Now at the Grand Rapids Art Museum
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Dear friends,
2019-2020 Board of Trustees Kurt Hassberger President Erin Gravelyn Vice President Lizbeth O’Shaughnessy Secretary/Treasurer Luis E. Avila Stacie Behler Marilyn Crawford Sam Cummings Jim Engelking Meg Goebel Christopher Hufnagel Rishi Makkar India Manns Jane Boyles Meilner Jim Overbeck Kathleen Stewart Ponitz Christopher Rosmarin Carol Sarosik Eddie T.L. Tadlock Mitchell Watt Meg Miller Willit Foundation Board of Trustees Lauretta K. Murphy President Lizbeth O’Shaughnessy Secretary/Treasurer Tamara R. Bailey Thomas A. DeMeester Greg Hooks Janet Nisbett Douglas Padnos Jeff Smith Douglas Williams Honorary Life Trustees Anita Carter Pamella DeVos Marilyn Q. Drake David G. Frey Mary Ann Keeler Mary Loupee Mary Nelson Kate Pew Wolters
I hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy. As I write to share the news of GRAM’s reopening, I want to start by acknowledging this historic moment in our community and the ongoing health pandemic, economic challenges, and much-needed discussion focused on equity and justice for Black Americans. Cultural institutions can play a role to improve the wellbeing of our communities, and over the next year GRAM will continue to evolve in the ways in which we serve our audiences as we work to become a more welcoming, accessible, and equitable institution. As we work toward our reopening this month, the question of how the Museum can best support our guests is at the top of our minds and in my heart. Art museums serve as important places for reflection and building connections with others, and GRAM will reopen with an emphasis on ensuring all members of our community feel safe and welcome. We’ll be sharing some of the long-term inclusion initiatives we’re taking in the next annual report, and recognize that this work does not end today, next week, or in the upcoming year. After over four months of COVID-19 Closure, I’m pleased to share wonderful news with you—we’re excited to welcome GRAM members back to the Museum for a soft opening on July 25, 28, and 30, followed by an official opening to the public on August 1. GRAM’s staff and board are working thoughtfully to ensure the Museum remains a safe and clean environment upon opening. As we work through our new procedures, we ask for your patience. Things will be a little different from your last visit, and I encourage you to visit the updated reopening information on our website. A few of our precautions include, but are not limited to: - Face mask requirements for all visitors - Regular deep cleaning of the Museum and increased hand sanitization stations - “Low-touch” interactions at our Visitor Services desk - Controlling the number of visitors to provide proper distancing - Limited days and hours of operation We’re excited to welcome you back to GRAM with the exhibition A New State of Matter: Contemporary Glass, which has been extended through October 4. This fascinating exhibition features work by 19 artists using glass in unique and revealing ways, and we’re excited to give even more visitors the chance to experience the beautiful exhibition. As a result of this extension, the summer exhibition In a New Light: American Impressionism 1870-1940 will be tentatively rescheduled to summer 2022. Until we officially open our doors, I hope you enjoy the artist interviews, artmaking activities, and member updates in this issue. We miss our members and visitors greatly, and I can’t thank you enough for your support during this unprecedented time. We have much to look forward to at the Museum, and I can’t wait to see you again soon! Warm wishes,
Dana Friis-Hansen Director and CEO
P.S. We’re committed to making the Museum accessible online for those who need to stay home. From virtual tours and collection highlights, to at-home artmaking activities and educational resources, there’s plenty of ways to explore the Museum from home at artmuseumgr.org/museumfromhome.
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Above: Norwood Viviano (American, b. 1972) Recasting Grand Rapids, 2020, kilncast glass, 3D printed pattern, and found object, 29 1/2 x 22 x 17 inches. Grand Rapids Art Museum, Museum Purchase, with funds provided by Joy and Ghayas Uddin, Bill and Marilyn Crawford, Jim and Mary Nelson, and Karen and Mitchell Padnos, 2020.51
Recasting Grand Rapids, Recasting the Future By Ron Platt, GRAM Chief Curator
Norwood Viviano invites us to consider how the furniture industry shaped the Grand Rapids of today, and perhaps how the community is poised to adapt to the future. Norwood Viviano’s Recasting Grand Rapids is a striking glass sculpture recently acquired by GRAM for its permanent art collection. The work is featured in the exhibition A New State of Matter: Contemporary Glass, on view at the Museum through October 4. Viviano is one of a younger generation of glass artists who make technically innovative work while also exploring the symbolic potential of the material. In addition to art, his interests include sociology and economics; he is especially engaged in exploring historical relationships between cities and industry.
