What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1259312
8 WHAT'S UP! JUNE 14-20, 2020 COVER STORY Welcome Home Crystal Bridges, Momentary reflect outside world JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette E veryone at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary in Bentonville was ecstatic to welcome members back on June 6 and to reopen to the public on June 10. It had been three months since the doors closed to keep covid-19 out. "I can tell you they were jubilant," Rod Bigelow, executive director and chief diversity & inclusion officer at Crystal Bridges, said of visitors who attended the soft reopening weekend. "I think there were tears. There was laughter. There was real solace and deep thought, especially in the Hank Willis Thomas exhibition." "We feel that the community is hungry for these kinds of things," adds Momentary Director Lieven Bertels. "And that's our reason of existence; we exist to bring art to people and we try and do that as best we can and as safely as we can under these circumstances. But it would also be sad to just not try and actively engage with the public when the public is ready for this." Both institutions, as with most businesses and organizations preparing for reopenings, will operate at a limited capacity for the time being. The Momentary and Crystal Bridges have both implemented safety measures in line with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and the Arkansas Department of Health, including requiring face masks for all guests age 10 and older (and recommended for ages 2 to 10), touchless transactions and enforcing social distancing measures, among other efforts. The safety precautions will also mean all public programs will continue to be online only through at least the end of June; Frank Lloyd Wright's Bachman-Wilson House, James Turrell's "Skyspace: The Way of Color," Yayoi Kusama's "Infinity Mirrored Room" and the Studio artmaking space at Crystal Bridges will remain closed until further notice due to limited "I wouldn't have ever imagined this moment, but I think we've thought about this exhibition as being critically important all along. It is. It speaks to the moment as pointedly as you possibly can," Crystal Bridges Executive Director Rod Bigelow says solemnly of the tragic timeliness of the temporary exhibition "Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal…," extended through July 13. (Courtesy Photo/Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary)