JSMA SPRING|SUMMER 2021 by jsmauo

SPRING 2021

JORDAN SCHNITZER MUSEUM OF ART

The JSMA plans to reopen May 15-16 to our members and the UO community. Check our website for up-to-the-moment news! We are excited to see you again. When we open, we will offer reserved, timed tickets. You will also be able to get complimentary member tickets on a walk-in basis; however, building occupancy will be limited. To reserve your place, pre-order your complimentary member tickets in advance.

Reserve Advance Tickets:

https://jsma.uoregon.edu/visit

All visitors must wear a face covering

WHEN WE REOPEN In the interest of personal safety and community health, visitors and staff are required to adhere to safety precautions while visiting the JSMA. •

Face coverings required

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Social distancing: Visitors must maintain 6 ft distance

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Advance tickets are recommended

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Capacity is limited

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Marché Café closed

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Water fountains are turned off

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Restroom availability is limited

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Coat/bag check closed: Please leave larger bags, backpacks and umbrellas at home. Individuals experiencing disabilities will be allowed to keep their bags

Maintain 6 ft. distance

NEW HOURS Beginning May 21st Monday – Thursday: Pre-booked academic tours Friday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. (University of Oregon faculty, staff, students and JSMA members)

Saturday - Sunday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

No coat or bag check

Help us protect our community!

If you have a fever or cough, or you are experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms, please join us at a later date.

Members Weekend May 15-16! Members who want to reserve a ticket in advance should log in to the member portal. You can also get a complimentary ticket at the door with your membership card.

For a direct link, scan the QR code with the camera on your smartphone.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT | SPRING 2021 Dear JSMA Members and Friends, we are reopening! For the last year, the future has been a moving target. I wrote the last two Director’s Reports with really no idea what our situation might be by the time you would be reading them. Would the museum be open or closed? Would case counts be up or down? Now, with vaccinations progressing, it feels as if we can see a light at the end of the COVID tunnel. The virus isn’t going away any time soon, but the spectacular success the vaccinations have had keeping people alive and out of the hospital is deeply encouraging. As more Lane County residents get vaccinated, including our JSMA frontline workers and security staff, we look forward to opening the museum again. Our plan, as of press deadline, is to open our doors to members and the UO community the 15th and 16th of May. The following week we’ll launch our new, regular schedule: pre-booked academic tours Mondaysto-Thursdays; members and the UO community on Fridays; and the general public on weekends. Please see the information on the inside cover of the magazine for all details. For the foreseeable future we’ll still be requiring masks in the museum, and we’ll still be limiting the numbers of visitors and offering timed tickets as well as walk-in visits. But we’ll be looking at art in person. What a glorious thing that will be! As I muse on reopening, I’m happy to report that our current retrospective of Cuban artist Belkis Ayón, originally scheduled to close May 2, will remain on view through Labor Day. This guarantees that you’ll have a chance to experience this once-in-a-lifetime show of work by a justly world-renowned artist. To achieve this, we have moved our Hung Liu exhibition into next winter, and thankfully Hung was happy to accommodate that shift. Since the Belkis Ayón exhibition was not scheduled to open at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, Spain, until November, we were able to arrange this extension with the gracious support of the Belkis Ayón Estate. If you checked out our virtual tour of her work in the Barker Gallery now, you have gotten a taste of the mystery and power of Ayón’s large-scale collagraph prints. Trust me, the work is even more breathtaking in person.

Artist Mika Aono and Eugene Symphony Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong viewing Aono's work in the exhibition, Metamorphosis: Visualizing the Music of Paul Hindemith

You’ll also get a chance to see Metamorphosis: Visualizing the Music of Paul Hindemith, featuring the work of four Oregon artists, Mika Aono, Anna Fidler, Andrew Myers, and Julia Oldham in the Schnitzer Gallery. Each artist responds quite differently to Hindemith’s music, and their work rewards contemplation on its own right, and thoughtful consideration of how it works in conjunction with the music. Created in collaboration with the Eugene Symphony, Metamorphosis was originally planned to be on view during their run of Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber. We do look forward to that concert at some point, and thank the Symphony and their executive director, Scott Freck, and their music director and conductor, Francesco Lecce-Chong, for their collaboration and support. Thanks also to The Ford Family Foundation for helping to underwrite the show! Also open now is a beautiful exhibition of paintings by Pierre Daura, a Catalonian artist who worked in Paris in the interwar years and showed alongside artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and other stalwarts of the 20th century avant-garde. He moved to the United States shortly before the Second World War, and thanks to the generosity of his family, the JSMA and the UO Law School have an excellent collection of his work. The exhibition was organized by JSMA curatorial extern Emily Shinn and shows off Daura’s deft, painterly touch and handling of color as he moves easily between figurative and abstract modes. In mid-March I was thrilled to see the Register Guard run a front page feature on our RESIST COVID/TAKE 6 art and public information project with artist Carrie Mae Weems. By press time for this issue of the JSMA magazine, we’ll have posters, billboards, lawn signs, bumper stickers and bookmarks in both English and Spanish distributed around Eugene and Springfield, encouraging continued good health practices and vaccination, and calling attention to the unequal impact the virus has had on communities of color locally and nationally. Thanks, RG, for helping to get the word out! And thanks to the UO Office of the President and the Division of Equity and Inclusion for helping to fund the project, and to FastSigns Eugene for generously offering at-cost printing. Carrie Mae Weems RESIST COVID/TAKE 6 billboard, 11th and City View, Eugene