Viviano was raised in and around Detroit, Michigan. After earning an undergraduate degree in sculpture and glass at Alfred University in New York State, he returned to Michigan and completed his MFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art, outside Detroit. Now based in West Michigan, Viviano continues to examine the state’s history in sculpture and installation work that incorporates data, highly specific and detailed mapping technology, and intuitive, creative response.
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Above: Artist Norwood Viviano with a rubber mold used to create Recasting Grand Rapids
“The fragility of glass serves as a metaphor for balance between time, efficiency, and the inability of manufacturing to change and meet future needs.” Recasting Grand Rapids (2020) is part of an ongoing series in which Viviano investigates the power dynamics and interactions between dominant industries and their base communities over time. The sculptures are created by kilncasting, a multi-stage process that ultimately produces a sculpture of solid glass. Works in the Recasting series combine two distinct parts: a three-dimensional model of a city and an object representative of that community’s most powerful industry. To create Recasting Detroit (2017), for example, Viviano situated the Motor City’s downtown in miniature atop an automobile engine block, reinforcing the American auto industry’s transformative yet complicated role in Detroit’s growth and evolution. In addition to classic glassmaking techniques, Viviano utilizes digital technologies to create his sculpture.
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The urban topographies are created using LiDAR, a laser technology that, when operated from planes or drones, can produce a complex, minutely detailed three-dimensional map (Viviano has taken advantage of their free availability online). Viviano transforms the LiDAR data into physical form using 3D-modeling and printing. He then produces the work in its final, glass form via kilncasting, a lengthy process involving wax casts, plaster molds, a kiln or oven, and the raw glass. This method requires a nuanced understanding of how glass reacts at various temperatures—it must be carefully heated to a temperature high enough to melt the glass and fill the molds and then gradually cooled over a sustained length of time, often months, in order to prevent the final object from cracking or shattering. Once the cooling process is complete, Viviano removes the object from the plaster mold and only then knows if he has been successful.
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A crucial decision for the artist in realizing Recasting Grand Rapids and other works in the series is determining which area and how much of a cityscape to include, and then determining how to crop it exactly to fit it’s base—in this case an oval tabletop. Viviano zeroed in on the area of Grand Rapids that has undergone the most transformation. The central feature is the Grand River, which provided water power for manufacture and transport for both raw materials and finished product. The miniature city sits atop a French Revival side table manufactured by Imperial Furniture Co. of Grand Rapids in the 1940s, which the artist painstakingly disassembled to then recreate in a rich, glowing amber glass. Even with the mid-20th century public’s appetite for sleek, modern furniture, the French Revival style, which itself looked back to earlier French design, was still popular. Viviano also selected the French Revival table as a way to reference Grand Rapids’ own 19th century standing as the center of furniture manufacture in the U.S.
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Recasting Grand Rapids invites us to consider how the furniture industry shaped the Grand Rapids of today, and perhaps how the community is poised to adapt to the future. Because of its highly detailed miniaturization, viewers are drawn to investigate, engaging their active participation. The diminutive city and its representation in glass enforces the idea of a community’s fragility in relationship to its economy, and to the unintended consequences that accompany growth and expansion. Viviano says, “the fragility of glass serves as a metaphor for balance between time, efficiency, and the inability of manufacturing to change and meet future needs.”
Above: Norwood Viviano with GRAM Assistant Curator Jennifer Wcisel in Viviano’s studio
Thank you! We are deeply grateful for the contributions made to acquire this piece for the GRAM collection as a permanent legacy for present and future generations. Support was provided by Bill and Marilyn Crawford, James and Mary Nelson, Mitchell and Karen Padnos, Dr. Ghayas and Joy Uddin, and the Peter Wege Acquisition Fund.
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Q&A
Above: Courtesy of Cherish Parrish, Odawa & Pottawatomi, Gun Lake Band. Photo by Richard Church, Odawa & Pottawatomi. © Cherish Parrish
Q&A with Artist Kelly Church Artists Kelly Church and Cherish Parrish come from an unbroken line of black ash basket weavers, a traditional Anishinaabe art form that has been practiced for centuries, and the pair continue to harvest and prepare their materials traditionally. GRAM’s newest installment of the Michigan Artist Series exhibition explores this legacy and the pair’s commitment to preserving and sustaining the traditional Black Ash Basketry of their ancestors. Ahead of the opening of An Interwoven Legacy: The Black Ash Basketry of Kelly Church and Cherish Parrish, Chief Curator Ron Platt interviewed Church to talk about their upcoming exhibition and the future of their practice.
