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ART MUSEUM CRITIQUE

Use the following format for your museum critique; answers must be typed below the
questions and all questions must appear in full on your final copy. You can use this
document as your template. Pay careful attention to the required number of words for those
questions that have them. Failure to follow the instructions here and on your syllabus will
result in a substantially low grade. Minimal answers poorly written are a D grade or less.
Elaboration of points, excellent arguments, and good writing garner higher grades.
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Name Zoe Wuthrich Class period/section Friday / Justice Section
1) Which museum did you visit? Univ. of Utah BYU
2) Describe at least one of the permanent collection exhibits on a theme, period,
geographic region, or topic) within the museum. {150 words}
My favorite exhibit at Brigham Young Universitys museum of art has to be the
sculpture garden. These sculptures resided scattered outside of the museum. These
pieces are not subjected to one category, they are all different and provoke different
emotions. I really like that this museum has thought outside of the box and has an
exhibit outside I personally think that individuals over look these pieces of art and they
really should not. Many individuals going to the museum go inside to find what they are
looking for. I like the outdoors so I really liked the environment and idea. I find
sculptures to be the hardest works of art to create. Every piece is unique and took a lot
of thought to create. When an individual creates a sculpture they have to choose
mediums to use, colors, texture and size.
Shaping America is another Permanent exhibit BYU MOA contains. This exhibit
made its way to BYU in 2013. These works of art are older. I was not disappointed in
these pieces. They varied from Indian wool woven rugs that hung on the walls to
Landscape paintings painted with oil, which makes for a lovely texture.
3) Give a brief, one paragraph description of a special, temporary exhibit (for help, ask
museum staff what these are; they are usually in one of the first rooms). {100 words}
Branding the American West was one of the temporary exhibits I enjoyed the most.
This exhibit consisted of a lot of Wild West themed works. I thought it was really cute
that some pieces had video clips from old movies next to them! These pieces did not
disappoint me! A lot of these painting are of places like Monument Valley, which I have
visited various times. This exhibit really gives you the cowboy vs Indian feel. These
paintings and films are taken from the 1900-1950 perspective. When I think of that time
I think of WWI to WWII and the advances made within that time. It was nice seeing
pictures/film clips of a more barren feel where it wasnt industrial and glitz and glam
(referring to art deco era 1920-1939).
4) What do you think the museum administration and/or exhibit curators want you to learn

or gain from the exhibits you viewed? {100 word minimum}


Like I said above when I think of the time period of 1900-1950 I think of the industrial
revolution and the Art Deco Era. I think of all advancements and I never really give
thought into the Wild West. It was a nice refresher. I definitely gained a different
perspective of this time frame. Exploring the art pieces illustrating the American West
was great in my opinion. I think that the administrators / curators want the audiences to
learn that the West endured the depression and the wars of those decades in there
barren and open landscape.
There was also religious works of art. To be honest I did not view those in depth.
5) What kind of information is provided about the works? Where might you look for further
information if you were interested? (Name three possibilities)
The artist is provided and the title. And some of the western America art pieces had little
film clips next to them. For more information I could ask the staff, look up the artist
online, or go to BYU MOAs website and see if there is any information there.
6) Choose several works that particularly appealed to you. Explain why you were drawn to
these works. Comment on the subject, style, medium, time period, etc. Who were the
artists? What message do you think the artists were trying to convey in the works you
chose to discuss? This question must be answered in its entirety. {This should be at
least 500 words}
Gabriel Dawes Plexus no. 29 was my absolute favorite thing in the whole museum. I
am usually into blacks and tans but this piece of work awe struck me. This piece
consisted of many tiny threads I believe that strung from the ceiling to the walls creating
a look like light through a prism. I really enjoyed this look because whenever I see
rainbows I immediately get tremendously happy. I am pretty sure it has to do a lot about
my childhood. I have a lot of stories about rainbows from when I was growing up.
There was this one time when my family was driving to my grandparents that my
siblings and I saw a really beautiful rainbow. As we approached my grandparents
house the rainbow appeared to be in their back yard, no joke. The closer we got the
more excited we were. Once we arrived at their house the rainbow was gone. It was
really sad. When we went inside my aunt, Kami, said she caught the leprechaun and it
was in the bathroom. Long story shorted I really thought it was in there and I got really
scared and for a few years I was scared of rainbows. Looking back at rainbows now I
always smile and laugh. This piece brought joy to me because it reminded me of an
innocent time. I love when art pieces bring memories to mind, they are the absolute
best. So yeah, that is why this piece was my absolute favorite in all of BYU MOA.
When I view this work by artist Gabriel Dawe I think he wants the viewer, me in this
case, to be enlightened. I think this because the way the colors rain down like they are
falling / reflecting out of a prism just a sense of light and even conception of power. This
translucent rainbow look conveys much more than just another art piece. It is apparent
that this piece of work took hours to prepare and hours to install. I cannot even image
how much time this piece took to create or if Gabriel had help. All in all, this piece
reflects light and color into the museums atmosphere creating a safe and wonder like
feeling.

Another piece I liked was Maynard Dixons Mesas in Shadow. If I can remember
right this painting was painted with oil. I really liked this piece because it reminded me of
Moab. I am always a fan of anything that reminds me of home, as you can probably tell
by now. This piece is really beautiful. Dixon uses cool and warm colors in this piece of
work and I really like that. The ground is warm orange sand and then above are cool
huge storm clouds. Clouds so big the cliffs in the back are facing their shadows. I think
that this piece portrays the light before the dark. This landscape is so large and vast that
there is both sun light and darkness. I find this to be a message that the weather is
always changing and that a storm can drastically change an environment.
7) How did the artworks you looked at relate to material we have discussed in class?
(They do relate in many ways, you just need to look for those relationships). {Minimum
of 150 words}
The section we had on Nature in our Humanities 1100 class is where I find a lot of
connection to the art in. A lot of art I viewed had a western feel with wilderness all
around. These western pictures / pieces / items /films reminded me of the discussion we
had about; is it nature if people are present? It made me laugh because I remembered
when we viewed the more modern pictures in class people would say it wasnt nature.
When I view these pieces that are of about 100- years ago I can see a lot of nature in
them vs more modern pictures. I see nature in the natives and the horses and I didnt
see nature in those images of the cattle we viewed. I just find that the animal cruelty
level was extremely low in these times.
8) What was your personal reaction to this experience? Would you enjoy attending this
type of event again? Why or why not? {Minimum 100 words}
Two of my friends and I went to brunch and then went here. I really liked visiting a
museum with them because all three of us are extremely influenced by art. It was great
to hear their opinions on the pieces and have them listen to mine. My one friend,
Hannah, is a graphic designer and it was really interesting to hear her connections to
some of the art. I would absolutely do this again. I really enjoy dinosaur museums and I
usually opt to visiting those over art museums. The last time I visited an art museum
before this was for a high school art trip. I would like to take my mom to this museum
and possible my younger sister who is in high school. I think that environments like this
are great places to bond at since the environment is creative and interesting.
As always remember that I want to see reflective thinking on your part. Show me you are
aware of your limitations, your biases, etc. Show me that you are thinking about your own
responses and why you respond the way you do.

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