PHOENIX ART MUSEUM

PHOENIX ART MUSEUM full of art

By Lisa Van Loo

Ata time when Phoenix Art Museum has never seen so few visitors, it has never exhibited such a high volume of art. Closed to visitors from March through September 2020, the Museum has prepared to welcome patrons again by extending exhibitions previously on view before its closure and those that never got a chance to debut.

“In an odd way, the Museum has never looked better. It is absolutely full of fantastic art because of the overlap of these shows that weren’t intended to be presented together, but now they are,” Tim Rodgers, Sybil Harrington director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum, says. “Our galleries will be vibrant and fully installed for all people to enjoy.”

An exhibition of work by Teresita Fernández, which was scheduled to open just after the Museum closed, will experience its delayed premiere alongside an Ansel Adams exhibition, an Indian fashion exhibition, and Stories of Abstraction, a new show featuring contemporary Latin American art. Every exhibition will be enjoyed in a socially distanced way.

COURTESY OF PHOENIX ART MUSEUM

overcrowding in any one space,” Rodgers said, noting employees and patrons will be required to wear masks. “We’re a little luckier than some institutions, and more fortunate than theaters, in that we have room to roam.”

Digitally, Phoenix Art Museum began offering virtual tours, a local artist spotlight every two weeks, videos with curators and virtual slow art and mindfulness sessions during its closure. The Museum will continue most of these programs and initiatives, Rodgers says, into the fall and winter.

In-person tours will be self-guided, patrons will see plexiglass partitions, and the walls in hightouch areas have been covered with a coat of antibacterial paint. As a bonus, large common areas and halls, normally reserved for events and larger gatherings, are now home to art installations.

“I don’t think the Museum has ever had more art up at the same time,” Rodgers says, “and it’s all because of the oddities of this pandemic.”

To learn more, visit phxart.org.