Looking farther down the road, we’ll be opening the Black Lives Matter Artist Grant Exhibition in early July. The show will include painting, photography, a lot of video works, installations, printmaking, and computer-generated work. All of it is offered in support of Black Lives Matter, as the grant program asked. The artists’ visions and voices range widely from focusing on the protests of the last year and before, to considering other aspects of Black life and experience. The grant panel was particularly supportive of work by younger and emerging artists, and it’s great to see several of our students and recent graduates in the exhibition. My thanks again to Aris Hall of the Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center on campus for collaborating on the program, and to Jordan Schnitzer for funding the grants. Most of all, thanks to the artists for their work, commitment, and creativity. Even as we look forward to reopening, all of us on staff continue to be gratified by the success of our virtual programs. Earlier this month we had over 280 people log on to see and hear Portland artist George Johanson provide a fascinating Zoom tour of his studio. Starting with a drawing of a man on a horse made when he was still a small child, George offered insights from his long life as an artist, covering 80-some years of drawing, painting, and printmaking. In the mid-1980s when I was curating the Vollum Gallery at Reed College, I worked with George on a show of his big, complex narrative paintings. Listening to him in March on the Zoom, it was hard to believe more than thirty years had passed. He sounded just the same. In April, with funding support from Jordan Schnitzer, we were delighted to partner with the UO Art Department and their Center For Art Research to present a scintillating conversation between artists Alison Saar and Hank Willis Thomas, together with Hamza Walker, director of LAXART. Offered in conjunction with our Common Reading exhibition, LOOK. Listen. Learn. Act., their conversation ranged widely and deeply. They touched on their personal stories and family histories; how it feels to make art in these turbulent times; advice for young Black artists; television past and present; and more. In distinctly different ways, Saar and Thomas are among the most eloquent artists working today, and Hamza Walker is justifiably an art world legend. I highly recommend checking out the video of this event when it’s available. Before signing off, I want to offer another big thank you to our members and supporters, and say how much all of us here at the JSMA look forward to welcoming you back. Thanks also to our Leadership Council and LC President Ellen Tykeson and VP Sarah Finlay for your steadfast support. And a special shout out to our new LC Emeriti group—it’s been great connecting with you on Zoom, and I look forward to meeting in person later in 2021. This last year has been tough on everyone, but I think we have turned the corner. I’ll see you in the museum soon! John Weber

WATCH IT

ONLINE

George Johanson: Why Make Art? 2021 David and Anne McCosh Memorial Visiting Lecturer Series http://bit.ly/GeorgeJohanson

At age 92, Portland-based artist George Johanson has been drawing and painting for over 80 years. He talks about where art has taken him, and why he feels the need to keep making it. This program is made possible by the David John and Anne Kutka McCosh Memorial Museum Endowment Fund.

Alison Saar and Hank Willis Thomas in Conversation with Hamza Walker Coming soon to the JSMA video gallery: www.youtube.com/jschnitzmoa Alison Saar and Hank Willis Thomas united for an online conversation with renowned curator and critic Hamza Walker in an evening that explored their work and the current cultural moment in art and history. Saar and Thomas are featured in the University of Oregon Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art’s exhibition, LOOK. Listen. Learn. Act., the visual component of the university’s annual Common Reading program. This year’s Common Reading program incorporates different bodies of work across multiple platforms, focusing on Blackness, Black experience, and dismantling racism. This program was made possible by the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, presented by the Department of Art, Center for Art Research, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and Ford Family Foundation Critical Conversations Program in conjunction with the exhibition of works by the artists from the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer at the JSMA.

SHARED VISIONS SPOTLIGHT

Ruth Asawa

Focus West Gallery | January 9 – June 14, 2021

Ruth Asawa (American, 1926-2013), Untitled (S.786, Hanging Two-Sectioned, Open Window Form), ca. 1954-58. Galvanized steel wire. Private Collection. © Estate of Ruth Asawa

Ruth Asawa began weaving during the summer of 1947, when she joined Josef and Anni Albers—her professors from Black Mountain College—in Mexico. Artisans in a village outside Mexico City taught Asawa to knit, using traditional textiles as well as wire. From her earliest artistic exploits sketching as a child to years as a student and mature careers as a teacher, painter, printmaker, and sculptor, Asawa was a collector of influences, styles, and techniques. “I think it’s important to have a relationship with the past and the present and not just be modern or old, or anything like that. I think it’s good to be part of everything,” reflected Asawa in 2002. Her looped wire sculptures, seen here in a phenomenal example, merge mature interests in structure with a life-long delight in drawing patterns inspired by plant forms, shells, insect wings, and spider webs. The branching, flowering composition of the open window form also corresponds with the tied wire sculptures Asawa began creating in 1962, which explore the complex geometry of desert plants and trees.

NOW EXTENDED THROUGH SEPTEMBER 5!

NKAME A Retrospective of Cuban Printmaker

Belkis Ayón 5

Left: Belkis Ayón (Cuban, 1967-1999), Sikán, 1991. Collagraph. 80 x 54 in. Courtesy of the Estate of Belkis Ayón Above: Belkis Ayón (Cuban 1967-1999), Sin título (La soga y el fuego) [Untitled (The Rope and the Fire)], 1996. Collagraph. 28 x 37 in. Courtesy of the Estate of Belkis Ayón

Barker Gallery | Through September 5, 2021 The JSMA thanks the Estate of Belkis Ayón and Landau Traveling Exhibition for extending Nkame: A Retrospective of Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón through September 5. Nkame looks at the short, but fertile career of Belkis Ayón, an artist and teacher who produced an extraordinary body of work from 1986 to 1999 that is central to the history of contemporary printmaking in Cuba and abroad. The museum is thrilled that faculty, students, and the public will be able to experience this once-in-a-lifetime compendium of the artist’s large-scale collagraph prints and their immersive human drama in-person before the exhibition travels to Madrid, Spain, in the fall. While still a teenager in high school, Ayón identified the myth, symbolism, and manifestations of the all-male Abakuá Secret Society in Cuba as the visual language of her artistic practice. The history of the Abakuá has been traced to the southern port city of Calabar in Nigeria, where men belonged to leopard societies. When enslaved peoples from this area were brought to Cuba in the early part of the nineteenth century to work in the western port towns, they formed brotherhoods to provide protection and aid to their members. To develop her work, Ayón consulted written sources and spoke with members of the Abakuá Secret Society themselves. As exhibition curator Cristina Vives states in the introduction to Nkame, Ayón “…interpreted the myth from her perspective as a contemporary artist, Black and Cuban, at the end of the twentieth century. Her eagerness was not to perpetuate the myth, but to transgress it.” Ayón combined imagery related to the Abakuá with primitive Christian elements and other religious references, historic periods, and cultures to construct a universal discourse that questioned human nature and engaged themes of justice, power, intolerance, fear, violence, deception, and liberation. These topics were extremely sensitive given the severe political and economic crises Cuba faced throughout the 1990s, following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the dissolution of the USSR.

