The fledgling art critics, ranging in age from young adults to seniors, circled the painting, swooping in as close as possible, picking out obscure little details like birds finding seeds in the grass, sometimes standing back to get perspective.

Credit: Handout

Credit: Handout

After finishing their inspection and getting seated in a large semicircle around the painting, they crowdsourced and compared notes on the details they had noticed in “Overcast”: an explosion, a movie marquee, a rocket, firefighters, numbered grids, a fragment of a Velasquez painting of an angel, a photo of Merce Cunningham dancers. Even a couple of spots of color peeping through.

“I experience it as chaotic and distressing and unsettling; all those things,” said Angelika Pohl, a retired German teacher from Decatur, “It’s the negative emotions it evokes for me. Just like life!” she added with a laugh.

As the observers added their thoughts, the group began to build a consensus, not so much a final say on what it means, but on how “Overcast III” was assembled and what it might mean.

Welcome to Conversation Pieces, a monthly confab — both in person and online — at the High that each month focuses on one work of art.

While the Rauschenberg being discussed in July was challenging and even a little violent, on Aug. 4 the conversation will be about a gentler work, Atlanta artist Carolyn W. White’s quilt titled “Awestruck Before an Unforgettable Nubian Queen or From Gee’s Bend to Royalty,” based on Amy Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama.

“Many museums do conversation-based programs in their galleries,” says Humble. “And I think what makes this one special is that it’s one work of art for only 30 minutes, which is often more than people think is necessary, or maybe even comfortable. But through the group conversation, it builds and builds, and you learn more and more.”

A curator-led lecture or tour can make people smarter about art, but Humble serves more as a guide than a professor, asking questions of the group, occasionally throwing out tidbits of context.

“Part of the idea is to not just lecture and tell you every single thing that we know about this work, because there’s so much art historical context that you can bring in,” says Humble, who oversees the program, and is one of several staffers who take turns leading the talks.

“The idea behind Conversation Pieces is that a lot of the conversation is generated from participants and their observations and interpretations, and to provide space for that.”

A 2017 study in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts states that the average museumgoer spends just 27 seconds looking at even the greatest works of art in the world.

“In my previous institution (New York’s Museum of Modern Art), we would observe people in the galleries and sometimes it was less than five seconds for a work of art,” says Humble.

“I think it’s natural to kind of stroll through the galleries and spend maybe 30 seconds at a work of art,” she continues. “And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“At the same time, we know that these works have history to them. They have interesting stories behind them. They are visually complex. And so, encouraging people to slow down and think in depth is an important thing to do.

“It’s an important thing in a museum, but it’s an important thing in our lives,” she adds.

Popular past conversations at the High have included Claude Monet’s “Houses Along the Road,” Nellie Mae Rowe’s “Peace (Black Bull),” and Max Ernst’s “Tree of Life.”

Credit: Mike Jensen

Credit: Mike Jensen

For the August conversation, patrons will gather in the Patterns of Abstraction collection, which is the High’s collection of quilts by Black women artists since 1980. Ironically, the quilt under discussion, “Awestruck Before an Unforgettable Nubian Queen,” is the only quilt in the room that is not abstract, and Humble says that anomaly will be one of the topics she discusses.

“This is an exhibition of abstract quilts, and many people may wonder why that particular quilt is included. And so, a lot of our conversation will probably be to connect it to the other objects in the room and talk about this lineage of abstract quilting within Black quilt-making traditions in the South.”

Back in the contemporary art gallery at the Rauschenberg, Humble was getting ready to set up the online version of the event, which started during the pandemic and still attracts about as many art buffs as the live version.

“There are people who just aren’t physically able to get to the conversations on a Tuesday afternoon, and that’s why we continue to offer them,” she said.

A few of the patrons stayed to talk to Humble and among themselves.

“I came because I thought this work was disturbing and I could learn to see something I didn’t see to begin with,” said Pohl. “Which is often true with a work of art.”

“I prefer beauty,” said her partner, Stven Carlberg, who plays piano in a Decatur folk music trio. “Art that is deliberately ugly, we have a lot of examples of that. Showing us the grotesque and the unbeautiful ― that’s a thing, but it’s not really my thing.”

“I’d rather come and spend time like this and really understand something than just walk through the museum and look at stuff,” said Barrett Madrigal, a retired pharmaceutical executive from Chamblee who is a regular attendee.

“When I come to these art conversations, I like to get help seeing what I didn’t see myself, or make sense of what I didn’t see.”

EVENT PREVIEW

“Conversation Pieces.” Noon in person, 2 p.m. online. Aug. 6, and the first Tuesday of each month. Free with admission, $23.50. Registration required. High Museum of Art, 1280 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 404-377-4400, high.org