By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org
This summer, both the Grand Rapids Public Museum and the Grand Rapids Art Museum explore America’s culture — from pop to folk — through different lenses.
Grand Rapids Public Museum: POPnology and Pollinators
The Grand Rapids Public Museum takes a futuristic approach to American culture with its “POPnology” summer exhibit along with giving visitors a ground view of the life of pollinators in “Amazing Pollinators.”
“This summer, you won’t want to miss these two exciting additions to the experience at the Grand Rapids Public Museum,” said Kate Kocienski, the Public Museum’s vice president of marketing and public relations. “Great for all ages, these exhibits will entertain while teaching about nature, science, technology and engineering.”
“POPnology” is three floors of exhibit space featuring the DeLorean time machine, androids, and extraterrestrials from far-away galaxies and more. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore and see how technology has been featured in movies, books, television, art, and created by futurists. Four featured areas explore science and technology in everyday lives, where we’ve been, and where we’re going: How We Play, How We Connect, How We Move, and How We Live and Work.
Among the highlights of the “POPnology exhibit are:
Local Motors showcasing the Strati, the world’s first 3D printed car
Two interactive state of the art game that allow you to explore our fascination with the red planet – the Mars Rocket Builder and Mars Lander
Virtual projection games
Futuristic musical instrument technology
Jetpack from Disney’s “The Rocketeer”
Autopia car from Disney World’s Tomorrowland
Artistic renderings from visual futurists who created the look of such movies as “Blade Runner,” “Star Wars,” “Alien”
Moving from futuristic to the real world, “Amazing Pollinators” is a bilingual and playable maze that has hundreds of interactive flowers spread across nine environments like lotus flowers in the rain forest, saguaro cactus in the desert, and moon flowers glowing in the black lit night room.
In the maze, visitors take on 48 survival missions from eight different pollinator groups including bats, bees, beetles, birds, butterflies, moths, flies, and wasps. There are six missions for each group that increase in complexity and difficulty, putting players in the shoes of different species like the hibiscus bee, soldier beetle or ruby-throated hummingbird.
Both exhibits will be available through the summer season. Tickets for “POPnology” are $5/person and $3/GRPM member and are in addition to general admission to the Museum. “Amazing Pollinators” is included in the general admission. Kent County residents receive discounted admission to the Public Museum, including free general admission every day for Kent County kids ages 17 and under.
Advance ticket purchase is required before visiting the museum. Visitors are required to wear masks properly during the duration of their visit. For social distancing guidelines and other information, visit grpm.org.
Grand Rapids Art Museum: American Perspectives
More than 80 American folk art objects, spanning from paintings and pottery to quilts, needlework, and sculpture, are on display at the Grand Rapids Art Museum through Aug. 28.
“‘American Perspectives’ offers our visitors a chance to look at America through the eyes and experiences of folk artists,” said GRAM Director and CEO Dana Friis-Hansen. “The diversity of experience and perspective is what strengthens our community, and we look forward to sharing a platform for stories that have often been untold throughout history.”
“American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection” is organized into four sections: Founders, Travelers, Philosophers, and Seekers. Within each of these sections are themes of nationhood, freedom, community, imagination, opportunity, and legacy.
Many of the works in the exhibit present the perspectives of groups that are largely unseen in museums, such as enslaved people, immigrants, and people with disabilities. It reinforces how many of our society’s current issues — immigration, political turmoil, economic uncertainty, and loss of personal liberties — have been a concern in the past and remain topics of significance today.
“‘American Perspectives’ include traditional art works like portraiture and landscape paint to more unexpected pieces like carousel figures, wood carvings, and dolls,” said GRAM Assistant Curator Jennifer Wcisel. “The craftsmanship and beauty of each work is remarkable, but what truly makes them come alive are the diverse stories behind them.
“From Felipe Archuleta who was unable to find work as a carpenter and began creating life-size animal sculptures to Jessie B. Telfair, a black cook in Georgia who created her ‘Freedom Quilt’ after being fired from her job when she tired to register to vote — I hope visitors will find stories that relate to their won lives and the social and political issues of the present.”
The exhibit is included with the general admission to the Grand Rapids Art Museum. For social distancing guidelines and other information, visit artmuseumgr.org.
