Blog
Jun
04
2009
What is Experience Art?
June 4, 2009 – 8:30 am Posted by Kristen Cobbs
Experience Art is a small area just inside the front doors of Crystal Bridges at the Massey. The space is full of creative activities that correspond with each exhibition and are geared toward the young and young at heart!
Relating to our current exhibition, Through the Needle’s Eye, we have two fun activities involving fibers and stitching – sewing cards and potholder looms. The cards feature beautiful illustrations that keep even the youngest visitors engaged. Gallery attendant Francie Green noted that the potholder activity has been very popular, with some families spending hours creating unique and fascinating works.
Learning Experiences staff have chosen many books for young children and adults. Carla Weber, another gallery attendant, found Charlie Needs a Cloak, by Tomie dePaola, “to be direct and absorbing as it shows how a little shepherd boy, Charlie, turns the sheep’s wool into cloth to make a new shepherd’s cloak for himself.” Carla adds, “For adults, especially women, I thought In Praise of the Needlewoman–Embroiderers, Knitters, Lacemakers, and Weavers in Art, by Gail Carolyn Sirna is full of wonders.” The book jacket notes it is “for anyone interested in the evolution of the lifestyles of women and their portrayal in painting.”
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Jan
19
2009
New Sculpture Announcements!
January 19, 2009 – 9:22 am Posted by Kristen Cobbs
Lowell’s Ocean, Mark di Suvero. © M. di Suvero. Courtesy of the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Jeffrey Price.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announces two new sculptures to our collection: James Turrell’s as yet untitled “Skyspace” and Mark di Suvero’s “Lowell’s Ocean”.
Bob Workman held a museum update last Thursday describing the new additions that will be placed on the walking trail leading from downtown Bentonville to the Museum site. These sculptures are the first announced works of art by living artists in the museum’s permanent collection. Click for News on these sculptures!
Sep
10
2008
Bears in the Woods
September 10, 2008 – 11:19 am Posted by Chris Crossman
Today, Paul Manship’s Group of Bears arrived at their new home at Compton Gardens and a few steps from Bentonville’s newly renovated Town Square. The nearly seven foot tall bronze sculpture is the first work of art from Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection to be displayed in Bentonville. The sculpture’s placement at this popular nature preserve and conference center is also a stone’s throw from a long-planned and currently under construction pedestrian/bike trail leading to the Museum’s lower, north entrance near Crystal Springs. Manship’s three bears–lithe, relaxed and entirely comfortable in their new setting of native Arkansas flora and real critters, including an actual bear recently sighted nearby—are, in fact, the first of several sculpture pieces, both realistic and abstract, that are envisioned along various points of the trail and surrounding grounds. Some sculptures will be hard to miss and on an architectural scale; others discrete surprises and “off the beaten path,” literally and figuratively. Setting us off on this new artistic journey that is Crystal Bridges, we believe the Group of Bears is the ideal artistic presence, enduring, elegant and adorable all at once, welcoming visitors of all ages, from our own community and throughout the nation and world beyond, and for generations to come.
Jul
14
2008
Crystal Bridges Staff Visits Site
July 14, 2008 – 8:20 am Posted by Amy Jones
On Tuesday, July 8th, 2008, the staff of Crystal Bridges visited the construction site to observe progress. It was an ideal day – warm and breezy – to see the building outline taking shape. Donning hard hats and stylish yellow vests, we learned, first-hand, from our tour guides, Don Adams and Jim Wickerham, of Linbeck-Nabholtz Joint Venture, about the technology being used in preparing the foundation. We actually got to walk in what will be the waterway flowing under the two Crystal Bridges. This photo was taken at the area that will serve as the main entrance.
Jul
26
2007
Making a Splash in Moscow
July 26, 2007 – 9:35 am Posted by Bob Workman
On Monday, July 23, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow opened New World: 300 Years of American Art. Gracing the grand façade of this major art museum are three banners; a detail of Willem de Kooning’s Composition, 1955, the graphics for the exhibit; and a detail of Crystal Bridges’ own Charles Willson Peale George Washington, 1780-82. (For more information on the exhibition visit the Pushkin’s English language website at http://www.museum.ru/gmii/defengl.htm.)