Springfield Museums’ This Is Us Portraiture Today exhibit beginsDate: 2/15/2021 SPRINGFIELD – From Oct. 24 to Jan. 20 The Springfield Museums showcased artwork of local residents in their “This Is Us: Regional Portraiture Today” exhibit. “This Is Us” is a complimentary exhibit at the Museum that is inspired by another showcase called “The Outwin: American Portraiture Today.” The second iteration of the exhibit is now running from Feb. 6 to May 2.
Residents from surrounding communities submitted portraiture for “This Is Us” through mediums such as photography, painting, sculptures, drawings and more. The works focus mainly on responding to current themes and events such as human connection, political climates and social events.
According to The Springfield Museum’s website, “Created within the last two years, many submissions respond to current events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and calls for social justice. In a year marked by social distancing, the exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to “meet” their neighbors, and to gather in celebration of the power of human connection and the joy of creativity.”
One local artist featured in the exhibit is Erin Washington. Washington is from Springfield and went to college in New York to study fine arts. After graduating in 2020, Washington now is a working artist.
According to Washington, she has been involved in art since she was a child. Her mother always had her in art programs when she was young and after enrolling in a program while in high school, she realized she wanted to make it her career.
Washington now specializes in oil painting and submitted a self-portrait to the “This Is Us” exhibit called “The Feeling of Being Gaslit.”
Washington said the idea of this piece stemmed from when she was in college and experienced racism from a professor.
“He would just treat the black and non-white students much differently and it was very palpable not just to me but to everyone in the class. So everything kind of came to a head at a certain point and me and the rest of the class were not able to stay silent,” said Washington. “Every single week in that class ended up snowballing more and more before things came to a head. We ended up having a meeting with this professor trying to go through racial sensitivity training, but every week in that class we still had to see him and it was always a thing that he brought up in class. Painting, it seemed like, was never the main conversation we were having.”
Washington decided to express the situation and the anger she felt through art. At first, Washington said the painting was a more abstract landscape painting, but in the end it became a self-portrait.
“I ended up turning that painting into a self-portrait of myself in that time being resilient through what I felt like was a space of oppression,” she said. “It’s a portrait but it’s also just a metaphor of me moving through that space and that time and putting myself and my identity and my voice at the forefront when I felt like I was being silenced by the institution.”
Washington said she is excited for people’s reactions to her art and the “This Is Us” exhibit. She recognizes that her story is not a unique one and knows many people will be able to connect.
“I feel like what happened during that time is something that happens to many people that I’ve talked to. Putting this portrait in the show was an important statement and it was something that I feel like a lot of people can relate to when they go see the show,” she said.
Washington encourages people to visit the exhibit because of its relatability, creativity and relevance.
“I think that the show is very tangible,” she said. “It’s very interesting to be able to have that experience of learning about somebody or someone’s story through an oil painting.”
“This Is Us: Regional Portraiture Today” is on display at the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts. The Springfield Museums are open Tuesday through Sunday, with hours of operation available on their website. Admission covers all five museums at the Springfield Museums complex. Springfield Museums are free for residents of Springfield to visit.
Those interested in learning more about “This Is Us: Regional Portraiture Today” and The Springfield Museums are encouraged to visit their website at https://springfieldmuseums.org/.
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