Belkis Ayón (Cuban, 1967-1999), ¿Arrepentida? (Repentant?), 1993. Collagraph. 37 x 26 in. Courtesy of the Estate of Belkis Ayón

On a technical level, the artist’s black, white, and gray collagraphs demonstrate a stunning range of texture and surface pattern. To deepen its aesthetic impact, Ayón often composed her work on a scale that remains rare in contemporary printmaking, joining her prints in large grids that dramatically command the gallery space. Because Vives, a Havana-based curator, independent researcher, and art critic, could not travel to Eugene for the opening of Nkame, she has invited JSMA members and visitors to Cuba for an intimate tour of Ayón’s work at the Belkis Ayón Estate. The result, Belkis Ayón Regreso a casa (Belkis Ayón Back Home), is a 30-minute video produced by Vives and her team in Havana, made possible by the support of the JSMA and the Coeta and Donald Barker Changing Exhibitions Endowment. It can be found here:

http://bit.ly/NkameReturnHome

The museum also collaborated with Juan Eduardo Wolf, UO Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Coordinator, UO World Music Series, to support the production of Abakuá: Mito y tradición (Abakuá: Myth and Tradition). Filmed in 2021, and directed by Víctor Linen Fernández and Freddy Vilches Meneses, this comprehensive documentary draws on interviews with two members of Cuba’s Abakuá Secret Society. Look for your invitation to the UO premiere of Abakuá: Mito y tradición later this spring! Exhibition curated by Cristina Vives and organized by the Belkis Ayón Estate, Havana, Cuba, with the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Exhibition Tour Management by Landau Traveling Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA.

Spotlight on works from the collection:

Andy Andy Warhol (American, 1928-87). Alexander the Great, 1982. Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board, 39 1/2 x 39 1/2 inches (sheet). Gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Andy Warhol (American, 1928-87). Flowers, 1970. Screenprint on paper, 38 x 38 inches (sheet). Gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Alexander the Great

Flowers

The ancient Greek king Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE) is the only classical subject ever featured in one of Andy Warhol’s works. Art dealer Alexandre Iolas commissioned this series in 1982 on the occasion of a major exhibition, The Search for Alexander, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Throughout the 1980s, Warhol created several series of screenprints using masterpieces from art history as his subjects. Only Alexander the Great, based on an ancient bronze head, was taken from a sculptural source instead of a painting. By selecting an image that dated from several centuries after the Macedonian conqueror’s death, Warhol played with his recurring themes of celebrity, constructed identities, and the power of idealized images.

Andy Warhol appropriated and cropped photographer Patricia Caulfield’s image of seven hibiscus blossoms from the June 1964 issue of Modern Photography to make his first series of flowerthemed paintings and prints. His flattened, brightly-colored compositions were easy to produce in large numbers in his New York City studio, The Factory. Caulfield sued the artist for using her images without permission and was awarded a cash settlement. This experience spurred Warhol to undertake his own photography of his subjects going forward. In 1970, Warhol revisited the hibiscus composition for a series of screenprints made in ten different color combinations, an example of which is seen here. The potency of flowers as cultural symbols increased with the “flower power” counterculture of the 1960s and their association with anti-war protests.

Warhol “Warhol lived one of the great lives of the 20th century, and now he has a biography worthy of that life.” —LA Times

“A fascinating, major work that will spark endless debates.” —Kirkus Review

“Superb”…. “Mesmerizing”

—The Guardian

A Conversation with Art Critic Blake Gopnik, Author of Acclaimed New Warhol Bio | May 23, 2 pm The JSMA is pleased to present a special online public program featuring Blake Gopnik, author of Andy Warhol, the widely praised, comprehensive new biography of the always controversial, inescapable Pop Artist. Published in May 2020, Gopnik’s 976-page tome draws on the author’s unprecedented access to more than 100,000 documents in the collection of Pittsburgh’s Warhol Museum and other sources, and over 260 interviews with friends, associates, and others in Warhol’s orbit. As noted in a New York Times review, “Warhol, more than even van Gogh or Picasso, endures not as a mere collection of works, but as a narrative, one that gets more complex the more closely you look…. Gopnik excels at disentangling the strands of that narrative and correcting common lore.” What emerges is a multifaceted look at an artist who, in Gopnik’s estimation, ranks above Picasso as the most important and influential figure of 20th century art. Join us on Zoom to find out why!

Born in Philadelphia and raised in Canada, Blake Gopnik has been the staff art critic at the Washington Post and Newsweek and is now a regular contributor to the New York Times and Marketplace radio. He holds a PhD in art history from Oxford University for a dissertation on Renaissance realism and the philosophy of representation. Gopnik will be joined in conversation by JSMA executive director John Weber, himself a long-time admirer of Warhol’s work and influence.

http://bit.ly/BlakeGopnik

Buy your copy of Blake Gopnik’s Warhol when you visit the JSMA Museum Store. 8

FIT TO PRINT:

The Dawn of Journalism in Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Lavenberg and Michels Collections

Preble/Murphy Galleries | Opens July 31, 2021 In the mid-nineteenth century, Japan’s Tokugawa military regime was in decline. News about political and social events that would previously have been censored began to flood the publication industry during the twilight of the Edo period (1615-1868). With the establishment of the Meiji period (1868-1912), one of the new imperial government’s major modernization efforts was to encourage Western-style journalists to cover, comment, and even critique and satirize, domestic and international events. Japanese writers and artists embraced new media, including newspapers, political cartoons, and comic strips published using intaglio and lithographic technologies that were faster and more economical than labor-intensive traditional woodblock prints. Those involved in the earlier woodblock industry struggled to keep up with the times and began to cultivate new genres such as “brocade newspapers” (shinbun nishiki-e), “civilization pictures” (kaika-e) and propaganda prints depicting the Sino-Japanese (1894-95) and Russo-Japanese (1904-05) warfronts. This exhibition explores Meiji-period news and reportage in the context of both its Japanese precursors and contemporaneous journalism in other print media. Co-curated by Art History Professor Akiko Walley, East Asian Languages and Literatures Professor Glynne Walley, and Chief Curator Anne Rose Kitagawa, it features more than 30 loans from two remarkably rich local resources, the Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints, and the Lee & Mary Jean Michels Collection, along with works from the UO Library’s Special Collections and the museum’s permanent collection.

