By Teri West
Senior Solana Lazarte has a personal goal to go out and do something different every week. This past week, the opportunity fell into her lap.
As a new component of the ongoing partnership between this university and The Phillips Collection, a shuttle now, through Dec. 8 will offer free round-trip transportation to the gallery in Washington, D.C., every Thursday night for students, faculty and staff.
“I know that a lot of people that aren’t from the area are scared to use the Metro so they don’t really go to D.C. that much,” Lazarte said before boarding the bus with her friend Kevin Dominey. “This is … perfect that it provides the transportation there.”
The Stamp Gallery facilitates registration for the shuttle service which departs from Stamp Student Union at 5:30 p.m. and leaves the gallery at 8:30 p.m. It is guaranteed to run through Dec. 8, though the university hopes to continue it beyond this semester, according to David Cronrath, dean of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation on special assignment to The Phillips.
“[The shuttle] will allow students to take full advantage of the museum’s resources, visit special exhibitions, and study the Phillips’s permanent collection,” Klaus Ottmann, deputy director of curatorial and academic affairs at The Phillips Collection, said.
The Dupont Circle modern art museum hosts over 4,000 pieces by artists ranging from Vincent van Gogh to Whitfield Lovell. Particularly well-known series include Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party and Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series.
Double Monument for Flavin and Tatlin by Bettin Pousttchi, on display through Oct. 2, is a part of the Intersection series presented by this university which invites artists to design exhibits that interact with the building’s architecture and permanent collection. Pousttchi’s display includes neon-lit sculptures constructed with materials such as light tubes and crowd barriers.
“In addition to this access to The Phillips’ excellent collection of modern art, a number of events occur on Thursday nights at The Phillips Collection,” Raino Isto, Stamp Gallery Graduate Co-coordinator, said.
“Phillips after 5” is a program held on the first Thursday of every month with food and live music. The theme for October’s event is “Women of Influence” and will include a performance by the Yvonne Johnson Trio.
The free “Conversation with Artists” series is also frequently held on Thursday nights, and allows guests to learn from and interact with a contemporary artist.
“We hope that increased access to The Phillips Collection will increase the role that the visual and the performing arts play in the lives of our students, staff, and faculty, and that in doing so it will also create an opportunity for critical and creative thought to flourish in our community,” Isto said.
This university announced the strategic partnership with The Phillips Collection in October of 2015. The collaboration is intended to grow The Phillips Collections’ scholarship potential while increasing the university’s engagement with the arts.
“Enormous potential lies at the intersection of art with science, design, technology, management, journalism, and cultural diplomacy,” University President Wallace Loh wrote in an email to the university community in October of 2015. “UMD and The Phillips embrace convergence as a way to reach new audiences, disrupt conventional thinking, and inspire new heights of creativity and impact.”
Featured Photo Credit: The Phillips Collection House, courtesy of The Phillips Collection. Photo by Robert Lautman.
Teri West is a junior multiplatform journalism and sociology double major and can be reached at twest123@umd.edu.
