In March I received my first SAM volunteer newsletter and super excited by all the opportunities to learn more about the museum and take part in activities. The most interesting was a listing to help with an art installation at the Olympic Sculpture Park. I quickly signed up for three days and waited to get my time slot assignments.

The site-specific installation, Encontro das Águas (Encounter of Waters), was created by Brazilian artist Sandra Cinto. The whole work was painted directly onto the walls with silver paint pens, the walls having been extended in some areas and initially painted with several bands of blue paint.

Arriving on the first day I fully expected that the Cinto would have sketched the design on the walls and we would be given instructions on how to follow her sketch with the paint pens. I figured that she would not been there or more likely stand watch but that I would be lucky to have any interaction with her. I guess this was a fairly cynical way to think, but I was completely surprised. Within minutes of arriving I was introduced to Sandra Cinto who took me aside to show me how to use the pens and directed me to a wave she had already painted on the wall. She drew a few lines on the wall to show me where she wanted to me work and then walked away – I was on my own. In all honestly drawing one inch long lines is not a difficult task, but there was no instruction on how close together they were to be placed. I was just allowed to fill the space as I felt right.

Three stages of the section I worked on.

After filling my first wave section, Cinto had me fill a larger area with lines that were closer to three inches long at the base of the wave pattern. She checked in on each volunteer every so often looking at what they were doing. Commenting that my work was beautiful and asking my opinion on whether one area should be filled with lines or left blank.

During a stretching break I watched her start the pattern on another wall. With a larger silver paint pen she created a sweeping curve across the navy wall, using her whole body to smoothly move the paint. Each line was decidedly placed yet unplanned. How she used her whole body to create the lines, becoming a paint brush was wonderful to watch. Cinto explained to another volunteer that her movement was part of being Brazilian, that flowing movement was so much a part of the culture.

The lines grew from a single curve to crashing waves and swirling orbs and we all watched in amazement. By the end of my first day I was asked to create curves within some smaller waves. The straight lines where one thing, but I was a little scared to create curves. I carefully drew on the silver lines and stepped back, my waves were lost in the sea of other waves. Yes!

On my second day I was given a slightly larger area to fill in, spending a fair amount of time checking to see that the lines flowed in the manner I wanted them to. I also listened to several other new volunteers start their sections on the wall, they too were nervous of the freedom Cinto allowed. Asking what happens if a mistake was made, Cinto said that it was not be a mistake, it would become part of the final work and she would incorporate it in with the waves. Every line made was meant to be part of the final work, even those that the individual felt was not as good as the line before.

I would have been there every day if I had known how great it felt to work on the project and how great Cinto was to work with. She took a photograph with several of the volunteers; however I did not get a photo of my own with her. Robert Wade took photographs for the museum which you can see at his website, including a few of me at work and talking with Cinto. The work itself will be up until April 14, 2013.

Links

• samblog
• city arts online

Since I am spending my time in Seattle until the Fall semester starts I am volunteering at the Seattle Art Museum for a few months. I am only a part time volunteer for the current special exhibit, Gauguin and Polynesia, but it is one of the best things I have ever done. My shifts include working in coat check, handing out audio guides and greeting museum guests, ultimately tasks that I did not think could be life changing. Turns out they kind of are.

Last Spring I took The Museum, a great class were we discussed various aspect of how a museum functions, how exhibits are assembled and the politics involved.  Until now that was all abstract. In the training session at SAM we were told about the elements which are part of the exhibit; the brochures, micro web sites, apps and audio tour downloads. Traveling around Seattle everywhere are posters, banners, advertisements and marketing for the exhibit. Then add to those elements the special events and lectures being held in conjunction with the exhibit. The planning and organization needed to host an exhibit of this size was something that I would have never understood. It is only after spending some time behind the curtain that I am starting to realize the years that have gone into this one exhibit. Each day I am there I see more of how things work, how visitors view the museum and really enjoy talking with the visitors. Some of it is people watching, but ultimately I am watching how others interact with the art.

The learning does not stop with watching, I have already purchased my ticket to hear Stephane Guegan talk about Gauguin next week and am debating the purchase of the exhibit catalog. There are also a chances to take part in all sorts of educational activities just for volunteers. Last year the idea of taking a whole semester off from classes had me worried, I was in the school mind set and to step away for a while was scary. Being a volunteer has completely adjusted that fear, I know that I am still learning . There is a information tour of the Northwest Coast gallery coming up that I hope to take part in and some volunteer work with a local artist in April as well.

