JSMA Magazine Summer/Fall 2024

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

JORDAN SCHNITZER MUSEUM OF ART SUMMER/FALL 2024

Fall Patron Circle Reception

Friday, October 18, 2024

6 – 8:30 p.m.

https://jsma.uoregon.edu/patron-circle-rsvp

Fall Member Reception

Saturday, October 19, 2024 Member Reception 3 – 4:30 p.m.

https://jsma.uoregon.edu/members-only-events

Día Anual de Muertos | 43rd Annual Day of the Dead

Noviembre 1 y 2 del 2024 | November 1 and 2, 2024

Save the Date

Celebrate the Day of the Dead at the JSMA and enjoy an evening of art, dance, and music with performances by Sones de México Ensemble.

¡Reserva la fecha!

Celebra el Día de Muertos en el JSMA y disfruta de una noche de arte, danza y música con las presentaciones de Sones de México Ensemble.

https://youtu.be/lMqOFXnd11s

When you receive this issue of the JSMA magazine, we will just be closing the 2023-2024 academic year, and as I write this, I’m looking back at what an incredible year it has been. In most respects, it was the first truly “post-pandemic” year for the museum. Our attendance at openings and public events and our academic visits from UO classes and students have returned to pre-pandemic numbers. If you attended any of our receptions for JSMA members or our Patron Circle, or the talks by Isaac Julien, Leonardo Drew and Jordan Schnitzer, or Alison Saar, you experienced that firsthand. For example, Julien’s talk last November drew nearly 300 attendees, possibly the largest artist’s talk in recent JSMA history. In the case of students coming to the museum, this year broke our all-time record, with 10,996 students from 342 classes using the museum for academic work. Yes, we’re definitely back!

In the case of our highly active Education program, a new normal has emerged. Our Art Heals programming now comprises a mix of in-person and online programs. This has expanded our reach geographically, made our wellness programs more accessible to a

broader and more diverse range of participants, and increased the number of people we serve. As Lisa Abia-Smith, the JSMA’s Director of Education puts it, “Our only challenge now, is to evaluate how many we can realistically take on before burning out!” Our K-12 touring program numbers are up from the past couple of years, but down from our pre-pandemic high due to lower demand from schools. As Lisa has told me, “This is a multi-pronged trend that all our museum colleagues are finding with tours.” However, given the increase in UO students in the galleries, the lower number of school tours has in some ways been logistically helpful. Nevertheless, we want to continue to serve the regional K-12 community effectively.

Looking back on the past year, I’m also struck by the beneficial impact of the new Collections Lab and the new Lecture Hall. The Collections Lab has been hugely helpful in our work with faculty and students, and the combination of the Faculty Lounge with the new Ford Lecture Hall has proven equally advantageous. Our next job is to bring food back to the museum in a covered outdoor restaurant. Stay tuned!

JSMA’s Lisa Abia-Smith offers an Art Heals session.

Artist Leonardo Drew talks with the JSMA director John Weber at Drew’s talk with Jordan Schnitzer in February.

One of biggest things happening this summer is certainly the longanticipated relaunch of our wholly redesigned and updated new website. Elsewhere in the magazine you can see some of the designs created for us by Surface Impression of Toronto and London. I can’t overstate how exciting this is! We have a terrific museum, but our website has long failed to convey the JSMA’s professionalism and quality. My thanks to Debbie Williamson-Smith for her work on this long-overdue project, and to the webslinger team of Debbie, Jonathan Smith, Mike Bragg, and Chris White. Our virtual presence will finally begin to signal the elegance of our facility and the strength of our programs, and I thank the UO Office of the President for funding this crucial improvement of the JSMA’s communications portfolio.

We are also looking forward to the first major exhibition curated by Adriana Miramontes Olivas, our Curator of Academic Programs and Latin American and Caribbean Art. Titled Necroarchivos de las Americas: An Unrelenting Search for Justice, it will occupy the Barker and Schnitzer Galleries in the Summer and Fall of 2024. The exhibition draws on her doctoral dissertation research and presents contemporary art from across the Americas that responds to political violence, creating what Adriana terms “necroarchivos,” “death file” or “archives of the dead.” The work speaks powerfully and in a wide range of voices, some more explicit than others. For me the highlight of the show is Colombian artist Doris Salcedo’s Plegaria Muda, a set of sixteen coffin-like double tables from which live grass is growing. It is a somber, funereal piece on loan from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and its installation represents a major undertaking for our exhibitions crew. Salcedo’s work has been shown internationally since the 1990s, and her work embodies the concerns and emotional impact of Adriana’s curatorial theme.

