Hours: M - F 9 am - 5 pm
Cost: $10 Adults, Temple Students: Free!
Well, my Museums and American Culture class is over, but I think I'm going to try to continue this blog. We'll see how it goes.
In our class, we mostly visited museums with more of a focus on history than art, although PAFA is not a history museum, it's existence is one of historic significance, especially to Philadelphia. It hails as America's oldest art educational institution and museum, was part founded by none other than Charles Wilson Peale, the legendary Thomas Eakins taught there and part of its collection resides in a Historic Landmark Building designed by the architect Frank Furness. I intend for this post to be a two-part piece because I didn't get a chance to see the American art collection here and plan on going back for a second visit. This time however, I spent my time wandering through the contemporary "Regionalist" Exhibition, Here, in the Samuel M. V. Hamilton Building.
While I originally opted out of the docent led tour so that I could view the pieces at my own pace, I ended up being led through the exhibit about halfway through. For anyone wondering what a docent is, they are typically volunteer guides who can provide context and information about museum objects/artifacts/art that the viewer might not be able to get from the information provided by labels or summaries.
Although I like to think that, being an art student myself, I am adept at visual interpretation, my docent was able to point out details that I would've missed and undoubtably enriched my experience of the exhibition. I absolutely believe that docents promote the comprehension of museum objects, that being said there were a couple places in my tour where I think the docent's presence hurt my viewing experience. For instance, in one artist's work, a post-apocalyptic Philadelphia City Hall was shown, but the artist intentionally swapped out Billy Penn with another statue. What the docent said though, was that the statue wasn't Ben Franklin. I realize this may be a common misunderstanding, but incorrect information given just the same. After that slip-up though I couldn't help but wonder if there was any other incorrect information I wasn't catching. The other weak area of my tour was that the docent spent a lot of time on works that he liked, and provided very little information other than the artist and region of works he "didn't get." I realize that we all have our own interests, but I kind of would have liked something a little more than what could already be read on the labels. Other than that though, I had a great time, all the art was awesome and I learned a great deal about artist collectives and how their region affects their art.
My favorites included Erika Nelson from Kansas City, MO and her "World's Largest Things" exhibit. Organized very much as an old Curiosity Cabinet. Sue Chenoweth from Phoenix, AZ. Stacy Lynn Waddell from Raleigh/Durham, NC and I think my favorite exhibit from Philly was Jennifer Levonian's piece where she used watercolor paintings and animation in a video about gentrification in Kensington/Nolibs.
Last but not least, the other highlight of my visit was another curiosity cabinet type of piece in the lobby of the building which you get to play with! I love being able to really get into a piece of art, literally! This student piece had drawers, cranks and even paper and pen, so much fun.
