C Magazine | 2019 - Volume 8 - Issue 2 by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

CRYSTAL BRIDGES Member Magazine

August 2019

VOL VIII ISSUE II

We Thank You For Your Support FOU N D I N G EN DOWM ENTS FOR COLLECTIONS, OPERATION, AND BUILDING

N E X T G E N E R AT I O N F U N D SCHOOL VISIT ENDOWMENT

Sponsored by Flintco & Onyx Coffee Lab.

For tickets and more information, visit crystalbridges.org/calendar.

Sponsored by Onyx Coffee Lab, Arvest Bank, and Premier Dermatology & Skin Renewal Center.

FOCUS SHOWS

A Walk in the Woods AUGUST 31, 2019–MARCH 10, 2020

Moments of surprise and unexpected discoveries will greet visitors in this free, focus exhibition nestled in the Early American Art Galleries. Alejo Benedetti Assistant Curator

Drawing inspiration from our recent summer show Nature’s Nation and the way American art compels us to consider our relationship to the environment, A Walk in the Woods guides visitors through selections of the Crystal Bridges collection, as if experiencing a walk in the woods. In essence, this show weaves two narratives. The first, more apparent one, is about the passage of time. Guests will move through space as if transitioning between seasons. They will start in the lush, overgrown fullness of the forest in spring, but gradually progress through summer and fall to end among a dormant forest in winter. This change

Patrick Jacobs, Pink Forest with Stump, 2016

Neil G. Welliver, Snow on Alden Brook (detail), 1983

is accentuated by concluding the show with Neil Welliver’s massive snowy scene, Snow on Alden Brook, in which he depicts a different kind of beauty, now forged in quiet and stillness. The other narrative arc deals with the concept of desire: the woods as a beautiful retreat to be pined after (no pun intended) and the very human urge to possess that beauty through different means. The glowing pink light of Patrick Jacobs’s Pink Forest with Stump looks at the woods as a kind of utopian-oasis. Other works in the exhibition span hundreds of years, from nineteenthcentury oil paintings and drawings, to twenty-first-century photographs, and a litany of different approaches by artists trying to understand, document, and master the natural world in all its wild, overgrown beauty. Mixing media and crossing chronology, this small, focus show sets up a selfcontained experience driven by powerful artwork and brought together through narrative. It’s a chaser to a powerful summer show that reminds us that there are always more stories to tell on enduring themes.

From left: Cheryl Pope I PLAY LIKE NO ONE IS AROUND from I'VE BEEN HEARD, in collaboration with NYC Youth on Streetball, 2017 Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled (detail),, 1963. Kay Rosen, Halfull, 2004/2019

FOCUS SHOWS

Small Talk OCTOBER 25, 2019–MARCH 3, 2020

Small Talk is a free, focus exhibition that considers how artists use text within their work.

image caption

Allison Glenn Associate Curator of Contemporary Art

Small Talk begins in the late modern period with Robert Rauschenberg, Joseph Cornell, Clinton Hill, and John Cage exploring collage and composition alongside contemporary artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. Cage, who is best known for his contributions to performance, poetry, and music, explores the meaning of language in Not Wanting to Say Anything About Marcel (1969), which was the first visual work the artist created. Quick-to-See Smith’s Untitled (n.d.) includes flattened, abstracted yet recognizable forms that point to narrative meaning. The artist cites Rauschenberg,

who’s Untitled (1963) is included in this section, as an influence. Word play and the power of language is explored in the works of Kay Rosen, Pope.L, and Zoe Leonard. Rosen’s HALFULL (2004/2019) is a wall painting created through the deletion of the double “f” and the space between the words “half” and “full”. The resulting word becomes the center of the question: is it half or full? The third and final section considers the influence of popular and digital culture, including artists and

objects that reference music, sports, and social media. WORK/PLAY’s Dear Colin (2017) is an altered Colin Kaepernick jersey—created in response to the media frenzy and some 49ers fans’ responses to Kaepernick’s choice to kneel as a form of protest during the national anthem. These artworks, together with others, create an insightful examination of text usage in art and how artists use it to make a profound statement that speaks to something larger than the letters we see.

DECEMBER 21, 2019 – JANUARY 20, 2020

An Exhibition of George W. Bush Paintings This December, Crystal Bridges will feature Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors, an exhibition which brings together full-color portraits painted by President George W. Bush that honor the sacrifice and courage of America’s military veterans since 9/11. The exhibition rises from President Bush’s outreach and ongoing work through the

Bush Center’s Military Service Initiative. It seeks to examine the invisible wounds veterans experience and the realities they face after returning home and beginning their transition from military service to civilian life. The artworks will be on view at Crystal Bridges for free in the Modern Art Gallery for a limited time this December and January. Sponsored by James Dyke & Helen Porter, Charles & Shannon Holley, and Stephen & Claudia Strange.

From left: Kehinde Wiley, Portrait of a Florentine Nobleman, 2018. Kehinde Wiley, President Barack Obama, 2018.

Portraits of Courage

Clockwise from left: George W. Bush, Ramon Padilla. Daniel Casara. Leslie Zimmerman.

FOCUS SHOWS

NEW ACQUISITION

Kehinde Wiley's

Portrait of a Florentine Nobleman

Francesco Salviati, Portrait of a Florentine Nobleman, 1546–1548

Alejo Benedetti Assistant Curator

Kehinde Wiley’s portraits merge contemporary life with traditional art historical references. His paintings borrow poses used by European masters and replace the heroic, largely white subjects, with people of color. Though starting exclusively with male subjects as a way of exploring black masculinity and his own identity as a young gay man, his recent work also includes women as he continues to explore questions around the performance of gender. Over the years, his subjects have included everyone from average citizens met on the street to former president, Barack Obama. In 2018, the St. Louis Art Museum commissioned Wiley to do a project in which he chose to cast locals from St. Louis and Ferguson as models. With the death of Michael Brown in 2014, St. Louis emerged at the center of a national conversation around race and police violence. Creating this series only a few years later, Wiley views his works as, “a kind of moment around celebrating Brown’s life…a strange kind of elegy.” Portrait of a Florentine Nobleman, based on Francesco Salviati’s sixteenth-century painting of the same name, features Shontay Haynes of St. Louis. Apart from her pose (borrowed from the source painting) all of the decisions about presentation—from the subject’s outfit and painted toenails to her tattoos—reinforce a sense of agency and self-creation. As the painted floral patterns of the background weave over the top of this confident heroine, Wiley seems to subtly affirm Haynes’s belonging within an often exclusive art historical tradition.