I’m also looking forward to Steve Prince’s Focus West exhibition, Kitchen Table Talk, the outcome of a multi-year collaboration between the JSMA Education and Curatorial departments; the UO School of Music and Dance; Steve’s partner, choreographer Leah Glenn; and the UO Department of Art. Steve is one of the most charismatic teachers I’ve ever encountered, and his work in printmaking and drawing brilliantly chronicles Black experience in American history. Check the article elsewhere in this issue of the magazine for more about the many facets of Steve and Leah’s work at the university. My thanks to Dean Sabrina Madison-Cannon from the School of Music and Dance for bringing them to the JSMA and the UO!

As a longtime and huge fan of Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, I am thrilled that we will be presenting a select group of Watterson’s original drawings in the APS Gallery this fall, on loan from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University. The project was conceived and spearheaded by Kurt Neugebauer, the museum’s Associate Director of Administration and Exhibitions, another big Calvin and Hobbes fan, with curatorial input from Kate Kelp-Stebbins of the UO Comics Studies program. Thanks to Kurt for coming up with this idea when he learned of the Ohio State museum’s comprehensive collection of Watterson’s work!

Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes comes to the JSMA.

Artist Steve Prince led several Art Heals workshops during February 2024.

In our Winter Leadership Council Collection Committee meeting we presented an amazing new gift of art: nineteen photographs by the groundbreaking, iconic, and controversial American photographer Diane Arbus (1923-1971), donated by Fraenkel Gallery of San Francisco. Spanning the entire breadth of her career, from the late 1950s to her death, the Fraenkel gift encompasses her work as a commercial photographer, as well as examples of the iconic, squareformat photographs she became known for, often portraying social outsiders (of her time) such as cross-dressers, nudists, and others. You can read more about the gift in Thom Sempere’s article in the magazine. My profound thanks to Jeffrey Fraenkel for making this truly transformational gift. I look forward to an exhibition of the Arbus portfolio in the future.

My great thanks to outgoing Leadership Council President Patti Barkin and Vice President Sarah Finlay. It has been an absolute pleasure working together over the past year and more! I am delighted to welcome Paul Peppis as the new LC President, and Doug Blandy as our new Vice President. Just retired from his position as a full professor of English and the directorship of the UO Oregon Humanities Center, Paul brings a profound understanding of the university, the regional community, the JSMA, our Leadership Council, and art itself to the position. Doug also brings a long history of deep engagement with the arts and the JSMA to his work with the museum. He has chaired the LC Education Committee for two years, and his long tenure as an academic leader focused on the arts, communities, and social justice in the UO School of Planning, Public Policy, and Management prepares him well for his work on the Leadership Council.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you at the museum!

John Weber

Artist Talk: Leonardo Drew

In conversation with Jordan D. Schnitzer

Artist Leonardo Drew, in conversation with Jordan D. Schnitzer, discusses his career as an artist and his immense and powerful installation, 215B, part of Strange Weather: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. Leonardo Drew’s visit was sponsored by Jordan D. Schnitzer.

https://bit.ly/DrewTalk

Latinx Studies Night at the Museum

The Latinx Studies Program at the UO and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art hosted the 2nd Annual Latinx Studies Night at the Museum. Experience the event with a short video.

https://bit.ly/LatinxNIghtJSMA

Alison Saar: Uproot

Including a Q & A with Jordan D. Schnitzer

Alison Saar discussed her recent works, three of which were on view at the JSMA in Strange Weather: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and My Body, My Choice? Art and Reproductive Justice. Alison Saar’s visit was sponsored by Jordan D. Schnitzer.

