Post Pandemic Art 

The Lowe Reopens, With Free Admission

The Lowe Art Museum is back. The University of Miami-operated institution has reopened for the fall season, more than a year after switching to a virtual format due to the Covid-19 pandemic. To mark the occasion, the Lowe has new exhibits, as well as gallery installations, and the gift of free admission. 

“We are all very relieved and excited to be able to welcome visitors back,” says Jill Deupi, the Lowe’s Beaux Arts director and chief curator. “We have quite a few works that have never been seen before, as well as some really important loans from local collections.” After debuting in September with two shows by photographers (William Wegman’s “Instant Miami” and Duane Michals’ “The Portraitists”), the museum is continuing with “Force of Nature: Highlights from the Myrna B. Palley Art Jewelry Collection,” which will be on view through Oct. 17. 

“It’s a small sampling of her wonderful collection of art jewelry so that people can get a sense of an area of her collection that was very private and personal to her,” says Deupi. “The pieces are really quite stunning. They are wearable sculptures.” 

The Lowe is also able to welcome back patrons free of charge thanks to Beaux Arts, which was founded to assist the museum. The complimentary admission will be available through May 31, 2022. 

Deupi says The Lowe will continue to build their online platform, which reaches “a broader audience far afield,” but that there is nothing like the human element when it comes to art. “It has become abundantly clear [that] art without people is not really art.” 

Pandemic precautions include requiring patrons to register in advance so that the number of people on-site can be controlled. “And we have a very large facility, so there’s really no worry about people feeling overcrowded or unsafe,” says Deupi.