Museum Staff Weigh in on Favorite Pieces

By Tracie Dungan

Posted: November 5, 2011 at noon

Kerry James Marshall
Works of art by two contemporary artists using mixed media to weave ambiguous suburban stories are the latest acquisitions announced by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art: Kerry James Marshall's Our Town (1995)

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BENTONVILLE — Museum goers who’ve ever found themselves racing the clock before closing time know the importance of asking ahead about artwork, then budgeting their time accordingly.

Many of the staff members at Crystal Bridges have developed personal lists of what they consider must-see works.

For the museum’s chief financial officer, Tracy Cude, her appreciation of the museum initially was driven by its architecture and natural setting. Then, as she began reflecting on her own family history growing up in Little Rock, the art became meaningful to her.

“My mother graduated from Little Rock Central High School in 1957 at the beginning of integration,” Cude said.

“I grew up having a lot of African-American friends and dealing with a lot of prejudices within my family,” she said. “For me, [that] comes out when I’m looking at that art.

“I begin to feel that tension and that stress, and that’s pretty powerful.”

She’s especially able to relate to the work of painter Jacob Lawrence and “his ability to articulate in such a powerful way with these images what was going on in society and the conflicts and struggles coming out of the Depression era.”

Race relations is also a theme in art that attracts Rhonda Houser, Crystal Bridges’ human resources director, a self-described arts novice.

Houser’s favorite piece is Kerry James Marshall’s Our Town.

“I’m always drawn toward artists who are African-American or subjects that are African-American,” she said.

“He grew up in Alabama, and we’re about the same age,” Houser said of Marshall. “Although our paths have been very different, I can kind of understand where he’s coming from because, growing up in Stuttgart, we had very difficult racial relations.

“It’s great to see how things have changed to a degree, and yet they haven’t changed enough. His art kind of speaks to that.”

Like Houser, Ron Williams felt a kinship with one of his favorite artists, Kara Walker.

Williams, Crystal Bridges’ information technology director, hails from Oakland, Calif., while Walker is from Stockton, Calif.

“I associate with her very much,” he said. “There’s a tapestry here called A Warm Summer Evening in 1863. It’s a very powerful piece of artwork about the African-American experience in the mid-1800s. It’s something new, something different that made me look her up a little bit more.”

Jill Wagar hadn’t worked in the arts before becoming Crystal Bridges’ corporate relations manager. Still, she agrees with the museum’s curators when picking the artwork she believes visitors shouldn’t miss: Asher B. Durand’s Kindred Spirits.

“It really speaks to me,” Wagar said. “It reminds me of Hawksbill Crag over in Newton County. It’s from the Catskill Mountains, but it reminds me of the Ozarks.”

David Burghart, Crystal Bridges’ facilities director, had never before worked in a museum. Working in construction and studying the industrial arts has given him a unique perspective about art, making him appreciate sculpture most.

“The Mark di Suvero is my favorite so far,” Burghart said, referring to Lowell’s Ocean. “I like the mechanical aspect of it: It’s kind of a hands-on type of sculpture.”

Elizabeth Weinman works as the museum’s registrar. She and her staff handle art acquisition contracts once negotiations are complete, then make packing and shipping arrangements for the works, maintain research files, track copyright permissions and then oversee the prep crew that hangs artwork.

Her top three favorites among the museum’s works include Maxfield Parrish’s The Lantern Bearers.

“The Lantern Bearers is an amazing sight to see in person,” Weinman said. “It is really radiant.”

“As for Portrait of Anne Page ... she is so romantic, yet strong,” she said of her second choice, by Dennis Miller Bunker. “It seems like she could step out of the frame.”

Her third pick is Lyonel Feininger’s Schlossgasse.

“The painting is somewhere between Cubism and Expressionism,” Weinman said. “The hard angles and steep lines pull you in.”

Information for this article was contributed by Tracie Dungan of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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