Riding the second wave of museum closures
Thank goodness art museums are reopening! Now I can see the new Barbara Earl Thomas exhibit — oh wait…
[bitter laugh] Just kidding. Coronavirus rates are spiking again and we’re under a second stay-home order until at least mid-December. When one door closes…
If you’re art-starved and longing for The Before Times, search my blog for posts tagged “museum,” including:
Parents’ Day Out with me (and without the kids)
“Double Exposure,” contrasting portrayals of indigenous people in the Northwest
In the meantime, I guess we put museum visits on the raincheck list of restricted activities. ‘Raincheck in Rain City’ thanks to the ‘Rona. Ha. We are not amused.
Jesus H. Christ, Lisa!
Can you see the Divine Light shining out of my face? Google can.
Unknown artist, “Christ’s Blessing” stained glass window at Greensboro Historical Museum, North Carolina
It’s Friday… I’m just having a little more fun with Google’s art selfie app. According to the museum collections included in this app, I could be A) a Mexican/French/Brazilian woman, or B) a solemn toddler, or C) Jesus H. Christ. What do you think?
Selfie match-up with: “Manya LaTour” by Raphael Soyer; “Retrato de Lucy I” by Lasar Segall
Leopold Louis Boilly, “Portrait of Madame Gastellier;” FECK, “Sin titulo (Untitled)”
Speaking of having a little fun: Carla Sonheim’s “Bugs!” art class starts on Monday! I make my appearance on Thursday, October 22nd. Have you registered yet? If not, this is your Official Reminder to make room for some collage fun next week.
Museum-killers: bugs of two kinds
It’s getting rough out there for museums and their staff. The coronavirus pandemic poses an existential threat to museums as well as for-profit businesses nationwide. And it’s all due to bugs.
The coronavirus is the immediate bug threat: American museums are struggling to survive without paying visitors, who are stuck in quarantine. A survey of 760 museum directors last month showed they’ve laid off or furloughed 44% of their staff. Without major financial aid, one-third of the museum heads worry they may be forced to shut down permanently in 16 months — if their operating budgets even last that long.
And then there’s the other kind of bug.
Gray silverfish are less of a problem at UK museums during normal times. Source: Wikimedia Commons
It’s more difficult for museums in Britain to keep gray silverfish and other pests from damaging the collections when all the staff are stuck at home. No museum visitors are scaring away the bugs from the public areas, either, and the insects are more active in warmer weather as well. So the bugs pretty much have the place to themselves.
Don’t you want to see art in real life again, instead of online? Remember to mask up, y’all. The sooner we flatten the infection curve, the sooner we get to enjoy our museums.