The Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem was the site New England Book Artists’ of November’s Field Trip. The choice to visit that museum was prompted by four exhibits on view:
The Salem Witch Trials (until April 4, 2021)
Michael C. McMillen’s Pequod II (until March 28, 2021)
Anila Quayyum Agha’s, All the Flowers Are For Me (until February 22, 2021)
Charles Sandison’s, Figurehead 2.0 (until January 4, 2021)
Due to Covid19 restrictions, the tickets were timed to ensure plenty of social distancing. These safety measures, coupled with the fact that the visit took place on a weekday morning, worked to the advantage of our members, as it provided them with the rare opportunity to have the museum almost completely to themselves.
The first exhibit they visited was, The Salem Witch Trials. Didactic panels , chock-full of rich, historical detail provided context for the city of Salem and the witch trials which took place there in the 17th century. Of particular note were numerous original documents from the trials, which brought to life this dark episode of American history. The exhibition was complemented by a variety of objects from 17th century, daily life in Salem.
The next work they saw was a large construction in the shape of a ship, Pequod II. (1987) by Michael C. McMillen. It was floating in the middle of a gallery which had been painted with dark grey walls. The title of this piece derives from Herman Melville’s whaling ship in his literary classic, Moby Dick. This imaginative, wood and metallic kinetic assemblage was informed in part by the artist’s experience as a prop maker on such films as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Blade Runner (1982). It’s made from common household objects such as vacuum cleaner parts and discarded materials. Surprisingly, its sails billow even though there is no obvious source of wind (the artist built blowers and hid them inside the hull of the ship to keep an ongoing air flow on the sails) conveying an eerie effect in this solitary space.
After the haunting mood evoked by Pequot II, NEBA members walked into another gallery – this one, however, was flooded with an ethereal light. As in the previous exhibit, there was a large object suspended in the center of the space. But this time, it was a cube of laser-cut floral patterns illuminated from within, Anila Quayyum Agha’s, All the Flowers Are For Me, (2014). Its designs cascaded over all of the surfaces in the gallery: the walls, ceilings, floors, and even the visitors themselves, bathing them in transcendent luminescence. Agha, an American-Pakistani artist, was inspired by the elaborate patterns characteristically found in Turkish and Persian art and architecture. The artist notes that Pakistani women, who are often house-bound, find comfort in the floral designs which decorate their homes.
The last show that the NEBA group saw was Charles Sandison’s Figurehead 2.0 (2010). This astonishing exhibit took the immersion experience to a totally new level. PEM’s East India Marine Hall – the original location of the museum – was very dark except for dynamic, ghostly, white and red images and text projected onto every surface of the walls, ceiling, and floor. The handwritten text which was an intrinsic part of the piece, was scanned by the artist from the museum’s collection of ships’ logs and journals kept by mariners in the voyages around the world. According to the Museum, Sandison generated specific trajectories using algorithms based on patterns he observes in nature like the movement of ants or bodies passing through water. Animating the experience were real-time location feeds of global ship traffic and weather patterns as well as cameras that detect visitors’ movements. This resulted in a constantly changing environment in which the viewers experienced the mysterious, liminal space the artist created.
The field trip came to an end with a visit to the museum’s gift shop, where NEBA members – tempted by the items of display – did their absolute best to lend their support the museum! Unquestioningly, the field trip to PEM turned out to exceed all expectations. There was unanimous agreement – in spite of the traffic travails the group braved – the visit to the museum was well worth the trip.
Image Attributes:
Tompkins Harrison Matteson, Trial of George Jacobs, Sr. for Witchcraft, 1855. Oil on canvas. Gift of R. W. Ropes, 1859. 1246. Peabody Essex Museum. Photo by Mark Sexton and Jeffrey R. Dykes.
Intolerance and Suspicion, didactic panel
Examination of Martha Cory, March 21, 1692
James Symonds, Valuables cabinet, 1679. Oak, maple, iron, and paint. Museum purchase, 2000. 138011, Photo by Dennis Helmar
Michael C. McMillen, Pequot II, (1987), Photograph by Marie Canaves
Anila Quayyum Agha, All the Flowers Are For Me, (2014), Photograph by Marie Canaves
Charles Sandison, Figurehead 2.0 (2010), Photograph by Marie Canaves, Rhoda Rosenberg and Kathy Fogle