https://jsma.uoregon.edu/FitToPrint

Opposite top to bottom:: KOBAYASHI Kiyochika (1847-1915). Japanese; Meiji period, circa 1881. Fire Outbreak of January 26, 1881: Great Fire at Asakusa Bridge, Ryōgoku (detail). Ukiyo-e woodblock print in horizontal ōban format; ink and color on paper, 19 x 13 1/8 inches. Loan from the Lee & Mary Jean Michels Collection KOBAYASHI Kiyochika (1847-1915). Japanese; Meiji period, 1895. Spoiled Chinese Battleship Chinen, from the series Comical Art Exhibit of the Sino-Japanese War (Nissei sensō shôraku gakai)(detail). Ukiyo-e woodblock print in horizontal chūban format; ink and color on paper, 7 x 9 1/2 inches. Loan from the Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints Clockwise left to right: IKEDA Terukata (1883-1921). Japanese; Meiji period, April 1904. A Great Victory for the Great Japanese Imperial Navy, Hurrah! (Dai-Nihon teikoku kaigun dai-shori banzai). Ukiyo-e woodblock-printed vertical ōban triptych; ink and color on paper, 14 7/8 x 30 inches. Loan from the Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints UTAGAWA Yoshitoyo (1830-1866). Japanese; Edo period, 1863. Birth of the Heavenly Thunder Horse: Newly Imported Great Elephant Born in Masuka, Central India (Tendōba kaminari kakuni shūshō). Ukiyo-e woodblock print in vertical ōban format; ink and color on paper, 14 1/4 in x 9 1/2 inches. Loan from the Lee & Mary Jean Michels Collection KOBAYASHI Kiyochika (1847‑1915). Japanese; Meiji period, 5 February 1878. Portrait of Kido Takayoshi (18831877) with a transcript of the biographical sketch of Lord Kido Kōin from the Nichinichi Shinbun. Ukiyo-e woodblock-printed “brocade newspaper” (shinbun nishiki-e) in vertical ōban format; ink and color on paper, 14 x 9 5/8 inches. Loan from the Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints

BLACK LIVES MATTER JSMA

Artist Grant Program Exhibition Schnitzer Gallery | July 3, 2121

John Adair, BLK&GLD, 2021

“There is a vitality and urgency to the works we’ll be presenting, and a wide range of moods, visual strategies, and voices. We are gratified to be presenting these artists and this art as we continue long-term work to dismantle the legacies of white supremacy and create a more just society.” —John Weber In July, the museum will open a major group exhibition in the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Gallery featuring works by artists who received the JSMA Black Lives Matter Artist Grant Program awards. Encompassing drawing, painting, video, performance, photography, installations, sculpture, and digital works, the exhibition highlights work by younger and emerging artists from the Eugene area, with representation by artists from Ashland and Bend as well.

The grant award selection panel particularly sought out younger and emerging artists for whom the grant could make a real difference, while paying close attention to artists’ connections to the Black Lives Matter movement. Works on view will reflect a variety of approaches and mediums, but most of the works are figurative and representational, with photography and video most strongly represented.

Funded by the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation to recognize artists making work in support of Black Lives Matter, the grant program spanned the JSMAs of the University of Oregon, Portland State University, and Washington State University. Each artist received a cash award of $2500, and the opportunity to participate in the exhibition. The UO JSMA collaborated with the campus’s Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center to assemble a selection panel to pick the grant winners.

The Black Lives Matter Exhibition will open to the public July 3. An outdoor, public reception is in planning for an evening in July, pending health directives from the Oregon Health Authority and the UO pandemic Incident Management Team. Please check the museum’s website in June and July for updates.

https://jsma.uoregon.edu/ BLMArtistGrantProgramExhibition

ARTIST GRANTEES: John Adair Mika Aono Gabriel Barrera

Anthony Adonis Lewis Stormie Loury

Gabby Beauvais

Malik Lovette

Kathleen Caprario and Gregory S. Black

Naomi Meyer Michael Moloi

Marco Elliott

Artemas Ori

Marina Hajek

Michael Perkins

Jasmine Jackson

Josh Sands

Mya Lansing

Aaron Thompson

Ana-Maurine Lara

MO WO

Ana-Maurine Lara, Landlines: A Prayer Poem, 2015

Sanctuary,

A Performance Wednesday, May 19, 12-1 p.m. Watch it live on the JSMA’s YouTube channel Sanctuary is a live-streamed collaborative performance exploring women/queer people of color’s collective experiences of seeking refuge from persecution under the ongoing violence of colonization. Sanctuary features UO faculty Ana-Maurine Lara (lead artist), Akiko Hatakeyama (collaborating artist) and Alaí Reyes-Santos (producer), collaborating artists Rosamond King and Courtney Desiree Morris, and artistic director D’Lo. Co-Sponsored by UO’s College of Arts & Sciences, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the Black Lives Matter Artist Grant Program, Black Studies, School of Art + Design, Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Department of Theatre Arts, Department of English, Cinema Studies, Indigenous, Race & Ethnic Studies, and the Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center. Funded by a Black Lives Matter Artist Project Grant.

