The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery located at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs NY, will be closed throughout the summer.
The Tang’s mission is to invite curiosity and collaborative learning through active engagement with ideas, artworks, and exhibitions. The building may be closed but this is still possible as the staff has created online initiatives that bring art and education into your homes.
The public can enjoy current online exhibitions as well as past, browse the extensive online collection with regularly added artworks and stories, and even participate in free workshops through Zoom.
Lover Earth Art and Ecosexualityis a current exhibition, on view until August 23, 2020. This exhibition challenges perceptions of how humans view Earth.
Are we in a one-sided relationship with Earth? What have we done to nourish and protect this living entity in which we so heavily rely on for resources, land, and our very existence?
This exhibition calls to question these very thoughts. Artists Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle use art to describe the human connection to nature. This exhibition refers to their goal in shifting the saying of “earth as mother” to “earth as lover.” It is possible for humankind to love the Earth, to change the relationship to a two-sided one.
Stephens and Sprinkle express how we have depended on earth’s resources without nourishing and respecting the land in return. Greed as ravaged the planet, and consequences can be expected unless we change the way we think and feel about the earth.
The exhibition is comprised of paintings, prints, photographs, and moving images. All of which promote environmental education through various lenses.
As for online workshops, participants have numerous opportunities to explore art, create their own and share it. The workshops are designed for children and families. There are two upcoming workshops that are free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Tang at Home Studio: Fluttering Butterflies opens July 31 at 2 PM. Registration for the workshop will be available July 27. Learn how to create your own butterfly inspired by a textile artwork by Malian artist Abdoulaye Konaté called Métamorphose de papillon. Hosted by Museum Educator Sunny Ra, this workshop is geared for ages 5-12 accompanied by parents or a guardian.
Tang at Home: Wrapped in Tradition opens August 7 at 2 PM. Registration for the workshop begins on August 3. This workshop is also geared for ages 5-12 accompanied by parents or a guardian. Hosted by Museum Educator Sunny Ra, learn about the artist Wendy Red Star and explore how clothing can help tell stories about our traditions, memories, and ourselves. Her artwork also educates the public on Dioramas and representations of Native Culture, from the perspective of a Native American.
Each online workshop provides project instructions, a Zoom link, and are sure to be enjoyable for all ages.
Despite having to extend their closure, the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery is the place to turn to for online art initiatives, both educational and entertaining!
