By Jerome Weeks
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-701938.mp3
Dallas, TX – The first exhibition in the new Center for Creative Connections explores the materials that artists have used, from chocolate and soap to stone and paint. And it provides close-up interactions with eight pieces from the DMA's collection.
Bonnie Pitman, deputy director of the DMA, explains why The Wave, an oil painting by Gustave Courbet, is put under a magnifying glass.
Pitman: "When you get up to that Courbet Wave and look through the magnifying glass -- that's something I wish everybody could do in the galleries, but we can't allow that. So to skooch up and to move that magnifying glass up and down and to explore with your own eyes the way the paint has been applied by an artist like Courbet -- is phenomenal. And adults can do that or children can do that."
The DMA's new center features areas for younger children, as well as a computer lab and a studio for group projects or classes. Visitors are encouraged to respond to the many interactive displays, from blogging about them to marking them with Post-It notes.
Pitman: "What we're trying to do is get you to slow down and look more closely, and then go the next step and think of something to do with that."
To mark the center's opening, admission is free at the DMA this weekend, and hours have been extended.
For photos and to hear more from Bonnie Pitman, go to the Arts and Culture Blog at Kera.org.