https://bit.ly/SaarTalk

Diane Arbus (American, 1923-1971), Eric Bruhn and Rudolf Nureyev, N.Y.C. 1964

Gelatin silver print, 14 x 14 ¾ inches. © The Estate of Diane Arbus. Gift of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

An Unrelenting Search for Justice

Barker Gallery | June 15 – December 8, 2024

Schnitzer Gallery | August 31 – December 8, 2024

Filling the JSMA’s two largest special exhibition galleries, Necroarchivos de las Americas: An Unrelenting Search for Justice presents a range of voices from across the Americas. The exhibition includes a group show opening in June in the Barker Gallery and an installation in the Schnitzer Gallery by Colombian artist Doris Salcedo, opening in August. Organized by Dr. Adriana Miramontes Olivas, the JSMA’s Curator of Academic Programs and Latin American and Caribbean Art, the exhibition brings together a multi-generational, transnational group of renowned contemporary artists whose work resists and denounces diverse forms of political violence. It presents artists never

or rarely shown in the Pacific Northwest, with loans from across the US and Latin America.

The exhibition includes work by Luis Camnitzer, Oscar Muñoz, Felicia Rice, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Doris Salcedo, Teresa Margolles, Alfredo Manzo Cedeño, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Valaria Tatera, Voluspa Jarpa, Verónica Dondero, Gustavo Vázquez, Zachary Watkins, Regina José Galindo, Rigoberto Julián Díaz, and Carlos Castro Arias. In the words of Miramontes Olivas, “by creating widely varied forms of ‘necroarchivos,’ or ‘death files,’ their work acts against apathy and social amnesia to remind viewers that unless measures are undertaken

Voluspa Jarpa (b. 1971 Rancagua, Chile).  Judd Shaft, Serie lo que ves es lo que es, 2016, stainless steel and transparent acrylic and film. Dimensions variable, box: 120 x 83 x 53 cm. Courtesy of Voluspa Jarpa

to create change in our societies, corruption, impunity, and injustice will continue to destroy communities and expand with unstoppable force across time and space.”

“I use the term necroarchivos to characterize contemporary artworks that archive (or in Spanish archivan) lost lives, thus providing evidence of their former existence and the ongoing pursuit of justice. Against official rhetoric that undermines and dismisses violence against bodies, the necroarchivos serve to counter these accounts and resist the precariousness of certain peoples and lives as dictated by diverse regimes and agents. By examining ‘los desaparecidos,’ or the disappeared, and the persistence of this phenomenon across regions and timeframes, the exhibit warns viewers of the factors, and leaders, that sanction the repression of communities.”

As her curatorial commentary for the exhibition goes on to note, states of martial law and dictatorship continue to play a significant role in electoral campaigns and in the political life of communities across the Americas as they are embraced, debated, and contested. The militarization of countries and different kinds of war—against drugs, drug dealers, terrorists, gangs—are still considered viable strategies in the pursuit of law and order. Equally ubiquitous are the silencing of opposition leaders, journalists, intellectuals, activists, and students, who demand a right to live, to express dissent, and to call for justice.

Within these conditions past and present coalesce. “The struggles that haunted us yesterday still concern us today. Yet, artists in our societies demonstrate a persistent effort to condemn these circumstances,” Miramontes Olivas adds.

In an unrelenting search for justice, the artists presented in Necroarchivos argue for the humanization and dignity of individuals and advocate for collective memory. Through installation art, video, and sculptures they call attention to hidden histories, unwritten accounts, marginalized voices, and lost files. They seek to render visible what has been declared invisible—death and disappearance, as well as the lives of women, and between youth and indigenous their stories and those of their families.

Necroarchivos de las Americas is the first major exhibition curated by Miramontes Olivas, who joined the JSMA in August 2022. The exhibition includes artworks on loan from artists’ studios in Santiago, Chile and Cali, Colombia, as well as artworks in the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and James Cohan Gallery in New York. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue with essays by Miramontes Olivas and by Professor Gabriela Martínez, UO School of Journalism and Communications, and Professor Lynn Stephen, UO Department of Anthropology.

