In the Deep End With Jewel

The Portal: An Art Experience By Jewel is definitely that — an experience. The multifaceted gallery exhibit takes place at Bentonville, Arkansas’ Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (a sister organization to The Momentary, which hosts FreshGrass |Bentonville) and comprises an art walk, a technological guided tour, curated food and drinks, original music, and more.

Singer-songwriter Jewel, whose nearly-30-year career traverses country, pop, folk, and now, experimental sound design, is also a visual artist and mental health advocate. And in this one-of-a-kind show, she manages to weave elements of each of those roles into one unified museum experience.

An iPad shows a pre-recorded video of Jewel describing and explaining a work of art by Alma Thomas. (Photo by Philip Thomas for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art)

Before even entering the exhibit, museum guests are welcomed by a 7-foot-tall hologram of Jewel set up at the entrance. In it, VR Jewel speaks to the crowd, poses with a raven, performs multiple songs, and reads a poem aloud. After descending the stairs to the museum’s lower level, visitors receive bilingual “reflection journals” that include thought-provoking questions about the works of art and space to write or sketch out reactions. Throughout the gallery, iPads are set up in front of 10 works in the permanent collection, each showing short videos of Jewel contextualizing the work of art, both within her own conceptual framework and from a wider perspective. At the end of the indoors component, guests are led outside for the final element of The Portal — a 200-piece drone show, flown by Nova Sky Stories, set to a new, original composition by the multiplatinum-selling musician.

There’s a lot to process about The Portal, which opened in May and closes July 28, so No Depression checked in with Jewel during the last few weeks of its run. As with our entire “In the Deep End” series, questions start easy and get progressively deeper. Answers have been edited for style and clarity.

Tell us about how The Portal came to be at Crystal Bridges? How much time did it take from conceptualization to the actual opening on May 4? How did you come up with the original idea?

I actually reached out to Crystal Bridges’ executive director, Rod Bigelow, and brought my idea to him — an experience that tied together visual art, behavioral health, and technology in a unique way. I’d been to Crystal Bridges before; I love their programming and their commitment to democratizing access to art. The whole process took about a year and a half to create, and I’m thrilled with how it came together. I wanted to put together an experience that sparked ideas about what I consider our three spheres of existence — the Inner, the Seen, and the Unseen worlds that we each travel through each day, often without realizing it.

Will you please elaborate on that concept of the three spheres of human existence — the Inner world, Seen world, and Unseen world — and how they serve as guideposts through The Portal?

I consider the three spheres like this: The Seen world encompasses our families, jobs, finances, and all the physical world. The Inner world encompasses our thoughts and feelings. And the Unseen world represents the spiritual realm. When the spheres align, happiness, harmony, and well-being are side effects. When our three spheres are in conflict, we suffer.

The entire hour-and-a-half evening experience at the museum is designed to help people understand what the three spheres mean to them. For example, I developed conversation cards that people can play with during the dinner portion of the experience. During the art walk portion of the experience, which takes visitors through part of Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection, I created a journal and prompts near the art that thoughtfully guide visitors on a journey through their own spheres. So, you view these incredible artworks by Ruth Asawa, Fred Eversley, Julie Mehretu, Mickalene Thomas, Sam Gilliam, and others, for example, and then reflect on the alignment of your actions, thoughts, and intentions in your own life.

In additional to the guided walking tour and contemporary art criticism technology, The Portal also has elements of mental health care, a drone performance, and of course, different genres of music. How did you manage to combine all of these seemingly disparate concepts into one unified and concise experience?

I was so lucky to work with a fantastic team that helped realize my vision. From the folks at ProtoHologram to Nova Sky Stories, to the curators Alejo Benedetti and Austin Bailly and the entire team at Crystal Bridges, I had a lot of help. Crystal Bridges is a cutting-edge museum that puts on very forward-thinking exhibitions, and I knew they’d be the perfect place for this experience. All of the pieces truly connect to mindfulness and self-reflection and create a highly personal journey for visitors.

A hologram of singer-songwriter Jewel welcomes visitors to “The Portal” at Crystal Bridges. (Photo by Philip Thomas, for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art)

Many people wouldn’t necessarily associate you with visual art! How did you get into this form? Tell us about the sculpture and painting you contributed to the exhibit. How are your visual and musical expressions related and/or divergent?

I see both visual art and my music as ways of telling stories and exploring the world around us: I’ve been doing visual art for a long time. I actually went to Interlochen Arts Academy during high school and studied marble carving, sculpting, and visual art. I was a model for the sculpture class until finally the teacher was like, “Do you just want to take the class?” I had been asking so many questions! It’s continued to be a love of mine throughout the years and I’m excited to finally get to show my art.

I created four works for the installation, two with traditional mediums, and two with new technologies. The oil painting is of my son, Kase, with a poem I wrote for him in the background and a custom carved wood frame titled Double Helix. This represents the Seen sphere.

The sculpture is titled Chill and is a lucite figure in a meditative pose full of medication floating inside it. It’s meant to create a conversation around how we relax, and longevity of life versus quality of life. The piece has inspired some very proactive debates as people gather around it. Medication can be so helpful or so harmful, and everyone has strong feelings about the topic. It represents the Inner sphere.

The third piece is holographic performance art titled Listen. It features me reciting spoken-word with a live raven. A personal core memory was filming with that bird! This piece represents the Unseen sphere.

And lastly is the flight of the The Portal, which is a 10-minute sculptural sky story of 200 drones that carry light that I choreographed to an original piece of music. This combines all three spheres and gives us an unexpected message that takes us on quite a journey.

Drone mock-up from “The Portal.” (Image courtesy of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art)

Obviously, No Depression is a music publication, but with a name like ours, I believe it’s important to address the topic of mental health openly, especially as it pertains to the music industry. As a musician and mental health advocate, how do you take care of yourself — while writing, in the studio, on the road, etc.? What do you hope visitors to The Portal take away from the experience, especially in terms of their own healing?

I’ve been a mental health advocate for a long time. I co-founded Inspiring Children Foundation over 20 years ago and recently co-founded a mental health app called Innerworld. It has been crucial for me over the past decades to take charge of my own mental health, and I’ve developed tools and resources for people struggling so no one is ever without access to help. I grew up with a chaotic family life and I left home at 15. I knew that I would have to make major changes in my life if I wanted not to be a statistic. It all comes down to mental health.

I am about to head out on the road with Melissa Etheridge. When I’m on tour, it’s important to take quiet moments for myself to recenter. It’s these introspective check-ins that I want people to take away from The Portal. I hope visitors will leave feeling inspired and empowered and knowing that when we change, new things can grow in our lives.