Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting the Stanley Art Museum and experiencing its current exhibition. As I walked into the gallery, I had very few expectations but was intrigued by the building’s exterior advertisement for the special exhibit.
I bounced up the stairs and past the African art wing to find a large wall intersecting the adjacent room. Behind the partition was work created by none other than the exhibit’s namesake, Keith Haring. Despite the space being small, the exhibition was truly a worthwhile experience. I was blown away by the exhibit and its content, and its message resonated with me long after I left the building.
This special exhibition is dedicated to Haring’s work, specifically when he visited Iowa City many years ago. I believe anyone with the time should seriously consider visiting the Stanley Art Museum to experience “To My Friends at Horn: Keith Haring and Iowa City” firsthand.
This exhibit is curated specifically toward Haring’s work in the area in the late ‘80s and serves as a beautiful tribute to the artist’s contribution to the creative world and his impact on youth through his imaginative embrace of expressionism. Its combination of fun anecdotes, compelling stories, and captivating works of art prove that regardless of who you are, you need to stop in.
The origin of this exhibit dates back to 1984 when longtime Horn Elementary teacher Colleen Ernst, better known as “Dr. Art,” sought to introduce her class to contemporary art. Ernst was a fan of Haring’s work and thought she should try to contact the New York-based artist to get more information about his style and invite him to Iowa City to speak with her class.
The two became pen pals, and shortly after the first message was sent, Haring came to Iowa and did art workshops with Horn students as well as created a cookbook cover for the Horn Elementary school PTA.
As the years progressed, “Dr. Art” continued her correspondence with the artist, and in 1989, Haring returned to Horn and painted his famous library mural, which is now on display at the Stanley Art Museum. The mural features Haring’s typical shapeshifting-style characters with pops of colors intertwined, contrasting the harsh white corkboard background.
The Stanley Art Museum’s website states: “Opening on Keith Haring’s birthday, this exhibition celebrates the artist’s legacy and honors the many individuals who shaped his visits to Iowa City during the 1980s. The 1989 mural Haring painted for Ernest Horn Elementary School, which is on loan to the Stanley Museum of Art during the school’s renovation, anchors the exhibition and is accompanied by other works of art, photographs, and archival ephemera.”
This exhibit has caught the attention of acclaimed critics, as well as national news sources like The New York Times, which placed the Stanley on their list of museums people should consider visiting this year. The comprehensive catalog of artistic experiences, which includes exhibits and exhibitions from around the nation, claims that the Stanley Art Museum’s “To My Friends at Horn: Keith Haring and Iowa City,” is a must-see for people of all ages.
The gallery also discusses Haring’s HIV-positive diagnosis and later death, which came in 1990 from AIDS-related complications. The gallery is filled with facts about his fight with the deadly disease, as well as the University of Iowa’s role in supporting students with AIDS and conducting research related to the epidemic that shook millions in the 1980s.
Lauren Lessing, the director of the Stanley Art Museum, commented on the importance of featuring information about Haring’s battle with the illness and the university’s connection with Haring when she wrote: “The fact that Haring had AIDS at the time of his second visit to Iowa City prompted the Horn Elementary School to hold an assembly for parents and children to educate them about the disease and dispel unwarranted fears. In a letter, Haring told Ernst that learning of this assembly made him happy he had the courage to tell people about his illness.”
Haring even claimed, “Education is the key to beating this thing” when discussing why more schools and institutions of higher learning should encourage conversations around STDs and AIDS to help those who are already affected.
This same concept — fearing what one doesn’t understand — is a consistent theme throughout the exhibit and heavily influences the curation of different paintings and prints. This sentiment is also expressed in one of his most famous quotes, prevalent on the Stanley Art Museum’s website: “If the public is afraid of art, should we be afraid of what we have done to make the public afraid of art?”
Overall, whether you are a fan of contemporary art or not, “To My Friends at Horn: Keith Haring and Iowa City” is a worthwhile experience that every student and community member should explore going to see. The Stanley Art Museum is open six days a week, but this special exhibit ends in January, so get there before it’s too late.