By JOSEPH DELPHEY
The Wright Museum, the more directly art-focused of the two museums on campus, hosted a number of events through Beloiter days, beginning with an open house on Thursday afternoon, which functioned to encourage people to come to the galleries and exhibits they may otherwise have missed. Joy Beckman, the museum’s director, described how the temporary exhibits can feel as if they just “go by.” Beloiters may think, “Oh, I should’ve gone to that.” An open house, with offerings of food and museum staff present, encourages people to take the opportunity to check the galleries out.
The event was decently attended, with many faculty present, as well as Sherry Blakely, a Beloit City Council member, but there weren’t more than 15 students at the event at one time. Luísa Barbisan’25, a studio art major, didn’t know the event was happening until Scott Espeseth reminded his capstone art students at the end of their class just before the open house began. Despite this, Barbisan emphasized that she was glad to show up to the event, especially due to the fact that the Faculty Triennial Gallery is also on display, and she can view her professor’s artwork. Beckman started The Triennial when she first became director in order for faculty to display their art. She figured that every three years would be the best interval to host the gallery, because “The freshman could see it, then they could see their professors their senior year,” as the sophomores and juniors tend to know what they’re doing, and the display is a bonus for art majors, or whoever wants to see works from the faculty, which can be hard to come by for non-art majors.
Lyndall Breaux’27 highlighted the importance of showing up to art events, as she “knows what it’s like when no one shows up to your art thing,” but also expressed concern for the arts at Beloit, mentioning how, although things may not necessarily be dire, “we’re not getting a new arts building anytime soon.” Breaux, as well as Beckman, Christa Story, the academic curator, and a number of other faculty at the event, such as Joseph Derosier and Jason Alley, made sure to mention the uniqueness of the museums at Beloit College. “I think most schools don’t have museums on their campus,” said Breaux, “and the fact that we have one, even though it’s not like a ginormous museum, is pretty neat.” Overall, guests seemed to appreciate the opportunities that the museums presented for students and faculty, such as the gallery each semester that is curated by a class. Barbican also appreciated the simple networking opportunities that events like the open house provide, saying, “I just met two people. I just met new people!”
Events such as the open house and the gallery talks that took place on Friday and Saturday were placed in and around Beloiter Days intentionally, as not only do alumni want to come back to revisit studios where they worked or see old professors, but also to observe how things have changed and search for new connections, sometimes prioritizing meeting students over viewing the galleries.
One alumni present on Friday was looking to see if any works from Adolph Shulz, a landscape painter and a friend of his grandpa’s, who was also an alumni of Beloit, were in the collection. They had been in the past, and while visiting he found that they were featured in “American Landscapes: Early Representations and Contemporary Reclamations,” a book on styles of American landscape paintings in the collection of the Wright, written by Beckman and Story. Although none were on display, he was happy to have found evidence of the connection, and spoke about Brown Country, Indiana, where Shulz frequently visited to paint, and where, as a result, a number of his works are present. There seemed to be an emotional motivation to the search, a tying up of loose ends that wasn’t finalized, but satisfactorily progressed through the visit.
His emotional connection to the museum didn’t seem to be unique, either, with few alumni returning for a simple revisit of their college days. One, who had mentioned working at the museum for three years as she entered, spent an hour sifting through the galleries. We had brief conversations as she came in and went, but less than a minute after leaving, her head popped back through the door.
“Can I tell you just one story?”
Featured image: Visit Beloit
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