Sanctuary, A Performance: Conversation with the Artists Wednesday, May 19, 6 p.m.

http://bit.ly/SanctuaryConversation MO WO, Painting-18

Libby Wadsworth Always InFormation Artist Project Space | July 24 - November 7, 2021 Observing, processing, experimenting, arranging: Libby Wadsworth has been busy in her Eugene studio over the last year. Her practice spans multiple media, including letterpress printmaking, painting, and photography, in which she teases open written language with her thoughtfully composed visual arrangements. Always InFormation presents new work created almost entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic that demonstrates Wadsworth’s evolving interest in blurring the distinctions between text and image. Handset letters of the alphabet operate as aesthetic objects as they float, break apart, or recede into space. Our eyes receive the information, but are we viewers, or readers? Working in series, Wadsworth subtly presents different moments of investigation and contemplation: in fractures, one of several bodies of work created during this time of collective crisis and social distancing, selected words and pairings dance around shards of a broken teacup. Her latest oil paintings on canvas set text, still life objects, and natural motifs into action, as drips and layers of paint frame stenciled letters. Throughout Always InFormation, Wadsworth finds both the tension and the beauty that exists in our present moment and the spaces “in between” our words and experiences. This exhibition and an accompanying catalog are made possible by the Hartz FUNd for Contemporary Art.

Libby Wadsworth. whereas, 2020. Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches. Courtesy of the artist

Morris Graves On the Surface Graves Gallery | June 12 – October 17, 2021 Morris Graves’s still life paintings and studies of objects engaged his interests in furniture design, domestic spaces, symbolism, and transcendental consciousness. During the 1930s and 1940s, Graves experimented with materials (including newsprint, cardboard, rice paper, and a window shade) and subject matter ranging from the commonplace to the surreal. On the Surface is drawn primarily from the JSMA’s Graves at Oregon collection and includes two photographs of the artist and his home by Mary Randlett (American, 1924-

2019). Morris Graves (American, 1910-2001). Fantastic Table with Double Serpents, ca. 1940. Gouache on paper, 10 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches. Graves at Oregon Collection

Northwest Ambience Frank Okada from the Permanent Collection Focus West Gallery | June 26 - August 18, 2021 Frank Okada described his paintings as “dedicatory objects,” which expressed gesture, memory, and sensation. Okada taught at the University of Oregon for thirty years until his retirement in 1999. His works demonstrate elaborate brushwork and a deep appreciation of color. In Northwest Ambience, a selection of paintings by Okada from the JSMA’s collection will be exhibited with two portraits of the artist by Seattle photographer Mary Randlett (American, 1924-2019). Frank Okada (American, 1931-2000). Untitled, 1969. Oil on canvas, 76 1/2 x 51 1/2 inches. Gift of Wallace Johnson; 1972:26.

Pierre Daura’s Enchanted Universe McKenzie Gallery | Through August 1, 2021 Drawn from the permanent collections of the JSMA and Knight Law Center, this exhibition explores the paintings of Catalan-American artist Pierre Daura through his answers to a survey conducted in 1953 by Surrealist poet and founder, André Breton. The survey asked participants to consider the connection between art and magic, as part of Breton’s research for an art historical opus titled L’Art Magique, which positioned art as an ancient conduit for magic and artists as modern magicians. Though he never associated with the Surrealist movement, Daura’s answers reveal an imagination deeply engaged with Breton’s thesis. In Daura’s words, “The magician tries to enchant the universe. The modern artist reveals the enchanted universe,” and art, as a “magic object,” can operate “only by way of revelation and initiation.” The works in this exhibition reveal the enchanted refrain that runs through the mature decades of Daura’s prolific and diverse output between the 1930s and the 1970s. Moving nimbly between landscape, portrait, and abstraction, watercolor, oil, and gouache, Daura embodies his ideal of an artist-magician dedicated to initiating viewers into an entrancing, veiled world. This exhibition is curated by Emily Dara Shinn, Curatorial Extern in European and American Art, and is indebted to the generosity of the artist’s daughter, Martha Daura, and the dedicated research on L’Art Magique conducted by 2019-20 extern Caroline Phillips. Pierre Daura (Catalan-American, 1896-1976), Church, Checkered Sky (Saint-Cirq), 1972. Oil on canvas. 58 3/8 x 23 3/8 inches. On Loan from the University of Oregon Law School

CREATIVITY COUNTS

Possibilities Shaped by Constraints of Arithmetic Artist Project Space | Through July 11, 2021 This exhibition shares a creative, artistic side of abstract mathematics with the public. Aesthetic aspects of number theory, an area illustrated in most of the prints in Creativity Counts, have enthralled mathematicians since antiquity. For over 2000 years, fascinating patterns and beguiling mysteries accounted for number theory’s allure.

Beyond the properties that originally attracted mathematicians, number theory has become important for its applications, including sending secret messages and enabling secure communication over the internet. Modern computing power has also facilitated new visual insights into old topics. Some of the prints on view reveal phenomena only recently discovered.

Ideas from abstract mathematics have transcended millennia and cultures, pandemics and social movements. Although opportunities to engage with mathematics and to be recognized for contributions have often been limited to privileged groups, mathematics’ universal truths and captivating patterns can be much more widely appreciated than cultural restrictions have often dictated. To help share some delights from number theory and beyond with a broad audience, undergraduate students in Professor E. Eischen’s Math and the Creative Process class (Math 199), as well as graduate students and faculty, created the works on view in Creativity Counts and wrote their accompanying descriptions. https://jsma.uoregon.edu/creativitycounts Creativity Counts: Possibilities Shaped by Constraints of Arithmetic is made possible by support from the Williams Fund and NSF CAREER grant DMS-1751281.

Cr e a t i v i t y Co u n t s : E x p l o r i n g M a t h+A r t Wednesday, May 26, 4 p.m. Register Now:

http://bit.ly/CreativityCounts

JJ Thomas (third-year undergraduate), contributed to the overall Constellations of

Mathematics project, including texts for the show.

