Monday, May 16, 2011

"Art Imidates Dance" online exhibition on Facebook

Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917), Dancer, not dated, etching (restrike), 7 x 4 inches, Gift of Professor James T. Forrest and Dr. Suzanne S. Forrest, University of Wyoming Art Museum Collection, 1973.18


A new online exhibition titled, Art Imitates Dance, is now available to view on the Art Museum's Facebook page. Simply log in to your account and search for "University of Wyoming Art Museum." A photo album featuring 10 works from the permanent collection is on view.

This online exhibition is part of a collaboration with the Laramie Dance Center. Every year, the Dance Center holds a spring performance that is the culmination of a year's worth of hard work in each class - from tap to ballet to belly dancing. The theme of this year's performance is Art Imitates Dance, and each instructor selected a piece of artwork as the basis for the choreography, music, and costumes.

While the Art Museum doesn't have the specific artworks in the permanent collection, we do have similar works by some of the same artists and their contemporaries. This online exhibition features five works by some of the same artists who were selected by Laramie Dance Center instructors, and five works by contemporaries of other artists who work in either the same style, or have the same themes in their work.

Information about each piece is listed under the image, along with the title and artist of the similar work selected by the Laramie Dance Center. The goal of this online exhibition is to continue making connections between dance, gesture, movement and art. Each image in the online exhibition also features questions that encourage viewers to look closely and explore ideas about dance and art.

The Laramie Dance Center spring performance is this Saturday, May 21 at 1pm in the A&S Auditorium. It is free and open to the public. For more information about the ongoing collaboration between the Laramie Dance Center and the Art Museum, which will also feature Dance Center instructors teaching a movement component at the Art Museum's free summer program, Paint Pony Express, please call the Art Museum at 307.766.6622.

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