NEHMA to Host Reception for New Exhibition 'The Squares and the Beats: The Lane Gift'

LOGAN — A new exhibition in the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art playfully explores American values from the 1950s and 1960s through works of art by Jeremy Anderson, Sidney Gordon, Knud Merrild, John Bernhardt, George Herms and Gordon Wagner.

The reception for The Squares and the Beats: The Lane Gift will start at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, and is free and open to all. The reception and gallery collectors and donors Jeffery & Meri Lane, as well as Curator of Collections and Exhibitions Bolton Colburn, will be in attendance.

The terms “square” and “beat” are taken from the era of the 1950s and 1960s and applied loosely here. The term “beat” has its origins in music, the beat, particularly in American jazz and blues, as well as its colloquial meaning of being tired or down as in, “I’m beat.” “You’re square” was a derogatory term used by the Beats to describe the values of conventional mainstream culture, which they were rejecting and reacting against. For the Beats, the art that came the generation before them would have been considered square or out of date as well.

NEHMA is grateful to Jeffrey and Meri Lane for the extraordinarygift of all the artworks included in this exhibition.

Visitors who can’t make it to the open house may see the exhibit during the museum’s regular hours:

• Tuesday through Thursday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Friday: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Saturday: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Admission is free. The museum offers free visitor parking in the lot behind the Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall. For the Jan. 28 reception, there will also be free parking in the new four-level?Gateway Terrace parking facility.

For public transportation, ride the Cache Valley Transit routes 1, 4, or the Green or Blue Loop and get off at the Fine Arts stop.

For more information, contact Lauren Boix at NEHMA at lauren.boix@usu.edu or 435-797-0227.