luminous effects.

This free exhibition of tempera paintings from the Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection and select loans reveals how artists from the 1930s to today have been inspired by Renaissance-era production.

Works from the 1930s and ‘40s by artists including Paul Cadmus and George Tooker show the beginning of the modern revival of tempera. These painters used the medium to create lustrous surfaces and impeccably detailed images. Andrew Wyeth’s work Airborne (1996) continues this theme, as Wyeth used delicate brushstrokes to depict an enthralling landscape.

Works on loan to the exhibition by contemporary painters Mary Obering and Jane Irish show the varied and unexpected ways that tempera can be used. Obering creates abstract paintings that incorporate gold leaf, a material that also references Renaissance art. From the detailed realism of Cadmus and Tooker to the geometric abstractions of Obering, the paintings in this exhibition will show how artists have responded to and adapted the luminous surfaces and complex techniques of the past.

Andrew Wyeth, Airborne, 1996

DON’T MISS THESE NEW, FREE FOCUS EXHIBITIONS, COMING TO THE CRYSTAL BRIDGES GALLERIES IN EARLY 2019

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NEW ACQUISITION

FROM LEFT: Shan Goshorn, Venomous, 2017. Shan Goshorn, From Where We Spring, 2017

SHAN GOSHORN BASKETS MINDY N. BESAW CURATOR

Tulsa-based artist Shan Goshorn uses basket weaving to address the complex political and social history of Native American experiences and the lives of the people for whom the baskets speak. While the baskets are contemporary, the forms are based on traditional Cherokee patterns, and the imagery weaves together photographs and documents Goshorn finds of those affected by long-term impacts of removal, violence against women, or protest.

Goshorn is recognized by The Museum of The Cherokee (Cherokee, North Carolina) as one of only 14 weavers who have mastered a Cherokee double-weave pattern. With her innovative construction, Goshorn speaks to a continuum that lives within the culture and creates a legacy to pass on to a new generation.

From Where We Spring was inspired by a quote by Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Lakota: “It is the mothers, not the warriors, who create a people and guide their destiny.” European colonists were shocked by the way Cherokee warriors would include women in tribal decisions, such as deciding whether or not the tribe would go to war, and took actions to place women in roles that were more familiar to men. In this Cherokee single-weave basket, Goshorn reclaims and celebrates the power and strength of women both past and present.

Goshorn created Venomous to heighten awareness of the environmental and humanitarian battle between the Water Protectors and the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock, North Dakota.

The documents woven into the basket are a reproduction of the Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868 (legal land rights), Lakota Sioux Chief David Archambault’s 2016 address to the United Nations, and the tribe’s press release statement emphasizing the sacred relationship the tribe has to the land and water. Also included are the words to a Lakota prayer, a symbol of spiritual protection and the tribe’s dedication to peace. The black snake on the exterior references the pipeline.

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CHECK OUT GOSHORN’S BASKETS IN ART FOR A NEW UNDERSTANDING: NATIVE VOICES 1950S TO NOW, BEFORE IT CLOSES ON JANUARY 7 AND TRAVELS TO: JANUARY 25 –JULY 19, 2019 IAIA MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY NATIVE ARTS | SANTA FE, NM AUGUST 22, 2019–JANUARY 5, 2020 NASHER MUSEUM OF ART AT DUKE UNIVERSITY | DURHAM, NC FEBRUARY–MAY, 2020 MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART | MEMPHIS, TN

NEW ON VIEW

THE COTTON PICKERS

Winslow Homer, The Cotton Pickers, 1876 MINDY N. BESAW CURATOR

Crystal Bridges is fortunate to have, on loan from LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), an exceptional painting by one of the greatest American artists, Winslow Homer. The Cotton Pickers is remarkable for Homer’s sensitive portrayal of two African American women gracefully posed. In this work, Homer tells a distinctively American story. The incline of the women’s heads, expressions on their faces, and slope of shoulders convey the burden of more than a century of slavery.

Between 1874 and 1876, Homer visited Petersburg, Virginia, and made studies for watercolors and paintings of the lives of African Americans. Homer finished The Cotton Pickers in 1876, the year of the nation’s centennial, and the final months of Reconstruction. Homer’s portrayal retains the idealism of Reconstruction just as the realities of racism and bigotry surged as federal troops withdrew from the South.

Homer was born in Boston and raised in rural Cambridge, Massachusetts. He began his career as a commercial printmaker.

In 1861, he was sent to the front lines of the Civil War in Virginia

as an artist-correspondent for Harper’s Weekly. By the mid1870s, Homer’s success with watercolors enabled him to give up his work as a freelance illustrator and focus on his painting.

An extended stay in the fishing town of Cullercoats, England in 1881-82 changed his art. He was deeply affected by the heroism of the fishermen and women of the village and their struggle for survival. A year after his return to the US, Homer settled in Prout’s Neck on the coast of Maine, where he lived for the remainder of his life.

THE COTTON PICKERS IS CURRENTLY ON VIEW AT CRYSTAL BRIDGES IN THE EARLY AMERICAN ART GALLERIES.

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Superman and Wonder Woman are two of the most beloved icons in American pop culture.

Created in times of economic adversity and world war, these characters quickly emerged as beacons of American morality, representing the ideals of truth, justice, and the American way.

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Men of Steel, Women of Wonder is a new exhibition developed by Crystal Bridges Assistant Curator Alejo Benedetti that examines art-world responses to Superman and Wonder Woman ranging from their Depression-era origins to today’s contemporary artist interpretations. The exhibition features over 70 paintings, photographs, installations, videos, and more by over 50 artists.

