Our longtime volunteer Andrea Noonoo had a recent encounter with an artwork from the Barrick's permanent collection: Will Barnet's Waiting.
Waiting is difficult in our fast-paced world where we can get or do almost anything with a few clicks of a mouse. While writing descriptions of art pieces as part of my volunteer work at the Barrick Museum, I was introduced to a lithograph by Will Barnet titled Waiting. As I viewed the digital image of this work, I did not feel any of the urgency that usually affects me.
Time slowed down as I looked at the .jpeg of the piece. There was so much to see in this print, which is sparse and composed of muted colors. I stared at the figures of the women as questions related to the title ran through my mind. Were they all different women? Were the women friends or related to each other, or was the figure actually the same woman at different times? And of course the obvious question, what were they waiting for?
Many of the details were not clear in this on-screen version of the work. Alisha Kerlin, director of the Barrick Museum asked if I would like to see the original. I was able to go into the rooms where the artworks are stored and view the lithograph itself.
I still kept staring at the piece. Isn’t that what art does? It draws us in. I felt that there was a story I was trying to uncover. The loneliness of the women struck me. There were six women in the same location, yet they seemed to be unconnected. There was no interaction among them. What were they waiting for? They all seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, contemplating their own situation. They may have been waiting for someone to return, or looking to the future. Perhaps one was thinking of having a child or having lost a child, or how she could escape to follow her own dreams.
Perhaps the artist drew six different women, but to me this was one woman. She was alone. She was waiting to find the answers to her own questions, and she was taking her time. I felt great admiration for this woman. She was not going to be swayed by others as she contemplated whatever it was that was puzzling her.
I have now added Waiting to my list of favorite art works. For me it is a contemplative piece. I know that I will return to it when I need to slow down and work through a problem that I may be facing. The serenity of this piece draws me in and allows me to block out outside distractions.
I aspire to the strength that I see in this woman, the strength to wait for the ability and confidence to solve problems on my own.
Image: Will Barnet, Waiting (detail), 1975, Lithograph and screenprint on paper, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art Collection, Gift of the Las Vegas Art Museum, 2021; Gift of Lorillard, 1976. To see the rest of this artwork, please visit it at our online collection archive.