Few on-campus groups have been able to continue their respective roles in the community since the University of Oregon largely shut down in mid-March. The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, however, has reached even more students over the past few months than it usually does. JSMA Communications Manager Debbie Williamson Smith said this expanded reach is due to the museum staff’s ability to “pivot” — not only quickly, but well.
“Everyone is still reacting to COVID, because the numbers are constantly changing,” Williamson Smith said, “but I would say for the museum during the closure, we maximized every moment.”
The timing of pandemic closures in the spring gave JSMA staff time to plan for their future. The museum’s essential goal remained the same — to bring art into as many people’s lives as possible. However, the execution of this objective, like so many things, became digital. Despite the obstacles, the JSMA broadened its presence in the UO community by visiting classes, bolstering its online resources and completing some on-site revitalization ahead of schedule, Williamson Smith was excited to say.
Engaging with the student body is an explicit prerogative of the JSMA, not only through students visiting the museum, but also through the museum visiting students — JSMA staff makes appearances in on-campus classes. The JSMA engaged with over 10,000 UO students by visiting virtual classrooms while it was closed: a quantity that goes above and beyond the JSMA’s regular in-class engagement, Williamson Smith said.
But, as we all know, there are only so many hours one can spend on Zoom. So, the JSMA took on the task of extending its art to the digital world. For the exhibit “Carrie Mae Weems: The Usual Suspects,” the JSMA created a myriad of online resources, including a Digital Exhibition video and the abbreviated version, a Minute Exhibit video. These resources not only augment the way art-lovers can experience the works, but they are also open-access and free. The JSMA is meeting the moment by digitally providing unprecedented access to its collection during this unprecedented time.
The work that the JSMA has done over the past months also evidences the museum’s understanding of its role regarding social issues; it does not exist in a vacuum. Williamson Smith said the museum is planning to make its regular newsletters to the Faculty Union thematic, so that topics such as racial justice and Black Lives Matter can be given the space that they deserve. Addressing these pressing social issues is “more of a timely use” of the museum’s resources, Williamson Smith said.
Additionally, the JSMA is working to provide materials in as many languages as possible; Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Japanese gallery materials can already be found both at the museum and on its website.
In addition to the digital novelties, the museum has improved its brick and mortar galleries during its closure. It recently renovated the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art, adding updated floors, walls, casework and lighting, as the JSMA website explains. The improved Soreng Gallery is one more reason to visit the newly reopened museum.
Williamson Smith advised that visitors stop by the Soreng galleries and “plan to stay for a few extra minutes” to “find something that catches your eye,” which is not hard to do with all the splendid art that is currently on view.
The show “Nuestra Imagen Actual: Our Present Image: Mexico and the Graphic Arts 1929-1956,” which resides in the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Gallery until Feb. 14, 2021, is the centerpiece of the JSMA’s reopening. “Nuestra Imagen Actual” includes 62 lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings by 22 artists, including works by Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros. The works of these “big three Mexican painters” — as the New Yorker called them in March — are not to be missed. They bring together a show that is as visually striking as it is culturally relevant.
This show is one of many reasons to visit the JSMA, now open on Fridays to museum members, UO students, faculty and staff, and then on weekends to the public. Reserve a timed ticket on the JSMA website prior to visiting.
“It is difficult to plan for an uncertain tomorrow,” Williamson Smith said, but the JSMA is as well prepared as can be, leading the way as UO prepares itself for the future.
