Range of programs planned for museum, zoo

4/11/2013

Here is a rundown of some of the special programs associated with the Crossing Cultures: The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Art from the Hood Museum of Art exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art:

■A panel discussion will be held today from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Little Theater. It will include Stephen Gilchrist, exhibition curator of the Hood Museum of Art; art collector Will Owen, and Margo Smith, director and curator of the Kluge-Ruhe Collection at the University of Virginia. Brian Kennedy, director of the Toledo Museum of Art, will moderate a discussion of Aboriginal Australian art in the context of Western aesthetics.

■ A member preview is planned from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. today in the main museum. The event is free to museum members, $20 for nonmembers.

■ Mr. Gilchrist will conduct a curator tour of the exhibit at 7 p.m. Friday. Those interested should meet in Libbey Court.

■ Free related exhibitions will open April 19. Symbols, Stories & Social Justice in the Community Gallery will feature University of Toledo art students exploring the ways Aboriginal Australian artists express their relationship to the land, use symbolic meanings in their works, and reflect social justice issues. Also in the Community Gallery, participants in the museum’s ArtReach workshop will examine how Aboriginal Australian art celebrates a person’s native land.

■ From May 3 to July 21 in Gallery 18 and the Director’s Conference Room Prints by Twenty-Five Australian Artists: The Bicentennial Folio will be on display. These are works commissioned by the National Gallery in Australia to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the country’s settlement.

■ The Toledo Zoo will offer an Australian-themed exhibition, Wild Walkabout, which opens May 24. A huge salt-water crocodile — Baru — brought here by Block Communications Inc., The Blade’s parent company, is part of the zoo exhibit.

A number of gallery talks, films, and other activities will take place during Crossing Cultures' stay at the museum, 2445 Monroe St. For details, go to www.toledomuseum.org.