12/08/2006

Citizens help pitch in on an exhibition

Dennos asks locals to display, interpret art

By Tom Carr

tcarr@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — A new Dennos Museum exhibit will attempt to reflect the tastes of people outside the gallery.

Called Museum Collections/Community Curators, the exhibit will open Sunday.

It features pieces from a pre-selected sampling of the museum's collection of about 2,000 visual art works chosen by people in the community.

Participants were allowed to choose from paintings, sculptures, pottery, basketry and other visual arts representing a number of different styles both modern and traditional.

"We've been looking for ways to engage members of the community with the collection,” museum director Gene Jenneman said.

The people will also write the interpretations that will accompany the works of art.

"We decided to do this a number of years ago,” Jenneman said. "When we'd write a grant for it, the people who review the grant proposals and people in the profession seemed to like this idea. The question was, how can you carry it off?”

The museum solicited input from about 50 people; about 30 agreed to participate.

Many are connected with art in some way, including gallery owners, designers and a publisher of an art magazine.

"This has all been a learning experience as to how to approach this,” he said.

Museum officials set up a Web site from which participants could choose a work they liked.

The site had photos of more than 150 works, though Jenneman said if they did not find something there that they liked, officials would work with them to find something else.

Participant Tom Albrecht owns Meeting Site Solutions, is past president of the Traverse Area Arts Council and used to put together exhibits for a restaurant.

"I will be interested in what people select and what they say,” Albrecht said. "Too many times, (professional curators) tend to speak in artspeak, though I don't know if Dennos is so much guilty of that.”

Jenneman said the museum may do it again using people who aren't as involved in the art community, if this show is a success.

"I think it's going to be an interesting exhibit,” he said. "It will show the diversity in our collection. There were some surprises in what people picked.”

The exhibit will run from Dec. 10 to March 4. Admission is $4 for adults and $2 for children.

For more information, call 995-1055 or visit www.dennosmuseum.org.