The James A. Michener Art Museum is presenting (re)Frame: Community Perspectives on the Michener Art Collection from June 18-March 5.
The exhibition is a museum-wide initiative inviting multiple viewpoints based on culturally specific interpretations. Applying new lenses to Michener’s collection, guest curators and visitors will explore artworks’ social and environmental contexts beyond academic Euro-American art history.
“Each person’s personal experience, cultural background, and professional and scholarly interests influence how they understand a work of art and we want to embrace these varied interpretations,” said Laura Turner Igoe, Michener’s chief curator. “There are many ways to look at an artwork.”
Eight guest curators – Joe Baker, Reg Hoyt, TK Smith and youth members of Doylestown’s Rainbow Room, an educational and empowering program for LGBTQIA+ youth and allies – have selected works from the Michener’s permanent collection to reveal new stories about identity and the environment in the Delaware Valley region.
Historical and contemporary art selected by the curators include works by Diane Burko, Daniel Garber, Elaine Galen, Alan Goldstein, Richard Kemble, Harry Leith-Ross, Joan W. Lindley, Jan Lipes, Tim Portlock, Herbert Pullinger, Edward W. Redfield, William A. Smith, Robert Spencer, Dox Thrash and William Earle Williams, some of which have never before been on view.
Several stations throughout the museum’s galleries invite visitors to share their own interpretations and what they would like to see at the museum in the future.
Also on Saturday, June 18, the Michener Museum is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Community Labyrinth, located at the corner of S. Pine St. and Ashland Ave. in Doylestown, from 10 a.m. to noon.
This event features live music, giant bubble making with the Bubble Witch, rock painting, a scavenger hunt, labyrinth photo ops, and opportunities to win Michener prizes, including free entry into the museum. Plein air artist Helena van Emmerick-Finn will be painting the labyrinth live on the day and participants will have the opportunity to win her painting.
The Community Labyrinth was started by local neighbors interested in building community through the creation of a space for mindfulness, relaxation and togetherness. The labyrinth has been used for various activities since its inception and many people continue to walk its path.