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Q&A
fibers in between the growth rings, and they pop up and release. I split the growth rings in half, from end to end and shave the rough side. We cut into desired widths of splints and weave! GRAM: Some alternative materials to black ash are used in your work. For instance, window blinds. What do these materials represent?
Above: Kelly Church
“It will always be a part of who we are, one of the many links to our past that lives in our present. It will always be part of our blood memory, and part of being an Anishinaabe.” GRAM: You come from a family that has been practicing this craft for unbroken generations. What does it mean to you to continue this art form? Kelly Church: My family has a photo from 1919 of my great-grandmother and extended family pounding a log and weaving. According to this photo, we are 5th and 6th generation weavers. But my grandmother always said, “we made baskets before they made cameras, we are an unbroken line.” We take our responsibility as tradition and culture bearers to heart, and make sure we are available to share these teachings with all generations so that they will sustain into our future generations for thousands of years into the future, just as our ancestors of the past did for us. We share, preserve, and practice the tradition in some form daily. It is part of who we are. GRAM: Tell us about the black ash harvesting process and how this affects your artmaking. Kelly Church: We begin each basket by looking for a good black ash tree to make baskets with. We travel about 7-8 hours to find viable black ash, and if there are 40 black ash, perhaps four or more will be suitable for baskets. Not all trees are good basket trees. How often we’re able to harvest and find a good basket tree affects how many baskets we will weave in a year, and how many classes we’re able to teach to share the tradition. We look for straight bark and good growth ring widths, then we cut the tree trunk into 6-8 foot logs. We pound from end to end with the back side of an old ax, and this separates
Kelly Church: As we enter a decade of the decline of black ash trees and ash trees altogether due to the emerald ash borer, we’ve found a need to share this concern and show what the future generations will face if we do not work collectively to save ash seeds and document traditions. In light of this, I began weaving a series I call the 7th Generation Black Ash Basket using vinyl blinds with a strip of ash or no ash to show how we’ll be able to pass on our weaving traditions but not our harvesting and processing of materials, which is 75% of the work and teachings. I also incorporate photos, metals, and other tree fibers such as white cedar bark and Sweetgrass. GRAM: Tell us about the invasive emerald ash borer, and how it affects North American black ash. What can be done to preserve the black ash forests? Kelly Church: The emerald ash borer was introduced in 1992 into the United States and discovered in 2002 in Canton, Michigan by researchers at Michigan State University. Since its discovery, Michigan has lost over 600 million ash trees. The Department of Agriculture predicts the loss of the entire ash resource of North America. The emerald ash borer can devastate an entire ash stand in 3-5 years. The black ash tree seeds every 5-7 years. By educating the public on the effects of the species and working together as black ash Native nations to look ahead for future generations, we will be able to sustain it to reintroduce to future generations. We have been collecting seeds, and documenting with photographs, videos, oral stories, flash cards, and flash drives the knowledge needed to preserve black ash basketry teachings into the future. GRAM: What does the future of black ash basketry look like? Kelly Church: As an eternal optimist, I believe black ash basketry teachings will be passed on indefinitely, although to a smaller (and even more rare, on the brink of extinction) group. Although in Anishinaabe culture not everyone is a basket maker—each has roles based on their strengths and what they can help contribute to the well-being of the community. It will always be a part of Anishinaabe culture and teachings. It will always be a part of who we are, one of the many links to our past that lives in our present. It will always be part of our blood memory, and part of being an Anishinaabe. An Interwoven Legacy: The Black Ash Basketry of Kelly Church and Cherish Parrish is opening at GRAM on December 5, 2020
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A RT M A K I N G
ACT I V I T Y
All the Colors of the Rainbow: Make Your Own Museum Project By Kimberly Mills, Studio Experience Manager and Kristen Hoeker, Group Experience Manager
Artists use color as an important tool when creating works of art. The relationships between colors can have different effects, from creating visual appeal, designing dramatic contrasts, to affecting our emotions. Even as early at the 17th century, people were exploring the idea of the color wheel and how colors relate to each other.
Complementary Colors
Analogous Colors
These are colors that are across from each other on the color wheel. Examples of complementary colors include purple and yellow or red and green. Complementary colors contrast greatly, are vibrant, and pull our attention.
These include three colors that are side by side in the color wheel. An example of analogous colors are yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-orange. Analogous colors create a calm, serene feeling, are harmonious, and are often found in nature.
