What comes next for a new museum that’s welcomed a million people through its doors and raised awareness for American art? That’s the situation Alice Walton, board chair of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and museum president Don Bacigalupi were discussing in 2013, after the museum’s successful launch in late 2011. While the museum highlights American art from the late 1600s to the early 2000s, Walton and Bacigalupi recognized the need to share what’s happening in American art right now. As a result, Bacigalupi spent most of 2013 on the road, traveling to every region of the US to meet nearly 1,000 artists in their studios. The resulting exhibition, State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, will open at Crystal Bridges this fall and include works by more than 100 artists encountered during the journey. Come discover what was learned on the road trip, what it means to be an artist in the US today, and why artists’ insights offer such a relevant voice for our times. Alice Walton, Don Bacigalupi