YOU’RE INVITED

MEET THE MOMENTARY

SATURDAY, OCT 5 3–7 PM With the opening of our new contemporary art space, the Momentary, approaching on February 22, 2020, we invite you to come join this first large-scale community gathering on the Momentary Green, west of 8th Street Market.

Enjoy live music from Hot 8 Brass Band (New Orleans, LA), pop-up performances, interactive installations, artists talks, program previews, food, and drinks in a family-friendly afternoon outside. To register, visit CrystalBridges.org. SPONSORED BY OUR FOUNDING FUNDERS

MOMENTARY PAUSE

BECOME A MOMENTARY MEMBER! When you become a member of the Momentary, you join a diverse community sharing the stories of today through dynamic experiences. Be the first to know about festival lineups, ticket availability, and more. Don't miss a single moment. Visit theMomentary.org to learn more.

2020 Exhib HANK WILLIS THOMAS: ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL… FEB 8–APR 20, 2020 AT CRYSTAL BRIDGES

Who controls the frame, controls the narrative. Combining familiar images of sports and advertising with histories of art and politics, conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas examines popular culture and how art can raise awareness in the ongoing struggle for social justice and civil rights. Featuring 70+ artworks including photography, sculpture, and mixed media, Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal… is the first comprehensive survey of this acclaimed and award-winning artist’s career. Organized by the Portland Art Museum, Oregon. Hank Willis Thomas, Raise Up (detail), 2014

STATE OF THE ART II FEB 22–MAY 24, 2020 AT THE MOMENTARY & CRYSTAL BRIDGES

Crystal Bridges begins the new decade with the opening of the Momentary and the debut of State of the Art II at both locations. This new exhibition continues the journey launched in State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now (201415), for which Crystal Bridges curators traveled across America to discover artists exploring themes of nature, globalism, technology, and more. Sponsored by Bank of America (lead sponsor), Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, Christie's, and the Crystal Bridges Art Now Fund. National Tour sponsored by Bank of America.

Curators Allison Glenn, Lauren Haynes, and Alejo Benedetti. Photo by Dero Sanford.

bitions NICK CAVE: UNTIL JULY 18, 2020 –JAN 3, 2021 AT THE MOMENTARY

Renowned artist Nick Cave takes over the Momentary with his acclaimed exhibition, Until. This exhibition is Cave's largest and most ambitious project yet, taking us deep into the belly of one of his iconic Soundsuits. Organized by MASS MoCA, co-produced by Carraigeworks and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Curated by Denise Markonish.

Ansel Adams. The Tetons and Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Photograph, gelatin silver print 2018.2733. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Lane Collection. © The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trus. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

ANSEL ADAMS: IN OUR TIME MAY 23–SEP 7, 2020 AT CRYSTAL BRIDGES

This summer, take a trip across the American West through the lens of Ansel Adams and 20+ of today’s contemporary photographers. In Ansel Adams: In Our Time, a new exhibition organized by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the renowned photographer’s work is displayed alongside contemporary artists whose modern-day environmental concerns point directly to Adams’s legacy.

Until. Photo: Courtesy MASS MoCA

BEYOND MIDNIGHT: PAUL REVERE JULY 4–OCT 11, 2020 AT CRYSTAL BRIDGES

Opening at Crystal Bridges on the nation’s 244th birthday, journey back in time with Beyond Midnight: Paul Revere, organized by the American Antiquarian Society. The exhibition showcases over 80 pieces of Revere’s original work in silver and print, such as glimmering silver tea servces, public commissions, and a bottle of tea from the Boston Tea Party, revealing his life as an artisan in a time of political turmoil. Organized by American Antiquarian Society.

CRAFT (working title) OCT 10, 2020–FEB 1, 2021 AT CRYSTAL BRIDGES

Craft, a new exhibition developed by Crystal Bridges, celebrates the skill and individuality of craft within the broad context of American art. Featuring over 90 works in ceramics, fiber, wood, glass, and more, Craft presents an inclusive story of American craft from the 1940s to today, featuring artists such as Ruth Asawa, Sheila Hicks, and Faith Ringgold. Linda Lopez, Untitled (Salmon Dust Furry with Hole), 2016. Tea salvaged from Boston Harbor after the Boston Tea Party, 1773.

Crystal Bridges Celebrates Pride and Queer Artists

Crystal Bridges and Momentary employees marched in the Fayetteville Pride Parade in June.

This past June, Crystal Bridges hosted its very first Pride Night, celebrating the contributions that queer artists have made to the art world and our regional LGBTQ communities in Northwest Arkansas, in an effort to continue the museum’s mission of welcoming all. The evening included a tour of queer art history in the Crystal Bridges galleries. The tour highlighted a selection of artists from each period in American history who identified as queer and also made significant contributions to the art canon, including Paul Cadmus, George Tooker, and Jeffrey Gibson, to name a few. It might also be surprising that sculptures like Sappho have a rooted history in the LGBTQ world as well. Here, we examine the storied histories of a few artists and artworks that identify as queer.

Erica Harmon Editor Stace Treat Head of Interpretation

Museum educator gives a gallery tour at Pride Night.

To clarify, when we say the word “queer,” we are referring to a self-identification of a person that is not heterosexual or cisgender (having a gender identity that matches the sex assigned at birth). It is important to note that for many, the term “queer” can be problematic, as it is a reflection of a negative history, but for others, “queer” is how they self-identify, which is why we use the word.

Sappho

In the Early American Art Gallery at Crystal Bridges, the carved marble sculpture of Sappho sits strong and proud. Visitors stop to admire her beauty every day, and the sixth-century-B.C.E. poet was a favorite among artists in the late nineteenth century. Sappho is also an important figure in lesbian history. She came from the island of Lesbos (which is where the term “lesbian” originates). Although most of Sappho’s writing is now lost, she did write about same sex attraction among women that was later picked up by lesbian women who identified with her words. This example signifies that queer history dates back at least to ancient Greece, and has been reflected in the art world since that time.

