November marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 12 mission, and with it, the Moon Museum, an artwork conceived by Forrest “Frosty” Myers.
“My idea was to get six great artists together and make a tiny little museum that would be on the Moon,” Myers explains.
Six miniature drawings were printed on a small ceramic wafer of the type used at the time for communications circuitry, one image each by Myers, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, David Novros, John Chamberlain and Claes Oldenburg. Forty copies were produced, one of which was secreted aboard the lunar lander and delivered to the surface of the Moon.
One of the 40 is currently on display at the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, along with related sculptures, paintings, prints and drawings by the contributing artists, as part of the exhibition The Moon Museum: Unofficial Art on Apollo 12, on view until Dec. 14. “This is one of the great untold stories of mid-century U.S. and a unique chance to hear from the artist behind it,” says Lynn Boland, museum director and curator of the exhibition.
On Thursday, Nov. 14, at 5 p.m., The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art will present the recent documentary film The Art and Times of Frosty Myers at the Lyric, located at 1209 N. College Ave., Fort Collins. A Q&A with Frosty Myers and his wife Debra Myers, the film’s producer, will following the screening. The program is open to the public and has a suggested donation of $5, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Reservations are recommended, and can be made at artmuseum.colostate.edu/lyric.
As part of the museum’s Critic & Artist Residency Series, Frosty Myers will also give a talk on Friday, Nov. 15, at 5 p.m. in the Organ Recital Hall of the University Center for the Arts, at 1400 Remington St., Fort Collins. A reception will follow in the museum. The event is free and open to all.
The film
Winner of the President’s Award for Documentary at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (2018) and the Audience Award at the Big-Eddy Film Festival, The Art and Times of Frosty Myers documents the career of sculptor Myers over the past half-century. Coming to New York City from San Francisco in 1961, he entered a rapidly changing art scene, where artists were ripping away established European traditions, replacing them with Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimalism, Conceptualism, Earth Art, Hard Edge painting and sculpture, and embracing Art and Technology. The cultural changes of the social justice movements and the anti-war protests were intertwined with the daily lives of Myers and other artists. Their camaraderie at the famed New York City bar Max’s Kansas City created synergies in art, music and culture. These artists pioneered living and working in abandoned lofts and led the urban renewal in what became the downtown scene in lower Manhattan, Soho and, ultimately, Brooklyn. Myers’ wide-ranging works include NYC landmark artwork The Wall (aka the Gateway to SoHo), The Moon Museum, which was the first art placed on the Moon, and his radical furniture that blurred the lines of art and design.
About the artist
Myers is an American sculptor best known for his artworks the Moon Museum (1969) and The Wall (1973), the latter being a monumental sculpture on the façade of a building in the SoHo, Manhattan, neighborhood of New York. Myers studied at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1958 to 1960 and moved to New York City in 1961, where he was a founding member of The Park Place Gallery cooperative, which emphasized cutting-edge geometric abstraction. Myers was also an early adopter of new technology in his work; he was the first artist to use lasers. He was deeply involved with Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), with major contributions to the group’s pavilion at Expo ’70, the world’s fair in Osaka, Japan.
Event schedule
Screening and Q&A: The Art and Times of Frosty Myers
Thursday, Nov. 14, 5 p.m.
The Lyric, 1209 N. College Ave, Fort Collins
A Q&A with Frosty and Debra Myers will follow the screening
Free with reservation at artmuseum.colostate.edu/lyric, suggested donation $5
Critic and Artist Residency Series: Frosty Myers Artist Talk
Friday, Nov. 15, 5 p.m.
Organ Recital Hall, University Center for the Arts, 1400 Remington Street, Fort Collins
Reception follows in the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art
Free and open to all
About the museum
The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art invites individuals to engage with art and each other to inspire fresh perspectives and wonder. The museum is a catalyst for visual literacy and critical thinking that instills a passion for learning. For updated museum information, go to artmuseum.colostate.edu.
General museum hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Thursday until 7:30 p.m., and all programs are free and open to the public. The museum is located in the University Center for the Arts at 1400 Remington Street, Fort Collins.