FEB 9 – APR 22, 2019

RHIANON DELEEUW AND JOSHUA MAHONY ESTHER SILVER-PARKER DEBORAH WRIGHT

This project is supported in part by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A letter to you, dear member, from the curator of Men of Steel, Women of Wonder Dear Member, Let’s be frank: this is a dream show for me. It’s themed around characters I love, it includes artists I’ve admired for years, introduces emerging ones I met along the way, and it gave me a chance to read comics under the auspices of research.

Throughout the process, I’ve experienced a range of emotions as I’ve become more familiar with key works of art. I’ve had moments where I’ve been taken aback as artists launched brutal critiques of our society through Superman and Wonder Woman, but I’ve also had moments of utter, speechless awe while seeing works for the first time.

We designed this exhibition to be unexpected. If these are the heroes we know from our daily lives, we want folks to leave rethinking these icons and questioning how we interact with their symbolism on a daily basis. We understand who Wonder Woman is, we get what Superman stands for, so artists use that shared societal knowledge as a starting point for reconsidering the world around us. Many of these works take a decidedly social justice bent and it’s because artists have, for decades, realized what many of us haven’t: Superman and Wonder Woman are perfect access points into immensely difficult conversations.

Even though they were created in the 1930s/40s, these two characters are still as relevant as ever. When fans, critics, comic writers, or artists draw attention to a societal problem or a character flaw, our heroes answer the call. They adjust and adapt to the times. They become the heroes we need – who selflessly take the brunt of criticism to allow us to work through our very human issues. And when the cracks in our heroes’ armor are revealed alongside their unwavering commitment to doing good, we achieve a rare success: the ability to connect and all speak the same language.

I say it’s a dream exhibition not just because I proudly wear my badge of superhero geekdom wherever I go, but because I’m convinced we stumbled onto something really special with this one. It’s an incredible world to have inhabited over the past couple years and I’m thrilled to share it with you.

Sincerely yours, Alejo Benedetti, Assistant Curator Curator of Men of Steel, Women of Wonder

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COMING SOON

JOIN OUR BOOK CLUB! Books we’re reading during Men of Steel, Women of Wonder:

The Secret Life of Wonder Woman

by Jill Lepore WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1:30 TO 3:30 PM

Katherine Bradford, Long Flight, 2012

Superman: The High-Flying History of America’s Most Enduring Hero

by Larry Tye and Scott Brick WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1:30 TO 3:30 PM

Book club events are held in the Crystal Bridges Library.

All sessions are free, drop-ins are welcome! For more information, visit our website.

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A FIRST LOOK AT MEN OF STEEL, WOMEN OF WONDER Superman Versus the Toilet Duck by Peter Saul ALEJO BENEDETTI ASSISTANT CURATOR

Alright, fellow museum member, you may know a lot about our collection, but I bet you didn’t know about this one. This painting, a magnificently bizarre take on Superman, has been in the Crystal Bridges collection for years, but has never been shown. Originally thought to need conservation, a more recent examination concluded that the painting is in excellent condition and ready to go out on view. This was discovered right around the same time Men of Steel, Women of Wonder came together and I greedily postponed putting it out on view a little longer so that it would make its first appearance at Crystal Bridges in the context of this exhibition.

Peter Saul, Superman Versus The Toilet Duck, 1963

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Saul’s take on the hero, sometimes referred to as “The Big Blue Boy Scout,” isn’t a love letter to that iconic golden boy of mid-century American ideals. Instead, his pear-shaped Superman is unheroically shoved into the back right corner, has red hair, four eyes, and a roving nose. His right leg looks jelly-like as it’s been slung over the roof of the foregrounded yellow structure and dangles a toilet pull-chain from his boot. This of course makes about as much sense as the rest of the scene, which is an amalgamation of building materials, coins, and the head of a duck emerging from a toilet bowl.

While it’s weird and endlessly entertaining to try to make sense of this jumble of parts, what resonates for me in the context of the exhibition is the power of Superman as a pop culture symbol. Blue tights, red undies, the obligatory cape, and suddenly you have the Man of Steel. And if we know anything about the 80-year-old American icon, we know that between the box office success, endless merchandising opportunities (who hasn’t owned a Superman shirt at some point?), and decades of consistent comic sales, Superman is a brand all his own. This is a fact that comes through clearly as Saul replaces the hero’s iconic S-shape crest with a prominent dollar sign—a knowing nod to that ever-present but less frequently discussed superpower: his marketability.

Men of Steel by Samuel L. Margolies ALEJO BENEDETTI ASSISTANT CURATOR

Every story has an origin––and the story of Men of Steel, Women of Wonder begins in part with this artwork.

It’s not the biggest work, not the flashiest, but it changed something in how I think about labor prints. This was a work I first saw in graduate school, and on title alone it made me think of Superman. But look at the scene Margolies depicts and it’s apparent that the Superman connections don’t stop with the title. Soaring high above a sea of smaller buildings below, two nameless construction workers toil away on the bare bones of a skyscraper. Actively consumed by their work, these sturdy American men do their part to help lift America out of the Great Depression not through words, not through wishful thinking, but through physical action.

Created two years after Superman first burst onto the scene, these blue collar laborers share a kinship with the superhero who symbolically rips open his white collar to reveal a blue jumpsuit beneath­—the outfit he dons when performing feats of physical action to save the American way.

Fast forward a number of years as I was brainstorming ideas for a focus exhibition born out of our collection and I ran across this old friend. It got me thinking about the museum’s large labor prints collection, which features a litany of works depicting muscle-bound physical laborers. Pair this with a glorious moment of realization when it dawned on me that like the 10-cent massproduced comic books, these labor prints were also created as multiples to be sold at affordable prices for the everyman, and I knew that we had the first inklings of an exhibition. While the scope of the show has grown exponentially since the first days of

Samuel L. Margolies, Men of Steel, 1940

the project, Margolies’s print remains a cornerstone of the exhibition and appears in the “Origin Stories” section of the show. Still small, still understated, the work continues doing the good work that only great artworks can: changing the way we see the world around us.