Nitan Avivi (fourth-year undergraduate), Constellation I from the series Constellations of Mathematics, 2020, digital print on paper, 15” x 19” unframed, 16” x 20” framed Gabby Bennett (second-year undergraduate), Constellation II from the series Constellations of Mathematics, 2020, digital print on paper, 15” x 19” unframed, 16” x 20” framed Chloe Miller (first-year undergraduate), Constellation III from the series Constellations of Mathematics, 2020, digital print on paper, 15” x 19” unframed, 16” x 20” framed Azusena Rosales Suares (first-year undergraduate), Constellation IV from the series Constellations of Mathematics, 2020, digital print on paper, 15” x 19” unframed, 16” x 20” framed

Education Corridor Gallery June 30 – October 10, 2021 This exhibition presents a selection of photographs which are part of an international campaign, 56 Black Men, based out of the UK and conceived and curated by speaker, entrepreneur, Cephas Williams with a previous installation of 56 Black Men and photographer Cephas Williams. Williams previously studied architecture and started his first business, Drummer Boy Studios, in 2009. He launched the 56 Black Men campaign in the UK to change the narrative regarding the representation of Black men in the media, and as an introduction to a much wider international conversation about racism, profiling, and police violence. The premise of this campaign is to boldly display, “I Am Not My Stereotype.” According to Williams, “56 Black Men flips the clichéd negative image of Black men wearing a hoodie. It challenges the demonized, one-dimensional image of Black men shown in the media as victims or perpetrators of knife crime and it asks us all to view Black men in a different, positive light.” The campaign and exhibition run parallel to the I Am More Than Who You See exhibition in the JSMA North Hallway and are the primary inspiration for this year’s Community Conversations held with UO students around stereotyping and racial profiling. www.56blackmen.com

I AM MORE THAN WHO YOU SEE Education Corridor Gallery | June 30 – October 10, 2021 I Am More Than Who You See was created by Lisa Abia-Smith, director of education and senior faculty Instructor for PPPM, and is inspired by Cephus Williams’s 56 Black Men campaign. This exhibition and the presentation of Williams’s project both build on a series of annual workshops held for UO students focusing on identity and misrepresentation. This year’s project was led and curated by photographers Malik Lovette (Class of 2019) and UO art student Kayla Lockwood. The exhibition draws on multiple community conversations with UO students, primarily students of color, and documents their experiences surrounding stereotyping. The project team represented each participant’s authentic view of their identity and presented critical reflections and insights that have accompanied their personal development. Kundai Kapurura. Major: Product Design. Minor(s): Sustainable Business & French. Year: 2023

Maxwell Harper Lee Stubbert, Tragic Loss, Colored pencil, Grade 2. Ridgeline Montessori School

My work represents sadness. I chose the Martin Luther King Jr. quote because it is meaningful to me and gives me hope. The owl represents sadness and this year was very sad because a lot of people died. It was hard for me this year because I couldn’t see my friends and I felt trapped inside of myself. The heart represents hope, the skull represents death and loss. The arm represents being tough and the brain represents power and knowledge. The hands represent the violence and struggles across the country.

NewArt Northwest Kids 2021 Ar t, Hope and Resilience

Lower Education Corridors | Through June 14, 2021 For the past thirteen years, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art has organized and presented NewArt Northwest Kids, an annual K–12 juried student exhibition. This year’s theme, Art, Hope and Resilience, encouraged students to share their own stories from 2020 through words and images. The selected artworks document their experience of the challenges witnessed this past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, racism and violence, and fires which displaced many of our fellow Oregonians. The works of art reveal the resilience of each student and their hope for a brighter future. The JSMA recognizes the teachers, parents, and administrators from the following schools, who submitted artwork. Thank you for making art an integral part of your students’ lives: Baker Web Academy, Eugene El Camino del Río Elementary School, Eugene Cascade Middle School, Eugene Eugene Online Academy, Eugene Kelly Middle School, Eugene

Maddie Diens, Out of the Ashes, Colored pencil, Grade 7. St. Paul Parish School

McCornack Elementary School, Eugene Oak Hill School, Eugene Pleasant Hill Elementary School, Pleasant Hill Ridgeline Montessori Public Charter School, Eugene Roosevelt Middle School, Eugene South Eugene High School, Eugene St. Paul Parish School, Eugene Teach Northwest, Springfield

This exhibition is made possible by support from The Cheryl and Allyn Ford Educational Outreach Endowment.

My art is a picture of hope for regrowth after the Holiday Farm Fire 2020. The Holiday Farm Fire devastated many homes and communities just miles from my home. After our recent drive up river, we saw among the devastation what remained of a family friend’s home was their chimney but it was not alone. What used to be the entry was the start of several new trees. It will take many years to rebuild and these tiny sprouts of regrowth give me hope we are well on our way.

https://jsma.uoregon.edu/NANK2021

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS Metamorphosis: Visualizing the Music of Paul Hindemith On view through June 14, 2021

If you have a Spotify account, scan this to hear the music. http://bit.ly/MusicMetamorphosis

LOOK. Listen. Learn. Act. On view through June 14, 2021

Download the Gallery Guide http://bit.ly/2021CommonSeeJSMA

Myriad Treasures: Celebrating the Reinstallation of the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art On view through July 11, 2021

Download the Gallery Guide http://bit.ly/MyriadTreasuresGalleryGuide

Rhapsody in Blue and Red: Ukiyo-e Prints of the Utagawa School On view through July 17, 2021

Take a Virtual Tour http://bit.ly/RhapsodyJSMA

Korean Ceramic Culture: Legacy of Earth and Fire On view through May 8, 2022

Learn More http://bit.ly/KoreanCeramicJSMA

Explore all of our virtual tours for current and past exhibitions: JSMA virtual tours are made possible with the support of the Art Bridges Foundation and our members.

