Louis Jones n Chief Reporter
The Ball State Museum of Art will present two new exhibitions this summer which are varied in style and intended audience.
"We've been working on this for 14 months," museum director Peter Blume said of "Reordering the Universe" and "Creatures of the Sea and Sky."
"Reordering the Universe," a collection of pieces acquired since Blume was named to his position in 2003, features a variety of items dating from 2500 B.C. Pre-dynastic China to late 20th century Los Angeles. However, rather than being grouped under geographic origins, time periods or artistic styles, the displays are grouped according to common themes such as myths and legends, vanity, games and expressions of the times.
"One of the reasons we're at a university is to make as many intellectual connections as possible, and I think that this is one of the places to do it," Blume said. "You can move from Neolithic China to L.A. in the 1990s and ask the question, why are these two things in the same room?"
Art museum graduate assistant Marie Zatezalo said that the categorized synopses on display near each art piece were written by Ball State professors from different departments across campus, including History, Modern Languages and Classics, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Anthropology.
"The displays involve lots of interdisciplinary stuff that makes the art relevant and significant on a personal level," Zatezalo said.
"The write-ups are really interesting, and we have things that are of such great diversity. There's something for everyone to enjoy," Zatezalo added.
The other new exhibit, "Creatures of the Sea and Sky," is an extension of last year's "MuZOOum" exhibition, which included animal-related pieces of art and was aimed at a largely preadolescent audience.
As one might expect, the pieces included in the "Creatures of the Sea and Sky" exhibition span a wide variety of cultures and themes but are linked by the fact that they involve some depiction of an avian or aquatic animal.
With over 40,000 works of art on display and in the archives, the museum's collection is, according to Blume, "exceptional," and unparalleled in Indiana with the exceptions of the Snite Museum of Art at Notre Dame and the Indiana University Museum of Art in Bloomington.
"We can only put [out] so many exhibits at a time," Zatezalo said. "Most of our artwork is stored in our basement."
Zatezalo said that only about 1,000 of the 40,000 pieces of art kept at the museum are on display at any given time.
"We have such a large collection, and I don't think a lot of people would expect that from a small museum in a Midwestern university."
"Not every university in this sort of an area has a resource like this," she added. "I think it's important for students to realize they have this great resource."
Zatezalo said that the new exhibitions are immediately accessible to all people, whether art-savvy or not.
"There's not really a wrong response to looking at a piece of art," she said. "You see it, and it gives you a feeling. They're appropriate for all age groups."
Both exhibitions will be open and free to the public until August 27 and will be a key part of the museum's July 1 Family Day.
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