What Is Art?’ Exhibition Opens Nov. 16 at Jundt Art Museum, Features Various Mediums, Artists


November 04, 2013
SPOKANE, Wash. – An exhibition featuring an eclectic gathering of visual and material culture objects from Gonzaga University’s permanent collection opens Nov. 16 at the Jundt Art Museum. The exhibition, titled “What is Art? Visual and Material Culture in the Permanent Collection,” will remain in the Arcade Gallery through March 8, 2014.

The exhibition poses the open-ended question “what is art?” for museum visitors. In a culture dominated by images, this small exhibition permits viewers to consider objects and juxtapositions of works of art in new and interesting ways. The exhibition includes an international array of prints, paintings, photographs, sculptures and decorative art by well-known artists such as Dale Chihuly, Albrecht Dürer, William Hogarth, Rembrandt van Rijn and others, mixed with objects by unidentified, ethnic, contemporary or lesser-known artists.

The director and curator of the museum, Paul Manoguerra, Ph.D., will use the exhibition as a teaching tool for dialogue and discussion during the Art Appreciation courses at Gonzaga in spring semester (2014).

“I would like museum visitors and Gonzaga students to use the objects on display from our Permanent Collection to consider how our 21st-century American culture defines art,” says Manoguerra. “I hope the mix of objects prompts thinking about authenticity, excellence, purpose and artistic intent as patrons enjoy looking at the Jundt Art Museum’s exhibition.”

The museum’s exhibitions are free and open to the public Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The museum is closed Sundays and University holidays.

For more information, please contact Karen Kaiser, assistant curator for education, at (509) 313-6613 or via e-mail.