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Dulce Pinzon, Noe Reyes from Puebla works as a delivery person in Brooklyn, New York. He sends $500 a week. 2005-2010 20

WHAT DO SUPERMAN AND WONDER WOMAN MEAN TO US? ERICA HARMON EDITOR

Christopher Reeve. Lynda Carter. Tom Welling. Henry Cavill. Gal Gadot. Depending on which generation you’re from, one of these names most likely pops out with fervor as your favorite depiction of Superman or Wonder Woman.

Or perhaps you choose to remember these characters through their comic book illustrations or animated TV personas. Maybe you just enjoy wearing your Superman or Wonder Woman t-shirt because it makes you feel strong and powerful.

Why do we enjoy superheroes? Is it because it is fun to watch them use their superhuman powers to defeat evil? Because they defend against the inner demons we battle with on a daily basis? What qualities do they possess that entrance our imagination and inspire us to be better citizens, better humans? And do we all feel the same unflinching loyalty for the values they stand for? Before you visit Men of Steel, Women of Wonder (opening to members on February 8), take a moment to consider these superheroes’ origins, discover how artists have used these superpowers to challenge us, and reflect on the value that superheroes have in our lives.

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Every superhero has their origin story, but Superman, as the hero who started the superhero genre, has a particularly iconic beginning. He was created in 1938 by two Jewish men from Cleveland who sold the rights to their idea to a New York publishing house for just $130. In this same year, the average cost of a new house was $3,900, Orson Welles’s radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds caused panic of an alien attack across the country, the US approached a decade of dealing with the Great Depression, and Germany began persecuting its Jewish citizens.

Just three years later, in 1941, a middle-aged Harvard psychiatrist, best known for developing the lie detector technology, created Wonder Woman. By this time, the average cost of a new house increased by $175 while average wages only increased by $20 per year, Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane—a satirical look at a media mogul running for political office— debuted, and Japan ordered a devastating strike on Pearl Harbor, forcing the US to enter World War II. The time of Superman’s and Wonder Woman’s origins was fraught with both creation and destruction, affecting all Americans and prompting each citizen to do their part for the war effort.

Women took up factory jobs, as depicted in Norman Rockwell’s beloved Rosie the Riveter. Images of brawny, sweat-glistening men on steel beams and roadways began popping up everywhere, such as in Take it Away by Herschel Levit. As Erika Doss describes in her essay, “Manly Workers and Pin-Up Girls,” written for the exhibition catalog accompanying the show, it was “as if these symbols of manly might and movement might propel America out of the Great Depression and into a better tomorrow.”

LAURIE ANDERSON IS COMING TO CRYSTAL BRIDGES! DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 7 TO 8 PM GET YOUR TICKETS ONLINE OR WITH GUEST SERVICES.

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Superman famously stands for the values of truth, justice, and the American way. Although citizens pitched in to support the war effort in the 1940s, Superman filled the void of powerlessness in a moment of national crisis. His brawn, physique, and good looks exemplified the mainstream values of mid-century America, making him an American symbol that could be utilized to support the common good on the war front, often appearing on covers fighting Nazis or arm in arm with the military, though never actually going to war in the story arc of the comics themselves. In fact, comic books were used as propaganda by the US government during World War II to convince young boys to grow up and become soldiers, strong and righteous like Superman. But as the world moved into the Cold War, Superman’s abilities–and his aptitude for good–were questioned. For example, in Laurie Anderson’s 1982 song, “O Superman,” the Man of Steel is a stand-in for the concept of power, something to be respected and feared.

Wonder Woman’s strength, on the other hand, lies in her ability to use her feminine qualities to her advantage. The character’s creator, William Marston, studied emotional behaviors to create his famous heroine. From this research, he concluded that a positive female role model would be one who was as strong as a masculine archetype, but still loving like a feminine one, something he called a “love leader.” As Jill Lepore discusses in her book, The Secret History of Wonder Woman, “[she] was a product of the suffragist, feminist, and birth control movements of the 1900s and 1910s and became a source of the women’s liberation and feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s.” However, as Bart Beaty points out in “The Spectacular Banality of the Superhero” (found in the exhibition catalog), Wonder Woman has a complicated feminism that is less focused on “the inclusive and diversity-driven potential of intersectionality.”

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Valentin Popov, St. Superman, 2009. Herschel Levit, Take it Away, 1940. Valentin Popov, St. Wonder Woman, 2009,. Norman Rockwell, Rosie the Riveter, 1943. OPPOSITE PAGE: Mel Ramos, Wonder Woman, 1962.

THE ORIGINS OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE

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Superman and Wonder Woman have become as synonymous with the spirit of America as bald eagles, baseball, and stars and stripes. As a result, many artists see them as the perfect entry point to examine complicated themes of national identity, immigration, gender and race identity, and even America’s place in the world.

Some artists of color have used these characters to identify the social and ethical failures of society. For example, artist Fahamu Pecou utilized Superman in his work, Nunna My Heros: After Barkley Hendricks’ ‘Icon for My Man Superman’, 1969, (2011) to draw attention to an absence in the Superman franchise. “In the Black community where issues like oppression, poverty, violence, and other traumas persist, Superman’s nonappearance is glaring,” Pecou said. “My character subverts the Superman ideal by becoming his hero.” The Barkley Hendricks artwork that Pecou is referencing was featured in the Soul of a Nation exhibition at Crystal Bridges in 2018.

Artist Steven Paul Judd uses Superman and Wonder Woman to explore a similar theme within the Native American community.