Opposite page:

Regina José Galindo (b. 1974 Guatemala City, Guatemala).  Tierra , 2013, single-channel digital color video with sound, 33:30 minutes. Photo: Bertrand Huet; commissioned and produced by Studio Orta, Les Moulins, Paris, France

Oscar Muñoz (b. 1951 Popayán, Colombia).  Aliento, 1995, photo serigraph impression with grease on twelve discs. Each disc 20 cm in diameter 7 7/8 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Sicardi Ayers Bacino

Luis Camnitzer (b. 1937 Lübeck, Germany).  Leftovers , 1970, eighty cardboard boxes, gauze and polyvinyl acetate. 79 7/8 x 126 13/16 x 7 7/8 inches. Collection of Yeshiva University Museum. Gift of the artist]

An Unrelenting Search for Justice

Special Project: Doris Salcedo’s Plegaria Muda

Gallery | August 31 - December 8, 2024

Doris Salcedo’s Plegaria Muda (Silent Prayer) testifies to the resilience of life amidst uninhabitable and even impossible conditions. First envisioned by the artist as a response to gang-related deaths in Los Angeles, the installation was later informed by Salcedo’s interactions with mothers of the disappeared in Colombia. The piece includes sixteen pairs of coffin-like tables that enclose a layer of earth, suggesting a mass burial site and forming what the artist describes as a memorial to inspire collective mourning. Resisting the harsh environment of the contemporary “white cube” gallery space, grass grows in Salcedo’s installation, eerily evoking anonymous graves, but also survival against all odds. Each pair of tables is stained in subtly different tones, reflecting the unique lives lost. By encouraging silence

and peace, the installation provides a fitting space for reflection and meditation. At the same time, this plegaria, or plea, exhorts the end of violence and the loss of further lives.

Curated by Dr. Adriana Miramontes Olivas as a special component of the Necroarchivos project, Plegaria Muda acts as a necroarchivo (“death file”) to testify to past and current events where violent incidents have created grief and despair. As Salcedo affirms, “Art cannot explain things, but at least art can expose them. So that’s why, art here, is so important. And it is necessary.” Salcedo’s Plegaria Muda is on loan from the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and presented in consultation with the artist’s studio and White Cube Gallery in London.

Schnitzer

Doris Salcedo (b. 1958 Bogotá, Colombia).  Plegaria Muda , 2008-2010, wood, mineral compound, metal, and grass. each 64 5/8 x 84 ½ x 24 inches. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Purchase, by exchange, through a fractional gift of Shirley Ross Davis

IT’S (Still) A MAGICAL WORLD, HOBBES, OL’ BUDDY: Selections of Original Art and Strips of Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, 1985-1995

Artist Project Space | August 31, 2024 - February 2, 2025

Nearly forty years after its inception, does anyone still remember Calvin and Hobbes? The answer, if you ask any UO undergrad—not to mention faculty and administrators—is a resounding YES! From the moment that a six-year-old successfully caught a tiger with a tuna fish trap to their final sleigh ride a decade later, Calvin and Hobbes has been one of the most beloved comic strips of all time. Drawing upon the comprehensive Calvin and Hobbes collection held by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University, the JSMA is proud to present the first exhibition of original Calvin and Hobbes art displayed outside of the Billy Ireland Museum itself. Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson donated the collection to the museum and personally accepted and approved the JSMA’s proposal for this exhibition.

Through its portrayal of childhood imagination and friendship between the mischievous Calvin and his anthropomorphic,

philosophically inclined tiger companion, Hobbes, Watterson’s daily comic strip resonated with readers of all ages, and still does. Watterson’s mastery of both drawing and storytelling elevates the comic strip to a form of artistry, with intricate illustrations and poignant narratives that tackle social, cultural, and existential themes in an approachable and humorous manner.

Curator Kate Kelp-Stebbins, Associate Professor of English in Comics and Cartoon Studies, has chosen strips from every year of Calvin and Hobbes ’s 1985-1995 run. Her selection highlights both the narrative brilliance and hilarity of the adventures of a small boy and his tiger, as well as the formal innovations that made Bill Watterson one of the most celebrated comics artists in history. Whether by sleigh, red wagon, time machine, transmogrifier, or spaceship, Calvin and Hobbes will take museum visitors to the far reaches of their imaginations and remind them that, “It’s a magical world out there…let’s go exploring!”

