Beckman Hall gets an artwork makeover

Recently, the walls of Beckman Hall were stripped of their artwork.

Don’t worry — it wasn’t an art heist. It was post-spring cleaning.

Every piece of artwork was removed at the end of May to refresh the walls. After a new coat of paint, the artwork has been reinstalled in Beckman Hall, most being the same pieces as before. However, new artworks that were in storage or collected from other locations around the campus have been added.

Natalie Lawler, assistant collections registrar and preparator, works with the Escalette Permanent Collection of Art at Chapman University and led the curatorial department staff that prepped the building for the reinstallation of that artwork.

Having such an important role in the reinstallation of the artwork, Lawler provides some insight on the exciting change:

Q: Why is this change in the artwork important?

A: The change is important not only to allow our Chapman community to see new and different pieces from the Escalette Collection, but also to ensure the safety and long-term care for the pieces.

Our collection is largely comprised of works on paper, which can be very sensitive to light and environment — they need occasional periods of storage or rest from being on display in order for us to maintain a high standard of care for our collection.

Q: How did you choose the works to display? Why are they significant?

A: I think about half of the pieces were already on display in Beckman. The rest came out of storage or moved to Beckman from their locations in other buildings. Many that were on display were brought back to storage for safekeeping and review. It was a complex web to plan and keep track of as every piece was moved to a new spot.

Over the past two years, my team and I have been comprehensively cataloging every piece in the collection, so that helped give me a picture of what all is available and what the strengths of the collection are. From there, I created some potential groupings of works based on artistic motives or aesthetic ideas the artists share.

We have some really fun and diverse contemporary painters, and many prints and originals from heavyweights of modern art history– our artists cover issues of identity, illusion, color theory, geometry, gesture, humor … the ultimate goal was to keep it simple, highlight our strengths, and to create a fluid conversation about the diversity of modern and contemporary art practices.

Q: What inspired the change and reinstallation in the artwork?

A: I’d been wanting to change the lineup in Beckman for some time, but it was such a monstrous task and other projects had to be prioritized.

The push came when Facilities needed to schedule repairs to all the interior walls in the building, which meant that all the art had to be temporarily de-installed.

It was a heart attack at first, but we figured if we were going to go through all the trouble of prepping everything to take down, and if all the walls would be repainted and patched, we may as well use it as an opportunity to refresh the exhibit as well.

My assistant at the time and my three student workers all helped enormously to make the prep work even remotely possible. I also have to give huge credit to Dave Aeppli and his team at Display Art Handling Services — they did all the heavy lifting and installing for this project, and helped make sure all of our pieces were secure every step of the way.

Q: Which piece is your favorite, or stands out to you the most?

A: The piece that stands out the most to me would have to be the untitled work by Mary Corse.  It is essentially an all-white canvas, so it’s the one that gets the most scoffs or critique when people see it for the first time.

But the surface is actually covered in tiny glass micro-beads (what help illuminate highway signs), so it’s a shifting, glowing surface that reflects the light and color of the environment it’s in.  Corse uses light as her paint.

After people take the time to stop and really look at the piece, it is such a rewarding experience.  I moved the piece to a new spot by the stairwell in Beckman so it can work with the natural light of the large window nearby.

That said, that one has actually been temporarily moved from Beckman to the
Guggenheim Gallery
, where it’s on view for our current 5th Anniversary Escalette exhibition, Paths and Edges.  And it was very recently conserved, so it is especially brilliant to see right now!

 

Image at top: Beckman Hall’s walls received some spring cleaning care and art over the summer.