Art Authority Museum will demo its virtual museum technology and display archival fine art reproductions, which will be on sale at the former Hanson Howard Gallery location next to the Noble Fox

By Jim Flint for Ashland.news

Brick-and-mortar meets virtual reality at Ashland’s First Friday Art Walk Aug. 2 when the Art Authority Museum holds a pop-up event from 3 to 8 p.m. in the former Hanson Howard Gallery location at 89 Oak St.

It’s in the building that also houses the Noble Fox Restaurant and Brewery (formerly Standing Stone), sponsor of the pop-up.

Ashland-based AAM will display its archival fine art reproductions on most walls of the gallery.

Prices for prints in AAM’s online store at 1000museums.com range from $27 for an 8-by-10 to $259 for a 40-by-60-inch print. Those on display during the pop-up will be priced at up to 75% off regular prices for the event.

There also will be free demos of AAM’s fully immersive virtual art museum, featuring famous works of art from around the world. Attendees can “wander” through the virtual lobby and galleries using the Apple Vision Pro headset, one or two of which will be available Friday. The company had already been giving private demos locally.

Around the world on a headset

Using the headset, one can view works of art ranging from the Renaissance to modern-day artists, such as Ashlander Betty LaDuke, as well as items from the Library of Congress.

Not everybody will get an opportunity to try the Vision Pro Friday.

“Each demo takes some time,” said Alan Oppenheimer, founding director of AAM. A bit of instruction is required to use the device, he noted.

“If people are very nearsighted and have contact lenses, they should wear them if they hope to try the Vision Pro,” he said. “The headset does not fit over glasses.

“Others will be able to watch the experience on a big-screen TV,” he said.

Oppenheimer sees the integration of art and technology continuing to evolve in the future.

“Vision Pro is too expensive and too bulky for most art lovers,” he said. “It, and its competitors, will come way down in price, and eventually will become small enough to be built into a pair of eyeglasses.”

The pop-up experience Friday will be similar to AAM’s grand opening in May at the American Alliance of Museums trade show in Baltimore.

“Many of our partners in that groundbreaking effort were there,” Oppenheimer said, “including representatives from traditional museums, artists and even Apple.”

An event long in the planning

The idea for an Ashland event has been on Oppenheimer’s mind for some time.

“We’ve been running Art Authority here in town for eight years and have always wanted to do a pop-up event on First Friday. What we do fits so well with the community,” he said.

The plan was always to show off Art Authority’s wares, including the fine-art giclée prints, in Ashland. The added impetus of completing construction of the online Art Authority Museum and celebrating its grand opening in Baltimore was enough to convince them that now was the right time.

“The availability of the best possible gallery space was just the icing on the cake,” Oppenheimer said. The Hanson Howard was Oppenheimer and his wife’s favorite gallery for more than 30 years.

He hopes to have similar local pop-ups in the future, maybe one or two a year, he said. “We’ll keep giving demos. Maybe we’ll find a permanent space in town someday. We’ll see how it goes.”

He says AAM hopes to work with the Schneider Museum and with artists around town on their own similar apps, and is working with an intern from Southern Oregon University.

Disability, geography no barrier

Oppenheimer said feedback at the Baltimore grand opening of the virtual museum was positive.

“The president of the American Alliance of Museums suggested our technology could drastically increase accessibility to their partner museums,” Oppenheimer said.

Disability, economics or even geography will no longer be a barrier to people who yearn for an art museum experience.

“To experience art whenever and from wherever you may be will be invaluable,” he said.

In some ways, he said, the experience may even transcend that of the traditional museum.

“Get as close as you want? Sure. Have your own ‘member’s lounge’ with whatever you want in it? Sure. Experience a whole room of art similar to a particular piece? You bet! Walk into and be surrounded by a piece of art? Why not?”

Oppenheimer is not without enthusiasm for the future. He’s kid-in-the-candy-store excited about the potential for the new technology.

You can get a taste of what it’s all about at AAM’s pop-up on First Friday, Aug. 2.