By Emma Whitaker | Reporter
On Valentine’s Day, the Martin Museum of Art held a free evening event involving torch light for art loving couples. Chani Collins, collections manager, and Krista Latendresse, educational coordinator helped facilitate the romantic occasion.
“Dr. Elkins and Dr. DeLouche curated this exhibit, and something they used to do in the 18th and 19th century was host antiquities collections. They would turn off all the lights and actually take a torch in a museum and give these kind of tours with this dramatic lighting. Dr. DeLouche came up with the idea based on his research of how people viewed these collections, and we decided to base an event off of that concept,” Chani Collins said.
Dr. Elkins and Dr. DeLouche brought couples back in time as they lead the tour throughout the exhibit. This exhibit, titled The Neoclassical Gaze: Myth and Reality of Ancient Sculpture, is open until March 8, 2019.
It features Wilhelm Gottlieb Becker’s Augusteum (1804-1811), a three-volume publication of engravings illustrating ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. These works are to be pondered, both from the perspectives of the ancient world, as well as that of the Neoclassical Revival of the 19th century.
Every person in the exhibit was given an electronic torch as they entered into the free-thinking space. Terry and Greg Blanson said they loved the variety of pieces the Martin Museum of Art. Events often include food, and occasionally feature the actual artists of the pieces displayed, they said. Greg Blanson is an artist himself and loves to come to the art events for inspiration.
“We’re on an email list, so whenever there is a new art exhibit, we get notified,” Terry Blanson said, “I took an art class in high school, and that really spurred my interest in impressionism and other kinds of art, but even more so when I met my husband.”
There was Print-A-Valentine station for the romantic night. The Print-A-Valentine station was open to the public and student population from 2 to 5 p.m.
Dr. Elkins and Dr. DeLouche encouraged people to examine the pieces of art with reflection. The dim light aids in slowing down time, taking restorative thought to the original artist’s motives and creative expression. The two showed the two perspectives, one of the ancient world and one of the Neoclassical era of the nineteenth-century.
“I think it was just exciting to show the two perspectives. Even today I think we tend to project our visions on past people, we need to separate ourselves from our projections. We try to be objective, but we never really can,” Dr. Elkins said.
