Springfield Museums have focused on
diversifying their collection as part
of the organization's strategic
diversity, equity and inclusion plan.
"New/Now" Contemporary Art
Acquisitions," currently on display at
the D'Amout Museum of Fine Arts,
explores the diverse cultural and
creative methods of artists like Faith
Ringgold, Nelson Stevens, and Ai
Weiwei. I spoke with Maggie North,
Curator of Art at the Springfield
Museums, to learn more about the
collection.
We're really excited to showcase these
new additions to the permanent
collection at the D'Amour Museum of
Fine Art. And as you said, these works
move us forward in a new direction.
About every five years, the Springfield
Museums undergoes a planning process
where we take a look at our collections
plan and our strategic plan.
We think about where we are now and
where we want to go.
And really the focus of our most recent
plan has been diversity, equity, and
inclusion. We realize that our
collections are not always
representative of the community that we
live and work in, and we believe that
we can do more to tell fuller, more
interesting stories about the artistic
products of our time and of the
histories that we're telling throughout
the museums.
So, certainly, as we move forward in
thinking about our collections, we'll
be thinking about reflecting this broad
range of artistic approaches, and
especially including artists who have
perhaps been overlooked by the
historical canon in the past.
So, this includes artists of color,
women artists, LGBTQ+ artists, as well
as Latina/Latino artists, and so many
more, disabled artists included.
We certainly have some work to do, but
we're really excited about this
direction.
And so, that's exactly what's bringing
me to my next question.
The term "diversity, equity,
inclusion," they can encompass many
things. And so, what does the museum
define diversity, equity, inclusion as
when when it's talking about its
collections?
We're looking at representing a broad
range of artistic approaches, as well
as artistic backgrounds throughout our
collections. And of course, that's
speaking, you know, specifically to the
art museums collections, but also
within the fields of history and
science and innovation.
We're going to be looking at just
broadening the stories that we're
telling and thinking about a more
complete picture.
How can we do more to inspire our
community to think about the objects
and the works that they see within the
museums as being really relevant to
their own lives and being relevant to
this amazing time in which we live,
where artistic products and products of
science and innovation and technology
are as diverse as this wonderful world
that we live in.
And so this new exhibition, it's really
encompassing all of that you're talking
about with diversity.
Tell us a little bit more and how it's
meeting that goal of diversification
for the collections?
So, this new exhibition, "New/Now,"
represents works of art that have been
added to our collection in the past two
years. So, they're new to the
collection and they represent the
moment that we're living in right now,
because they're contemporary artworks
that have the power to speak to
cultural, social, political changes
that are happening in our lives all
around us. I think contemporary art can
be defined in a number of ways.
Some folks will tell you contemporary
art is made after 1950 or made after
1970, but I think it's a much easier
way to think about contemporary art,
when we think about art that is made by
artists who are living in our time.
So, that's what we're thinking about as
we look at these new acquisitions.
The exhibition is anchored by five
works by the artist, activist, and
children's book writer Faith Ringgold.
I'm so excited about these works of
art. They're stunning and they're
colorful, textural, and beautiful.
There are also works in the exhibition
by a range of other artists, including
Nelson Stevens, who was an important
member of the Black Arts Movement and
who lived in Springfield; the
environmentalist painter Marlene Yu;
and the Chinese artist and activist Ai
Weiwei.
You're talking about Faith Ringgold and
some of her artwork, and I know that in
addition to having a diverse cultural
background, each of these artists, they
also have a diverse -- diversity of
creative approaches.
So, can you elaborate more on the
different techniques and styles that
represent -- are represented in this
exhibition?
So, within this exhibition, there are
paintings as well as representations of
printmaking and mixed media works.
Faith Ringgold is especially known for
pushing the boundaries of media.
She's really well known for these
beautiful, imaginative story quilts
that she often creates from fabric and
textiles. And in doing so, she's
drawing on the work of her mother and
her grandmother, who were seamstresses
and quilt makers.
And she's pulling these techniques into
the realm of contemporary art and in
doing so, telling interesting stories
about the people that she knows, knew,
or about her own life drawing on and
sort of autobiographical lens.
So, within the exhibition, there are
prints that draw on those story quilts
created by Faith Ringgold, as well as a
textile piece, which is in itself, a
sort of screenprint combined with a
quilt. So, an interesting approach to
this new media.
And that's a really beautiful
representation of women dancing on the
George Washington Bridge.
It's a beautiful image of freedom and
joy and power, and women were important
within faith Ringgold's body of work.
She was a feminist artist and somebody
who aimed to represent women as active
and joyful and powerful across her
work. So I hope that this will be a
piece that folks come back to.
It's one of my favorites in the show.
It's definitely one of my favorites, as
well. It's just -- it's so amazing to
me that you can be able to tell stories
in all these different ways, like on a
quilt. It's something that I never
would have thought about. So, yeah, I
definitely agree with you.
And you were talking a little bit about
these exhibitions telling the story of
our time.
You've mentioned that expanding the
collections, you can tell relevant
stories about our communities and our
era. So, what do you think that this
collection says about the time that we
are living in right now?
I think this exhibition does the work of
just expanding the very many types of
stories that can be told right now.
You know, experiences are broad and we
can't tell every single story within
the space of the museums, but the more
that we can tell, the better.
And I think that great art, excellent
art and excellent artists also, what's
being represented in this exhibition,
allows us to connect with one another,
engage in conversation.
Maybe it challenges us or pushes us to
think about art in a new way, or see
the world in a new way.
And so, I hope all of these works can
do that. But I think one thing that
will be especially salient to folks who
walk through the exhibition will be Ai
Weiwei's masks.
These were displayed in a recent
exhibition of ours, and we're so
pleased to add them to the collection.
They're actually surgical masks that
have been screenprinted with historical
Chinese designs by the artist Ai
Weiwei. So, he's combining the old with
the new in a way that creates a symbol
of our time, the pandemic that we've
all lived through, as well as the
resilience of these historical motifs,
which were taken from a Han Dynasty
text called "The Classic of Mountains
and Seas." And they're really beautiful
pieces that I think speak to the way
contemporary art can make us look to
the past, the present, and the future.
This exhibition isn't the only answer to
this multi-year diversification plan.
It's just the beginning.
So, tell us what's next for the
Springfield museums.
Thank you. That's really well put.
This is just the beginning.
We really look forward to adding, as I
said, more Latinx art to the -- to the
collections at the museums, as well as
work by disabled artists, women
artists, artists of color, Indigenous
artists will certainly be a focus as we
continue to expand our contemporary art
collections. And we're looking also at
our historical art collections.
So, throughout the history of American
art, for example, how can we make sure
that folks who have been overlooked as
makers are better included in the
stories that we're telling, in the
portraits, in the sculptures, in the
mixed media works throughout our 18th,
19th and 20th century galleries?