Bill Watterson Deposit Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

An Uncanny Sense of Place

Graves Gallery | June 15 – November 24, 2024

How do the places we inhabit communicate a sense of belonging or lack thereof? How does the notion of space dictate who we are and how we relate to each other? What memories and personal and collective narratives get stored within architectural settings and their environments? The exhibition An Uncanny Sense of Place invites a critical lens upon the sites that we inhabit and that activate our landscapes in harmonious and contradictory ways.

Adopting a variety of artistic strategies, mediums, and viewpoints, Emilio Sánchez (b.1921 Cuba - 1999, New York) and Paloma Vianey (b. 1995 Ciudad Juárez, México) examine the concept of time through an intimate inspection of houses, boulevards, and businesses that include tortillerías (tortilla shops) and food carts. The eerie landscapes feature desolate architectural settings and cityscapes recalling exile, the coronavirus pandemic, sites of violence, foreclosure, and economic struggles.

In a poetic style, the artworks are devoid of individuals and traces of struggle, providing a scenery where meditation and silence are

encouraged. Simultaneously, the artworks raise numerous questions that recall not only isolation and absence, but the risks associated with them. While evoking the modernist language of Edward Hopper’s views of the city and the countryside, Emilio Sánchez and Paloma Vianey depart from Hopper’s New York City and Chicago storefronts, urban landscapes, and other symbols of modernity, offering instead personal encounters with places such as la frontera (the border area), as seen in Vianey’s Chamarra no. 5 Avenida Insurgentes and Chamarra no. 3 Avenida Niños Héroes

The bright and colorful paintings also defy the strangeness and Surrealist approach to places by artists such as Georgio de Chirico, yet by refusing to adopt an idealized and romanticized view of life, Vianey and Sánchez ask viewers to consider the nature of the inhabitants’ omission, voyeurism, and security. They stress banal urbanity and raise questions regarding the public and private sphere, inviting viewers to contemplate the nature of their existence and the conditions that both allow it to thrive and wither. An Uncanny Sense of Place is curated by Adriana Miramontes Olivas, PhD.

Paloma Vianey (b. 1995 Ciudad Juárez, México).  Chamarra no. 3: Avenida Insurgentes , 2022. Oil painting and zipper on canvas. 40 x 30 x 1.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist

Paloma Vianey (b. 1995 Ciudad Juárez, México).  Chamarra no. 5: Avenida Niños Héroes , 2023. Oil painting and zipper on canvas. 40 x 30 x 1.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist

Pious Customs: Religious Painting in European Art

McKenzie Icon Gallery | April 6, 2024 - March 16, 2025

In 726 CE, the iconoclast controversy erupted in Constantinople, resulting in the systematic destruction of religious images and the prohibition of religious icons throughout Christian Byzantium. The next six decades of iconoclasm, followed by a brief resurgence in the ninth century, permanently shaped the development and divergence of Eastern Orthodox religious art from the developing religious painting traditions in Western and Central Europe. Pious Customs: Religious Painting in European Art examines a selection of Orthodox icons and religious painting from Italy, France, and the Netherlands, ranging from the 14th to the 20 th century. As a comparative exhibition,

it aims to illustrate the diverging traditions of European religious art, but also the iconographic and stylistic similarities fostered by complex networks of trade, cultural exchange, and interaction between Christian Byzantium and Europe. This exhibition was curated by Alexis Garcia, Post-Graduate Museum Fellow in European & American Art, and Margaryta Golovchenko, PhD candidate in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, using works from the JSMA’s icon collection courtesy of A. Dean and Lucile I. McKenzie and loaned objects from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Copy after Pietro Lorenzetti, Madonna and Child, 18 - 19th century. Estate of Roy and Jeanne Neville

Asian Galleries

Landscape, Mindscape: Portrayals of Nature and the World from Korea and Beyond, 1700-2020

Spanning more than three centuries, this exhibition features a broad scope of artworks that visually and conceptually depict nature and the world, incorporating methods, aesthetics, and ideas derived from Korea and other cultures from the eighteenth century through 2020. It sheds light on traditional works such as Joseon-dynasty (1392-1910) Korean folding screens, hanging scrolls, and framed paintings, in addition to contemporary paintings, calligraphy, photographs, timebased art, and ceramics that represent nature, informed by both indigenous and multicultural influences.

