State of the Art Programs

Curator Chad Alligood shares his reflections on co-curating the State of the Art exhibition and what he envisions coming next for Crystal Bridges in the global world of contemporary art.

Jonesboro, Arkansas-based artist John Salvest works with found objects, ranging from used paperback romance novels to library stamps, and shipping crates. His practice transforms these everyday objects into thought-provoking works of art.

State of the Art artist Vanessa German who explores ideas of Hope, Interconnection, the Power of Creativity, and Racial and Economic Injustices with Beverly Keown, President of the Northwest Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr Council.

In her Clods and Grounds series, Susan Goethal Campbell repurposes post-consumer packaging in which she grows sod in the shape of the container. Her lecture encourages us to observe the overlooked beauty at the intersection of the natural and the manmade.

Trotman will discuss his self-taught artistic approach which calls on a long history of wood carving, as well as his recent explorations in incorporating movement in his work, a nod to folk traditions such as the animatronic figures in cuckoo clocks.

Kansas City, Missouri-based artist Miki Baird layers and repeats images to create three-dimensional, undulating structures. Learn how she turns photographs of strangers shot on the street into these rhythmic collage works.

Do you know that our oceans contain floating gyres of trash hundreds of miles long and wide? Spend time with artist-activist Pam Longobardi and discover how this artist’s sculpture is rooted in her deep concern for the environment.

Minneapolis, Minnesota-based artist Chris Larson creates work architectural focus, and builds upon the historical tradition of interrogating the very method of making art, referencing Surrealist automatic drawing, gestural painting, and analytic inquiry.

Emeryville, California-based artist Kirk Crippens discusses his photograph series The Great Recession: Foreclosure, USA, featured in State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now.

Andy DuCett's volunteer moms discuss their experiences in the Mom Booth.

State of the Art artist Calder Kamin explores the intersections of art, nature, and conservation. Workshop participants learned about “bird-scouting” as a citizen scientist, and created their own window decal to protect birds in their neighborhoods.

In her multilayered works, Baltimore, Maryland-based artist Mequitta Ahuja casts herself in the guise of mythic warriors and epic heroes descending from traditions across cultures. Ahuja discusses this practice, which she has deemed “automythography,” in which the artist combines aspects of real imagery with invented characters and settings, consolidating her own feminine power as both the subject and the creator of the image.

Boulder, Colorado-based artist Kim Dickey’s sculpture Mille-fleur, installed on the Museum’s South Lawn, suggests a garden wall overgrown with glorious flowering plants. In fact, the flowers are intricately painted and glazed ceramic forms arranged in a design inspired by a sixteenth-century tapestry. Dickey explores the concept of the garden as a meeting place between nature and culture, where boundaries can blur and concepts of both inclusion and exclusion can arise.

In Guy Bell’s Cain and Abel, a pair of dogs—one white, one black—are depicted in a violent battle on a dirt road. Are the dogs metaphors for humans? How can artwork help us visualize conflict and resolution, how we view ourselves, and how we communicate?

Hear Little-Rock-based artist Delita Martin describe her multi-layered prints that combine texture, color, and personal history to tell stories about the role of women in African American history and culture.

Seattle-based artist Susie J. Lee discusses her works, such as Fracking Fields, that explore the intersection of video and portraiture.

Hear Adonna Khare’s inspiring story of family life, teaching, and returning to the art field as an artist. Khare started out as an elementary school art teacher who left teaching to start a family. In 2012, she submitted work to Art Prize, a populist competition held annually in Michigan, in which she won a first-prize award of $200,000.

Hear from Brooklyn, New York-based artist Jeila Gueramian about the whimsical creatures and environments she creates by disassembling and reimagining everyday textiles.

Omaha, Nebraska-based artist Angela Drakeford discusses the social commentary on race and identity found in her paper constructions. Craftsmanship and beauty are essential elements in Drakeford’s work. In Self Portrait II, the artist uses black tar paper, a utilitarian and “ugly” material with toxic properties, to craft hundreds of elegantly shaped flowers. Drakeford shares how this work seduces with its beauty and confronts us with social message.

Durham, North Carolina-based artist Jeff Whetstone uses photography and video to explore connections between man, nature, and masculinity. Whetstone describes the inspiration for his video, Drawing E. Obsoleta, in which he wrangles a black rat snake in an attempt to use the snake’s body to draw the landscape in which it lives.

Brooklyn-based artist duo Ghost of a Dream turns everyday materials such as discarded lottery tickets into vibrant works of art.

Crystal Bridges President Don Bacigalupi and Assistant Curator Chad Alligood share tales from the road and offer insights into curating an exhibition of this magnitude. Hear about the behind-the-scenes process of putting together State of the Art.