Virtual tours keep Crystal Bridges accessible
The galleries of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art are temporarily closed to visitors as Arkansas and the rest of the planet hunker down to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
But touring this world-class museum, a prime source of pride and joy for Arkansans, is still possible with a few clicks of a keyboard.
The Bentonville complex, created and funded by billionaire Alice Walton, can be toured online. That’s a trend for many museums and other cultural attractions, but Crystal Bridges seems to be near the front of the curve in this regard.
Crystal Bridges Virtual Reality, an especially engaging feature, offers you-are-there tours of exhibit areas at: collection.crystalbridges. org. The virtual-reality posting invites visitors to “immerse yourself in the stories of American art and architecture … with unique reality experiences.”
The images on one video explore R. Buckminster Fuller’s Fly’s Eye Dome, set along one of the museum’s outdoor art trails, which are still open to the public with social distancing. The virtual imagery showcasing the “50-foot structure envisioned as a prototype for efficient economical housing,” has been reconstructed on the museum grounds.
Another virtual-reality tour takes in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House, a design by the legendary architect that was moved piece by piece to the museum grounds from its original location in New Jersey. The imagery includes a visit to the second floor, normally closed to the public.
Kerry James Marshall’s whimsical Our Town is the subject of a virtual tour that “peels back the layers of the painting to highlight new details and symbolism.” The video focusing on Asher B. Durand’s Kindred Spirits landscape of the Hudson River Valley “shows new layers of the painting up close like never before.”
At collection.crystalbridges.org viewers also have remote access to the museum’s entire collection. It’s possible to call up information on some 2,700 paintings, sculptures and other art — most with images of the works.
There are a number of thematic categories that can be summoned from this digital library. They include the Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Artist Self-Portraits, 18th and 19th Century Drawings and Watercolors, 1859-1989 Labor and Industry Print Collection, Outdoor Art, and Recent Acquisitions.
The collection of the Arkansas Arts Center, which closed its galleries in Little Rock last summer to make way for a much larger facility, can also be viewed online. The site is arkansasartscenter.org. Three categories can be called up: Drawings; Paints, Photography and Prints; Contemporary Craft.
The center’s new complex, featuring a blend of indoor and outdoor spaces in MacArthur Park, is expected to open in another two years or so.