The traditional works on view in Landscape, Mindscape highlight a deep connection between Korean perspectives on nature and art. Nature has always been accorded profound significance in Korea, and feelings about it have been deeply intertwined with religious and cultural beliefs, philosophy, and politics. Such interconnections led Koreans to view nature as being inseparable from humanity and contributed to the emergence of nature as a central artistic and literary theme. In this regard, the exhibition showcases traditional Korean landscape paintings (sansuhwa) by Ahn Joong-sik, Shin Hakgwon, and Ko Hui-dong. It also features compositions on the theme of the “Four Gentlemen”—the grouping of bamboo, plum blossoms, orchids, and chrysanthemums, four plants believed to represent qualities of purity and rectitude—which embody the long-standing harmony between humans and the natural world.

Examples of contemporary art on display present critical and creative portrayals of nature and the world that interrogate artists’ personal, social, and cultural reflections and connections, visualized

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through interdisciplinary and transcultural practices. Artists build on their own artistic languages, integrating selected motifs, methods, and philosophies from traditional Korea as well as the modern/ contemporary globe. Seongmin Ahn combines a surrealistic landscape and a still-life of scholar’s accoutrement (chaekgeori ) into a single painting; her work features divergent vanishing points: one European and linear, and the other based on traditional Korean perspective. A video by Lee Lee-Nam uses four seasonal views and contemporary cityscapes to suggest questions about the sociopolitical perception of Mount Geumgang in North Korea. Sangyon Joo explores her own spiritual, emotional, and cultural journey by creating an abstract image of frost that reflects her travel to Europe from Korea.

Landscape, Mindscape was co-curated by Soojin Jeong, Post-Graduate Curatorial Fellow in East Asian Art and Gayun Lee, 2023-2024 JSMA Korea Foundation Global Challengers Intern.

Wan Koo and Young Ja Huh Wing & Jin Joo Gallery

June 8, 2024 - March 30, 2025

Opposite:

Lee-Nam 李二男

(b. 1971). Korean; Republic of Korea, 2009. New Geumgangjeondo (New Complete View of Mount Geumgang). 7 minute, 10 second single channel video installation on 65 inch LED TV, edition 1/6.

3/8 x 34

inches. Museum purchase with funds from the Farwest Steel Korean Art Endowment and Ballinger Funds in honor of Jill Hartz

Seongmin AHN (AHN Seongmin 安性玟 안성민, Korean-born American, b. 1971). Mindscape, 2020. Minhwa (folk) painting triptych; ink, color, and fluorescent pigment on hanji (Korean mulberry paper). 6 x 11 feet. Farwest Steel Korean Art Endowment Fund Purchase

Collecting Stories: Chinese Art through the Historians’ Lens

Betty and John Soreng Gallery | Opens July 27, 2024

This exhibition is the result of the Spring 2024 History through Chinese Art and Material Culture course taught by Professor Ina Asim in which undergraduate students focused on artworks from the museum’s permanent collection as primary research materials to study social history, art symbolism, technological innovation, and the history of collecting. Each object tells multi-layered stories, reflecting the passions of its makers and subsequent generations of admirers. Selected ceramics, metalwork, sculpture, paintings, and textiles ranging in date from the fifth millennium BCE through the present are on view with explanations based on students’ original research. Highlights include recently acquired photographs by contemporary artist Huang Yan (born 1966), juxtaposed with traditional Chinese prints from which they drew inspiration

Co-curated by UO Department of History Professor Ina Asim and her students and JSMA Chief Curator Anne Rose Kitagawa, Collecting Stories includes distinguished works donated by museum founder Gertrude Bass Warner (18631951) and many other generous benefactors.