As a person of Kiowa-Choctaw heritage, Judd began his education on the Choctaw reservation in Mississippi and loved watching movies. But at a young age, Judd noticed that none of the images of superheroes looked like him. “I’d pretend I was Superman, but in my world, Superman had brown skin, or he had braids,” he said. Now that he is older, Judd says, “I like to make images of Superman that the seven-year-old me (or any Native kid) can see and pretend it’s him without having to change the skin color in my imagination.”

Artist Siri Kaur also investigates in her photographs how people relate to and embody Superman and Wonder Woman. As she says, “Even if the costumes are dingy and the makeup cheap, dressing up as these superheroes that we worshipped in childhood carries a powerful magic that I want to revisit in my work.”

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WHAT TOP 3 SUPERPOWERS WOULD YOUR IDEAL SUPERHERO POSSESS? Let us know on social media with #CRYSTALBRIDGES!

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Steven Paul Judd, Siouxperwoman, 2014. Steven Paul Judd, Siouxperman, 2014. Fahamu Pecou, Nunna My Heros: After Barkley Hendricks’ ‘Icon for My Man Superman,’ 1969, 2011. Siri Kaur, Wonder Woman, 2013. OPPOSITE PAGE: Renee Cox, Chillin’ with Liberty (from the Raje series), 1998

WHAT TRUTH? WHOSE JUSTICE? WHICH AMERICA?

WHAT IS YOUR TRUTH? Perhaps truth, justice, and the American way is not about being the smartest, toughest, or even greatest country in the world, but about representing the moral and ethical ideals that American democracy is meant to stand for.

As you make your way to Men of Steel, Women of Wonder at Crystal Bridges this winter, let Superman and Wonder Woman help you once more by exploring sensitive topics and empowering critical thought, standing with you like an old friend in a strange land.

Spend some time with them on the next page, portrayed in Jacky Tsai’s artwork Golden Fortune Tree (2017).

MEMBERS SEE IT FIRST! MEMBER PREVIEW: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 11 AM–9 PM CHECK OUT THE CALENDAR FOR MORE INFORMATION AND EVENTS.

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Jacky Tsai, Golden Fortune Tree, 2017

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WHAT DO THESE SUPERHEROES MEAN TO YOU? ARTISTS FROM MEN OF STEEL, WOMEN OF WONDER RESPOND

Vincent Ramos, Barbed Wire, Chain Link, & the Lasso of Truth, 2016.

My interest in Wonder Woman lies less in the character and more in the specific individual who portrayed her on television: actress Lynda Carter.

She is of Mexican ancestry (like myself) and since my 1970s/80s childhood, this fact has not been lost on me. In both pieces, I was thinking about the dual mirror-like political landscapes of the 1970s and today. The drawn references to the Nixon presidency, to barbed wire and chain link fences, is in stark contrast to Wonder Woman’s/ Carter’s presence as a strong female and cultural symbol devoid of boundaries, and representative, within these works, of both political dissent and resistance.

VINCENT RAMOS

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Simon Monk, Superman II, 2013.

I first discovered American comics in 1973 at the age of six and they immediately exerted a powerful hold over my imagination. Superheroes were vastly important to me throughout my childhood and continue to be significant. A classic superhero trope involves the victory of the hero against seemingly insurmountable odds. As often as not the hero’s superpowers alone are insufficient to achieve victory, but their innate human characteristics such as determination, hope, trust, and empathy are the factors that allow them to finally succeed.

Anybody struggling to survive as an artist will recognize the essential truth of this narrative structure.

Aphrodite Désirée Navab, World Summit from Super East/West Woman, 2002-2008

SIMON MONK

I first saw Superman in 1978, when I was seven years old with my family in Isfahan, Iran. The metaphor of flight left a profound impression on me. Particularly, his cape reminded me of the chador (Farsi for hejab) that my grandmother, Haj-khanom, wore. When the 1978-79 Islamic revolution began, we fled Iran as a family and never returned. I was never able to see my grandparents again. I identified with his irreparable loss of family and homeland. Years later in my art, I transformed the Superman of my childhood into a Super East-West Woman whose chador turns into a cape of agency.

APHRODITE DÉSIRÉE NAVAB 29

MUSEUM STORE

HURRY AND GRAB YOUR FAVORITE SUPERHEROES BEFORE THEY FLY AWAY!

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$15.95 $14.35/MEMBERS WONDER WOMAN THROUGH THE YEARS MUG

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$15.95 $14.35/MEMBERS SUPERMAN THROUGH THE YEARS MUG

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PICK UP YOUR COPY OF THE EXHIBITION’S CATALOG! Published by the University of Arkansas Press.

$3.95 MEMBERS RECEIVE A 10% DISCOUNT OFF MOST ITEMS IN THE MUSEUM STORE.

$3.56/MEMBERS SUPERMAN AND WONDER WOMAN STICKERS

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SPRING FORWARD

EMBER RESOURCE

Member Events and Benefits to Look Forward to This Season MEMBER PREVIEW: MEN OF STEEL, WOMEN OF WONDER

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 11 AM TO 9 PM Members are invited to enjoy a first look at the temporary exhibition, Men of Steel, Women of Wonder before it opens to the public! Don’t miss your opportunity to discover art-world responses to Superman and Wonder Woman before the crowds come through.

Learn more about the exhibition on pages 12–27.

BLACK HEARTS BALL

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 9 PM TO 12 AM Bring your date (or come by yourself!) to the best anti-Valentine’s Day party in Northwest Arkansas! Mingle and dance the night away while enjoying food, drinks, music, and activities. $20 for members ($5 discount off regular price). Free for ArtInfusion members.

MEMBER TEA: ART IN BLOOM

SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 10 TO 11:30 AM Drop by for mid-morning tea and treats before you visit Art in Bloom in the museum’s galleries. This is an exclusive, membersonly event.

