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Gallery Talk: Building Kusama

Talk/Lecture
Contemporary Art Gallery
FREE
No Ticket Required
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art will be closed Monday, May 13, to prepare for the visit of Antiques Roadshow. We will return to normal hours of operation Wednesday, May 15.
Color paper lanterns hanging in a mirrored room
Yayoi Kusama, INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - MY HEART IS DANCING INTO THE UNIVERSE, 2018, Wood and glass mirrored room with paper lanterns, 304 x 622.4 x 622.4 cm 119 5/8 x 245 1/8 x 245 1/8 in, Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai and Victoria Miro, London/Venice., © YAYOIKUSAMA

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, join us for a gallery conversation about Yayoi Kusama with Senior Preparator Jorge Valenzula and Museum Educator Olivia Gutierrez. Located in museums across the world, Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms take many hours to construct and require constant upkeep. In this conversation, you’ll have the chance to learn more about the artist and her famous Infinity Mirror Rooms.

Free, no tickets required.

About the Speakers

Olivia Gutierrez is the museum educator of Adult Public Programs at Crystal Bridges and oversees in-gallery programs. She holds a Master of Art in art history with an emphasis on the visual cultures of the Americas.

Photo by Iron Lotus Creative / Stephen Ironside

Jorge Valenzuela is the Senior Preparator of the collection at Crystal Bridges and has been working on various projects dedicated to maintaining the museum’s artworks for the past two and a half years. Valenzuela has been working in the field for 20 years, and he has collaborated with artists, curators, and registrars. He graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA, in 2005. From 2012 to 2021, Valenzuela was the Lead Preparator at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida. Museums have made a profound impact on his life, as each work gives Valenzuela the opportunity to gain experience with something new. Each day at work, he confronts a new challenge, whether it be the lighting of the artwork, the placement, the handling, or the drafting of the project.