The Pringle Plan: The Bruce Museum

www.brucemuseum.org

I often think twice about two hour drives, but not when the destination is The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT. Her Crowd, an exhibit of art works by women artists was the main reason for my visit. Too often museums feature male artists, and women are left feeling unrepresented. That was not the case this time. There were photos, paintings, collages, and sculptures, all done by women. The main focus seemed to be on proving the point that women are just as good at creating quality works of minimalist art as men.

Several pieces stand out in my mind. As you enter the exhibit there is a photo of a model in various forms of dress, meant to represent Eva Perrone in the many roles she played in her life: party dress, business attire, first lady gowns. In this sense, Eva was not so different from all women. We work, marry, raise children, and are involved in our communities as volunteers, political leaders, and caregivers.

The second piece was a mother and two children. Mother and child portrayals have been done repeatedly throughout art history. Often they are posed in luxurious drapery with a saintly baby Jesus, and have been painted by men. But the painting in this exhibit was clearly painted by a woman. The mother is unglamorous, and the two children are in constant motion, indicated by the still showing sketch marks of the children in various positions. The artist seems to be telling us that she understands a mothers work is never finished.

A medium sized sculpture of a girl with large feet and some type of animal mask on her head, was designed as a counter point to all the pretty porcelain figurines people collect. The driving point of all these works was that women are far more than just pretty objects. Real women wear coveralls and farm, wear hospital scrubs and treat patients, or wear pant suits and run for President.

In another area of the museum, there were several more works of interest. The Small Scales: Lands of Enchantment had works with an environmental theme. In my opinion, this is what The Bruce does best – promote awareness of the environment in unique artistic ways, as well as its historic and scientific displays. One artist had old trunks partially opened to reveal an almost terrarium like interior, with moss, plants, and running water. Another artist pulled old books of wild flowers out of the garbage, cut out the illustrations, and reused them to form bouquets that popped out of the books. The last artist created small three-dimensional imagined cities displayed under domes. They were beautiful in the same way our planet looks when viewed from outer space – we can’t see any of the environmental problems from so far away, and gain perspective on how small our individual issues are.

The permanent exhibits feature fossils, life-like animals preserved by a taxidermist, re-creations of wilderness, geological formations, and Native American structures and tools. This area is great for teaching kids about the environment and history of New England. They also feature a nice mineral collection that is always great fun to see.

The last time I was at The Bruce, in 2015, the featured exhibit was Bjorn Okholm Skaarup’s Carnival of the Animals. This whimsical series of sculptures featured animals in poses from famous paintings, or represented some deeper meaning. For example, a hippo wearing a tutu is based on Degas’ “Small Dancer Aged 14,” while another sculpture of seven animals was meant to represent the seven continents. Although this exhibit moved on last year, I’m including a few photos just because it was so memorable and fun. I hope you find time to hop in your car and make the drive to The Bruce Museum just like I did. It’s always worth the trip.