In this video clip, art collector Jordan D. Schnitzer speaks to children for the Fifth Grade Art Experience, an art education program run by the Missoula Art Museum. Fifth graders in Missoula County can learn about contemporary prints at the exhibit Under Pressure: Contemporary Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation, showing at the Museum through June 1. Mr. Schnitzer’s enthusiasm for introducing youth to art comes across clearly as he discusses the show:
“The artists in this exhibition are recognized as the foremost, the most important, best artists in the United States. If I had to pick a favorite, it probably would be the first thing I bought when I was 14 years old. I bought a little study by an artist named Louis Bunce, who is a major artist in Portland, Oregon, where I grew up. And I still have it today, and I look at it every morning. I was just as excited this morning when I got dressed looking at it as I was…decades ago when I bought it.
You might ask: ‘What should I be thinking about when I see this art?’ You should be thinking about ‘Why did the artist do what they did? Why did they use the colors, the shapes, the forms? Is there a message the artist is trying to tell me?’”
He concludes:
“Finally, don’t think anything. Just sit there and feel. I think you’ll be surprised by some that will just grab you and not let go; that an image or a theme will just somehow speak to you. There’s something in this exhibition for everybody.”