With the winter lull approaching us in these months, one of the best ways to stimulate your mind and soul is to pay a visit to the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse. The Everson is a world-class Museum, originally designed by I. M Pei, designer of the world’s largest museum, the Louvre in Paris. The Everson is home to both local and worldly artists who express themes such as the untapped nature of our Earth, themes of urbanization, traditional American portraits, and more. 

    Currently, the exhibition titled “Off the Rack” is being housed on the second floor and can be viewed until May 5th, 2024. “Off the Rack” is unique in that it comprises the artwork from Everson’s storage unit while other pieces are being reframed or worked on. Hundreds of paintings hang in the salon-style gallery that breaks the conventions of a cohesive storyline or curation. Instead, paintings and works of all different mediums, meanings, stories, and others fill the walls of the room, creating a quintessential museum experience. My favorite thing about this exhibition is that it trains our minds to connect the pieces as if they were part of a cohesive story. This not only gives more meaning to the art itself, but it also paves the way for our imagination to shine through in ways we never thought it could. After all, that’s the purpose of art- letting our minds connect our experiences to what we see, expanding our creative output to the world. 

    This exhibit showcases the Museum’s collections and provides a glimpse into the world of collections management and care for the works itself. If this exhibit is not your style, you may also find it fascinating to walk through exhibitions “Pick & Mix,” a ceramics gallery, or “Faceted Wrap,” by Derek Porter to see his brilliant orientation of thousands of mirrors positioned to reflect a different scene through each one. Change it up, exercise your creative mind, and check out the Everson Museum of Art’s latest masterpieces.