Westmoreland Museum of American Art entices new visitors with interactive Art Maze exhibit

Haddie Simpson, 6, of Irwin, was in charge of navigating the way through an art-covered maze Sunday afternoon.

A pamphlet directed Haddie and her father, John Simpson, through multiple activities including a scavenger hunt inside an interactive art gallery called The Art Maze hosted by The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Around every corner the two were met with new paintings designed in different art styles.

“We wanted to do something a little different in the summer because it’s a quieter season for us,” said Silvia Filippini Fantoni, the Richard M. Scaife Director and CEO of The Westmoreland. “We wanted to do something that connected art with families.”

Filippini Fantoni connected with muralist Chris Minsel, who specializes in creating interactive gallery mazes with his business partner and maze designer Dave Phillips. The two men founded A-MAZE-D, a traveling exhibit focused on mazes and puzzles, designed to be interactive and engaging for visitors.

In partnership with A-MAZE-D, the museum enlisted Minsel and five other artists — Darryl Audia Jr., Dan Florent, V Jennings, Bakula Nayak and Stacey Pydynkowski — to create a 3,400 square foot cardboard box maze painted by the muralists.

“There’s about 700 boxes in the maze and two miles of tape,” Filippini Fantoni said.

Each artist took inspiration from a painting in the museum to paint their section. Visitors were invited to explore the rest of the museum to find the paintings that inspired the artists. Each inspiration piece was matched with a letter to spell out a secret word.

“It’s a way to connect (families) with art in a playful way,” Filippini Fantoni said.

The maze has attracted more visitors than the museum would normally see this time of year. Filippini Fantoni said museum leadership has been brainstorming ways to encourage visitors and to introduce art to people in a fun way.

“Kids are very important,” she said. “When you go to a museum as a child, you’re more likely then to go as an adult and to bring your own kids and support museums. For us this is a very important audience and it’s a good way to serve the communities within Westmoreland County.”

Haddie and her father are regulars at the museum. Simpson, a teacher at Franklin Regional, was inspired to bring Haddie to the museum after taking his students to visit the maze for a field trip.

“We just had to find the right day to visit,” he said.

While the goal of a maze is to find the exit, Haddie said her favorite part of the experience was “getting lost.” She led the charge through the maze to solve her scavenger hunt and complete different “visual challenges” designed by Phillips.

“We like the fact that even if we come (to the museum) and there’s not something like the maze to do, they always have scavenger hunts,” Simpson said, referring to an ongoing program at the museum. “Haddie can go through the museum and look at different paintings.”

The last day to visit the exhibit is Aug. 17. After the maze is taken down, Filippini Fantoni said the museum intends to raffle off pieces of it throughout the rest of August. She said the museum is planning to install another youth-friendly, interactive exhibit next summer.