This interactive art exhibition is your chance to step behind the scenes of an art museum. You are going to learn about the people and the tools that bring great works of art out of the back room and into the spotlight. Visitors will encounter numerous artworks and interactive stations, which explore the inner workings of art museums. Topics include curating, art handling, restoration, and lighting.
Duration: 2017 – 2018
Featured Artists: Dana Lynn Harper, Alex McLeod, and Jackson O’Brasky.
Interactive Stations
Fix a Michelangelo Sculpture!
Using a 3D printer, the Susquehanna Art Museum has created a life size copy of the Virgin Mary’s face from Michelangelo’s La Pieta. The print has been modified to resemble the sculpture after it was damaged in the 1970’s while on public view at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome by an angry visitor. Students must find the pieces of La Pieta hidden throughout the VanGo and put Mary’s face back together, like art conservators did when the original was broken.
Curator Station
Using our very own VanGo! App, students can step into the role of a museum curator. Working in pairs, they select historic Vincent van Gogh artworks on iPads and see them projected onto the wall of the VanGo. Artworks can be moved and resized. Students can even select a frame for the artwork.
Meet the Artists
Armando Veve
Armando Veve (b. 1989) is an artist and illustrator working in Philadelphia. His drawings have been recognized by American Illustration, Communication Arts, Spectrum, and awarded two gold medals from the Society of Illustrators. He was named an ADC Young Gun by The One Club for Creativity.
Jacintha Clark
Jacintha Clark is a mixed-media artist interested in exploring the way we connect to the world around us by fusing materials such as iron, glass, and porcelain. Her work ranges from quiet, personal introspection to playful, and scientific. Her career in architectural restoration inspires a lot of her art as she uncovers history in an old building she is freezing moments in time in her sculptures.
John Slivjak
John lives and works in Philadelphia. He is a professional portrait painter as well as an avid patron of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Â
Michelle Alford
Michelle Alford travels to artist studios to learn techniques from master painters. She came to paint later in life than many artists. Although she had wanted to learn how to paint in college, she was intimidated. It wasn’t until after she’d held a job and raised children that she decided to achieve her goal.
Robert Armetta
Robert Armetta has studied extensively throughout the United States and Europe, at schools including Columbus College of Art and Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Barnstone Studios, Atelier Lack, the Florence Academy of Art, the New York Academy of Art where he earned his M.F.A., and the Water Street Atelier.
Mackenzie Younger
Mackenzie Younger (b. 1990 NYC) is best known for jackets that recontextualize art world logos, and paintings of early American art superimposed on iPhones. His art explores cultural trends, socioeconomics and historical influences.
Marco Mahler and Henry Segerman
Marco and Henry were the first people to create 3D printed mobiles. Marco Mahler is a kinetic sculptor specializing in mobiles. He designs and makes a wide variety of mobiles, from smaller fine art sculptures to large custom-made mobiles. Henry is a mathematician.
MUSEUM ON WHEELS
Explore More Archives
Check out more of our past VanGo! Exhibitions that made their way around Central PA in the VanGo! bus from school-to-school!