The Prichard Art Gallery is finding alternative ways to expose the community to art, and one of them is going online.
Many local businesses have been affected by the challenges COVID-19 has posed. For the Prichard Art Gallery, they are finding creative ways to confront these challenges.
“At all times, it is important for people to have access to culture and art,” Assistant Director at the Prichard Art Gallery Sonja Foard said. “I think nature is giving us a chance to calm down and see things in a different perspective.”
Right now, everything is up in the air Foard said. The current exhibit, “Four Old Guys Walk into a Gallery,” is still up.
The gallery is continuing to stay active with the community.
“We are online,” Foard said. “Our website hasn’t changed, but we have our Instagram, Facebook and newsletter.”
The newsletter is a resource for the community to reach out and do art.
The gallery is continuing this program every Thursday afternoon during the school year called the After School Art Program (ASAP). This program is run by Jenifer Rod, a vocal teaching artist, and meets via Zoom every Thursday from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. The program is now free for families taking the class, so students can see their friends and have time with Rod, Foard said.
Foard is reaching out to faculty, students and local artists to do video shorts. They will answer questions about their practice and record themselves in their studios talking about their craft. These video shorts will go on the Prichard Art Gallery’s Facebook starting next week.
In the future, Foard is planning ways to give kids a new experience. She is putting together art kits to give out to the community.
“We have been thinking about the time kids are spending online with their screens, so we want to give them something more hands-on and three dimensional,” Foard said. “We will be talking and hopefully the program will be coming into play shortly.”
The gallery’s gift store provides important income that goes directly to programming. It is hard to get donations with everything quiet, Foard said. The gift store will be going online next week and will have curbside pick-up as well as free delivery on Fridays in the Moscow area. The gift store has cool things like creative science kits, cross-stitch and gift boxes. Foard has lots of graduation gifts because of anticipated graduation in the spring.
“We will advertise those and, hopefully, people will continue to support the gallery,” Foard said.
The Master of Fine Arts gallery reception, a reception to showcase the work of MFA candidates, is normally held at the Prichard Art Gallery. However, the shutdown has complicated the event.
“We want to give them an opportunity to have a show,” Foard said. “It is very important in the educational experience to show your work and see it in a gallery space.”
The MFA show will be changed to a fall date, and students will be coming back to install and have their reception, Foard said.
“Nature and art give us a way to see things from a different perspective,” Foard said. “You can also get that looking at art is important, reflecting what is happening in this time.”
The Prichard Art Gallery is excited to see local artists as well as artists around the world reacting to this specific moment and sharing their art.
Emily Pearce can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Emily_A_Pearce.