Sioux City Art Museum

Previous collection pieces in this exhibition were picked and organized based on three words: Earth, Water, and Light. These words are familiar to everyone but rich with additional associations that connect them to important issues. The exhibition was on the museum’s lower floor and there was a separate room for each word.

Earth: “Despite all our achievements we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” Earth is the third planet from the sun and is also known as Gaia and terra firma. Earth is also word for ground beneath our feet and the dirt in which we plant seeds. There are a lot of ways one can interpret the word ‘Earth’ and different meanings can be given to it which was shown by the displayed pieces in this gallery.

Water: “The rivers flow not past, but through us.” Where there is water there is life. And where there is life there is energy and growth. Water connects us to each other and the rest of the world. The pieces in this gallery showed the different ways in which artists celebrated the life-sustaining power of water.

Light: “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” Without light, there is only darkness. Light reveals the world to us and guides our path when we walk through the woods or drive down a remote highway. Light helps us see and, therefore, to know what surrounds us. The artworks in this gallery showed how artists in all media collaborate with the illuminating power of light.