Join the Art Museum of WVU on Friday from 5-7 p.m. for the opening reception of its fall exhibits centering civic engagement through artwork of various mediums. During the reception and throughout the academic year, the museum aims to be a space for WVU students and the general public alike to socialize and broaden their horizons.
The Art Museum hosts two galleries. One is typically used to highlight traveling pieces from other institutions, like this season’s “Mapping Climate Change: The Knitting Map and The Tempestry Project” exhibit, while the other displays curated works from the museum’s permanent collection of approximately 5,000 pieces, like the current “Our Votes, Our Values” showcase.
Upon entering the museum, visitors are greeted by “Our Votes, Our Values.” Co-curated by Erik Herron, WVU professor of political science and 2023 Art Museum Faculty Fellowship Award recipient, the exhibit is a product of the museum’s fellowship program.
The program offers WVU faculty from various fields the chance to curate an exhibit that reflects their teaching and research interests, an opportunity that Herron used to unite paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures from the museum’s permanent collection to spotlight the relationship between personal values and voting practices.
“We wanted to use [the exhibit] as an opportunity for art to be a catalyst to have conversations around some of the most important issues,” said co-curator and Art Museum of WVU curator of education Heather Harris. “We can’t endorse any politician or political party, but what we can do is say, ‘Art is a great way to get a conversation started about things that are important to us,’ and then also use this exhibition as a way to encourage folks to vote.”
In addition to QR codes in the exhibit directing users to voter registration links, the Museum Education Center will also act as an early voting site during the November General Election.
Upstairs, visitors will find similar themes of self-reflection and public engagement in “Mapping Climate Change: The Knitting Map and The Tempestry Project,” a traveling exhibit organized by Ursinus College’s The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art.
Composed of two projects inspired by climate change, “The Knitting Map” and “The Tempestry Project,” the exhibit knits together a textile representation of the planet’s fluctuating climate. The showcase creatively portrays data that is often conveyed through charts and numbers, encouraging visitors to explore critical topics in a way that can feel more interactive.
“I think that the art itself can be inspiring toward action in a way that sometimes other media is not,” said Harris.
Although the museum is open at no cost to all members of the public, students are a key demographic for which the facility aims to foster a welcoming atmosphere.
“We’ve got a whole new crop of incoming students to see the museum as a place not only for class and research and study, but also a place for socialization, fun, reflection and contemplation,” said Harris.
The topics represented in the fall exhibits are also uniquely relevant to students, as Tufts University reported a record-breaking 66% voting rate among college students in the 2020 presidential election — a number Tufts University expects to increase with on-campus voter registration initiatives like the Art Museum’s exhibit.
Beyond Friday’s reception, the museum hosts events throughout the academic year. Art Museum director Aaron Levi Garvey encourages visitors from all backgrounds to stop by and appreciate the collection of masterful works on display not in the far-off galleries of London or Paris or New York, but right here in your backyard.
“Not everybody feels comfortable in museums, but museums are a place for all people, similar to libraries. Our mission as museum professionals is to say, ‘You’re always welcome in museums, there’s always a reason to come here and there’s always something new that you’re going to see or be surprised by,” said Garvey.
Visit ArtMuseum.wvu.edu for more information. Museum hours are 12:30-6 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.