Paul Cadmus & George Tooker In his Self-Portrait (1935), Paul Cadmus stares out defiantly to his viewers, clutching a pencil firmly in his hand. He almost looks like a Dick Tracy detective, wearing an upturned coat and fedora, penning out the clues of his mysterious case. But in many ways, that’s what Cadmus was to observers: a mystery. In Fences (1946), Cadmus painted his long-time lover, Jared French, as an elongated nude figure standing against a pole on a beach on Fire Island, New York—a long stretch of beach that was considered a safe haven for gay men throughout the twentieth century and up to today. During this same time period, George Tooker, a peer and colleague of Cadmus’s, explored themes of love, death, sex, grief, and aging through egg tempera painting. Much like Cadmus, Tooker’s lived experiences on the social periphery of the twentieth century influenced the themes and style of his art, such as portraying anxiety

COLLECTION and alienation in modern society, as seen in paintings like Ward (1971). In this way, he was a pioneer in using art to question contemporary society. The works of both artists can currently be seen in the Tempera focus exhibition, on view in the North Exhibition Gallery through October 2019.

Jeffrey Gibson Contemporary Indigenous artist Jeffrey Gibson grew up mainly abroad in West Germany and South Korea, as his father worked for the US Defense Department delivering supplies to military bases. This experience left him wondering about his identity. Having never actually lived on a US reservation as a Choctaw-Cherokee or experiencing the AIDS crisis of the 1980s as a gay man, Gibson questioned his role in these communities – where did he stand in his identity? Gibson’s artwork and exhibitions have focused on themes that have helped him find these answers. For example, in What We Want, What We Need (2014), in the Crystal Bridges collection, Gibson examines opposing forces in society—power and domesticity, femininity and masculinity, etc.—and how they can blend harmoniously, like beadwork on a punching bag.

Creating Community Not long before our present day, the art world helped to foster a sense of community for those who personally identified as what we refer to as “queer” today, even if not always openly or publically. Painters, sculptors, actors, dancers, writers, and many other artists found commonality in the communities of creative self-expression that have long sustained the visual and performing arts. These often offered “safe spaces” of acceptance of people’s differences, and signified that there was a place of belonging for those who felt outcast and marginalized, a place that was welcome to all, just like Crystal Bridges is today.

Stace Treat discusses Gibson's artwork, What We Want, What We Need.

With an understanding of the importance of queer artists’ contributions to the art-world canon, and with a goal of continuing to educate visitors, we can represent the breadth and depth of the American experience in our collections, and provide a safe space where all visitors can feel reflected on the museum walls.

Check out the work of other queer artists in our collection Andy Warhol, Cobi Moules, Charles Demuth, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Glen Ligon, Grant Wood, Jasper Johns, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Cage, Julie Mehretu, Keith Haring, Marsden Hartley, Merce Cunningham, Nick Cave, Robert Rauschenberg.

From top: William Wetmore Story, Sappho (detail), modeled 1862, carved 1867. Paul Cadmus, Self-Portrait, 1935. George Tooker, Self-Portrait of the Artist, 1947.

CRYSTALS IN ART: ANCIENT TO TODAY October 12, 2019 – January 6, 2020 Lauren Haynes Curator, Contemporary Art

Sponsored by: Avant Mining, LLC

James Dyke & Helen Porter

Morris Foundation, Inc.

Blakeman’s Fine Jewelry

Kyle, Maury and Finn Peterson

JT and Imelda Rose

Frank and Pat Bailey

Investigating the surprising role of crystals in the arts through the ages. Crystals in Art: Ancient to Today is is the first exhibition that traces the extraordinary dialogue between art and crystals through a selection of works spanning Ancient Egypt up to the present. This exhibition addresses broader recurring themes in the history of crystals such as science and religion, art and medicine, and more.

This expansive focus allows us to showcase these great works of art in Arkansas, the only location in North America where large-scale mining of quartz crystals takes place.

From top: Ai Weiwei, Chandelier (detail), 2015. Frantisek Vobecky, The Moment of Miracles, 1936, reprint 1974.

CRYSTALS THROUGH THE AGES The artists featured in Crystals in Art span centuries. Some lived hundreds of years ago while others are still living and working today. Get to know artists Albrecht Dürer and Marina Abramovic, and learn how crystals impacted their work.

Ancient Crystals in Art: Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528) was a painter and printmaker of the German Renaissance. While he experimented with many art mediums and subjects throughout the course of his life, his work with engravings in the 1510s led him to create Melencolia I (1514). The concept of melancholy is personified in the winged figure on the right of the artwork. While melancholy is known to us today as a deep and pensive sadness, there were many during the Renaissance who associated it with creative genius or knowledge. On the other side of the winged figure is a large polyhedron that seems to absorb quite a bit of space in the busy scene. While no one is exactly sure what the figure is, including whether or not it’s a crystal, its presence in the artwork is a reflection of mathematical principles that were present at the time and has led to several theories of its meaning throughout the centuries. The engraving is a depiction of the intellectual situation of the artist and is thus, by extension, a spiritual self-portrait of Dürer.

Contemporary Crystals in Art: Marina Abramović Since the beginning of her career in Belgrade during the early 1970s, artist Marina Abramović has pioneered performance as a visual art form and has included crystal in many of her artworks. In a recent interview with Joachim Pissarro, co-curator of Crystals in Art, Abramović talked about her fascination with crystals: “Crystals have been used in the medieval ages and now it’s used in technology. It has the power of conserving energy and light. Right now, you have tiny little crystal chips, in which you can store the full knowledge of our planet, and you can send it through space.” Abramović will have three works featured in the exhibition: Dozing Consciousness (1997), Self Portrait with Quartz Crystal (2018), and Standing Structure for Human Use (2019). In Dozing Consciousness, the provocative still of a woman’s lips in a bed of crystals is actually part of a seven-minute video of her face fully emerging from the crystals around her. The clinking noises of the crystals moving around her create a soothing sound. Abramović uses the sounds and vibrations of crystals to engage her audiences. With Standing Structure for Human Use, exhibition visitors will have the ability to directly interact with crystals by standing against them and taking a moment to meditate.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Crystals send certain energy which is undeniable.â&#x20AC;? Marina Abramovic

Other ancient artworks will include a sixteenth-century Mexican crystal rosary and a Roman statuette of Venus from the first century B.C.E. Other contemporary artworks will include a massive copper and crystal chandelier by artist Ai Weiwei and enormous, LED-lit icosahedron sculptures by Anthony James.

See it first!

Member Preview on Friday, October 11. Check out the calendar for more information and events. Members receive free access to Crystals in Art: Ancient to Today. Reserve your tickets at CrystalBridges.org.

CRYSTALS IN ARKANSAS Arkansas is one of the leading producers of quartz crystal in the world, and Crystal Bridges features a monumental quartz crystal named Holy Grail, which will be on view in the exhibition. Carly Sandidge, Crystal Bridges’ Assistant Store Manager, recently interviewed James Zigras, owner of Avant Mining, about mining crystals in Arkansas and some crystal specimens from his personal collection that will be featured in Crystals in Art. Below is an excerpt of the interview.

CS You’ve been collecting crystal specimens for about 24 years.

I was curious how many specimens you have managed to collect in that time frame? JZ About 15,000. CS Wow, that’s a lot! Tell us about the discovery of the Holy Grail that is currently in our museum. JZ I was actually there at the Zigras mine the day it was pulled out. CS How long did it take? JZ It took us about two weeks to excavate it. CS I am fascinated that the Earth produced this crystal and that it has been around longer than humanity itself. JZ Mineral specimens are the ultimate form of abstraction. They are nature's abstract art. They are definitely expressions just not by humans, but of the planet. However, quartz is linked to us in many ways. For example, there are no quartz crystals found on the moon or other planets, because quartz crystal is literally linked to life on the planet. These crystals in Arkansas come from ancient sea floor sediments where it was teeming with life at one point. CS We have a few other pieces from your collection featured in Crystals in Art. Which one is your favorite? JZ Probably the intaglio piece, and it has the most interesting story. It's a metal die and was carved around 1520 in Venice. It's attributed to celebrated medallist Valerio Belli.

From left: Attributed to Valerio Belli Intaglio with Sacrifice to Janus, 1st Half of 16th century AD. Holy Grail, quartz crystal. Photo by Dero Sanford.

Don’t Miss! Arkansas Crystal Showcase with Avant Mining October 11-13, 10 am to 6 pm At the Museum Store

The exhibition was co-curated by Joachim Pissarro, Bershad Professor of Art History and Director of the Hunter College Galleries, Hunter College, CUNY/City University of New York, and Lauren Haynes, curator, contemporary art at Crystal Bridges and the Momentary. Dr. Thomas Paradise, professor of geosciences at the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Arkansas, also partnered with Crystal Bridges to feature crystal specimens found in the university’s collection, and contributed to the exhibition catalog authored by Pissarro and Haynes, and published by University of Arkansas Press.

TAKE YOUR VERY OWN CRYSTAL HOME WITH YOU

Crystal specimens, jewelry, and more, mined from the caves of Arkansas, are available for purchase in the Museum Store.

Don't forget!

Members recieve 10% discount off most items in the store. Visit today!

T R NO E R FO T H G I L 24

TH T S E S T H

A Moment Factory Experience

Coming Soon to Crystal Bridges’ North Forest

This winter, you’re invited to experience the North Forest like never before. Between October 26 and February 16, we will host an immersive, nighttime experience featuring light installations, music, and magical moments. Conceived by Moment Factory especially for Crystal Bridges, this brand new experience will provide members and guests an innovative way to enjoy the power of art and the beauty of nature. Brittany Johnson eCommunications Coordinator

Sponsored by the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation. Background image from Nova Lumina in Chandler, Quebec, 2016. 25

Who is Moment Factory? Moment Factory is a multimedia & entertainment studio based in Montreal, where more than 350 experienced, passionate, multidisciplinary creators from around the world come together to create, design, and produce multimedia environments and unforgettable experiences using video, lighting, sound, animation, and state-of-the-art technology. Since 2001, Moment Factory has created more than 400 unique projects worldwide, including the Lumina Night Walk series, which have been commissioned in Canada, Japan, and Singapore. Each Lumina Night Walk experience blends lighting, sound design, interactive elements, and projection mapping to shape a tailor-made experience that enhances the beauty of a specific site. Artists, scenographers, musicians, inventors, programmers, and many more have come together to create a similar unique outdoor nighttime experience at Crystal Bridges. In another example of their work, the studio was invited to create the first sound and light experience to showcase the complex and magnificent Nativity faĂ§ade of Barcelonaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sagrada Familia in 2012. The team used projection mapping and moving lights beaming color onto the temple, which then fractured across the nighttime city to create a 15-minute, seven-act show, representing the seven days during which the universe was created.

Visit Moment Factory.com to learn more about these projects, watch them come to fruition, and get pumped for their next project: Crystal Bridges!

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Much like Crystal Bridges, Montreal-based multimedia entertainment studio Moment Factory strives to bring people together, to welcome all to experiences that create a sense of collective wonder and connection.

From Sakuya Lumina in Osaka, Japan, 2018. 27

From Foresta Lumina in Coaticook, Quebec, 2014.

Preliminary rendering and map of the forest experience at Crystal Bridges, provided by Moment Factory.

Crystal Bridges has partnered with Moment Factory to create an immersive nighttime experience that will bring our guests closer than ever to nature in all its wonder. As the team explored concepts for the experience theme, they posed the question: what if we could draw the earth’s secret rhythms and harmonies into the light for all to see? Walking through the North Forest, visitors will experience five glowing nighttime installations that enfold with otherworldly sights and sounds to answer this question. Each encounter translates nature’s secret music and hidden communication into a symphony of light. Music that has a specific connection to the area and to Arkansas will also be woven through the experience. To be clear, this experience is not a holiday light show, but a familyfriendly experience that is chock-full of magical photo opportunities and moments to see the North Forest like never before. The voice of the forest is experienced differently at moments along the pathway: at times it is joyful and fun, at others introspective and meditative. Guests will experience a oneon-one dialogue with a mighty tree that serves as a powerful reminder of our own place in the human ecosystem; an organic, sculptural hearth where guests are drawn to gather and commune with the rhythms of nature’s chapel in the forest; plus several more engagements. The experience invites people to reconnect with nature while helping them to feel a part of it at Crystal Bridges.

