Here’s a COVID-19 isolation question for you: just what do you do when you’re an organization that literally relies on walk-through traffic to engage with the public?
If you’re the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery, well, the answer is simple.
You just take it all online.
The MJMAG Facebook page is a cornucopia of virtual tours, art challenges, artist interviews and just about everything under the sun related to the local art work.
It’s all part of a concentrated effort to help keep the art world in the public eye in a time when it’s difficult to see creations live and in person.
“We’re just trying to create opportunities for our community and the communities we serve, so they can engage in arts and cultural experience and history,” said curatorial director Jennifer McRorie, who has helped direct traffic on their Facebook site since the museum closed on March 16.
“And it’s a chance for the public to come together to connect and dialogue too. We’ve been inviting people to share some community stories and history, we’ve been inviting local artists to share images of themselves working in their studio to promote local artists too, because everyone is getting hit hard by this pandemic.”
As for their current exhibitions, the gallery has solved that problem by creating a virtual walkthrough of the artspace, featuring additional photos and further information about each piece, all available for free on their Facebook site.
Then you have education co-ordinator Christy Schwieger posting daily art challenges – how to create a paper mache pop art painting being the latest – as well as putting together Facebook Live videos of hands-on art-related activities people can take part in.
On major event taking place this Saturday will see local artist Peter Tucker featured in a special live Zoom interview, beginning at 1 p.m. The event will feature an online discussion of Tucker’s work and his art career and can be accessed by anyone who is interested. Simply respond to the event on Facebook or email McRorie at curator.mjmag@sasktel.
And before you get the idea that it’s all keyboards and cameras for the museum and art gallery for the foreseeable future, there’s some actual groundwork for future projects currently underway, too.
A retrospective of well-known Regina artist Marsha Kennedy is in the planning stages, with the exhibit to open in the fall.
“She was a major influence on a lot of artists in the province and it’s going to feature work over the course of her career,” McRorie said, adding that pieces have been borrowed collections in Vernon, B.C. and Medicine Hat. “And once it comes down in early January, it’ll start touring the country.”
For more information on the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery’s online activities, be sure to check out their Facebook page.
