Gallery Talks

Meet artist Leo Villareal, whose lighted sculpture Buckyball is installed on the Crystal Bridges grounds. Villareal speaks informally about his site-specific work in light art and experiments in light technology.

Arkansas-born artist Shea Hembrey discusses the catalogue for the international biennial Seek, whose inaugural exhibition showcases works by 100 artists. Yet this catalogue is completely fictional & invented by Hembrey - who created all the actual works.

Associate Curator Manuela Well-Off-Man discusses three paintings by artists who made major contributions to the development of modern art and influenced generations of European and American artists: Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso.

Della Patteson, Art Consultant and former Curator of Corporate Fine Art for The Coca-Cola Company, presents on Andy Warhol’s Coca-Cola [3], which was recently added to Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection. The work was not commissioned by Coca-Cola, but the company came to love the image as a testament to the universal appeal of Coke and the familiarity of its iconic bottle as an image of accessibility for all, just as Warhol aspired to create art for all with his paintings.

How did artists respond to the challenges of the Great Depression Era? Associate Curator Manuela Well-Off-Man presents an overview and discussion of her curated exhibition "This Land: Picturing a Changing America in the 1930s and 1940s." Explore the various styles—ranging from Regionalism to Cubism—that artists used to document major natural events and the changing rural and urban landscapes prior to World War II.

Learn the preservation and exhibition rotation process for 100-year-old works on paper in Crystal Bridges’ collection with Assistant Registrar of Collections, Jennifer De Martino.

Explore selections from Crystal Bridges’ new print collection featuring artists from the 1930s and ‘40s who explored a variety of print-making techniques.

Laurie Moffatt, the leading expert on Norman Rockwell and the director of the Norman Rockwell Museum presented a fascinating overview about Rockwell’s place in art and in the fabric of American life.

Curator of American Art Kevin Murphy explains darker truths underlying American society between the 1940s and 1970s, and how Rockwell’s iconic illustrations may have more than one interpretation.

Immerse yourself in light and space with Director of Curatorial David Houston and learn about artists who use the power of light to affect your experience of art. Explore the choice of materials used by artists to spread colors and illumination.

Cage was a composer who revolutionized dance & visual art with his experimental approach to art-making and music. Director of Curatorial David Houston explores one of Cage’s few visual artworks, Not Wanting to Say Anything about Marcel?

In the nineteenth century, a group of painters focused on light as a way to illuminate the spiritual presence they found within nature and the landscape. Curator of American Art Kevin Murphy explores these artists of light.

Artist Susan Rothenberg helped to revive traditional painting in the 1970s. Executive Director Don Bacigalupi discusses the artist’s mixing of traditional styles with new abstract/minimalist forms and acrylic paint.

Curator of American Art Kevin Murphy will discuss the history of Cole’s collection of artworks such as The Last Shepherd, and examine the visual messages through literary records.

Travel across America through the eyes of the "Explorer and Pioneer Artists" who documented the relatively unknown native lands of America and indigenous peoples as Assistant Curator Manuela Well-Off-Man shares her research.

Bearden’s rhythmic style of painting demonstrates the heart of the Harlem Renaissance. Learn more about the artist’s life influences with a musical twist led by Public Programs Coordinator Sara Segerlin.

How do artists "frame" the identity of their subjects? Curator of American Art Kevin Murphy discusses how Copley communicates the economic, social, and cultural status of the sitter. In addition, Murphy examines the differences in the function of art from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first through the interesting double frame of the painting. Recorded April 12, 2012.

Pop artists of the late 1950s and 60s used popular imagery most people are familiar with, such as comic strips, street signs, and ice cream bars. Assistant Curator Manuela Well-Off-Man discusses artists’ response to America’s obsession with consumerism and mass media, and their reaction to previous Modern art styles, as well as their experiments with screen printing and found objects. Pop artists from our collection include Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Tom Wesselmann.

With the rise of Expressionism and abstract art after World War II, American Realism was gradually becoming a forgotten art form. Curator of American Art, Dr. Kevin Murphy explores American Realist painters that dared to push forward, including artists Fairfield Porter, John Koch, and Max Ernst.

After World War II, America was desperately trying to regain its identity, especially with the growing tensions of the Cold War. In an effort to build propaganda for the United States as a world leader, the US government picked artists and writers to exhibit internationally defined as the American Moment in the art world. Delve into this political story with Director of Curatorial, David Houston, and learn how a group of abstract American artists—including Grace Hartigan, Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, and Joan Mitchell—changed the art world.

Politics in Art? Although we might think that creative types get along, in the late nineteenth century a battle was taking place between the members of the Hudson River School and Impressionists to gain the public’s interest and reap financial rewards. Curator of American Art, Dr. Kevin Murphy, explains the dynamic conflict between artists and cultural elites in the Gilded Age through William Merritt Chase’s reverential portrait of Worthington Whittredge.