Norton Museum of Art

Exhibitionsin 2022-23, the Norton Museum of Art presented a season of offerings designed to connect visitors to meaningful experiences with Art. The Norton's accomplishments were realized through a dynamic schedule of exhibitions and a diverse calendar of events and programs. The Norton welcomed the public with a total of 33 special exhibitions. It was proud to host the most anticipated exhibition of the season, a personal view on high fashion & street style: photographs from the nicola erni collection, 1930s to now, in october 2022. High fashion & street style spurred an overwhelming public response as it represented the first time that this comprehensive collection of more than 250 photographs was exhibited in a public institution. An overarching thematic focal point across the season's exhibitions was "american modernism", and the Museum's efforts to bring renowned Art from notable national institutions to west palm beach communities. The first in this series was joseph stella: visionary nature, co-organized by the brandywine river Museum of Art and the high Museum of Art, and on view in october 2023. The exhibition was dedicated to presenting highlights from stella's work of flora and fauna, and was met with great success, serving as a precursor to other collaborative-based exhibitions, including: at the dawn of a new age: early twentieth-century american modernism from the whitney Museum of american Art; the Norton's special guests series from the hispanic society of america and the leiden collection, respectively; and classic blues: cobalt blue porcelain and indigo-dyed textiles, curated in partnership with the asian handicrafts foundation usa and morikami Museum and japanese gardens. The season also featured a slate of stimulating permanent collection-based exhibitions, each spotlighting the Museum's five collecting areas. The calendar of exhibitions included: autumn mountains and the light of the harvest moon (january 2023), which shared how four paintings representing hills or mountains relate to the major chinese holiday, the mid-autumn festival; lalla essaydi: un/veiled (november 2022) and akin: capturing human intimacy and tenderness (july 2023), both meditations on the medium of photography; reflecting the gaze: jillian mayer and abigail reyes (september 2023) and past lives: performance Art through the camera (august 2023), both multimodal exhibitions featuring photography and video works; an exhibition from a gifted collection, new york vanguard: promised gifts from stephen and madeline anbinder (june 2023); where dragons dwell: symbols of status in clothing and collecting (september 2023), a chinese Art exhibition celebrating the year of the dragon; between drawing and painting: pastels from the collection (august 2023), a comprehensive look at the pastels in the Norton's collection; and from man ray to o'keeffe: american modernism at the Norton (july 2023), a companion exhibition to the whitney's dawn of a new age. The Museum's learning and community engagement department also plays a salient role in the development and presentation of exhibitions. 2022-23 featured two outreach exhibitions in the Museum's chris and bernard marden community gallery, each showcasing the talent of local youth through themed, curriculum-focused exhibitions: leading the way (abriendo caminos) afterschool arts outreach annual exhibition (2023) and dress codes: photographing cultures and identities through fashion. The marden gallery continues to serve as an important outreach tool for the Norton to connect with the community by offering a space for students and families to gather, celebrate, and draw inspiration from the Art on view. Dress codes marked the Norton's first juried student Art exhibition in partnership with the palm beach county school district and was originally presented in the Norton's william randolph hearst learning and community engagement center, showcasing the photography of young artists from public middle and high schools across the region. The exhibition garnered such interest and popularity from national audiences that it traveled to new york city's hearst tower and was prominently on view in their galleries from june - november 2023. For the first time, Art educators from more than 50 area schools were invited to participate in this inaugural exhibition, each submitting five photo-based student artworks for juried consideration. More than 180 submissions were winnowed to the final 63 works in the exhibition, representing 23 schools from across the county. Each work illustrated varied approaches to photography and drew inspiration from photographers who shaped the genres of fashion and street photography. Art professionals and collectors served as jurors and selected three student finalistsin addition to three honorable mentionswho were all awarded scholarships. The exhibition granted students the unique opportunity to exhibit their work within a Museum setting alongside the Norton's collection and special exhibitions.

