The Lowe Art Museum is mounting its second fall semester showing following earlier exhibits that brought patrons back indoors after the museum closed for more than a year during the pandemic.
The Lowe reopened to the public in August with regulated in-person admission and reduced hours featuring “Instant Miami” by William Wegman, “The Portraitist” by Duane Michals and “Force of Nature: Highlights from the Myrna B. Palley Art Jewelry Collection.”
Attendance has been slowly building during fall semester, said Mark Osterman, the museum’s director of digital engagement and head of education. The museum is eager to showcase its offerings, highlighting “contemporary culture through 5,000 years of human creativity,” Osterman said.
The Lowe’s next scheduled installments are “Gari Melchers: An American Master at Home and Abroad,” and “American Impressionism: Treasures from the Daywood Collection.” Both exhibits, which open Nov. 18, highlight late 19th- and early 20th-century American art, and run through Feb. 13.
Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, the museum is offering free admission to the public through May thanks to a donation from Beaux Arts, the fundraising group that supports the museum’s programs. In order to maintain a reduced capacity in the museum, all visitors must select a time slot and make an online ticket reservation in advance.
Students, who have routine free admission, have been among the fall patrons to visit the Lowe and say the steps taken to decrease risk of transmitting COVID-19 are comforting.
“I felt very safe visiting the museum. There were only a few people, and everyone was wearing masks,” said Julia Monteiro Martins, a junior studying for a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in graphic design.
To keep interest up while the museum was closed, the Lowe Art Museum developed online digital interactives and virtual programming such as the monthly “Lowe Connects” and “Art of Mindfulness” series, Osterman said.
Some museum presentations and exhibitions are still being hosted digitally, including “Highlights from the Myrna B. Palley Art Jewelry Collection” and “The Distance Between You and Me is Us,” the museum’s annual UM student-curated exhibition and a collaborative project between the Department of Art and Art History and the Lowe.
Students and community members interested in more information can visit the museum’s website for more information.