William Crow and LUAG — Leaders in Art and Education

“This whole region is a place for makers. It’s seeped into the DNA of Lehigh,” reflects William Crow, director of Lehigh University Art Galleries (LUAG) and professor of practice in the Department of Art, Architecture, and Design.

As LUAG celebrates its centennial, Crow says that the spirit of innovation is central not only to the region, but to the Lehigh experience and LUAG’s origin.

“We’re just a few blocks from the blast furnaces of Bethlehem Steel. They’re a monument not only to making and creating, but to the American imagination.”

Crow sees the iconic blast furnaces as a symbol of how the most elementary materials can yield something great.

A Pioneering University
The first formal art exhibition on campus happened in 1926, establishing Lehigh as a university leader in art. Crow notes that Lehigh was one of the first universities to embrace photography in the ’20s, well before it was widely accepted as a fine art medium.

“This is probably because of its synthesis of utilizing art and science together, which is very much at the core of the Lehigh experience,” says Crow.

In the 1930s, Lehigh borrowed artworks from top national museums to exhibit. Crow says this was because the university knew experiences with art could be a powerful democratizing force during trying geopolitical times, inspiring independent thinkers and challenging dominant narratives.

“Art museums are places where we can strengthen our skills in dealing with complexity,” he says. “We are a place where you can grapple with opposing points of view and talk about them. In a world that increasingly demands that we choose one answer or point of view, we need places that teach us to sit with ambiguity.”

Honoring the LUAG Legacy
For LUAG’s 100th anniversary, Crow is overseeing two major commemorative efforts that reflect the importance of art in the region and Lehigh’s legacy. Crow is particularly excited about LUAG’s centennial exhibition, Here and Now: 100 Years of LUAG, 100 Local Artists, which features works by Lehigh Valley artists and runs through May.

“Sometimes when institutions have a big anniversary, they turn inward,” says Crow. “But we wanted to make sure we were also turning our attention outward — to the communities that shape and inspire us.”

Additionally, in April, LUAG will release the first guidebook to its collections. This commemorative book features 100 pieces selected by students, faculty, staff, and community members from Lehigh’s collection of more than 20,000 artworks.

“Rather than doing a typical highlights book, we decided to invite people to write short reflections from their unique point of view — how a work impacted them, how they taught with it, how it inspired their creative practice,” says Crow.

The guidebook, titled Creativity and Connection: Lehigh University Art Galleries at 100, will be available for purchase through University of Chicago Press in May. It’s available for preorder now.

As the galleries enter their next 100 years, Crow aims to increase accessibility to the collections in several ways: making physical spaces easier to navigate, ensuring exhibits have braille or large print aids, expanding Spanish-language and audio-described offerings, and mirroring the collections in an online platform so they can be available to a larger audience.

Read the full article by Chelsea Ardle by following the link in the additional information box.