Humankind has a rich history of trying to understand natural environments through frameworks like time, topography, geology, and documentation. This exhibition brings together artworks from the museum’s permanent collection that explore ideas about erosion, entropy, encroachment, and impermanence as well as nature’s beauty and magnitude. Emil Lukas’s sculpture Time Line under Pear Tree, 1994-96, serves as the exhibition’s focal point among documentary, abstract, conceptual, and surrealist artworks.

Time, Space, Place, Trace is a collaborative effort at education classes during the spring 2019 and 2020 semesters. Working with Curator of Collections Elaine D. Gustafson and Associate Professor of Art Sunny Spillane, students were tasked to originate, research, and collaborate on an exhibition drawn from the museum’s collection. Upon determining the curatorial thesis, the students then selected, previewed, and evaluated artworks that illustrated and strengthened their concept. This semester, students will use the exhibition as a springboard to create curriculum-based lesson plans for Guilford County teachers. This is the second time that the Weatherspoon and the School of Art have collaborated on an exhibition to provide art education students a hands-on professional museum experience.

Organized by Elaine D. Gustafson, Curator of Collections.

Image: Emil Lukas, Time Line under Pear Tree, 1994-96, concrete, shells, stones, leaves, wood, seeds, pigment, earth, insects and oil paint in cast plaster, 40 sections, 42 feet (variable) by 12 1/2 inches diameter. Weatherspoon Art Museum. Museum purchase with funds from the Benefactors Fund, 2000.