On May 4, 2024, four-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and mental health pioneer Jewel, debuted her inaugural museum venture at the renowned Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
The Portal: An Art Experience by Jewel explores the intersection of music, mental health, technology, and art, and is now open to the public through July 28. The star-studded opening night party featured an exclusive first look at Jewel’s original artwork now on display, a special two-song performance, an auction that raised $1.25M for the museum, and a 200-piece drone sky story choreographed to Jewel’s new meditative song, “The Portal,” which will be available later this month.
The opening weekend also featured a Wellness Festival hosted by Crystal Bridges and their sister venue, the Momentary. The festival featured a variety of talks, workshops, culinary experiences, and family-friendly engagements by community partners, showcasing the profound connections between creative expression and mental health.
The festival began on Thursday, May 2 with a powerful discussion on women and maternal health with Tonya Lewis Lee and Olivia Walton and closed on Sunday, May 5 with an insightful conversation about art, medicine, and well-being with Alice Walton and Founder and CEO of Thrive Global, author, and founder of The Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington.
The festival also featured a conversation with Noah Robinson, Founder & CEO of Innerworld, a scalable solution to the global mental health crisis that Jewel co-founded last year.
Known for her three-decades long, award-winning music career and mental health advocacy work, Jewel has officially made her mark on the visual arts world with this project. The Portal offers visitors the opportunity to celebrate creativity, mindfulness, reflection and introspection. Jewel’s passion for art dates back to her childhood, predating her music career. After studying sculpture and painting in school and designing sets, her artistic journey has evolved into a holistic approach that extends to mental health advocacy, informing her creation of The Portal.
Artnet called the experience “accessible immersion into art therapy” and People Magazine praised Jewel’s ethereal fashion choices for the anticipated evening, noting that she was “a work of art herself” as she “turned heads in two show-stopping dresses.”
Jewel also appeared on the Spring 2022 cover of YRB Magazine.
Read the full cover story HERE! also check about her journey through the art world, music, and mental health advocacy in the Women In Music issue of ELLE Magazine,here.
The Portal: An Art Experience by Jewel begins with a reflective art walk through the museum’s contemporary wing, showcasing Jewel’s curated selection of ten artworks from Crystal Bridges’ collection by artists including Ruth Asawa, Fred Eversley, Julie Mehretu, Mickalene Thomas, and Sam Gilliam, in addition to two original artworks by Jewel: a portrait of her son, and a striking new sculpture. A cutting-edge holographic artwork of Jewel, using Proto Hologram technology, welcomes visitors to the experience, where they will encounter wall labels, written and narrated by Jewel, that will guide them mindfully through the gallery.
Each night, for the duration of the experience, there will be a choreographed 200-piece drone light show over Crystal Bridges’ pond, flown by Nova Sky Stories.
Visitors will be invited to wear headphones and listen to a conceptual, original song written and recorded by Jewel, which is available on vinyl in the museum gift shop, featuring one of Jewel’s paintings on the record sleeve. The audio-visual art experience has been designed by Jewel to create a space for reflection, connection, and transformation, and to prompt introspection, self-awareness, and well-being amongst visitors.
The experience is now open to the public and is on view through July 28, 2024.
Photos by: Tom McFetridge & Shane Drummond/BFA.com
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