MEMBER SCOOP: EXHIBITIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS

THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 6 TO 8 PM Join members of our Exhibitions and Interpretations teams as they lead a tour, sharing their expert knowledge about the planning and coordination of art installations. Get a behind-thescenes look at how an exhibition moves from vision to reality and understand the interpretation process that helps visitors engage with art in the galleries. This is a members-only event.

MEMBERS ALWAYS RECEIVE DISCOUNTS TO CLASSES, WORKSHOPS, AND OTHER EVENTS. CHECK YOUR PRINT CALENDAR OR CRYSTAL BRIDGES. ORG FOR DATES, TIMES, PRICES, AND MORE!

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S T EP PI N G I N TO P E R S O N A L S PAC E A Conversation with the Exhibition’s Curator

ALLISON GLENN ASSOCIATE CURATOR OF CONTEMPORARY ART ERICA HARMON EDITOR

Personal Space, a free focus exhibition currently on display at Crystal Bridges, asks viewers to consider what emotions are evoked by the places, people, objects, and symbols depicted within the artworks on view. I recently sat down with Crystal Bridges Associate Curator of Contemporary Art Allison Glenn, the curator of Personal Space, to talk about the exhibition, how we use literature, memories, and relationships to create intimate space, and to get a glimpse into her own personal space.

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A doubt if it be Us Assists the staggering Mind In an extremer Anguish Until it footing find.

An Unreality is lent A merciful Mirage That makes the living possible While it suspends the lives.

EMILY DICKINSON 1830–1886

FROM LEFT: Alison Elizabeth Taylor, Room, 2007-2008. Roni Horn, When Dickinson Shut Her Eyes No. 859: A Doubt If It Be Us, 1993

EH: As the curator of the exhibition, what does personal

EH: There are several photographs of female artists

space mean to you? How do you define it?

reading books by female authors, all taken by the artist Carrie Schneider. From what I understand, the author is drawing from the Linda Nochlin essay titled, “Why have there been no female artists?” What does it say to photograph these women in their own personal spaces where they feel comfortable?

AG: The idea of personal space is an environment that really allows.

Whether it is a physical environment or a space in your mind—an imaginary space, perhaps—that allows for freedom, self-expression, intimacy in relationships, allowing people in. Personal space is comfortable and accessible—it is a space that is designed.

AG: What Carrie Schneider is getting at is visibility, so this EH: I love that you brought up imaginary spaces. Would you

say that’s what happens, for example, when you read?

AG: Absolutely. When you read, you’re allowing yourself to move

into a space of someone else’s design. The beauty of language— and the written word—is that it accesses the personal associations we have with words that are universal.

EH: On the subject of literature, there are works of art in

the exhibition that use literature to examine definitions of personal space. One of them actually takes lines from an Emily Dickinson poem.

AG: Yes, the work is called When Dickinson Shut Her Eyes No.

859: A Doubt If It Be Us by Roni Horn. Horn has transferred each line of the eight-stanza poem into pieces of the sculpture, with the length of each staza determining the length of each of the sculptures. I wonder if the poem is about loss or love or intimacy; there’s definitely some tension in it.

question of “why have there been no female artists?” is because not only women, but women of color, have been left out of the dominant Western art historical narrative. Schneider’s tackling this by making 100 photographs of artists reading their favorite book by a female author in their personal space, either at home or in the studio. The artist spends about five hours with each of her subjects and simultaneously creates a film of them reading.

By about hour two or three, you see a brow furrow, someone stretching up, yawning, etc. These sitters become so immersed in what they’re doing that they drop those exterior poses and behaviors that we perform when we understand that we’re being watched or observed. These moments of vulnerability often make the portraits even more compelling.

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Carrie Schneider, Sarah reading Zora Neal Hurston (Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-Tales from the Gulf States, pub. 2001), from the series Reading Women (2012-2014)

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Carrie Schneider, Antonia reading Simone de Beauvoir (A Very Easy Death, 1964) from the series Reading Women (2012-2014)

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EH: I’d like to talk a little bit about Genevieve Gaignard’s

work, Black is Beautiful, which is installed in the exhibition.

Can you tell us a little about her story and her artwork?

AG: This particular work is from a larger installation that was first

exhibited at the California African American Museum called Smell the Roses. The bedroom is both an homage to her late niece, who passed away in a house fire, and also a psychological space that reflects on complex issues surrounding race, femininity, and cultural identity. The white-paneled exterior references Gaignard’s childhood East Coast suburban home. Within the interior space, Cabbage Patch dolls, books, board games, photographs, and other items encourage the viewer to reflect on the moments between adolescence and adulthood.

In this way, Black is Beautiful is an homage to Gaignard’s niece, and also invites the viewer into the installation to explore personal and universal themes of loss and coming of age.

EH: Are there other things that we can be attached to beyond

people and ourselves?

AG: Yes, the idea of land, land ownership, and borders is such a

heated topic in the United States, and artist Eyakem Gulilat deals with that. He is based in Oklahoma and immigrated to the US from Ethiopia. All of his photographs in the series Collaborative Self are collaboratively executed and involve an exchange with another person. First, Gulilat takes a photograph of his collaborator, who is often wearing traditional Ethiopian clothing. Then, he takes a photograph of the land they share—in this case, the Oklahoma prairie—and finally, he asks his collaborator to take a photograph of him wearing traditional Ethiopian clothing. In this particular instance, Gulilat has collaborated with artist Michael Elizondo Jr., an enrolled member of the Southern Cheyenne Tribe, who is of Kaw and Chumash descent. Elizondo and Gulilat have very different relationships to the land, as it relates to access, ownership, and citizenship within the US.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Eyakem Gulilat, Untitled, 2011. Genevieve Gaignard, Black is Beautiful, 2016-ongoing. Felix Gonzales-Torres, “Untitled” (Placebo – Landscape – for Roni), 1993, Candies individually wrapped in gold cellophane, endless supply, Overall dimensions vary with installation, Ideal weight: 1200 lbs.

