Winthrop University’s Union of Student Artists took their annual Spring Break trip to Washington, DC. Their five-day trip included many stops to museums and to the sites of the capital city. As the name of their organization suggests, USA’s time was mostly spent in the galleries that populate Washington. They spent some time in the Renwick Gallery, the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Art. The members use this trip to see artwork they normally only see in a classroom setting. They also use this experience to further their own practices and look at their own work with a new and refreshed perspective.
As can be expected, however, there were experiences outside of visits to museums. On one of several bus rides from Charlotte, North Carolina to Washington, D.C., USA members met and heard stories from a self-proclaimed treasure hunter and pirate named Jason. He discussed his previous and diverse careers before his archaeological adventures including experience as a fashion photographer and a sculptor. Before they parted ways, he told USA members about some of his favorite galleries and artists that were displayed in Washington over the last week.
Works seen included a set of interactive installations at the Hirshhorn by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer that added each participants heartbeat and pulse into a pool of water or room of lightbulbs. The USA members also attended the collected exhibit Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now at the National Portrait Gallery where they saw works by Kara Walker, Kristi Malakoff, Camille Utterback and Kumi Yamashita. Black Out explores our past and present in regard to how notions of race, power, individualism and even our digital selves can be reexamined. The paintings, installations, sculptures, photographs and more were exactly the treasure these Winthrop travelers were looking for.
