Theaters, museums, and art galleries in Central New York will be among the last to reopen if the region is able to safely enter phase four of reopening late next week. That includes the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, which had to put its popular “Both ends of the Rainbow” exhibit online due to the pandemic.
Education director Deirdre Aureden says the 30-plus year tradition features more than 1,000 works of art from pre-schoolers to seniors, which were supposed to arrive at the museum the first week of April.
"By the time the schools shut down, nothing had been delivered to us yet. We had to reach out in the hope that the teachers had some pictures or had access. By the time the school closures started, they had in mind what works they were going to be submitting, but they hadn't actually delivered them to the museum."
Of course, the museum was also closed. So, Aureden says they began putting together slide shows organized by district and school with the name of the student artist if available. There are also two galleries of senior art.
"Parents, students, and also our senior artists are excited to have their artwork shown in some way. We've been posting the artwork on Facebook and Instagram. Some of the links have been shared around in our community quite a lot."
Aureden says it doesn’t quite replace the live version of the exhibit, which normally covers gallery walls floor to ceiling. The opening reception is normally the center’s busiest day of the year, drawing about 1,000 people.