Schenkung Sammlung Hoffman, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

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EH: Are there any objects that you like keeping close to you

either at work or another personal space?

AG: At work, I keep personal notes from friends, family, colleagues,

and previous interns. I love a good hand-written note! When things get really busy, I can look to these notes to remind myself of why I’m doing this work. I keep a lot of books that I’ve had the opportunity contribute to as an essay author, and publications that I’ve edited, because that also reminds me of the importance of my contribution to expanding the canon. P.S. - I just published my first book, Out of Easy Reach, which is distributed by University of Chicago Press! I’ve also kept little gifts from artists – a vase from Theaster Gates, notes and sketches from artists in residence, these moments of reciprocity and gratitude are so fulfilling. At home I love to surround myself with plants.

TAKE A PIECE OF CANDY FROM FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES’ UNTITLED (PLACEBO-LANDSCAPE-FOR RONI), ON VIEW FOR THE FIRST TIME AT CRYSTAL BRIDGES IN PERSONAL SPACE, NOW THROUGH MARCH 2019. SPONSORED BY HOWSE.

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BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE! 5 (Indoor) Date Ideas at Crystal Bridges This Winter ERICA HARMON EDITOR

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EMBER RESOURCE

Visit Men of Steel, Women of Wonder and have a meal at Eleven Our newest exhibition looks at art-world responses to Superman and Wonder Woman. Enjoy an art-inspired dinner or drinks at Eleven before or after your tour. Remember, members have free admission to the exhibition and receive free guest passes! The exhibition is on view from February 9 – April 22, 2019. Member Preview is on February 8.

Treat your date to a culinary art experience Surprise your date with a fresh and engaging food experience though one of Crystal Bridges’ culinary programs. CR(EAT)E, for example, offers a full multi-course dinner paired with drink and entertainment, such as watching a chef cook. High South Moments and DISH are similar programs that explore various topics in the art and culinary worlds while guests enjoy food and drinks. Check your calendar for dates and times.

Attend a classy, boozy event Want to impress your date with more than just an evening of drinks? Pair that drink with an art conversation or activity!

Crystal Bridges offers several classes that combine fun art activities with specialty drinks. Try Art by the Glass, where you and your date work on an art project as you sip on wine or beer and enjoy appetizers.

Take an art class Take your art (and your date) to the next level by signing up for an art class.

Depending on the time of your visit, the museum offers classes in painting, sculpting, and more. Many times, the class is even led by a featured exhibition artist or artist in residence! Members get a discount on all classes and workshops that the museum offers. All materials are always included in the class, so all you have to bring is yourself—and your date!

Dance the night away at Black Hearts Ball Embrace the dark side of Valentine’s Day and come dance the night away at the Black Hearts Ball party this year, held on February 16! Food and drinks are offered, and a series of events accompanies a DJ and dance floor throughout the evening.

Visit the temporary exhibition, Men of Steel, Women of Wonder during the party. Museum members also get a ticket discount! Free admission for ArtInfusion members.

DON’T WANT TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT EVENT TO ROLL AROUND? CULTURE HOUR HAPPENS EVERY WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, AND FRIDAY NIGHT FROM 5 TO 7 PM AT ELEVEN!

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LIGHT NIGHT

09.01.18 Sponsored by JTH Productions. Special thanks to our collaborators Deadhead Productions, the Scott Family Amazeum, 103.3 KOBV: Bentonville Community Radio, and Bike Rack Brewing Co.

TWEEN NIGHT

09.22.18 Sponsored by Nickelodeon.

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CELEBRATIONS

ART FOR A NEW UNDERSTANDING DIRECTOR’S RECEPTION

10.04.18 Sponsored by Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, National Endowment for the Humanities, Annenberg Foundation, Bass Pro Shops, National Endowment for the Arts, ConAgra Brands, Arkansas Humanities Council, Becky and Bob Alexander, Frank and Pat Bailey, James and Emily Bost, Government of Canada, Randy and Valorie Lawson / Lawco Energy Group, Kyle, Maury and Finn Peterson, and The Sotheby’s Prize.

TEEN NIGHT

10.13.18 Presented by the Crystal Bridges Teen Council.

Transportation provided by Pinnacle Car Services.

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CELEBRATIONS

TRICK ART TREAT

10.28.18 Sponsored by ConAgra Brands and The Hershey Company.

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MAKE YOUR MEMORIES AT CRYSTAL BRIDGES Enchanting views, delicious cuisine, and perfect packages to make any special occasion a lasting memory.

WEDDINGS · CORPORATE RENTALS · HOLIDAY PARTIES · SPECIAL EVENTS

Breathtaking venues, indoor and outdoor.

Delicious cuisine provided by our full catering service.

Call today to plan your perfect event.

479.657.2395

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PHILANTHROPY

WALKER SCHOOL VISIT ENDOWED FUND

GIVING CHILDREN THE GIFT OF ART In 2011, the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation of Fayetteville, Arkansas contributed $10 million to create the Walker School Visit Program Endowment. This vital fund helps provide access to curriculum-based museum tours by underwriting the expenses incurred by schools – from the cost of bus, gas, and driver to school lunches. To date, more than 230,000 school children have benefitted. Pat Walker was instrumental in the gift and interested in the program until her passing in 2016. Crystal Bridges recently asked Mandy Macke, Executive Director of the Walker Foundation, to reflect on the impact of this philanthropic investment.

CB: What are your memories of Pat Walker’s association with

Crystal Bridges during the formative years of the museum?

