Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

Working at an art museum requires a certain level of creativity. Whether it is in the way we present the collection, put on an event or even how we direct people to the restrooms, we like to think of the most interesting way to do it.

Every year, we have an employee Halloween party and I must say, every year I am so impressed with the level of individual creativity and skill found in my group of co-workers.

There are always a few folks who create elaborate interpretations of pieces of art in the Museum collection. See the above homage to Claes Oldenburg's Soft Switches from 1964.

Vincent van Gogh made a visit to the party as well as travelers from a distant land (that's Museum Director/CEO Marc Wilson and Museum COO Karen Christiansen walking like Egyptians). I'm sure their costumes were strategically planned to promote the opening of the Museum's renovated galleries of Ancient art in 2010.

There was an Alice in Wonderland theme this year with Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Red Queen, the Cheshire Cat, the Doormouse and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in attendance.

If you saw the recent entry about Museum volunteers helping the conservation team clean the Noguchi Fountain, you may have thought the job was finished.

It turns out the plumbing system that helps drain and recirculate the water needed some attention. Once again, volunteers removed and cleaned ALL of the rocks.

When that was finished, they turned their attention to the grates under the rocks. The metal pieces were thoroughly scrubbed with an ethonal solution to kill any living organisms that were present.

Below you can see volunteers Dean Dixon and Michael Mullarky using toothbrushes to gently clean the metal grate.

After Museum engineers complete the plumbing project, more volunteers will help return the rocks to the fountain.

One of the many perks of working at the Museum is the opportunity to spend much time with numerous types of art. In the interest of cracking the "code" of ceramics, I made it one of my missions this week to seriously consider the ceramic works of art in the featured exhibition, Asian Influence on American Ceramics.

Kenneth Ferguson’s Four-Legged Vessel, 2004 is prominently placed. It is large, green and contains rabbit and turtle imagery. Rabbit heads face upward and their ears cover the vessel legs. I am aware that rabbits play an important role in Asian mythology, and are assigned complex personalities. They can be kind, sensitive, artistic, but can also be moody and superficial. The presence of a turtle perching on the vessel lid’s handle must also be considered. Turtles can be interpreted to symbolize the water element in Chinese mythology. They can also be symbols of longevity and good fortune. The rabbits look up to the turtle, perhaps for good fortune or recognizing in him wisdom that comes with longevity. Or a multitude of other possibilities from a multitude of definitions for the cultural symbols of other Asian groups.

Adding layers of color, clay type, slip, size and function further complicate an interpretation. A lidded vessel could be used to store food. It could hold a religious offering. The color green could refer to wealth or the Earth. Or the entire construction could be purely experimental.

I moved forward into L7 and was immediately drawn to Victor Babu's Canister, 1983. Canister, 1983 is smooth, graceful in contour. Vibrant and engaging, yet elegant, in color selection. A delicate butterfly rests just in sight. Flower heads lean heavily down. Perhaps I am sentimental, but in this ceramic object I see calm. I did, nonetheless, walk away from this object wondering about the historical trajectory of ceramic art: what motivated American artists to adopt or be influenced by Asian ceramics? What did they see or experience when viewing these objects? Why were they compelled to experiment?

I left Ferguson’s vessel and Babu's canister with more questions than answers—which opens for me a realm of continued evolution and opportunities which I had previously not considered.

Taking a moment to consider the current Nelson-Atkins textiles exhibition Worldy Luxuries: Repetition in Renaissance Textiles was a rewarding part of my week.

Gallery P6, or The Treasury, is small and securely tucked into the European galleries and P7’s Cloister.

The objects in Gallery P6, including the current exhibition's textiles, embody a piece of glitz and glamour 15th-17th century style. Many of the objects are religiously oriented, and all objects are delicately engraved and embossed. Visitors are transported to a period of elaborate reverence and given access to objects that few people of the time were able to view up-close.

The textiles shown are fragments. A moment of pause allowed me to appreciate seeing the textiles out of context. Take the Italian panel to the right. The dates of creation are placed between 1575 and 1625. The material is silk.

The panel's small size invites me to consider craftsmanship and the history of the piece. During the Renaissance, Middle Eastern influences abounded, including in textile production. In the panel of Italian silk, a visually pleasing pattern of strong male lions is repeated. The lion pattern is raised, dynamic, and soft. The photo to the right does not do justice to the texture of the fabric.

The production process is another layer worth unpacking. Until the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, weaving and textile production was a cottage industry. Textile production was lucrative, but there may not have been large numbers of artisans trained to produce such high-quality textiles. I envision the process was slow, intimate and complexly artistic. Each delicate silk, velvet or linen thread was individually placed, touched and guided by a weaver’s hands. All movements were completed thousands of times over. Multiply those threads seen in a fragment by the thousands of threads likely required for a man's full garment or feet-long drapery and add to the equation potentially "primitive" equipment--the total workload is quite staggering.

Because these textiles were luxury items, the people able to purchase them were members of elite and highly select groups: royalty, aristocracy, wealthy merchants. Even today’s average viewer would be in a social class far below theirs and thereby unable to access such finery. This exhibition invites all viewers into an exclusive realm and to consider the possibilities of a place and time of which we have only glimpses.