North Forest Lights will begin in late October through February 2020 during evening hours, and will also return in the fall of 2020. Get your tickets at CrystalBridges.org 29

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is my wish to leave a message to the whole world from the universe, a message of love and peace to the people of the world.â&#x20AC;? Yayoi Kusama 30

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To Infinity and Beyond Crystal Bridges Acquires a Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirror Room Brittany Johnson eCommunications Coordinator

Polka dots, pumpkins, and mirrors—the work of artist Yayoi Kusama is instantly recognizable. One of the most famous living female artists, the 90-year-old Japanese artist is a published author and filmmaker, has been named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, and is part of Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection. Despite being a household name, her path to fame was not an easy one. Born in 1929 to a conservative family, the artist broke with societal norms, which dictated that she marry and begin a family, and instead forged a career in art. In the 1950s, after having formally studied art in Kyoto, Kusama took on the male-dominated New York art scene, earning the admiration of artists such as Donald Judd and Frank Stella, and going on to count artist Georgia O’Keeffe as a friend and mentor. Despite consistently creating and exhibiting work, true success eluded her. The artist was overlooked and often copied by her male peers—both Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg have been accused of plagiarism—and her first mirrored-room, created in 1965, a precursor to the Infinity Mirror Rooms that currently garner acclaim at museums worldwide, was copied by avantgarde artist Lucas Samaras and exhibited at Pace Gallery. Despite numerous setbacks, which also included a mental breakdown in 1973, she has found increasing recognition and

support, due in large part to her appearance at the 1993 Venice Biennale in which she transformed Japan’s pavilion into a mirrored polka-dot environment and cemented her reputation as an artist of importance. Kusama is known primarily for her signature polka dots, which she claims to have begun painting after a childhood psychiatric episode during which she saw the pattern “covering the ceiling, the windows, and the walls, and finally all over the room, her body and the universe.” Crystal Bridges is excited to welcome one of her Infinity Mirror Rooms to the museum’s permanent collection this fall. The installation, called Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart Is Dancing Into the Universe, was created in 2018 and features endless technicolor paper lanterns among glass mirrors, creating the illusion that the polka dots stretch on forever. It appeared in a Kusama exhibition at the Victoria Miro in London from October 3 to December 21, 2018 before preparing to make its way to its permanent home in Bentonville, Arkansas. This is the second work of Kusama’s that Crystal Bridges acquired: the sculpture Flowers that Bloom Now, was acquired by the museum in 2017 and can be found in the North Forest.

My Heart Is Dancing Into the Universe will be on display for visitors in the Contemporary Art Gallery beginning

Funded by David and Cathy Evans Family. Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Mirrored Room - My Heart is Dancing into the Universe (detail), 2018

Labor Day weekend 2019.

10 YEARS James Turrell’s Skyspace Celebrates 10 Years at Crystal Bridges Erica Harmon Editor Seth Mercer Development Intern

This October, Crystal Bridges is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the installation of James Turrell’s Skyspace: The Way of Color on the museum’s grounds. The artwork is architecturally outstanding and an inviting space that offers a light show at both dusk and dawn. In celebration of this momentous occasion, get to know a little about the artist James Turrell and take a look back on the installation of The Way of Color at Crystal Bridges. James Turrell has quite the rap sheet: he is a world-renowned artist, pioneer of the Light and Space art movement, and cultural influence who has been producing art since the 1960s. His work has been the focus of hundreds of exhibitions and appears in numerous museum collections around the world, such as the Guggenheim Museum (NYC), the Tate Modern (London), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Israel Museum (Jerusalem) and more. Turrell was born in Los Angeles and his family practiced the Quaker religion, which believes that all people have the ability to access the light within. It’s possible that this religious upbringing had an impact on Turrell’s work, as referenced in his words: “I was maybe 5 or 6, and my grandmother would begin sitting me in the Quaker meeting house,” said Turrell. “I asked my grandmother, ‘What am I supposed to do?’ and she said, ‘Just wait, we’re going inside to greet the light.’ I liked that— this idea to go inside to find that light within, literally as well as figuratively.” After developing a love of art history in college, he found a studio space in an abandoned Santa Monica hotel where he would explore and manipulate light through the use of architecture, natural light, and projected light. He presented his first solo exhibition of “projection pieces” in 1967, beginning his journey to become one the most well-known studio artists of the twenty-first century. Most of Turrell’s work revolves around the ideas of light, space, and color. “Light is a powerful substance…I like to work

with it so that you feel it physically, so you feel the presence of light inhabiting a space,” he said. One of his most prominent works in this area is his series of iconic Skyspaces which can be found in more than 100 museums all over the world, including Crystal Bridges. Turrell’s Skyspaces are freestanding, concrete structures clad in stone that manipulate light coming through an ocular opening in the ceiling. Bench seating is offered for visitors inside, and The Way of Color at Crystal Bridges was the first Skyspace to feature LED lighting. All of these features come together for viewers to experience the sky with its changing effects of color, light, and mood in new and different perspectives. Looking back 10 years ago, Scott Eccleston, the museum’s director of operations and The Way of Color's project manager, reflected on the artwork’s installation process. When the museum decided to purchase a Skyspace, the product came in the form of a few pieces of paper with concepts on them. Eccleston and his team had to hire an architect to build the construction plan. From there, Eccleston jokes that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. First, the original stones that were meant to don the outside of the sculpture were not indigenous to the area (the artist typically uses native material in the construction of his Skyspaces). The outside stones were replaced with native stone from the Winslow / Fayetteville area, and each one had to be cut to precise measurements to fit the geometry of the shape. “If one stone was out of place, we had to start all over,” said Eccleston. When the LED lighting was installed inside the sculpture for

COLLECTION

the first time, Eccleston and his team turned the lights on…and heaved a heavy sigh. Every single nick and bubble in the paint above the LED lighting cast a wide, ugly shadow throughout the sculpture. “We had to scrape all the paint off and start over again,” said Eccleston. Finally, the moment came when James Turrell would have to inspect the sculpture for himself. On the evening of October 2, 2009, Turrell arrived at Crystal Bridges for the first time since construction began to view the completed piece. As Eccleston showed him around, he says Turrell became silent, studying every detail with a thorough analysis. He stared at the stone and felt each detail with his hands, bending down to feel beneath the heated seats and reaching up to feel the paint plaster (which

had been replaced after the shadow debacle). Finally, after 30 minutes, James Turrell turned to Eccleston and said, “This is the piece that I will measure against all future projects.” Every single day at dawn and dusk, visitors can experience the wonder of the Skyspace in a display of light and color. The LED lights illuminate the dome’s interior, automatically corresponding to changes in the sky to enhance the experience. As the lighting sequence runs its course through the color spectrum, the framed glimpse of morning or evening sky from the sculpture’s opening seems to shift suddenly and dramatically in hue. The museum looks forward to sharing this truly one-of-a-kind sculpture with many more guests for years and decades to come.

Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Skyspace with us! SKYSPACE NIGHTS Star Party + Skyspace Anniversary Wednesday, October 9, 7 pm Look through telescopes, chat with astronomers from Sugar Creek Astrological Society, and engage with activities inspired by the night sky. Free, no registration required.

