Car show set helps wrap up TMA’s “Life Is a Highway” exhibit
The Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) exhibition, “Life Is a Highway: Art and American Car Culture” closes Sunday, Sept. 15. The final weekend will feature an artist talk and a car show featuring art and modified cars.
On Saturday, Sept. 14, Bowling Green State University professor and art car artist Matt Donahue, Ph.D., will explore the role of the art car in popular culture during a free lecture at 10:30 a.m. in the Little Theater. Donahue will examine the history of the art car, from hot rods in the 1950s to the psychedelic art car in the 1960s to the modern art car of today.
Also on Sept. 14, from noon to 3 p.m., TMA will have its final car show of the summer, featuring art and modified cars. Visitors will have the opportunity to view unique vehicles, enjoy live music, and participate in family-friendly art-making experiences on Monroe Street in between the main Museum building and the Glass Pavilion. Admission to the car show is free. The Car Shows at TMA series are supported in part by BP America, Taylor Cadillac, ProMedica, the Ohio Arts Council, and Hylant.
Curated by Robin Reisenfeld, Ph.D., TMA’s works on paper curator, “Life Is a Highway: Art and American Car Culture,” explores the rise of the automobile as a popular visual symbol of American culture. The exhibition features more than 150 works of art in a wide variety of media – including painting, sculpture, photography, film, prints and drawings – and a diversity of artists and perspectives, drawn from the TMA collection along with loans from many other North American institutions.
“The rich spectrum of artists and media in the exhibition represents the intensity of our experiences with the automobile over time and our evolving relationship to it as a symbol of social change. As an immersive treatment of the visual culture of automobiles, this exhibition ensures there will be something for everyone to discover and enjoy in the galleries,” Reisenfeld said.
Admission to the exhibition is free for Museum members and $12 for nonmembers, with discounts for seniors, college students, and military personnel ($10) and youth ages 5-17 ($7). Children 4 and younger receive free admission to the exhibition.
For more info, visit www.toledomuseum.org.