Reflecting on Week One
Written by Clemmie Parr
Published on January 27, 2024
I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Lowe’s collection this week and familiarizing myself with the museum. I used the Bloomberg Connects app to explore the museum, which I think is a brilliant way to engage visitors, making the artwork more accessible and less overwhelming.
I began looking at the glass collection in the Myrna and Sheldon Palley Pavilion, my favorite piece being Jeffrey Spencer’s Shattered Illusions. I felt incredibly moved by the profound sense of disillusionment conveyed as the coiling wires restrain and engulf the delicate and vulnerable figures. I loved how the use of glass accentuates the fragility of their hopes and dreams, illustrating how easily they can be shattered. It is a powerful piece that appears to evoke the struggle of breaking free from powerful forces.
Jon Kuhn’s Heavenly Reach also captivated me, particularly after discovering through Bloomberg Connects that the artist drew inspiration through Japanese sculpture and eastern mysticism. This spiritual element definitely resonated with me and remined me of Ukiyo-e Japanese prints, which I have a deep passion for. This piece, with its transient essence illuminated and animated by the natural light, seems to evoke the fleeting nature of life and a sense of evanescent beauty.
I also spent a lot of time in the Alfred I. Barton Wing looking at the Arts of the Indigenous Peoples of North America. This semester, I am taking a Spanish class about the exploitation of Indigenous peoples and the effects this had on the environment in Latin America; this was especially interesting for me to see the rich history and artistic traditions that emerged before the arrival of the Europeans and the ruthless era of colonial repression. I came across an exhibition at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art in New York titled Revisiting the Potosí Principal Archive: Histories of Art and Extraction which opened in October 2023 and continues until February 2024. It explores the pivotal role of the silver-mining industry in Potosí on the development of capitalism and Baroque art across the Atlantic, recognizing that modernity was only possible due to the extraction of natural resources and exploitation of the Indigenous people in America, and how this history laid the groundwork for the current ecological disasters stemming from resource extraction.
In terms of what I think could be incorporated into the Lowe Art Museum, perhaps there could be some interactive touchscreens around the darker and more ancient works of the museum, for example in the Arts of Asia, Arts of Africa, and Arts of the Ancient Americas galleries to further engage the younger visitors so they can learn about the context of these art pieces. This would align with the mission statement of offering resources for the visitors to engage with the art. However, I do think the Lowe already does a great job of this with the app, and activities like the scavenger hunt and the workshops.