Virtual Tours jsma.uoregon.edu/virtualtours

COMING

The Art of the News:

THIS FALL! Comics Journalism The Art of the News: Comics Journalism brings together a number of contemporary works for the first major retrospective of the genre. Comics journalism is a humanistic practice with special relevance to the University of Oregon. It was at UO that the founder of contemporary comics journalism, Joe Sacco, obtained his degree in journalism. The exhibition will highlight recent work from Sacco along with other artists working in the field. Art of the News is guest curated by UO Assistant Professor Kate Kelp-Stebbins, with Professor Ben Saunders as curatorial consultant. Focusing on the methods and techniques that each artist uses, the show will also highlight the ethical imperative that drives this form of documentation. Repudiating both the ever-increasing rapidity of the 24-hour news cycle and the valorization of journalistic objectivity, journalists who use comics and graphic narrative to document current events and human rights struggles insist that accurate witnessing takes time and involves human subjects. From displaced persons in refugee camps (Sacco 2013; Glidden 2016; Archer 2020) to frontline workers in a pandemic (Bui 2020), the humans who inhabit comics journalism are likewise rendered by the work of human hands, which draw and record their stories. In the age of Russian bots and fake news, comics journalism reframes conceptualizations of accuracy and truth. The Comics Journalism exhibition will demonstrate the urgency of such art through carefully curated and researched installations and objects.

https://jsma.uoregon.edu/ComicsJournalism

Above: Joe Sacco, Footnotes in Gaza (detail), 2009, ink on paper Left: Dan Archer (U.K.), What is Comics Journalism?, 2014, Digital

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Member Spotlight:

Juan-Carlos Molleda When did you first become interested in the arts? I first became interested in the arts when I was a child. I played “Cuatro” and sang in choirs beginning in elementary school. From 1982 to 1993, I was a bass singer in an institutional choir at my place of work. This may sound strange, but in my native Venezuela, large national financial groups have their own choirs. We interpreted music from different periods and genres, from opera to folk songs. I was even part of a 500-person choir that sang for Pope John Paul II during a colossal mass in an open field in Maracaibo in 1985. I also studied audiovisual journalism because of my love for photography and moving images. I have used my creative skills and education to take both commercial and artistic pictures for school assignments, competitions, and work.

Juan-Carlos Molleda is a tenured professor and the Edwin L. Artzt Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon and a member of the JSMA Leadership Council. He is also a US Fulbright Senior Specialist. Molleda has accumulated 21 years of experience teaching and researching public relations and communication management at the University of Florida (2000–2016), University of South Carolina (1997–2000), and Radford University (1995–1997).

“Art lifts our spirits and makes us more sensitive to the world and the people around us. In these times of lockdowns and isolation, art provides a crucial connection to emotions, humanity, and voices that may not be heard as loudly and clearly otherwise.” Why did you become involved at the JSMA? I saw it as an opportunity to serve the wider university and Oregon community through a museum that has achieved preeminence and distinction. This service opportunity also takes me back to my roots as a professional communicator and cultural promoter. What surprised you about the museum? The expertise of the JSMA staff and its specialized collections impress me. Since the first day I set foot on the UO campus, a week before my position as dean began on July 1, 2016, I visited the museum as a newcomer and tourist. It was one of the highlights of the beginning of my life in Eugene. I was pleasantly surprised by the museum’s internal and external spaces and its prominence at the center of campus.

When I became a professional communicator in 1987, I led cultural promotion with my choir director at the financial group where I acted as manager of public relations and corporate communication. We hosted national and international artists and musicians and organized weekly events in the conglomerate’s headquarters, which had its own auditorium, art gallery, and the most complete numismatic collection in the country. We also hosted special cultural events across the nation as core activities of the company’s corporate social responsibility program. I worked closely with photographers, videographers, curators, and graphic designers to produce publications and promotional materials for our weekly and special programming. Have you tried anything new during the last year? I have increased my physical activity through long walks around Eugene’s Southwest Hills and hikes in surrounding buttes and parks. The Willamette Valley is an inspiring and inviting place for outdoor adventures. My taste for good wine and foods has also been elevated during the past year. How do you see art impacting the UO community? The museum’s connection to the university’s core academic mission and community outreach is always relevant, but its digital and shareable exhibits have become indispensable over the past year. Our students, programs, and schools around the county and state have greatly benefited from the museum and its virtual exhibits, which have helped meet the needs of remote learners.

Support JSMA students on Reading List: Currently, I am reading...

Make a gift of any size to the JSMA on Thursday, May 13, to enrich the UO student experience! For this year’s university-wide #DucksGive Day, we’re fundraising for the Anne Cooling Student Impact Fund, which provides financial support for student employment, internships, and academic opportunities at the JSMA.

Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography

Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains

Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste

Mask Up!

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many students’ learning and employment opportunities. To ensure student workers had access to employment while the museum was closed to the public, the JSMA created Museum Students, Museum Stories. While working remotely, JSMA students researched peer institutions’ responses to COVID-19, created digital content for the JSMA, and shared their stories while living through this major historical event. Enriching the student experience is at the heart of what we do. Your gift can help provide world-class opportunities to students across all departments and fields of study at the UO. Help us make a difference. For more information, contact: Tiana Elkins-Buckley at telkins@uoregon.edu or 541-346-0974.

Did you know? • • •

“I wear a mask to protect those around me and to help our community control the pandemic for the wellbeing of us all.” —Juan Carlos

Get Your Mask Here: jsma.uoregon.edu/masks

Over 10,000 students visited the JSMA physically or virtually during the 2019-2020 school year. The JSMA partners with more than 300 classes across 55 UO academic departments. More than 50 UO students are employed by the JSMA each year.

“My job at the JSMA has taught me about the importance of people and community for funding museum projects and allowing the JSMA to be as great as it is. Supporting the arts is crucial and it is something I hope to do myself in the future. I am grateful for all the museum members and donors who allow my job and our art collection to be so amazing.” —McKale Walker UO student McKale Walker

Leadership Council News The JSMA is grateful for the contributions of five Leadership Council members who complete their terms in June 2021: James Harper, Paul Peppis, Eric Roedl, Christine Smith, and graduate student member John Schwartz. Dr. Harper has been a critical connector to the Art History department; Dr. Peppis has championed the JSMA in his role as Director of the Oregon Humanities Center and Host of UO Today; Eric Roedl’s passion for the JSMA and role in athletics has served the museum well; Christine Smith’s development acuity has guided many opportunities and efforts, and John Schwartz’s experiences as a student in the Master of Nonprofit Management program provided critical insights over this unprecedented academic year. The JSMA and the Leadership Council thank James, Paul, Eric, Christine and John for their dedication and contributions and look forward to further opportunities to partner together.