James Turrell, The Way of Color, 2009

Not Just for Art Class School Field Trips at Crystal Bridges

As the new school season begins, educators are planning field trips for their students. As an educator of a subject beyond art—such as math, science, or history, for example—it might seem like going to an art museum for a field trip doesn’t apply to the classroom curriculum. However, with the Willard and Pat Walker School Visit Program, teachers and students studying every subject imaginable can explore concepts and ideas through the visual arts provided at the museum. Field trips at Crystal Bridges are completely free to schools and includes free student lunches and transportation reimbursement. 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 to underwrite expenses incurred by schools and helps the museum offer the benefits of the school field trips. To date, the museum has welcomed over 260,000 students from all backgrounds and school districts to explore American art, many of whom were visiting a museum for the very first time, thanks in part to this fund. School field trips at Crystal Bridges begin with a guided tour through the galleries based on a specific tour curriculum. Each field trip is also accompanied by a hands-on learning activity. Students then have lunch and if time allows, teachers are able to take their students through the galleries or trails by themselves. At Crystal Bridges, school tours are constructed and guided by professional Museum Educators who come from a variety of backgrounds and educational degrees. “We employ educators, many of whom have graduate degrees, who are eager to collaborate with teachers and who find great personal satisfaction in doing this work,” said Dr. Nile Blunt, head of school programs at Crystal Bridges.

School visits are sponsored by Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, Colgate-Palmolive Company, and Kimberly-Clark.

Erica Harmon Editor

EDUCATION

C spoke with two of our seasoned Museum Educators, Travis Deal and Jessica Smith, who have created several customized tours based on the needs of individual teachers and classroom curriculums. “Art is a place to explore other things,” said Deal. “In many ways, it is the gateway to uncovering new ideas and interests.” Examples of some current tours include The American Frontier, African American History, Latino American History, Art and Science, Art and Math, Art and Innovation, Perseverance, Native North American Art, Women in Art, and more. Tours are also created for most of the museum’s temporary exhibition. Art for a New Understanding challenged preconceived ideas of Native American art and what it looks like today, and Men of Steel, Women of Wonder, prompted students to think about what it means to be a hero and who gets to be one. Some of the more popular tours include Me and My Museum, a K-2 field trip designed to introduce young students to a museum through movement, stories, and hands-on activities; The Writing is on the Wall, a 3-12 grade tour that focuses on storytelling and clue-finding in art; and Art and Math, a 3-12 grade tour that shows connections between artistic techniques and mathematical concepts. In Art and Math, students examine geometry and spatial reasoning through artworks such as Gabriel Dawe’s Plexus No. 27, Donald Judd’s Untitled, and Alexander Calder’s mobiles, among others. The Crystal Bridges website lists the Arkansas State Standards that each standard tour meets for quick evaluation by educators.

Crystal Bridges offers tours that support emotional intelligence, too. For example, the Perseverance tour examines artworks in the galleries that showcase men and women who, in spite of their situations, persevered through challenging moments of American history and how this concept is depicted in the visual arts. Each tour can be as broad or as specific as the needs of the classroom require. In the past, Museum Educator Raven Cook created a tour curriculum based on the themes of the novel, Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, for a group that was reading the book in English class. In another case, a group of students from the UAMS School of Medicine wanted to take a customized tour of the galleries that would draw connections between art and medicine. Working with UAMS professors, Museum Educators developed a tour that examined medical tools and ethics in medicine in art. In an activity designed to practice medical communcation, one student and described an artwork to their partner, who then drew the description without looking at the painting. Artworks for each tour are selected based on relevancy to the curriculum and ability to foster impactful student conversations.

“Art is a reflection of society,” said Smith. “It’s important to understand its context so that we can express empathy.”

EDUCATION

Educators strive to build their tours looking at a wide variety of perspectives, across artist backgrounds as well as time periods. "There is a desire among students to see themselves in the art represented in the museum," said Dr. Blunt. "To that end, we strive for diversity of all kinds in the artists and artworks that we present on our school tours." As Dr. Blunt noted, each school tour at Crystal Bridges is student-driven, meaning students do not simply sit in front of an artwork and listen to their guide talk. Students engage with the Museum Educator and answer questions about the artworks in front of them. “It’s important that as educators, we build an environment where students are comfortable talking,” said Deal. “We want students to make the experience their own, because otherwise, they aren’t engaging in their education.” On every school visit experience, Museum Educators use object-

based learning to help students work on their speaking and listening skills as well as critical thinking and learning how to back up observations with visual evidence. On one particular Native American History tour, school gallery program manager Sally Ball brought a group of students to the trio of Native American portraits created by Charles Bird King in the 1800s, currently hanging in the Early American Art Gallery. She asked the students, “What do you see here?” One of the students responded by saying, “I see two Native Americans.” Ball replied by saying, “Really? I see three Native Americans.” “No, there are only two,” the student insisted. “Why are there only two?” Ball prompted. The student then explained that it was because of the way they were dressed. Two of the portraits feature Native Americans in traditional dress while the third portrait shows Native American John Ridge dressed in a suit. This prompted a conversation about assimilation and created a lightbulb moment for students that expanded their view of what Native Americans could be beyond what they previously thought. Revelations like these happen every day at Crystal Bridges as art, architecture, and nature are utilized to expand young minds and build important social skills.

From left: Charles Bird King, Shaumonekusse, Oto Half Chief (Husband of Eagle of Delight), ca. 1822. Wakechai (Crouching Eagle), Saukie Chief, ca. 1824. Portrait of John Ridge, 1825.

To schedule your class or share the museum’s field trip program with a teacher in your life, you can find more information and a sign-up form at crystalbridges.org/school-field-trip.

PHILANTHROPY

Supplier Community Supporters of Education Thanks to the generous contributions from multiple Suppliers, we are able to better serve school-age children, both in the Northwest Arkansas community and beyond. Mattel

THE STUDIO

Mattel has teamed up with Crystal Bridges to encourage learning through the power of play. The company’s support of the museum helped make it possible for us to renovate the Studio earlier this year. This dynamic artmaking space includes a creative play space and art totes filled with fun activities for the whole family to enjoy together. Thanks to Mattel, art lovers of all ages can now explore various ways of looking at and thinking about works of arts and crafts.

