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The New Bedford Art Museum is about to celebrate its 30th anniversary with a brand-new exhibition and an extravagant gathering. Traditionally, 30 years marks the “pearl anniversary.” That seems particularly apt as the museum has, over the decades, continued to add layers to its surface and polish its commitment to the arts and the city.
It is the rare pearl that is found within the oyster shell.
Since its foundation in 1996, the museum has endeavored to reach the community by increasing accessibility to the visual and performing arts, by being truly inclusive to all, by sending the ArtMobile out to every part of the city, by merging with ArtWorks! in 2014 to expand its cultural footprint, by continually re-examining itself and looking inward as it strives to improve yet more, and by presenting thoughtful and demanding exhibitions, discussions, social events, readings, poetry slams, movie nights, art classes for children and adults of all skill levels, and more.
Over the years, the museum has exhibited the great western landscapes of Albert Bierstadt, the avian portraiture of John James Audubon, and the costumes of Oscar-winning designer Ruth E. Carter.
It has featured the work of local favorites such as Milton Brightman’s landscapes (always with a dog), Roy Rossow’s nocturnal dock scenes and the collages of Alison Wells.
It has featured works by well-respected instructors, students and alumni of the Swain School of Design and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. It has exhibited art from across the country and the globe.
It has displayed thousands of drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs, woodcuts, serigraphs, videos, site-specific installations, glassware, jewelry, fashion, fabric art, ceramics, sound art and more.
It has made a difference, in the best possible way.
On Tuesday, June 10, from 6-8:30 p.m., the museum will host its 30th Anniversary Gala, celebrating three decades of “illuminating art experience.”
“Thirty years is young for a museum and the New Bedford Art Museum is propelled by a fresh, exuberant vision for all a museum can and should be. But we celebrate centuries of the human spirit to create,” notes Suzanne de Vegh, executive director and curator at the museum.
The 30th Anniversary Gala will feature the world premiere of “The Call of the Bay,” a stirring string quintet written by UMass Dartmouth student Davon R. Fuentes, to be performed by musicians of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra.
At the gala, a painting yet not publicly identified but by an important 19th Century American artist will be unveiled and gifted to the museum’s slowly growing permanent collection, from John and Elizabeth Howland.
The museum will present its Patron of the Arts Award to Mayor Jon Mitchell, who has been a strong advocate of art students and faculty, and a defender of the arts in the city and beyond.
Acrobatic dancer Elizabeth Nelson will perform “magic in the rafters” as she navigates a series of nautical-themed aerial performances over the heads of the crowd.
An open bar and hors d’oeuvres will be available to attendees of the 30th Anniversary Gala.
The highlight of the evening will be the opening of a historical survey of the region’s talent across genres and media over the last two centuries and selections from the museum’s “Best of South Coast” competition juried by Carmen Hermo, the Lorraine and Alan Bressler Curator of Contemporary Art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which will be on display in the People’s Gallery at the southeast corner of the Museum.
The main gallery is now called the Luminous Silver Gallery, named after the Dale Chihuly chandelier that is suspended above. It was donated to the museum in April of last year.
(Hmmm, the museum had been a staunchly “non-collecting institution” since its inception but that has clearly changed. But that’ll be a story for another day.)
Post-gala, the Best of SouthCoast exhibition will be open on June 12.
As of this writing, I have seen not but a sampling of the work that will be displayed as I visited the museum when it was still being unpacked or laying on the floor covered in bubble wrap. I have curated and hung many art shows over the years so I am familiar with the process. But somehow being there for a quick walkaround was like being in a high end restaurant kitchen when the prepping starts and the specials are being considered.
It was a bit of a visceral thrill seeing Roger Kizik’s “Herakles Redux” leaning against the wall, seeing a spear removed from a box, pondering why these two were in that corner together, having a brief moment of melancholy as I walked by artwork by two departed friends and mentors, and thinking, damn … this gonna be a kick-ass show.
For information on tickets, go to https://newbedfordart.org
Don Wilkinson has been writing art reviews, artist profiles and cultural commentary on the South Coast for over a decade. He has been published in local newspapers and regional art magazines. He is a graduate of the Swain School of Design and the CVPA at UMass Dartmouth. Email him at dwilkinson@newbedfordlight.org
