Telfair Museums to host free family weekend during annual PULSE Art + Technology Festival

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — In partnership with the City of Savannah, Telfair Museums’ Jepson Center will be free to everyone from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, January 29 through Sunday, January 31.

Visitors are invited to tour current exhibitions and explore art activities created by Telfair’s education team, including free take-home art kits for children.

“We’re celebrating the start of the new year by opening our doors to everyone,” Ben Simons, Telfair’s executive director and CEO said. “In recent years, Telfair has offered free admission for Family Days and Weekends to just Savannah residents. This weekend, we’re also looking forward to welcoming our neighbors from Effingham, Bryan, and Liberty counties, and cities like Bluffton and beyond.”

Exhibitions currently on view include Collecting Impressionism: Telfair’s Modern Vision, which closes after Sunday; Youthful Adventures: Growing Up in Photography; Complex Uncertainties: Artists in Postwar America; and other highlights from the museum’s permanent collection.

Face masks are required, and occupancy limits will be enforced for social distancing.

Telfair’s annual PULSE Art + Technology Festival kicked off Wednesday and will also be on view during the free weekend.

“We switched to a three-day free weekend format so it spreads folks out so we don’t have one thousand people show up in one day. Instead, it spreads the crowd out. So it’s really just a precaution for safety to have that three-day weekend,” curator of the exhibition Harry DeLorme said.

Caribbean artist David Gumbs is this year’s lead artist, with PULSE as his debut solo show in the United States. His interactive pieces translate features of the Caribbean environment, impacts of global warming, and the legacy of colonialism into colorful digital landscapes that transform and respond to visitors’ movements.

“I think visitors are really going to enjoy David Gumbs’ art with its vibrant color, movement, and interactivity, but it’s also work that makes you think and reflects environmental and social issues,” DeLorme said.

Other PULSE highlights include works by Savannah-based artists Guanzhi Kou and Greg Finger, a virtual discussion about producing STEM projects at home with kids by prominent makers Diana Eng and Natalie Zee Drieu, and a series of virtual student workshops.

For registration links and the full PULSE schedule, visit telfair.org/event/pulse2021.