On Oct. 10, the Hood Museum of Art hosted its annual fall opening celebration to showcase the 12 exhibitions currently on display — eight of which are newly curated exhibitions on topics ranging from societal and cultural relationships with food to reflections on colonization. Visitors enjoyed music performed by jazz vocalist Grace Wallace while viewing the exhibitions located around the Hood’s 16 galleries.
In addition to live music, the evening featured refreshments, giveaways and remarks from Hood director John Stomberg.
The exhibits incorporate artwork spanning history. “Immersive Worlds: Real and Imagined,” for example, features works created after 1950 in a range of mediums, such as printmaking, painting, ceramic and wood sculpture. “Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe,” meanwhile, showcases sculptures from 1400 to 1750 and features “small-scale sculptures found in everyday spaces,” according to the Hood website.
Stomberg said he hopes the intellectually stimulating nature of the exhibitions acts as a reflection of Dartmouth’s academic atmosphere.
“One of the things that you will find about our exhibitions is that we don’t tend to do shows that aren’t theoretically rich, that don’t have a lot of intellect going on in the background,” Stomberg said. “We want you to know that you’re in an academic museum and that you’re not in a municipal museum. So, hopefully, taken as a whole, the 12 different exhibitions that are on view give you a sense of the intellectual vibrancy on campus.”
Stomberg added that the exhibits also depict a diversity of thought.
“We have shows that are talking about art and their place in society and looking boldly at art as a cultural product and what it says about the times and the people who made them,” he said. “But we also have this wonderful show, called ‘Immersive Worlds,’ which looks at how you respond to art.”
Academic programming curator Amelia Kahl ’01, co-curator of “Immersive Worlds: Real and Imagined” alongside Hood Foundation education curator Neely McNulty, said she hopes the more hands-on experiences in the exhibit — such as opportunities to read poems, write postcards and visit a scent station — can serve as “a stimulus for creativity” or “reframe [the] thinking” of Dartmouth community members.
“I hope they can view that there’s many ways to engage with art, and I hope that they find something that they find appealing and engaging,” Kahl said.
In addition to new exhibits, the event also featured changes to existing exhibits. The “Ancient Narratives: A New Look at Old Art” exhibit, located in the Kim Gallery, introduced a new labeling system that showcases the history of each piece and its journey to Dartmouth. In an interview, Hood Museum collections curator Ashley Offill highlighted the value of providing different perspectives on the objects on view.
“I think that’s something that audiences often don’t get,” she said. “I really wanted to show that there are decisions made all throughout history about how things come to museums.”
Offill said she hopes this change in labeling will inspire greater curiosity in viewers, encouraging them to research the history of the artworks and make connections between them.
The celebration was attended by a variety of people, from local residents and students to visitors from outside communities. Ian Stringer, a tourist passing through Hanover, visited the opening celebration and found it “interesting.”
“I thought it was interesting that there were no famous names that I recognized, but [the art was] all interesting,” he said.
Stomberg said he most enjoys the sense of togetherness of the opening celebration. He explained that he finds it “really exciting” when people come up to him and say, “This is really neat.”
“I love that people are inspired by the work,” Stomberg said.
As visitors continue to explore the new exhibits, Stomberg said he hopes that they maintain the same level of excitement and enthusiasm that he observed at the event.
“I’m hoping that people take away the fact that in a museum, there’s not just many voices of artists, but there are many storytellers taking the role of curators,” Stomberg said. “And it’s the combination that goes into making a museum dynamic, which I really think we are.”