The other day I was asked what to see in the museum. The guest only had another 30 minutes to spend and wanted some guidance. For a split second I was scared, what do I say! I have only started to read about a small segment of the total museum collection and here I was on the spot. It did not take me long to tell her that she should check out the native arts pieces on display in the Northwest Coast gallery. They are something very few museums have on display and that I would look at the American Art collection. It gave me warm and fuzzy feelings.  It was the chance to share with someone else something I love. That moment was the reason I returned to school, it confirmed for me that I want to be part of this world from now on. So a big thanks to everyone at the SAM for letting me experience this and a bigger thanks to my husband for supporting this crazy direction I am taking my life.

The first week of February I went on a discovery visit at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). I am sure many are surprised I waited several weeks after my move to Seattle before making it to the museum; however as an unemployed college student free entrance on the first Thursday of every month proved a good reason to wait. Now with my volunteer badge in hand I plan on making the visit as often as I can.

Seattle Art Museum - south entrance

That being said, for my first visit I was not disappointed. Ultimately I found many new “friends” on the walls and was very excited about the upcoming shows and events that the SAM hosts. Starting in the American Art gallery I played the “name that artist” and was impressed by how many I knew, or at least was kicking myself that I could not place the name, yet knew who it was. I believe Professor Todd would be a little disappointed in my accuracy; however she knows that I did have trouble identifying which were Church, Cole and Bierstadt on my exams.  To my credit, I did get Sargent and Sullivian right away, both which are more my area of interest and study.

Léon Delafosse, ca. 1895 - 98 John Singer Sargent Copyright (c) 2011 Seattle Art Museum.

The gallery included Church’s Niagara from 1856 which made me a little home sick for its big brother, but I loved the stained glass piece by John La Farge. The mix of furniture and silver pieces included in the gallery was great and ultimately I was delighted by the representation of early American art on display.

The next gallery I looked at was the Native Art of the Americas; an experience which made it very clear to me is that when I am back in D.C. this fall I need to visit the National Museum of the American Indian – anyone interested in joining me? Of the pieces on display I found the the Soul Catcher very interesting and I loved all the Argillite pieces.

My favorite piece in the gallery was The First People by Susan Point. Susan is a Coast Salish artist from Musqueam, a First Nation in Vancouver, British Columbia. This piece was created in 2008 for SAM and I believe does a really wonderful job of being modern and traditional. The inclusion of active artists within an area of the museum that many would think of as only holding artifacts forced me to readjust my view point.

I also loved Leaves by Gloria Petyarre, which was included in an exhibit of Australian Aboriginal art. The gallery had several wonderfully patterned pieces and walking through it after looking at the Native American art had me considering all the post-colonialist art essays that I have read. The wall text even mentioned the word “modern” to describe pieces and I could hear my methods classmate’s comments in my head. It was comforting that other visitors were heard making comments along these lines, to me it means that people are thinking about more than the physical aesthetic and the actual creative process behind the works on display. I do not envy the curator who organizes these exhibits, finding the correct balance and placement so that the works are read as part of a continual culture. It is handled quite well I believe with the traditional, “old” soul catcher placed with a modern interpretation by a native artist in one instance.

It has been a very long year and I find it hard to believe that during the last days of 2010 I was visiting the National Gallery of Art with my husband and his friends. I had blogged about the visit in March but as I have been working on my painting dates and visual analysis I have started to and reflect on the art we saw. One of the more interesting pieces that I had discovered during that visit is almost not something that I would typically call a “piece of art” at all, Multiverse.

Technically Mutliverse is a light sculpture.  Created by American artist Leo Villareal, this LED experience connects the East and West buildings underground. At 200 feet long the light experience is made of 41,000 computer-programmed light-emitting diode nodes. They flash on and off, chasing each other along the wall of the tunnel. Given the size it is not a surprise that Multiverse was created especially for the space, starting in 2005.

Light is an interesting medium to work with, some examples I have seen recently are Inopportune: Stage One by Cai Guo-Qiang at the Seattle Art Museum and Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Both of these examples however are less interactive – you do not physically move through the work as you do with Villareal’s piece. I wish that I had video to share because the changing and moving of the light is what really make the experience, but then again since I don’t you will just have to go and experience it for yourself.

Links:

• More of Villareal’s Work