Open to Interpretation

December 17, 2011 - April 15, 2012

In honor of the Boise Art Museum’s 75th Anniversary in 2012, this exhibition is a celebration of the Museum’s Permanent Collection, highlighting over 100 important artworks in a variety of mediums and from both historical and contemporary periods.  The exhibition is being selected from over 3,000 artworks which have been donated or purchased by the Museum from 1937 through 2012. 

The arrangement of artworks in the exhibition is being designed to ignite the viewer’s imagination and prompt the audience to become visually engaged in a game of discovery.  The diverse selection of Museum treasures – painting, sculpture, ceramic, textile and mixed media works – will reveal fascinating points of comparison between different art forms across cultures, continents and time.

Sponsored by   

and the Fifth Floor Foundation

with additional support provided by
Driek Zirinsky through the Idaho Women’s Charitable Foundation,
and Kay Hardy and Gregory Kaslo

June 25, 2011 – March 11, 2012

Portland artist Mike Rathbun has created a monumental circular wood structure designed specifically for BAM’s dynamic eighty-foot Sculpture Court.  Made from Pacific Albus (hybrid poplar), the huge oval ascends 20 feet in the air and appears to pierce the outer walls of the Sculpture Court, cross over the outside courtyard and return through the east wall of BAM’s Nelson Gallery.  Rathbun’s sculpture is informed by the power of natural elements such as wind and water and the notion of life as a spiritual journey defined through physical experience.  The use of wood as his primary medium is particularly relevant for Idaho, a state which built its economy largely on the timber industry, and the city of Boise, whose name is derived from the French Les Bois – city of trees.  This complex installation is intended to explore the unique relationship between the medium of wood and the exhibition site.

Sponsored by grants from
and the National Endowment for the Arts

Full Circle
Artwork from the Permanent Collection

April 3 –January 8, 2012

The circle is the most universal of all symbols. Artworks from BAM’s Permanent Collection will be selected to examine how artists use the circle or sphere as an element in developing two-dimensional compositions and three-dimensional forms. A selection of new permanent collection artworks along with traditional favorites will be presented in the exhibition. Artists whose works will be highlighted include Grace Knowlton, Robert Rauschenberg, Sam Francis, Ron Davis and Jeffrey Simmons.

Full Circle, 2010, Boise Art Museum installation detail.