Explore nature both indoors and out at an upcoming event at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Art Night Out, held every other month at the museum, will take place Thursday around the theme “Journey Into the Wild.” Unlike previous Art Night Out events, this one has an outdoor element and will be focused solely on the south side of the museum, says Sara Segerlin, the museum’s public programs coordinator.
For the event, the exhibit “The Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision” will be open for viewing. These are all landscape paintings spanning from the early to late 1800s, Segerlin says. She adds that museum staff members want to help people understand the concepts of the Hudson River School: They loved things that were beautiful, picturesque and sublime.
“We’re taking all of those things, and we’re making it into a social night,” she says.
The event features music, films, food and writing, and people can use their program guides to “make your own experience.” Participants can venture onto the south lawn near the work “LOVE” by Robert Indiana to hear music by Mark Bilyeu, Still on the Hill, 3 Penny Acre and Fork & Knife and see how music inspires their emotions and expressions, Segerlin says.
There will also be a painting demonstration and a flashlight tour on Crystal Spring Trail.
Guests can walk around the pond on the trail lighted by glowing lanterns and ask questions of the trail guides, she says.
The Great Hall will also beopen, and short nature films will be shown. The Seedling Film Association will give a film presentation during the first hour, and the films will be on a loop for the remainder of the event, Segerlin says. The room will be filled with tables to give it a lounge feel, and with large windows on all the sides, people may feel like they are in a tent in nature.
Another part of Art Night Out is a creative writing project. Chris Wong and Corrie Williamson, both with the creative writing program at the University of Arkansas, will host the project using literature fromTranscendentalists. People will also be given a few cues in their program guide on how to look at a painting and then write about it, Segerlin says. Hudson River School artists had a very Transcendental approach to nature and wanted to preserve the way the landscape looked through paintings, she says.
The writing activities will focus on the concepts of birth, destruction, rebirth and humans’ connection with nature.
“We really want it to be this night that mixes the beauty of landscape painting with the ruggedness of nature that’sliterally right up against the museum,” she says.
Segerlin believes Art Night Out is developing an art culture at the museum.
Visitors can learn and continue their education and dialogue about art and art history but in a way that is a laid-back, enjoyable experience, she says.
She hopes people will leave with a greater appreciation for art and nature and view the museum as something that’s accessible, describing Crystal Bridges as a “museum without walls.”
“We want people to experience art in a very casual yet inspiring way,” she says.
Whats Up, Pages 11 on 06/22/2012