MM: Pat, her son Johnny Mike, and the Walker family have a very special relationship with the Walton family, especially Alice. Pat knew immediately she wanted to invest in Crystal Bridges. It was never a question of ‘if’ but ‘how.’ When Crystal Bridges said, “We have an idea for children and it’s a school visit program,” Pat was so excited. At that point, our conversation shifted from the Foundation simply wanting to participate in Crystal Bridges to specifically seeing Alice’s vision of serving school children come to fruition. The excitement of imagining what that would mean in the bigger picture and the impact it would have on our Northwest Arkansas community made Pat so happy. That is what Willard and Pat’s real motivation for investing in Northwest Arkansas was - making our community a better place to live.

all aspects of that idea. The program is reaching all kids in our region. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what school you are attending. Everyone has access. After the school visit, the kids want to bring their families to the museum to share what they have seen and learned. Exposure to the arts and access to education help enrich the life of an individual while making a more wellrounded person. The school visit program really does hit every part of what the Foundation is trying to do, which is very exciting.

CB: Are there any special moments from the Walker School Visit Program that resonate with you?

MM: The cards! We get so many cards and letters from teachers that include letters from students. We have been getting them for years, and Pat would sit and read them at her home over and over again. It was so very special. Now we take time to sit and read the new letters at the office while we talk about how Pat would feel when reading them and picturing the kids. I have a lot of people in the community tell me about how important the school visits are to students. And there’s usually a story about one particular child. It’s typically a quiet child who isn’t very expressive. After becoming involved in the school visit program, that child shines. Those telling the stories often have a little tear in their eye and always the biggest smile. It’s so rewarding to know we are part of something that is making the world a better tomorrow.

CB: Now that the program has been in place for seven years,

how have you seen the Walker Foundation’s mission align with this program?

MM: The Walker Foundation’s mission is to help people reach their full potential in life. The basis of our funding decisions is to give every individual equal access to quality education and quality healthcare­—to assist them in becoming a full, well-rounded person. School children visiting the museum fit

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CREDITS FRONT COVER Aphrodite Désirée Navab, World Summit from Super East/ West Woman, 2002-2008, Archival C prints, 22 x 17 in., Collection of the artist, New York, NY BACK COVER Fahamu Pecou, Nunna My Heros: After Barkley Hendricks’ ‘Icon for My Man Superman,’ 1969, 2011. Acrylic, gold leaf, and oil stick on canvas, 63 x 49 1/2 in. Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Gift of Marjorie and Michael Levine, 2012.8.1. © Fahamu Pecou. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion. P2 Photo by Stephen Ironside. TABLE OF CONTENTS FROM TOP: Francis Criss, Day Shift, 1943, 38 x 29 in., Oil on canvas, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2007.182. Felix Gonzales-Torres, “Untitled” (Placebo – Landscape – for Roni), 1993, Candies individually wrapped in gold cellophane, endless supply, Overall dimensions vary with installation, Ideal weight: 1200 lbs. Schenkung Sammlung Hoffman, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Photo by Stephen Ironside.

P4 Yatika Starr Fields, Astonishment of perception, 2018, mixed media.

Sponsored by Visit Bentonville and the Walton Family Foundation. photo by Stephen Ironside. P4-5 Photo by Stephen Ironside. P6 Photo by Stephen Ironside. P7 Photo by Stephen Ironside. P8 FROM LEFT: David Levinthal, Untitled, 1997, Dye diffusion transfer print, 30 × 22 in., 2017.67.30, © David Levinthal Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, Gift of an anonymous donor, 2017.67.30. Photo: Edward C. Robison III. David Levinthal, Untitled, 2004, Dye diffusion transfer print, 30 × 22 in., 2017.67.47, © David Levinthal. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, Gift of an anonymous donor, 2017.67.47. Photo: Edward C. Robison III. P9 Andrew Wyeth, Airborne, 1996, Tempera on panel, 40 x 48 in., Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. Photography by Robert LaPrelle. P10 FROM LEFT: Shan Goshorn, Venomous, 2017, Paper splints printed with archival inks, acrylic paint, artificial sinew, and gold foil, 15 1/2 × 8 1/2 × 8 1/2 in., 2010.10, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. Shan Goshorn, From Where We Spring, 2017, Paper splints printed with archival inks, acrylic paint, and artificial sinew, 26 in. × 7 1/2 in. × 7 1/2 in., 2018.11, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. P11 Winslow Homer, The Cotton Pickers, 1876, Oil on canvas, 24 1/16 × 38 1/8 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Acquisition made possible through Museum Trustees: Robert O. Anderson, R., Stanton Avery, B. Gerald Cantor, Edward W. Carter, Justin Dart, Charles E. Ducommun, Camilla Chandler Frost, Julian, Ganz, Jr., Dr. Armand Hammer, Harry Lenart, Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, Mrs. Joan Palevsky, Richard E. Sherwood, Maynard J. Toll, and Hal B. Wallis (M.77.68). P14-15 Katherine Bradford, The Long Flight, Oil on Canvas, 68 x 80 in. Collection of Alexi and Corby Reese. P16 Peter Saul, Superman Versus The Toilet Duck, 1963, Oil on Canvas, 63 x 78 3/4 in., Crystal Bridges Musuem of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2012.497. P17 Samuel L. Margolies, Men of Steel, 1940, Drypoint, 22 1/2 x 19. Crystal Bridges Musuem of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2012.295. P18-19 Dulce Pinzon, Noe Reyes from Puebla works as a delivery person in Brooklyn, New York. He sends $500 a week, 2005-2010, 30 x 45, Collection of the artist. P20 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Valentin Popov, St. Superman, 2011, Gold plating and oil on woodblock, 13 1/2 x 11 1/2 in., Collection of the artist, San Fransisco. Herschel Levit, Take it Away, 1940, Lithograph, 20 5/8 x 17. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. Norman Rockwell, Rosie the Riveter, 1943, Oil on canvas, 62 x 50 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. Valentin Popov, St. Wonder Woman, 2009, Gold plating and oil on woodblock, 13 1/2 x 11 1/2 in., Collection of the artist, San Fransisco. P21 Mel Ramos, Wonder Woman, 1962, Oil on Canvas, 50 x 44 in Rochelle Leininger Collection, Danville, CA. P22 CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Steven Paul Judd, Siouxperwoman, 2014 Serigraph, Edition 25, 12 x 24 in. Collection of the artist, Okahoma City, OK. Steven Paul Judd, Siouxperman, 2014, Serigraph, Edition 25, 12 x 24 in. Collection of the artist, Okahoma City, OK. Fahamu Pecou, Nunna My Heros: After Barkley Hendricks’ ‘Icon for My Man Superman,’ 1969, 2011. Acrylic, gold leaf, and oil stick on canvas, 63 x 49 1/2 in. Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Gift of Marjorie and Michael Levine, 2012.8.1. © Fahamu Pecou. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion. Siri Kaur, Wonder Woman, 2009, Chromogenic print, 62 x 47 1/2. Courtesy of the artist. P23 Renee Cox, Chillin’ with Liberty (from the Raje series), 1998, Photograph, 60 x 42 in. Collection of the artist.

