Fall Events at Crystal Bridges

This post is sponsored by Crystal Bridges Museum, but all opinions are my own. Posts like this make Thrifty Pineapple possible.

Fall is in full swing at Crystal Bridges and they have so many jaw-dropping exhibitions for you to experience. Jared and I were lucky enough to have a little exclusive date night to get a first-hand look at the new fall events at Crystal Bridges including Crystals In Art, Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room and the North Forest Lights.

If you aren’t familiar Crystal Bridges is an American Art Museum founded in 2005 by Alice Walton. The museum features American Art and spans five centuries of American art from Early American to Contemporary…signature works include Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter”, Kerry James Marshall’s “Our Town”, and Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1.”and is free to the public. Crystal Bridges offers a wide range of temporary exhibitions each year like the ones we experienced, and the artwork in the permanent collection galleries changes often. Jared and I try to walk through the permanent collection quarterly and there is always something new to see and experience.

Fall Events At Crystal Bridges

Crystals In Art: Ancient To Today

Crystals In Art is a temporary exhibit open now until January 6th, 2020. About the exhibit from Crystal Bridges:

“Crystals, one of the world’s most enigmatic natural materials, transcends time, the visible, and the invisible through a variety of art media in this new exhibition by Crystal Bridges that features crystal artworks dating back to Ancient Egypt up to today.”

This exhibit obviously makes a lot of sense for Crystal Bridges considering the name alone, however, I learned so much about crystals like high-quality quartz crystals are mined from the mountains and caverns of Arkansas. Who knew Arkansas had beautiful crystals! There were two installations that were just absolutely breathtaking.

Ai Weiwei, “Chandelier”

Anthony James, “Portal Icosahedron”

Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room

I had seen the Infinity Room all over my Instagram feed but had not had a chance to experience it. When I saw this as part of the itinerary I was so excited. The Infinity Room is small in itself at about 20 feet by 20 feet and only 9 feet high, however, the room is covered in mirrors and filled with light-changing paper lanterns. The effect of the mirrors and the dots make it appear to expand forever.

The room was small and felt like it went on forever, but it was strangely tranquil and peaceful once inside. This exhibit is now part of the permanent collection at Crystal Bridges and free so you can enjoy it any time! You do have to get tickets to experience it, but that’s only because they want to minimize long lines.

North Forest Lights

Every time we go to Crystal Brdiges I tell Jared this is my favorite exhibit, but this one really might be my favorite exhibit. This North Forest Lights is available until February 16th, 2020 and would be the perfect experiential holiday getaway. I truly do not have words to express how cool this exhibit is, so here’s how Crystal Bridges describes it.

“North Forest Lights is an artistic light and sound experience in the middle of the North Forest unlike anything Crystal Bridges has ever presented before. Five distinct installations will bring the soul of the forest to life with light, sound, and sensory effects in a captivating, family-friendly experience.”

The five different installations are in the middle of the forest with guides at each installation to give you instructions on how to experience the art. After the third installation, there is a rest area with delicious snacks, warm and alcoholic drinks, and restrooms.

My favorite installation was “Whispering Tree”. You walk up to this beautifully lit tree to communicate by song to it to learn about the color of your own voice. Initially, I just sang one note and then it asks you to sing louder and by the end, I was singing the tune of Ariel singing to Ursula in the Little Mermaid when she loses her voice. The tree told me the color of my voice was Indigo and the whole tree lit up Indigo when it announced it to me. 

In case you are worried about stage fright you walk up one to two at a time and sing into a microphone, but Jared was standing taking photos and couldn’t hear me at all, so really it’s just a moment between you and the tree.

I didn’t capture the other installations on camera because I really wanted to experience them and be present, and not be distracted by creating content, plus I really think the phone wouldn’t do it justice.

The three new exhibits are absolutely amazing and we are so blessed to have such an amazing museum in our backyard. If you are local, you definitely need to make a visit to Crystal Bridges this fall and if you aren’t I highly recommend coming for a weekend trip this fall. The Ozarks are beautiful to see the leaves changing in fall and experience high-quality art at the fall events at Crystal Bridges.

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