Art Connects – brings together the voices of our community and provides different interpretations of artwork on loan from the Art Bridges collection. During the summer of 2023, the Akron Art Museum connected with the public at regional fairs, festivals, farmers markets, and other events to provide unique engagement opportunities for all ages and collect community responses to these pieces of artwork on loan. The program then brought these voices back to the Museum as an integral interpretive component in the galleries. As you visit these works at the Museum, the voices you will hear could be your neighbor, your friend, or a voice that inspires you to consider a different perspective or enjoy art in a fresh way. You can also listen and read the comments below.
Community Voices Audio Recordings
To read the transcription of the voices, click the show transcript button or click the CC button in the YouTube player to turn on closed captioning.
Lee Krasner. Re-Echo, 1957. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Art Bridges
Horace Pippin. Holy Mountain, I, 1944. Oil and sand on canvas. Courtesy of Art Bridges
Henry Ossawa Tanner. The Thankful Poor, 1894. Oil on canvas. Collection of Art Bridges
These are just three of the nine works on loan from Art Bridges Foundation currently on view. They are bringing special excitement to our Sandra L. and Dennis B. Haslinger Family Foundation Galleries, dedicated to works from the Museum’s own collection. Art Bridges was founded in 2017 by Alice Walton who also founded the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The Foundation creates and supports programs that expand access to American art in all regions across the United States. In one of their most exciting efforts, they have established a lending collection that includes works by some of the most impressive artists in American history and working today. The collection functions like a library for museums providing long-term loans thereby increasing access and inclusion for regional institutions.
Reproductions were on view in the community this summer inviting viewers to share their reactions and responses to the art.
