Des Moines Art Center receives grant award from Humanities Iowa

DES MOINES, IOWA – The Des Moines Art Center has received a grant award of $3,000 from Humanities Iowa, a state-based affiliate of the National Endowment of the Humanities, in support of a series of videos which will be an educational accompaniment to the upcoming exhibition “Drawing in Space.” The exhibition, on display September 29, 2017 – January 21, 2018, includes the work of three artists and one artist collective: Dave Eppley, Monika Grzymala, Heeseop Yoon, and Numen/For Use: Sven Jonke, Christoph Katzler and Nikola Radeljković. Uniting these artists are explorations of line and space through the creation of large-scale, site-specific installations using the novel and humble material, tape.

The Art Center, in conjunction with Des Moines based, award-winning creative studio Applied Art & Technology, will create these videos to serve as a novel form of interpretive material for the exhibition. The videos, presented free to the public, will show audiences how such large, interactive installations are created, providing a unique behind-the-scenes perspective into how common materials can be transformed into art. Each installation will have a short video (about two minutes), which will be played in the gallery alongside the exhibit.

The video series will be comprised of interviews with the artists, time-lapses and 360 degree video of the installation process, and commentary from Art Center staff and the consulting structural engineer. In addition to the videos displayed in the galleries, there will be shorter clips and a promotional trailer featured on the Art Center’s website and social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

This Humanities Iowa grant gives the Art Center the opportunity to further increase and promote accessibility to contemporary art and artists, as well as quality art education.

Des Moines Art Center

Recognized by international art critics as a world-class museum in the heart of the Midwest, the Des Moines Art Center has amassed an important collection with a major emphasis on contemporary art. The collection’s overriding principle is a representation of artists from the 19th century to the present, each through a seminal work. This accounts for an impressive collection that ranges from Edward Hopper’s “Automat” to Jasper Johns’ “Tennyson”, Henri Matisse’s “Woman in White,” Georgia O’Keeffe’s “From the Lake No. 1,” Francis Bacon’s “Study after Velásquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X,” Bill Viola’s “Ascension” and Cecily Brown’s “Half-Bind.” 

The Art Center’s physical complex marries with the collection for a totally integrated experience. The collection is housed in three major buildings, each designed by a world-renowned architect: Eliel Saarinen, I. M. Pei and Richard Meier. With the exception of special events, admission to the museum is free.

In September 2009, the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park opened in Des Moines’ Western Gateway Park. Philanthropists John and Mary Pappajohn have provided funding for and donated 28
sculptures by internationally acclaimed contemporary artists to the Des Moines Art Center. The collection of sculptures by such artists as Louise Bourgeois, Deborah Butterfield, Willem de Kooning, Olafur Eliasson, Keith Haring, Ellsworth Kelly, Jaume Plensa, Richard Serra, Joel Shapiro, and Mark di Suvero, is the most significant donation of artwork to the Art Center in a single gift in the museum’s history. The Pappajohn Sculpture Park is a collaboration of the