Do you find contemporary art baffling sometimes? That?s not a bad thing. In fact, the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art wants you to be puzzled by its new exhibit.
?Intersections: Puzzles as Art,? opening June 20 and running through Aug. 16, combines art that might be considered puzzles with actual puzzles that might qualify as art.
The show was assembled by its two curators, puzzle collector George Miller and artist Nancy Mintz, specifically for the Sonoma museum and features work borrowed exclusively from private collectors.
?This is a one-time thing in the world,? Miller said.
?It?s not going to another museum. The pieces are going to be sent back to the collectors afterwards.?
Miller, a retired computer programmer from San Francisco who moved to Sonoma 10 years ago, has a couple thousand puzzles in his own collection ? not jigaws or crosswords, but manipulable puzzles with interlocking pieces made or wood, metal or plastic.
?I believe this is the first museum in the world to have an art exhibit exploring puzzles as art,? he said.
?I didn?t want to say that puzzles are an art form. I wanted to leave the question open, and let the public decide.?
But Miller does believe it?s time puzzles got some serious public exposure.
?There are 13 Barbie doll museums in the world, but only two puzzle museums, one in Urbana, Ind., and the other in Ulan Bator, Outer Mongolia,? Miller said.
He commissioned several new pieces by local artists for the museum show and also brought in work by internationally known artists.
The exhibit includes trick boxes by Akio Kamei of Japan, geometric constructions by George W. Hart of New York and puzzle sculptures by Miguel Ortiz Berrocal of Spain.
?Berrocal never said he was a puzzle maker,? Miller noted. ?He was an artist, but he was an obvious one to have in the show.?
While many of the pieces will be in glass display cases, there also will be hands-on puzzles for visitors to try. One involves disentangling rope wrapped around Sonoma sculptor Jim Callahan?s bronze figure of a woman tennis player.
Even the entry to the show is a puzzle.
?To get into the exhibit, you?ll have go through a maze,? Miller said.
?The maze is very difficult, so I have the solution available, and you can take it and find your way through. But the maze is not a wall maze. It?s on the floor, so if you wanted, you just walk over the whole thing. It doesn?t physically constrain you.?
Miller?s passion for puzzles extends beyond collecting them. He also makes prototypes for new puzzle ideas sent to him by designers all over the world.
?How much do I charge for my prototyping services? Zero. It?s all free. That?s probably why I don?t have any competition,? Miller joked.
?It?s a hobby, but I do get rights to sell the puzzles on my Web site, puzzlepalace.com.?
While Miller estimates the number of serious puzzle aficionados worldwide is small, the general public still finds them fascinating.
?The whole purpose of a puzzle is problem-solving,? he explained, ?and along with that comes intense satisfaction when you solve it.?
You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. See his ARTS blog at http://arts.pressdemocrat.com.
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