Learning & community engagementin 2022-23, the Museum's learning and community engagement department presented an outstanding season of programs enjoyed by over 103,000 visitors. These programs played a key role in advancing the Norton's mission by exploring a broad range of topics and appealing to a wider diversity of visitors.the season's programming capitalized on the special exhibition a personal view on high fashion & street style: photographs from the nicola erni collection, 1930s to now. Learning and community engagement staff collaborated with a community committee comprised of internal and external stakeholders to help curate a season of programs that represented specific communities effectively. Thanks to that committee, staff ideated and created over 30 programs inspired by the exhibition, and others, forging programmatic partnerships with the palm beach county school district, Florida atlantic university, the armory Art center, the palm beach county library system, arts4all, to name a few. In addition to over 1,300 docent- and curator-led tours in the galleries and virtual tours for school groups, the Museum continued guia, a program designed for bilingual high school students to lead tours throughout the galleries. Guia took advantage of the exhibition at the dawn of a new age: early twentieth-century american modernism to expand how the Museum was reaching its audiences, and leveraged bilingual guides to engage visitors as they perused the exhibition. The program was so effective that Norton staff were invited to lead the guia program as a class at the local john i. leonard community high school and others.to broaden access and welcome more visitors through its doors, the Museum also hosted community days, free festivals that feature an array of intergenerational programs. Community days are focused on appealing to a wider audience through four themed experiences: juneteenth family day, lunar new year, games around the world, and nuestra cultura. Over 3,700 visitors enjoyed free admission to community days in 2022-23: the 9th annual lunar new year community day drew over 1,500 visitors; the 3rd annual nuestra cultura community day drew over 700 visitors; the 3rd annual juneteenth community day drew over 700 visitors; and the 3rd annual games around the world community day drew over 2,100 visitors. The latter two community days were anchors in the Museum's summer at the Norton initiative, offering visitors free admission on saturdays from memorial day through labor day, and free wellness programs including drum circle, tai chi classes, and dog friendly events, featuring the participation of multiple business partners.afterschool arts outreach (aao)- a nationally recognized program that partners with eight afterschool sites across palm beach county to bring arts-based activities directly to students every week, year-round--served over 600 children in 2022-23. In-person classroom sessions were finally able to resume at their max capacity, enabling teaching artists to fully engage participants at partner sites. Aao also expanded during this period and was proud to welcome a new partner to the program, riconcito del sol, a shelter for refugees and immigrants dedicated to serving over 80 adolescent girls between the ages of 13 and 17. One highlight at rinconcito del sol was a special small-scale exhibition organized by Norton staff to showcase the girls' semester long exploration of the cyanotype technique. Public programs continue to be at the forefront of the Museum's most visible offerings and serve as an important means for connecting with visitors. During the 2022-23 fiscal year, the Norton hosted over 60 family programs and more than 160 public programs for adult audiences. Key family programs included studio workshops and tours, an Art and literature mash-up program titled book + Art, dance and musical performances, year-round festivals, and more. Major adult public programs included: the edlavitch lecture series; artist talks, curator conversations, artspeaks, and other lectures for general public; a collaborative film night with the subculture film festival; and weekly Art after dark friday evenings centered around celebrating the Norton's collection, its special exhibitions, and the local community. These programming opportunities brough renowned names to west palm beach, including arthur wheelock, anna somers cocks, amy arbus, gloria groom, and hugh eakin, among others. The Norton was proud to be able to offer such a diverse and compelling calendar of events and programs in 2022-23, all complemented by a multi-faceted exhibition schedule spanning across the Norton's five collecting areas.

Acquisitions and conversationin 2022-23, the Museum's works of Art committee approved a total of approximately 819 acquisitions, including significant paintings, photographic works, and over 700 works on paper. Gifts from generous supporters continued to bring exceptional Art into the Norton's collection. Notable acquisitions for the collection included: Virginia miller (1978), a portrait of a miami gallerist; the horse you rode on in (2022), a painting by derrick adams; octagonal plate with landscape and "fitzhugh border" (circa 1785-1800) by potters at jingdezhen, jiangxi province; mrs. frederick guest (amy phipps) (1905) by john singer sargent; 15 albumen prints from wet-collodion negatives, circa 1865-1869 by charles marville and 5 gelatin silver prints, circa 1956-1977, by bill brandt; and a promised gift of nearly 700 works on paper that will be showcased in the forthcoming exhibition the paper trail: 500 years of prints from the jonathan "jack" frost collection. The addition of these acquisitions brings the Norton's collection to an approximate total of 9,244 objects.the Norton continues to monitor its collection with frequent examinations and conservation treatments that adhere to industry best practice. One such visible example is the exterior work on the Norton's plaza and west entrance, typewriter eraser, scale x (1999) by claes oldenburg and coosje van bruggen, which requires routine cleaning and maintenance. To further conserve the work and support its presentation, the Norton embarked on a project to upgrade the shallow pool in which the sculpture is centrally situated. The pool's black panels began to exhibit signs of degradation, and the Norton sought to replace them with a durable granite material to bring greater efficiency to their long-term care and maintenance. Today, the reflecting pool project is complete, and the sculpture is now exhibited exactly as the artists originally intended. This conservation project was one of great importance to the Norton because the reflecting pool is a foundational element of the Museum's most recognizable symbol: typewriter eraser, scale x. The sculpture and reflecting pool have become integral to the west facade, and as the most visible public-facing elements of the Norton's identity, must be preserved and stewarded for generations to come.

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