MANCHESTER – The Currier Museum of Art reopened to the public last week. The museum welcomes visitors back with three new special exhibitions, including Open World: Video Games and Contemporary Art, Photographs from the Civil Rights Movement, and Richard Haynes: Whispering Quilts.

The museum is taking measures to ensure the safety of its visitors and staff. All visitors must wear a mask and the number of visitors in each gallery will be limited. In order to maintain social distancing, the museum is instituting timed ticketing, and encourages the public to buy their tickets online in advance. Surfaces will be regularly cleaned and disinfected.

The museum will also offer new hours to expand accessibility and be open four days a week, Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. being reserved for members and seniors.

“The museum has been very active online since March,” said Alan Chong, director of the Currier Museum. “But art is more powerful when experienced in person. Our new exhibitions are striking statements. We have made changes in all of the galleries, with the addition of new objects. For example, we have a striking work by Helen Frankenthaler on loan from a private collection, shown near a masterpiece by Norman Lewis which is a new addition to our collection.” While the museum is excited to welcome visitors back inside, we are also aware that there are those who may still prefer to stay home. We will continue to offer virtual events like curator talks, close-looking activities, and online discussions with artists.”

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Thursday nights: Art after Work!

The Currier Museum will now offer free admission every Thursday night from 5 pm to 8 pm. Come and enjoy the museum galleries, and have a bite and a drink at the Café with live music. The museum is also free all day on the second Saturday of each month for NH residents. Free Saturdays start Sept. 12.

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Open World: Video Games and

Contemporary Art

Artists have been profoundly influenced by video games, a pervasive part of popular culture since the 1970s. The works in Open World treat a broad cross-section of games, ranging from early text adventure and arcade games to multi-player online role-playing games. Artists have been influenced by popular games, including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, The Sims, and Final Fantasy.

According to one survey, 155 million Americans play video games. We can only imagine how this number has increased since stay-at-home measures were put in place. Visual artists are gamers too, yet video games are rarely examined as a major influence on contemporary art. Come to the Currier Museum to experience this extraordinary exhibition that explores how artists apply the influence of video games to express a viewpoint, and to encourage critical thinking by directing the player’s attention to systems at work within the real world.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue (hardcover, full-color, 96 pages) featuring contributions by video game historian Andrew Williams and feminist scholar Samantha Blackmon.

Photographs from the Civil Rights Movement

Protests have been fundamental to American democracy since the country’s founding. And artists have often given powerful expression to calls for change. Drawn from the museum’s collection, the photographs in this show were made during the Civil Rights protests in the 1950s and 1960s.

The passion, tragedy, and essential humanity of the Civil Rights Movement emerge in these images. Some were made by outside observers, while others were taken by participants in the protests. Photographer Ernest Withers (1922-2007) created some of the most compelling images of the American Civil Rights Movement. Civil rights leaders embraced photography as a means of raising awareness and funding for their cause.

Richard Haynes: Whispering Quilts

In a series of drawings, the artist Richard Haynes tells the story of an enslaved family’s dangerous journey along the Underground Railroad, from a southern plantation to freedom in Canada. This narrative of hope, struggle, and triumph is based on historic accounts. Traditional quilting patterns evoke the themes in dynamic compositions. The faceless figures represent the thousands of slaves who made the journey as well as the hidden lives of countless others who died in servitude. The brilliant colors suggest that joy can be found even in horrific situations.

Richard Haynes is an artist, author, and educator based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Currier Art Center and his work is featured in the museum’s collection.

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