Leadership Council Emeriti Group The JSMA is pleased to announce a new effort to foster continued relationships with former members of the Leadership Council and Museum Board of Directors. The JSMA Leadership Council Emeriti Group offers former volunteers continued engagement through regular updates from the museum, invitations to special functions, thought partnership and ongoing recognition of their contributions to the museum. The inaugural Emeriti event featured updates from Executive Director John Weber and a virtual tour of the Betty and John Soreng Gallery for Chinese Art by Chief Curator Anne Rose Kitagawa followed by group conversation about the opportunities and challenges facing the museum. All former Board of Directors and Leadership Council members are invited to participate in the Emeriti Group. To learn more, please contact Esther Harclerode at estherh@uoregon.edu or (541) 346-7476.

“I appreciate the opportunity to reconnect with former advisory board colleagues and current museum leaders and staff. I hope this program will encourage Emeriti to continue to advocate for the museum and contribute institutional memory to deliberations of current affairs.” —Jim Walker, Leadership Council member 2008-2013, 2015-2020; President 2016-2018 “This group represents the spirit of the museum: preservation, appreciation and dreams for the future. Membership in this group will give me a chance to participate in museum activities more easily so that I can be an advocate in the community. It will also allow me to be more involved in the educational aspect of the JSMA.” —Kyung Gregor, Museum Board of Directors, 1993-1996

“I joined the LC Emeriti Group so that I can help the JSMA reach out to the local community and student body of the UO. I hope that I can grow my connections with museum stakeholders and learn about their interests in the arts!” —Christian Moreno, Leadership Council student member, 2018-2019

VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS

STUDIO PROGRAMS

Madres Club

ART CAMP The JSMA will offer a socially distanced, outdoor summer camp for the young artist. This camp will take place in the grass outside of the JSMA. Each student will receive separate, individual art materials for their art creations.

READY, SET, Saturday, May 1, June 5 10 – 11:30 a.m. Club comunitario de arte para madres de habla hispana que desean expresar su creatividad y mejorar sus destrezas de arte. Los niños están invitados a participar y crear sus propios trabajos de arte. Las clases se llevarán a cabo vía Zoom. Un paquete con el material necesario será proveído al llenar un formulario de inscripción.

BUILD:

Madres Club is offered on the first Saturday of each month, 10-11:30 a.m. Please contact Hannah Bastian, hbastian@uoregon.edu, for more information.

ArtAccess VSA Workshops for K-12 Children with Special Needs Saturday, May 8, June 12 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. Art workshop for children with special needs, led by artists in a creative and caring atmosphere. This workshop is offered over Zoom. Your reservation is required in order to receive a packet of art materials for each workshop. Contact artheals@uoregon.edu to register. This VSA program is provided in 2020-2021 under a contract with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

July 19 - 23 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Grades: 1-5 Tuition: $150.00 ($135 for JSMA Members/UO) Design buildings and monuments in this hands-on exploration of architecture. Gain experience drawing, designing, and building with natural objects and recycled materials. Use LEGOs as an art medium to construct cityscapes, sculptures, mosaics, and more inspired by the museum’s collection. Visit

https://jsma.uoregon.edu/artcamp for details.

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In February, Patron Circle members experienced a virtual tour of Nkame: A Retrospective of Cuban Printmaker Belkis Ayón led by Cheryl Hartup, curator of Latin American & Caribbean Art at a virtual reception. Guests nibbled on food from Marché that was delivered in advance.

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2-4 Even though we celebrated individually, the virtual Patron Circle reception was still a party! Cheers from patron circle members Karin Clarke-Johns and Michael Johns; Sarah Finlay and Patrick Murcia; and Christian Moreno. 5

Danielle Knapp and Francesco Lecce-Chong, Eugene Symphony Music Director and Conductor, visit Metamorphosis: Visualizing the Music of Paul Hindemith.

Eugene Symphony Executive Director Scott Freck views Andrew Myers’s Flight of the Hindemith Marbled Murrelet with Danielle Knapp.

Metamorphosis artist Andrew Myers installs his work in the Schnitzer Gallery.

Jim and Barbara Walker discuss the prints on view in Metamorphosis with artist and UO faculty member Mika Aono.

9-11 As part of the Carrie Mae Weems’s RESIST COVID | Take 6! public art installation, vaccine messaging in English and Spanish is installed by Justin Stuck, JSMA facilities manager, and Debbie WilliamsonSmith, communications manager, at the former Lane Community College building in downtown Eugene. This site was sponsored by the City of Eugene’s Public Art program. 12

John Weber photographs the JSMA installation of Carrie Mae Weems's This Must Be Changed, part of the RESIST COVID | Take 6! Public art installation.

Artist Libby Wadsworth gives a tour to Danielle Knapp of her prints and paintings on view at Ditch Projects, in preparation for the JSMA’s exhibition of her work later this year.

Art of the Athlete All Stars will be on view at the Gallery at the Eugene Airport through June.

Laurel Curatorial Intern Mac Coyle beside the print he researched and wrote the label for in Japanese exhibition Rhapsody in Blue and Red: Ukiyo-e Prints of the Utagawa School.

John Weber delivers the Gertrude Bass Warner award to 2020 recipient Jim Walker.

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Eugene, OR Permit No. 63

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art 1223 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403–1223

NEW IN THE STORE

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art gratefully acknowledges the sponsor of our Members Magazine.

Mailing address: 1223 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403–1223

Street address: 1430 Johnson Lane Eugene, OR 97403

In the heart of the University of Oregon campus Phone: 541-346-3027 Fax: 541-346-0976 Website: http://jsma.uoregon.edu

New Hours Beginning May 21st Monday – Thursday: Pre-booked academic tours Friday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. (University of Oregon faculty, staff, students and JSMA members) Saturday - Sunday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Art pillows featuring works from our East Asian collection. Buy now:

jsma.uoregon.edu/pillows

An equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication will be made available in accessible formats upon request. Accommodations for people with disabilities will be provided if requested in advance by calling 541-346-3213.