Posted on April 3, 2020 at 3:30 PM by Lynette Pohlman
Dear University Museums Art Community,
The University Museums is taking Iowa State University’s lead to ensure the safety and well-being of our students, staff, visitors and collections during the COVID-19 crisis is our top priority. At this time, all University Museums locations and offices are closed to the public through May 9, 2020.
Iowa State students began virtual instruction last week and the University Museums is doing its part to ensure the continued education of our students is a priority as we find innovative ways to bring the arts and history into their home. University Museums’ staff, while working remotely or on campus following social distancing guidelines, is busy planning upcoming exhibitions and educational programs, eager for the day we can gather in-person again as a community. Until then, we will do our best to ensure arts, culture, and history continue to provide a significant and inspiring aspect to your life by bringing the arts to you through our social media outlets. Please join us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and right here on our website to continue to be motivated, educated and informed.
As has been demonstrated around the world these past weeks, the arts play a crucial role in our ability to stay connected, sympathetic and inspired. Whether watching people sing together from balconies in Italy; using their talents to dance, act and perform on social media; or creating art that will inspire, inform, and capture this moment in time; we turn to the arts to uplift and guide us through these difficult days.
Locally we are working with campus partners on new public art installations for the Student Innovation Center and Gerdin Business Building; revising the Christian Petersen catalogue raisonné; adding to the ISU Biographical Dictionary; researching and writing scholarship in support of future exhibitions; planning sculpture installations in the Anderson Sculpture Garden and the grounds of the Scheman Building; developing engaging curriculum for fall classes; scheduling conservation and care of the Art on Campus Collection; and so much more.
The museum staff and I are thinking of you and wishing you good health and peace of mind during this turbulent time. We encourage you to reach out to us over social media and let us know the symbols of encouragement, hope and beauty that you would like to see from the Iowa State campus, whether tulips that soon will be blooming in the Anderson Sculpture Garden or water dancing in the Fountain of the Four Seasons. We will do our best to bring the beauty of campus to your door. Art has the power to unite us around the globe, it strengthens our character and inspires the courage to endure, even in the toughest of times.
~ Lynette Pohlman, Director & Chief Curator
