With the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing is mandatory, meaning more experiences are virtual, including museum tours.
While the Nova Southeastern University Art Museum Fort Lauderdale is temporarily closed, the museum encourages viewers to enjoy the experience virtually by interacting with their website where you can find the different main art exhibitions found at the museum.
“We created the virtual museum as the home page with direct access to each of the virtual programs, including the 360-degree tours of current exhibitions, virtual tours of artists’ studios, the online catalog of the Museum’s collection, art talks on our YouTube channel and at-home art activities,” explained Bonnie Clearwater, director and chief curator of the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.
Additionally, the museum staff is finding ways to add more features to enhance the viewer’s virtual experience.
“We continually experiment with new virtual programming, including the very popular live virtual lectures by Renaissance art historian Rocky Ruggiero, recorded guided highlight tours of the current exhibitions — coming soon — and live virtual art workshops starting in October,” said Clearwater.
The museum currently has five exhibitions on display virtually: “Happy,” “I Paint My Reality,” “Transitions And Transformation,” “Do It Home” and “William J. Glackens: From Pencil To Paint.”
According to the museum’s website, “Happy!” focuses on “contemporary artists who follow this pursuit by addressing all emotional states in their work to reveal universal truths of the human condition.” The exhibit consists of bright and positive feeling pieces, such as ones by the art collaborative FriendsWithYou.
The “I Paint My Reality” exhibition is drawn from the NSU Art Museum’s Latin American collection and focuses on the Surrealist movement that emerged from France after World War I. The exhibit features numerous Latin American artists as well. According to the exhibit’s description, “Latin American Surrealism has had a significant impact on contemporary artists in South Florida.”
“Transitions and Transformations” is an exhibit that also includes Latin American ties, more specifically artwork from the Mexican muralist movement. Many of the pieces represent different phases of life and art. According to the exhibit’s description, “On view are works that represent physical transformations, while others are representative of turning points in the history of contemporary art.”
“Do It Home” presents the theme of social distancing and creating your own art from the safety of your home. The exhibit consists of pieces from various artists on how to create your own art at home. The exhibit description explains that, “Do it (home) will take you away from your screens, and recreate an art experience at home.”
The “William J Glackens: From Pencil to Paint” exhibition is a display of artwork showing the transitions that Glacken went through as an artist and illustrator. According to the exhibition’s description, “The exhibition sheds new light on Glackens’ lifelong commitment to the field in which he first excelled and his uncanny ability to capture specific gestures, places and significant historical events such as the Spanish American War.”
Although the online museum is a great way to experience the museum’s artwork from the comfort of your computer, the museum will be open to the public on Sept. 15. Both membership and virtual tours are free for all NSU students and staff.
“NSU faculty, staff and students are already members of the museum. They just need to activate their membership at nsuartmuseum.org/youbelong,” said Jessica Graves, the manager of NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.
For more information on the NSU Art Museum and to view the virtual exhibits, visit nsuartmuseum.org.