The J.M. Smucker Company

NEXT GENERATION ENDOWMENT FUND

The J.M. Smucker Company is committed to making arts and culture accessible to all. The company is a loyal supporter of our Next Generation Endowment Fund, which supports developing, enhancing, and presenting student and teachercentered education programs, events, projects, and materials. Our student and teacher programs make a significant impact, thanks in part to The J.M. Smucker Company.

Nice-Pak Products, Inc.

EDUCATOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Nice-Pak Products, Inc. has been a committed partner of Crystal Bridges since 2012. Their generous support of our Educator Professional Development Program helps amplify our education impact across the state. In 2016, Crystal Bridges served 369 teachers through our Saturday and Wednesday Sessions wherein selected teachers work with the museum to develop and present programs that help them effectively teach from works of art in the museum’s collection. As a longtime partner, NicePak’s vital support allows us to immerse educators in creative opportunities to enhance teaching practices incorporating the arts and giving rise to creativity across subjects.

Colgate-Palmolive

SCHOOL VISIT PROGRAM

Colgate-Palmolive’s additional support of the Willard and Pat Walker School Visit Program at Crystal Bridges helps the museum welcome nearly 50,000 school children annually! In addition to tours of the grounds and collection, Colgate-Palmolive generously supplies participating children with products that support good dental hygiene and advance the company’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures initiative.

Kimberly-Clark

SCHOOL VISIT PROGRAM

Kimberly-Clark has been a dedicated sponsor since our opening in 2011. Their support of the Willard and Pat Walker School Visit Program helps serve nearly 50,000 school children annually with curriculum-based art tours, nature walks, and a free healthy lunch. The impact of Kimberly-Clark’s support is big, helping the museum inspire smarter, kinder, and more creative future leaders.

Nickelodeon

STUDIO SQUAD, TWEEN PROGRAM

Crystal Bridges is committed to providing transformative experiences for all, and our tween programs for kids ages 11–13 are a vital component of that commitment. Nickelodeon’s generous sponsorship of Studio Squad programming and Tween Night since 2015 has helped us offer these programs at no cost, removing economic barriers so that everyone may attend.

CELEBRATIONS

Art in Bloom 03.15â&#x20AC;&#x201C;03.18.19 Special thanks to our participating local florists!

Art Night Out 04.19.19 Sponsored by JTH Productions, iHeart Media, AMP Sign & Banner, and Blue Moon Brewing Company.

CELEBRATIONS

Nature's Nation Director's Reception 05.23.19 Sponsored by Coca-Cola, Cox Communications, Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Harriet and Waren Stephens, Stephens Inc., The Harrison and Rhonda French Family, Jim and Susan von Gremp, Galen, Debi, and Alice Havner, Highland, Adam D. Stolpen, and James and Emily Bost.

Pride Night 06.05.19 Sponsored by Northwest Arkansas Equality and PFLAG of Northwest Arkansas.

CREDITS

COVER: Holy Grail, quartz crystal. Private Collection. Photo: Dero Sanford. TABLE OF CONTENTS, FROM TOP: Alexis Arnold, Smithsonian Nature Guide:

Rocks and Minerals (detail), 2019, Book, borax. Courtesy of the artist. Preliminary rendering of forest experience at Crystal Bridges, provided by Moment Factory. Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Mirrored Room - My Heart is Dancing into the Universe, 2018, wood and glass mirror room with paper lanterns, 119 5/8 in. × 245 1/8 in. × 245 1/8 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2019.2. © Yayoi Kusama, Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore and Victoria Miro London / Venice. PG 4 CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Photography by Dero Sanford. Image provided by EnChroma. PG5 CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Photography by Stephen Ironside. PG 6 FROM TOP: Neil G. Welliver, Snow on Alden Brook, 1983, oil on canvas, framed: 96 × 96 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2008.8. Photography by Edward C. Robison III. Patrick Jacobs, Pink Forest with Stump, 2016, styrene, acrylic, cast neoprene, paper, hair, polyurethane foam, ash, talc, starch, acrylite, vinyl film, copper, wood, steel, lighting, and BK7 glass, box: 20 5/8 × 28 5/8 × 20 1/2 in.; diorama window: 7 3/8 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2016.22. Photography by Edward C. Robison III. PG 7 FROM LEFT: Cheryl Pope, I PLAY LIKE NO ONE IS AROUND from I’VE BEEN HEARD, in collaboration with NYC Youth on Streetball, 2017, nylon and tackle twill applique, rod sleeve on back, 60 x 36 in. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago. Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled (detail), 1963, oil, graphite, and screen print on canvas, 40 1/2 x 52 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2009.7. © Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Photography by Steven Watson. Kay Rosen, Halfull, 2004/2019, acrylic paint, 14 ft. x 29 ft. x 1 in. Courtesy of the artist. *Melanie to confirm PG 8 FROM LEFT: George W. Bush, Ramon Padilla, Oil on gesso board. © Photo by Grant Miller Photography Courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. George W. Bush, Daniel Casara, Oil on gesso board. © Photo by Grant Miller Photography Courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. George W. Bush, Leslie Zimmerman, Oil on stretched canvas. © Photo by Grant Miller Photography Courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors is a collection of portraits by President George W. Bush on loan from the Ambassador and Mrs. George L. Arygros Collection of Presidential Art at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, a nonprofit organization whose Military Service Initiative is focused on helping veterans and their families. PG 9 FROM TOP: Kehinde Wiley, Portrait of a Florentine Nobleman, 2018, Oil on linen. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.2019.14Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, California. Kehinde Wiley, President Barack Obama, 2018, oil on canvas, 84 1/8 × 57 7/8 × 1 1/4 in. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Gift of Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg; Judith Kern and Kent Whealy; Tommie L. Pegues and Donald A. Capoccia; Clarence, DeLoise, and Brenda Gaines; The Stoneridge Fund of Amy and Marc Meadows; Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker; Catherine and Michael Podell; Mark and Cindy Aron; Lyndon J. Barrois and Janine Sherman Barrois; The Honorable John and Louise Bryson; Paul and Rose Carter; Bob and Jane Clark; Lisa R. Davis; Shirley Ross Davis and Family; Alan and Lois Fern; Conrad and Constance Hipkins; Sharon and John Hoffman; Daniel and Kimberly Johnson; John Legend and Chrissy Teigen; Eileen Harris Norton; Helen Hilton Raiser; Philip and Elizabeth Ryan; Roselyne Chroman Swig; Josef Vascovitz and Lisa Goodman; Michele J. Hooper and Lemuel Seabrook III; The Skylark Foundation; Cleveland and Harriette Chambliss; Anna Chavez and Eugene Eidenberg; Carla Diggs & Stephen M. Smith; Danny First; Peggy Woodford Forbes and Harry Bremond; Stephen Friedman Gallery; Sean and Mary Kelly, Sean Kelly Gallery; Jamie Lunder; Joff Masukawa and Noëlle Kennedy Masukawa; Derek McGinty and Cheryl Cooper; Robert and Jan Newman; The Raymond L. Ocampo Jr. and Sandra O. Ocampo Family Trust; Julie and Bennett Roberts; Paul Sack; Gertrude Dixon Sherman; Michael and Mary Silver; V. Joy Simmons, MD; Andrea Lavin Solow and Alan P. Solow; John Sykes; Galerie Templon; Henry L. Thaggert III. Francesco Salviati, Portrait of a Florentine Nobleman, 1546–1548, oil on panel, 40 1/4 x 32 1/2 in. Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase, 415:1943. PG 10-11: Renderings of the Momentary, provided by Wheeler Kearns Architects. PG 12 FROM TOP: Hank Willis Thomas, Raise Up, 2014.

Bronze. © Hank Willis Thomas. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. PG 13 FROM LEFT: Nick Cave: Until Photo: Courtesy MASS MoCA. Nick Cave: Until was organized by MASS MoCA and co-produced by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art of Bentonville, Arkansas, and Carriage Works of Sydney, Australia, with support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, Jack Shainman Gallery, and the Robert Lehman Foundation. • Ansel Adams (American, 1902– 1984), The Tetons and Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1942, Photograph, gelatin silver print. 2018.2733. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Lane Collection. © The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Tea salvaged from Boston Harbor after the Boston Tea Party, 1773. Glass, twill tape, sealing wax, tea leaves. American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts; Gift of Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, 1840. Linda Lopez, Untitled (Salmon Dust Furry with Hole), 2016. ceramic, 22 ½ x 16 x 10 in. Image courtesy of the artist © Linda Lopez. PG 15 FROM TOP: William Wetmore Story, Sappho (detail), modeled 1862, carved 1867, marble. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2012.7. Paul Cadmus, Self-Portrait, 1935, tempera on board. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. 2011.3. Photography by Edward C. Robison III. George Tooker, Self-Portrait of the Artist, 1947, tempera on panel, Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. Photography by Edward C. Robison III. PG 17 FROM TOP: Ai Weiwei, Chandelier (detail), 2015, Image courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio. Frantisek Vobecky, The Moment of Miracles, 1936/Reprint 1974, gelatin silver print. ©Vobecky Estate. PG 20-21 CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Albrecht Dürer, Melencolia I, 1514, Engraving, Anonymous Gift, 2003 (2003.446.1). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, U.S.A. Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY. Kimsooja, To Breathe (detail), 2015, Site specific installation consisting of diffraction grating film, at Centre Pompidou-Metz Forum. Commissioned by Centre Pompidou-Metz, Courtesy of Institut français/Année France Corée, Kukje Gallery, Seoul and Kimsooja Studio. Photos by Jaeho Chong. Anthony James. Portal Icosohedron (detail), 2019. Steel, glass, LED Lights. Anthony James Studio. Statuette of Venus, 100-1 B.C. rock crystal. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California. Gift of Stanley Ungar, 78.AN.248. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program. PG 22 FROM TOP: Holy Grail. Private Collection. Photo: Dero Sanford. Attributed to Valerio Belli, Intaglio with Sacrifice to Janus (detail), 1st Half of 16th century AD, Rock crystal. Avant Mining LLC. Photo: Edward C. Robison III. PG 23: Photo by Tom Spann. PG 22-27: Images provided by Moment Factory. PG 2829: Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Mirrored Room - My Heart is Dancing into the Universe, 2018, wood and glass mirror room with paper lanterns, 119 5/8 in. × 245 1/8 in. × 245 1/8 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2019.2. © Yayoi Kusama, Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore and Victoria Miro London/Venice. PG 30-31: James Turrell, The Way of Color, 2009, stone, concrete, stainless steel, and LED lighting, 19ft. x 54ft. 4 in.; oculus: 114 in. diameter. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. © James Turrell. Photography by Timothy Hursley. Photography by Dero Sanford. PG 32-34: Photography by Dero Sanford and Stephen Ironside. PG 35 FROM LEFT: Charles Bird King, Shaumonekusse, Oto Half Chief (Husband of Eagle of Delight), ca. 1822, oil on panel, 18 x 14 1/2 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2010.87. Photography by Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Charles Bird King, Wakechai (Crouching Eagle), Saukie Chief, ca. 1824, oil on panel, 17 1/2 x 14 in. Photography by Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Charles Bird King, Portrait of John Ridge, 1825, oil on panel, 17 1/2 × 13 1/2 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2016.11. Photography by Edward C. Robison III. PG 38-39: Photography by Stephen Ironside and Daniel Moody. PG 40: Brian Tolle, Tempest (detail), 2010, powder-coated aluminum, fiberglass, and LED lights, 5 × 33 × 29 ft. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, Gift of Ruth and William S. Ehrlich, 2017.15

LAST WORD

For a museum called Crystal Bridges, it probably makes sense that we would eventually have an exhibition that focused on crystal. Our name comes from the nearby Crystal Spring and the museum’s bridge-like structures that span ponds fed by it. In Crystals in Art: Ancient to Today, we continue our mission of connecting the power of art with the beauty of nature through crystal objects and artworks created across humanity’s timeline. It’s especially fitting that in this exhibition, we also get to focus on an element that has such a strong connection to our state. Arkansas is one of the only places in the entire world where large quantities of quartz crystal can be found. There is evidence that shows Native Americans in Arkansas were fashioning tools and weaponry out of quartz crystals in the 1500s. Today, people from all around the world come to Arkansas to discover our crystal mines and find a special piece to take home with them. Quartz crystals are also used to make oscillators for electronics, scientific instruments, and glass. From refracted light in crystals, to artists’ use of light in their work, to our larger-than-life conceptual forest lights experience, you will have a variety of ways to interact with light and new adventures around every corner.

As you make your way to the museum this fall, we encourage you to look beyond what you see, and to discover the potential of what could be through art, nature, and creativity.

Rod Bigelow

Executive Director and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

02 22 2020 THE MOMENTARY OPENS IN BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS CONTEMPORARY VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS

DEBUTING WITH STATE OF THE ART II SNEAK PEEK @

THEMOMENTARY.ORG