The Lutzick Snowdrift Arrays exhibit at Affeldt Mion Museum offers a slice of artist Dan Lutzick’s Snowdrift Art Space experience in the Winslow Studio Artists Gallery, themed around his interest in groupings he calls Arrays:

When you have a thing by itself, it is “on a pedestal,” perhaps monumental, perhaps iconic, it is regarded as a thing in itself, complete—perhaps with a degree of completion—“this is it.” When you have a group of things, especially things that are not fixed, that can be arranged, many of these ideas about the object fall away. The objects in the group may display various levels of completion, some may be evolving/reacting to their position in the group. Boundaries, groupings within the collection may be discerned, with different values/interpretations possible/likely based on the viewers position/bias.” — Dan Lutzick

LINKS

You’ll find minimal interpretation within the exhibit. Explore deeper into the work here.

Artist Statement

When it comes to viewing an art exhibit, I generally prefer to look at the work first, maybe even return to it a time or two, and only after that do I read the labels and perhaps do a little research into the exhibit and the artist. I believe that the experience of art is completed by the viewer, so the meaning it holds will change with every viewer. From my perspective, my work is something that is never finished. It is something that is layered, and for me, its meaning may change based on the other artwork around it, the space it is exhibited in, my position in that space, and my
thoughts about the world at that specific moment.

So, given my statement above, it would be a mistake to provide an explanation of the work before you have a chance to register your own ideas. That means that I do not use labels, text panels, or gallery guides to lead you to my perspective of the work. What I have decided to do is supply QR codes that take you to more information about the work, a reading table that gives you a sense of the ideas that motivate me, and a planning document that gives you a sense of how the plan for the exhibit evolved over the last year.

I do not have the traditional sense of a museum exhibit space as a place where a collection of art is displayed for a set time period and in a fixed state. In my case, the WSA Gallery is simply an extension of my studio. The work in this gallery is not necessarily “finished.” The exhibit is not necessarily set in time. I feel free to change portions of the exhibit, display new works, and alter works at any time from November 2025 through November 2026. I think this is entirely appropriate since Snowdrift Art Space—the historic, 22,000-square-foot building where I create
my work—is where my home, studio, and exhibit space all coexist and evolve together. In fact, my thirty-year association with La Posada Hotel makes the WSA Gallery a particularly relevant place to show my work. In 1999, this very space served as my studio. Back then it was a freight depot, and I would open the large, roll-up doors and watch BNSF trains pass on the south side and Route 66 traffic drive by on the north side. In 2018, this gallery was my office while we worked to create the first exhibits in the new museum, and in 2020, during the first months of the
pandemic, I spent a great deal of time by myself in this space, installing display cases and hanging exhibits. Regarding materials, some of the work displayed here was created from scavenged fixtures that were once stored by the Santa Fe Railroad in this very room, and other works were created from the leftover building materials that were collected as this space was being renovated into a museum.

Before looking into my explanations for why and how I created and arranged this work, I encourage you to walk the exhibit, look at it from different angles, see both its parts and its groupings, and think about what it means to you. Rather than explanations, I would rather give you these questions to consider:

• What do the words in the entry hall to the exhibit make you think about?
• Why are some of the objects ordered into groupings?
• Why do some of the objects appear to move apart from the groups?roupings give you a sense of peace and order? Do the groupings imply disorder?
• Do you see certain objects that are repeated both in the sculptures and in the paintings, and what
• does this repetition imply?
• As you move through the exhibit and see the artwork from different perspectives, does your
• understanding of the exhibit change?
• What titles would you choose for these works?
• Where do you draw the line from where one art object ends and another begins?

These are some of the questions that I asked myself as I created this exhibit, and they are questions I continue to ask myself every time I enter this space. My work will continue to evolve as long as I am around to have this dialog with it.

Learn More About Dan’s Home and Studio

LUTZICK SNOWDRIFT ARRAYS – NOVEMBER 2025 TO NOVEMBER 2026

IN THE WINSLOW STUDIO ARTISTS GALLERY!

WATCH EPISODE ONE OF THE EXHIBIT FILM!

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