Grace Hartigan (American, 1922–2008) Riviera (Detail), 1966, oil on canvas, 72 x 80 inches. Grand Rapids Art Museum, Museum Purchase, 1968.1.1. © Estate of Grace Hartigan
Janet Fish (American, b. 1938) Daffodils and Cereal (Detail), 1994, oil on canvas, 38 x 36 inches. Grand Rapids Art Museum, Gift of Miner S. and Mary Ann Keeler, 2017.1 © Janet Fish
Complementary colors can be seen in Grace Hartigan’s Riviera, in GRAM’s collection. How do the complementary colors of orange and blue throughout the painting work together to affect the story and mood of the artwork?
Daffodils and Cereal by Janet Fish is one of the paintings in GRAM’s collection that features analogous color. Explore her use of green, green-yellow, and yellow, and how they create a peaceful feeling in the painting.
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A RT M A K I N G
ACT I V I T Y
Positive & Negative Complementary Collage
Opposite on the color wheel, complementary colors lend themselves to vibrant, energetic design. Create a complementary collage through positive and negative shapes utilizing items in your home such as colored construction paper or colorful magazine clippings. Invite a partner to help you design, cut, and glue your collage! What are positive and negative shapes? Positive shapes are the shapes of an actual object you cut out and negative shapes are the spaces in between. For example, the pieces you cut out are positive. The space where you cut out the shape is negative.
Materials: Construction paper, pencil, scissors, glue Step 1: Choose your favorite combination of complementary colors, such as yellow and purple, red and green, or blue and orange. Step 2: Select one half sheet and one whole sheet of your colored paper. For example, one whole sheet of orange and one half sheet of blue. Step 3: Use the half sheet to design and cut out positive shapes. Shapes can be organic or geometric, large or small. Make sure to save all of your positive shapes! Step 4: Glue down your sheet with the negative shapes on one half of your whole sheet. Step 5: Using your positive cut-out shapes, begin to mirror your design on the opposite side. Glue down all shapes into place.
Questions to consider: Do the shapes on each side look like the same size? Different? What story can you tell about your design?
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Analogous Colors in Nature
Draw from nature around you and explore the harmony found within different analogous color schemes. Choose items found within your home and create a still life using colored pencil or paint. Explore the effects different analogous combinations have on your still life objects.
Materials: Paper, pencil, colored pencils, markers, or paint Step 1: Choose your favorite analogous color scheme, such as blue, blue-green, and green. Step 2: Sketch your still life. Step 3: Practice blending your analogous colors to create light and dark value. Step 4: Begin coloring your drawing. Focus on adding shadow and highlights to establish form with your selected colors. You can use the color of your paper to add contrast to your artwork.
Questions to consider: Draw the same still life using different analogous schemes. How does each combination change the mood? Which do you think is most serene? Sketch and color a natural scene outside your window. What analogous colors do you see?
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A RT M A K I N G
ACT I V I T Y
Complete Your Color Museum with Labels
Make your artwork museum-ready and create a label. Write your title, medium, your name, and the year created. Then, write one to two sentences to share what your artwork is about!
Title: Medium: Artist Name: Year Created: About the artwork:
Hang up your artwork and give a tour of your museum exhibition! Once your artwork labels are created, you are ready to hang your artwork for all to see. Hang each work of art with their labels on the wall. Then, give a tour of your artwork, sharing your story behind each creation. Share your completed projects with us! #grandrapidsartmuseum #MuseumFromHome
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I-Spy From the Collection Adonna Khare’s dramatic large-scale drawing Elephant Whirlpool brings together an array of animal species large and small. Using a marker or colored pencil, search for the animals and objects in this highly-detailed work—can you find them all?
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Toothbrush
Teddy bear
Band-Aid
6 Butterflies
Married monkey
1 Moth
Fish
Sleepy dog
Spoon
Bighorn sheep
Killer bee
2 Lighthouses
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Above: Adonna Khare (American, b. 1980). Elephant Whirlpool, 2014, Carbon pencil on paper, 96 x 72 inches. Grand Rapids Art Museum, Museum Purchase, with funds from Bill and Marilyn Crawford and the Artist.
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M E M B E R S H I P
Thank you for being a GRAM Member! We want to thank our members’ commitment to supporting the arts during the Museum’s temporary closure by extending every membership an additional two months. Your support has made GRAM even more vibrant with each passing year. How will this work? We will automatically add the extended time onto your expiration date. There’s no need for a new physical card, your membership will remain active two months past its printed expiration date. Your digital membership card will reflect the correct date. This offer is extended to every membership active as of 3/13/2020. If you have any additional questions, contact the Membership Office at 616.831.2912 or membership@artmuseumgr.org.
