‘A more full story of American art’
A look inside the redesigned New American Galleries
When you step inside, a young girl immediately grabs your attention. In a nearly perpendicular pose, she’s perfectly balanced as a stack of books is perched atop her back.
“Girl Balancing Knowledge” — a fiberglass and multimedia sculpture created by artist Yinka Shonibare — is among the pieces you can see in a new way as part of the redesigned New American Galleries at Allentown Art Museum.
It’s part of the significant changes
that have taken place at the museum, culminating in the institution’s transition to free admission on Aug. 27.
The museum’s move to free admission is funded through one of three final gifts from the Century Fund foundation and additional multiyear support from Lehigh Valley Health Network, City Center Allentown and J.B. and Kathleen Reilly. That shift to free admission — one the museum’s staff had researched for years — works hand-in-hand with reconfiguring the New American Galleries.
The goal of both: To remove all barriers to art’s understanding and appreciation.
Chris Potash, the museum’s manager of marketing and public relations, said the museum began redesigning the New American Galleries, which is the majority of the first floor of the building, in April and the work continued through July.
“We wanted to tell a more full story of American art,” Potash said.
Museum officials knew they wanted a layout that truly invited visitors in
and to do that they needed to find space — or at least make it feel like they had found space — which can be challenging in an older building.
They removed a large coat closet, which gave them precious square footage, and took down the existing display walls.
The next step was to construct diagonal display walls that visually pull you into the showroom, providing deeper sight lines into the gallery. Walking in, you feel like the galleries have grown significantly in size because of its open, modern display design.
The physical reconfiguration of the space isn’t the only major change to the New American Galleries.
The history of American art is now “backward” in chronology.The entrance to the gallery opens with its most contemporary pieces — such as the “Girl Balancing Knowledge” and a recognizable Keith Haring piece — and moves to its oldest works the deeper you go into the gallery.
Claire McRee, assistant curator at the museum, said the idea is to introduce people as they walk in to pieces that they can relate to or connect to more easily.
McRee also said the art shown is not strictly North American art.
“We really wanted to include pieces that represent all of the Americas,” McRee said. “It’s a conceptual shift to the traditional telling of American art history.”
Like most museums, only a small fraction of Allentown’s permanent collection is shown. Led by its new president and CEO Max Weintraub, the museum has had a renewed dedication to telling the story of American art in an inclusive and relevant way — featuring more contemporary art and works by women, Black, Latino and Indigenous artists.
With the new configuration, a third of the
148 works on view in the museum will now be changed out every six months, ensuring that visitors can see something new each time they visit. It also allows the museum to display many more neverbefore-seen pieces including “Living off the Land” by Marcus Jahmal.
The new layout also shows a wider range of the museum’s textiles and works on paper, many of which were created by women and artists of color. These pieces cannot be exposed, long-term, to UV light. With the new space, pieces such as the extensive collection of Navajo rugscan be displayed in rotation, so there’s always something new to see while preserving the pieces.
Another access point that’s been added: The traditional labels that accompany the pieces have also been updated to be bilingual.
Technology is also now part of how the story of American art is told at the Allentown museum. The gallery has new touch pads at key locations, which provide interactive details, Google map information, and background about the pieces.
“We wanted to use technology as tools to deepen access to the information,” McRee said.
The museum has also added an area for video art — a new medium for the museum.
The work done to the first floor isn’t the only changethat increase accessibility. Children and families now have new ways to share in art appreciation and learning at the Art Ways Interactive Family Gallery, which is upstairs. There’s a trio of new “Maker Stations,” where kids can explore the different aspects of museum work, including conservation. Also, a 3D printer now allows kids to create works of art.