The McMullen Museum of Art
108 Devlin Hall
Boston College, Chestnut Hill MA
Since
1993, the McMullen Museum of Art has offered students, faculty, and the public
a chance to view unique and original works by both classical and little-known
artists. The best part? It’s totally free! Their core mission is to “cultivate learning,
celebrate artistic excellence, explore the visual traditions of diverse
cultures, and inspire faculty and student research based on the visual arts”
[citation here]. The Museum is small, slightly confusing to navigate, and
basically a nightmare to find if you’re unfamiliar with BC’s campus [flashing
arrow above my head]. The GPS directions drop you at the bottom of about 200 stairs and say "Your destination is on the right". There is another way to get to the museum that takes you up the road and around the other side of the library, I believe. I realized this after climbing the stairs and then remembering something about 'wheelchair accessibility' on the museum's webpage. While the museum has not been accredited, it has been
written up both nationally and internationally, receiving high praise for its
exhibitions that “reach far beyond traditional art history” [New York Times article written by
Stephen Kinzer]. The pieces are broken up according to theme, and often work in feminism, revolution, religion, and politics into one exhibit. This year, the
museum will be moving from 140 Commonwealth Avenue to 2101, and will be located
in BC’s Brighton campus. The new space will be roughly 26,000 square feet and
will also feature two floors of exhibition space and a large glass atrium at the front, which will provide plenty of natural light during the day.
The Baptism of St. Patrick Stained Glass in Steel Frame Harry Clarke |
Past exhibitions,
like the 1999 Saints and Sinners:
Caravaggio and the Baroque Image and Edvard
Munch: Psyche, Symbol, and Expression have drawn thousands of visitors from
the Boston area and beyond. Since 1995, the museum has consistently put
together between two and five exhibitions every year. All of the past
exhibition information is included here.
It is worth noting too that the museum publishes an in-depth exhibition catalog
for every exhibit they host, and they are available through BC’s bookstore and
Amazon. McMullen’s current exhibition is entitled The Arts and Crafts Movement: Making it Irish. Co-curated by Vera
Kreilkamp and Diana Larsen, the exhibit features over 150 objects, many of
ecclesiastical nature, which were shaped by the arts and crafts movement’s
manifestation in Ireland. Items include hand-carved boxes, stained glass panels
in steel frames, silver utensils, and processional crosses. There is also an
incredible virtual reality experience [again, totally free!] where a user can
strap on an Oculus Rift, and immediately
be transported to five different scenes: the round tower at Ardmore, Cormac’s
Chapel, St. Declan’s Cathedral, the Honan Chapel, and the Oratory of the Sacred
Heart. The headset responds to the movement of your head and body, so whoever
is wearing it can look up and down, and turn 360 degrees to see the full scope
of the location. This was my first
experience with virtual reality, and I found myself bumping into the wall
several times; the scenes were so realistic, I felt like I could wander freely
and explore. Throughout the Irish exhibition, users can also learn more via the Digital Guide, which provides background on 24 different objects in the collection. Next to these items are iPads where users can swipe through screens containing information, provenance, the item in situ, etc.
The
museum also holds permanent collections,
which are available to view online. The digital viewer includes a “Learn More”
feature which will bring up a new window with extensive information on the
particular work.
No comments:
Post a Comment