New Digital Membership Cards We’re thrilled to now offer digital membership cards, which can be downloaded and saved to your smartphone. Going digital means that you can easily access your membership information from anywhere, in addition to being more environmentally friendly. Every member is issued a downloadable digital card via email. The digital cards can be downloaded to both iPhone and Android devices and will be stored in your existing wallet app. Here’s some important information to know:
Visionnaire Executive Committee The Visionnaire Executive Committee is a group of creative young adults, ages 21-40, committed to introducing new audiences to the Grand Rapids Art Museum and encouraging lifelong engagement. Through a variety of events and programs, the Executive Committee furthers GRAM’s mission connecting people through art, creativity, and design, and promotes the Museum’s world-class collection and special exhibitions. 2019-2020 Visionnaire Executive Committee Shannon Cunningham, Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge Audrey Ferris, Via Design Inc. Shayna Harris, Six Magazine Erik Lauchiè, Carbon Stories Hunter Lee, Graphic Designer Dan Nederhoed, Civil Engineer at the City of Grand Rapids Katherine Roskam, Varnum LLP Dayna Walton, Illustrator and Printmaker Are you interested in joining the Visionnaire Executive Committee? Contact membership@artmuseumgr.org for more information.
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Your digital membership card is unique to your membership, and displays your name, membership level, expiration date, and a barcode to scan.
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The information is exactly the same as your current card, but a digital card is more eco-friendly and impossible to lose.
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Your card will update automatically whenever you renew your membership, so you only have to download it once.
If you prefer a physical card, or do not use a smartphone, you can opt-in for a complimentary card when you renew online, by mail, or in person. At GRAM we strive to bring you the best customer service possible. You may begin using your membership immediately after purchase and should expect to receive your new digital membership card(s) within a week of joining or renewing. This new initiative will make your membership experience as convenient as possible. Do you have additional questions? Explore frequently asked membership questions online at www.artmuseumgr.org/memberFAQ or contact the Membership Office at 616.831.2912 or membership@artmuseumgr.org.
A DVA N C E M E N T
Save the Date: Live Artfully 2020 Honoring Milt and Barb Rohwer Saturday, September 12, 2020
The Grand Rapids Art Museum presents Live Artfully on Saturday, September 12, 2020. Live Artfully is an annual event celebrating the vibrant culture in West Michigan and the individuals whose leadership, support, and collaboration make it possible. The 8th annual celebration honors Milt and Barb Rohwer for their passionate involvement in the arts and civic vision that has opened doors for collaboration, education, and greenspace for the community. Proceeds from the event support GRAM’s educational and artistic programming. The Museum is excited to present a reimagined event to the community this year, while thoughtfully considering the ways that public gathering may be different in September. For sponsorship information, please contact Carroll Velie at 616.242.5039 or visit www.artmuseumgr.org/liveartfully.
Thank you Members and Donors! The Grand Rapids Art Museum has the most generous members, donors, and volunteers! I’m truly blown away by how you have carved out space in your heart, life, and budget to support GRAM. You make it possible for the Museum to continue our important work of connecting people through art, creativity, and design. Your patience as we navigate the future, and your words of support and encouragement have meant so much to all of us. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU! You inspire us every day and we could not do it without you. I hope you are surrounded by beautiful and thoughtful provoking art every day—on the sidewalks created by children, live virtual concerts, the culinary arts, GRAM’s Museum from Home resources, and whatever inspires you. Please know that you are in our hearts and we can’t wait to see you soon!
Elly Barnette-Dawson Director of Advancement
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Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Permit No. 126
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Admission
Museum Hours Tuesday & Wednesday: Thursday: Friday & Saturday: Sunday: Monday:
10 am – 5 pm 10 am – 9 pm 10 am – 5 pm 12 noon – 5 pm closed
Handicap parking is available in ramps. Curbside drop-off and wheelchairs also available. Call GRAM Security at 616.242.5033 for assistance.
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Grand Rapids Art Museum 101 Monroe Center Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Members: Adults: Seniors/Students (w/ID): Youth (6–17): Ages 5 and under:
Free $10 $8 $6 Free
Admission is free on Meijer Free Tuesdays and Thursday Nights. Tuesdays: 10 am – 5 pm Thursdays: 5 pm – 9 pm
Auditorium is equipped with assisted hearing
Parking is easy and accessible General Information: 616.831.1000
Now at the Grand Rapids Art Museum is a triannual publication featuring the programs and events of the Grand Rapids Art Museum. Programs and publications of GRAM are made possible in part with the support of the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Grand Rapids Art Museum Foundation Endowment. Now at GRAM is printed on recycled paper.
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