P24-25 Jackie Tsai, Golden Fortune Tree, 2017, Lacquer carving on wood panel, 39 x 70 1/2 in. Courtesy of the Artist. P26 Vincent Ramos, Barbed Wire, Chain Link, & the Lasso of Truth, 2016, Graphite on paper, Collection of the Artist. P27 FROM TOP: Simon Monk, Superman II, Oil and alkyd on wood, 23 5/8 x 19 11/16. Private collection. Aphrodite Désirée Navab, World Summit from Super East/West Woman, 2002-2008, Archival C Prints, 22 x 17 in. Collection of the artist, New York, NY. P28 Images TM and © DC Comics. P29 Photos by Stephen Ironside and Brandon Otto. P30 Alison Elizabeth Taylor, Room, 2007-2008, wood veneer, pyrography, and shellac, 96 x 120 x 96 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2010.61. P31 Roni Horn, When Dickinson Shut Her Eyes No. 859: A Doubt If It Be Us, 1993, solid cast plastic and aluminum, 8 elements with variable heights 36 - 62 7/8 × 2 × 2 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2014.14. P32 Carrie Schneider, Sarah reading Zora Neal Hurston (Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-Tales from the Gulf States, pub. 2001), from the series Reading Women (2012-2014) 2014, Ed. 1/5, C-print, 36 x 30 in. Courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago. P33 Carrie Schneider, Antonia reading Simone de Beauvoir (A Very Easy Death, 1964) from the series Reading Women (2012-2014), 2014, C-print, 36 x 30 in. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago. P34-35 CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Eyakem Gulilat, Untitled, 2011, Archival pigment print, 16 x 46 in. GAE.2015.82. Genevieve Gaignard, Black is Beautiful, 2016-ongoing, Mixed Media Installation, Dimensions: Variable, Courtesy Genevieve Gaignard and Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles. Photo

by Stephen Ironside. Felix Gonzales-Torres, “Untitled” (Placebo – Landscape – for Roni), 1993, Candies individually wrapped in gold cellophane, endless supply, Overall dimensions vary with installation, Ideal weight: 1200 lbs.

Schenkung Sammlung Hoffman, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

Photo by Stephen Ironside. P36 Photo by Dero Sanford. P38-40 Photos

by Marc Henning, Stephen Ironside, and Daniel Moody. P41 Photos by Stephen Ironside and Brandon Otto. P42 Roland Petersen, Picnic Tables with Umbrella and Figures, Oil on canvas, 1964. Photo of Mandy Macke by Stephen Ironside. P44 Tony Tasset, Deer, 2015, Fiberglass, epoxy, and paint, 144 in. x 20ft x 96 in., Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas 2017.4. Photo by Stephen Ironside. P45 Photo by Stephen Ironside.

LAST WORD

Crystal Bridges opened its doors on 11/11/11 with a vision of education and transformation through art. Since that time, we have welcomed over four million visitors from around the world to experience art, nature, and architecture in a beautiful, natural setting, and, thanks to Walmart, with no admission fee. With those visits have come all kinds of educational experiences, from students in rural communities who have never been to a museum before, to seasoned museum-goers coming to Northwest Arkansas for the first time. We thrive on guest engagement, whether welcoming back our loyal and dedicated museum and community members who visit frequently or greeting our one-time destination visitor, we hope all have the opportunity to absorb everything that Crystal Bridges has to offer year-round.

Crystal Bridges is a place where all are welcome, even superheroes from Krypton and Paradise Island (now known as Themyscira). As we’ll soon discover in Men of Steel, Women of Wonder, some people have fond memories of childhood games and pretending to possess super speed and strength, while others take a look at Superman and Wonder Woman and see a meeting point, a symbol that connects all of us as Americans.

In this exhibition, we use those connection points to raise awareness about larger issues in our global communities.

Crystal Bridges offers that same connection point. From our artists and artworks to our education offerings and programming, we strive to push the envelope, think critically, and offer our visitors and sponsors a way to see different perspectives and broaden their horizons through the arts. We may have different beliefs, come from different places, and have different experiences, but all of us are welcome at Crystal Bridges.

It is through heritage, artistic possibility, providing educational experiences, and striving always to be a positive catalyst, that we can continue to make Crystal Bridges a place that is inclusive of all voices and all walks of life.

ROD BIGELOW

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHIEF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION OFFICER