As a child, I am quite certain I spent a substantial portion of my time creating marvelous messes, exploring unsafe terrain and contributing to the graying of my father's hair. Yet I have difficulty precisely remembering the details of many of my childhood experiences, and my memory may be unreliable in some instances. Looking back as an adult, idealizing and even trivializing childhood is an easy move to make. Any of my childhood nervousness, discovery, pain or sense of wonder and amazement about the world seems so innocent, even quaint, from my current vantage point.

However, I sense that this attitude is inaccurate, perhaps even inappropriate. The internal and external worlds of children are complex, multi-dimensional, and beautiful in an infinite number of ways. Children are constantly learning, adapting, shaping and being shaped by their surroundings. As adults, there seems to be room to interrogate our complicity in this process.

The Nelson-Atkins’ latest photography exhibition, Hide & Seek: Picturing Childhood, provides an opportunity for such exploration. In multiple ways, the photographers' images of children “emphasize the many elusive constructions of childhood that fall somewhere between innocence and knowing, nature and nurture, metaphor and fact.” They give viewers an opportunity to step into moments of childhood and to contemplate the wonder, clarity and fogginess, tenderness, possibility and sometimes even the contradictions that are so much a part of growing.

Images displayed on this blog (and part of the exhibition)
Sage Sohier Girl being prepared for a horse show, Sandwich, NH, 2004. Gift of the Hall Family Foundation, 2009.37.14.
Jocelyn Lee Untitled (Mimi in Nightgown), 1999. Gift of the Hall Family Foundation, 2009.40.7

An image that has stayed with me since I first viewed the photographs in this exhibition a week ago is Robert Lyons’ Young Girl Outside Manhiya Palace, Kumasi, Kenya, 1997. Unfortunately, this photograph is under copyright restrictions but I absolutely recommend making a trip to the museum to view it! With this photograph, I am unable to be a casual observer, but am compelled to consider my relation to the girl’s world, as well as the choices that she will be required to make. I see her youth, her beauty, and her gentle hand resting atop a spotless white dress and over her heart. My initial reactions were: I want to protect her, to smooth her paths, to share in her excitement but prevent any pain. But when I am able to move beyond those knee-jerk reactions, I see the bravery in her facial expression. I see her hopefulness, her strength and determination. I step back and listen to her.

The photographs in this exhibition present to viewers moments frozen in time. We are given a luxurious pause and maybe also a chance to contemplate what we might learn from the children around us.

What do you see in this exhibition?

Hide & Seek: Picturing Childhood
September 26, 2009— February 21, 2010

Location: Bloch Building, Gallery L11
Free Admission.

Walking into a white room filled with thousands of mounds of white rice definitely sets a tone of reflection and mystery.

Wolfgang Laib: Without Place—Without Time—Without Body is an installation of thousands of mounds of rice, with five mounds of luminous yellow pollen at the center.

Laib lives and works in seclusion in his native Germany and in southern India, which he considers his spiritual home.

He studies philosphy and religion and finds the spiritual traditions of India most relevant for his work. He is especially drawn to Hindu ritual offerings of flowers, foods and other substances placed on altars, and to milk poured as a form of libation.

The five mounds of pollen in the center were handpicked by Laib who believes it is a sacred substance. He has displayed jars of pollen before in other installations which is conserved and reused. The pollen in our installation arrived on an art shuttle in a well secured crate.

The installation took about 3 1/2 days of 4 people working in shifts. Curator Leesa Fanning participated in the installation and describes it as experiencing time in a new way. Not having done this before, she created several practice mounds before she felt confident. By the end, the movement became meditative and automatic.

Overall, there are 4,315 mounds of rice. The installation is a challenge to maintain. For now, the air vents in that gallery have been turned off and the floor is swept twice a day to contain any errant grains. At the end of the exhibition, the rice will be collected by a compost company.

Fanning was able to speak with Wolfgang about the installation. To hear that interview and learn more about other works of art by Laib, click here.

Did you know that, in addition to being a great source of information about the Museum’s collection, the Spencer Art Reference Library puts together thematic book displays of items from their collections? The current display, Art of the First Americans: History and Forms of American Indian Art may be viewed in the Library’s Reading Room beginning October 1 until January 2010. The display includes various subjects, from general books on American Indian art to such specific topics as Plains Indian parfleches and Navajo weaving.

Library patrons are welcome to look through and read the books on display. Visiting the library and spending some time with these texts would be a wonderful way for individuals and families
to increase their knowledge of American Indian art and enhance their experiences in the American Indian galleries opening in November. Please consider visiting before or after your tours through these galleries!

The library changes the display about three times a year. Past topics have included American folk art, illuminated manuscripts, and the railroad in art. The displays are created by Library staff members: Roberta Wagener, Library Assistant, Public Services, with Marilyn Carbonell, Head, Library Services.

Do you have a topic you would like to see highlighted in a library book display? If so, let us know!

If you have questions about other works of art or any art-related reading questions, the Library reference staff is also able to create thematic lists of suggested readings on any art topic by request.

Spencer Art Reference Library Hours
Tues, By Appointment
Wed, 10 a.m.—4 p.m.
Thur, Fri, 10 a.m.—6 p.m.
Sat, Sun, 1 p.m.—4 p.m.

To visit the Library's webpage and find links to contact library staff, click here.