EXHIBITION RECORD

Evoking the Spiritual

Thursday April 6, 2006 through Sunday August 27, 2006 Extended!

Selected from the Appleton Museum’s permanent collection, Evoking the Spiritual invites museum visitors to view works of art and artifacts from the perspective of the spiritual. Although religion is a common theme in western art, modern western critics have largely ignored the impact of spirituality in art. Evoking the Spiritual focuses on this issue by illustrating the unique spiritual nature of art across time and place, and encourages visitors to participate in the discussion.

By using examples from a variety of media, time, and cultural traditions, Evoking the Spiritual begins a conversation with visitors by asking them to consider what is spiritual and how art can function in this way. Contemporary art objects by artists Ralph Hurst, Takao Tanabe, Bert Stern, and others, are represented alongside more traditional religious objects, such as ancient Egyptian statuary and African carved ritual figures. The ancient objects serve to form a background for the subject, while the more contemporary objects explore the possibility of the spiritual interpretation of modern art. The juxtaposition of these objects invites visitors to determine for themselves the spiritual nature of art.

This exhibition is guest curated by Jessica Aiken, graduate student of the Museum Studies Graduate Program at the University of Florida, as her thesis project.