BGSU to host mobile gallery: Blue Onion Bus

As brick and mortar art galleries become less and less prevalent, artists must be able to adapt and get creative with new ideas on how to exhibit and display their work. The Bowling Green State University Jewelry and Metals program is hosting a visiting artist who has been working on a project that demonstrates the flexibility that traditional galleries cannot provide.

Autumn Brown, metals and jewelry area coordinator at Western Michigan University, has renovated a 1985 International Harvester school bus and refurbished it to be a mobile gallery and studio space. She has been traveling around the country with her Blue Onion Bus and exhibiting works at symposia and craft fairs. Most recently, Brown and her bus were at Contemporary Charlotte in North Carolina exhibiting a curated collection of American studio jewelry.

Brown will present a public lecture at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, in 1101 Fine Arts Center. The opening of a pop-up exhibition installed on the Blue Onion Bus by BGSU students will follow from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Parking Lot N. The experience will help students to understand the importance of display and installation of artwork and also push them to think creatively about contemporary gallery and exhibition spaces.

The bus and student exhibition will also be on display from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 12 at Art Supply Depo, 435 E. Wooster St., Bowling Green.