HUANG Yan 黃岩 (born 1966). Chinese; People’s Republic of China, 2004. Face Painting: Bamboo. Chromogenic print, 61 x 49 inches. Gift of Helyn Goldenberg and Michael Alper

Bamboo, from the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Calligraphy and Painting . Editor and compiler: HU Zhengyan 胡正言 (circa 1584-1674). Chinese; Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, 1675. Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 10 ⁷/₁₆ x 11 5/8 inches. Murray Warner Collection

Four Seasons in Japanese Art and Tea

This thematic exhibition was instigated by History of Art and Architecture Professor Akiko Walley’s Spring 2024 seminar, Art of Tea in Japan. With support from Megumi Unno, a certified Ura Senke tea practitioner, and using objects from the JSMA’s permanent collection and loans from generous private collectors, Walley’s undergraduate and graduate students learned about the history, aesthetic principles, and practice of the Japanese “way of tea” (chadō or sadō). As a final project, the class organized groupings of seasonally themed utensils for hypothetical tea gatherings, inspired in part by designs created by

students in the fall 2023 Maccha Cafe studio of Interior Architecture with Professor Solmaz Kive. Additional Japanese prints, paintings, and decorative arts reflecting seasonal themes, some drawn from recent loans and gifts from the collections of Irwin Lavenberg and Lee & Mary Jean Michels, augment the display. Co-organized by JSMA Chief Curator Anne Rose Kitagawa with assistance from East Asian Languages and Literatures PhD candidate Teppei Fukuda, this installation harnesses original research by UO faculty and students to teach about the art of Japanese tea.

Fay Boyer Preble and Virginia Cooke Murphy Galleries | Opens November 9, 2024

Clockwise from top left: ŌTAGAKI Rengetsu 太田垣蓮月(1791-1875). Japanese; Meiji period, circa 1870. Winter Teabowl with Sloping Sides and Incised Poem. Glazed ceramic, 2 ¾ x 4 ¼ inches. James and Haya Wallace Acquisition Fund Purchase

TAKAHASHI Rikio 高橋力雄 (1917-1998). Japanese; Shōwa period, 1963. Tea Ceremony Room Sōsaku hanga woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 36 ¾ x 24 inches. Gift of the Artist BAIYŪ Fūryūjin 梅遊風流人 (fl. late 19th century). Japanese; Meiji period, late 19th century. Tea Scoop named “Facing South” (Chashaku Kōnan) and Case. Carved sandalwood (scoop) with bamboo (case), 8 ¾ x 1 ³/₁₆ x 1 3/8 inches. Gift of Wallace & Ellen Baldinger

Shared Visions Spotlight

Gary Simmons

Rogue Wave is on view in the Focus Gallery through September 1, 2024

Gary Simmons is perhaps best known for his series of “erasure drawings” that appear to be ghostly smudges on a partially erased chalkboard. The artist began his career inspired by 1990s hip-hop and popular culture, often incorporating ideas of “remixing” into his practice. As the artist described in a recent artist talk: “I knew that I had to find a way to take images that I was into and infuse them and mix them the way that [DJ Terminator] X was mixing music.”

In the early 1990s, Simmons began introducing racist cartoon characters into his “erasure drawings” as a way of investigating popular culture’s attempts to cover up

prejudice under the guise of “humor”. However, the artist turned away from Black caricatures for decades, only returning to the subject after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Rogue Wave is part of a new body of work that uses cartoon characters to confront the cycle of institutionalized racism and abuse in the United States. The large-scale painting features Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie, fighting to keep the boat afloat during an intense storm. By evoking this iconic character, Simmons asks: “Are racialized bodies ever done battling the tides?”

Gary Simmons (American, b. 1964). Rogue Wave, 2021. Oil and cold wax on canvas. Private Collection

Henry Taylor

Los Angeles-based artist Henry Taylor began his career while working as a psychiatric technician at Camarillo State Mental Hospital. His experience developing human connection in this setting was formative in his approach to portraiture, which has expanded to include both his own community and historical figures from the Civil Rights Movement. According to the artist: “It’s about respect, because I respect these people. It’s a two-dimensional surface, but they are really three-dimensional beings.”

Taylor often depicts the human experience through the lens of Black history and communities in the United States. His intimate scenes are inspired by newspaper clippings, snapshots, art history, and his own memory and personal relationships. Untitled features the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. throwing a football for a group of children. However, the three white figures looming in the background and distorted shadows over the boys’ faces hint at a foreboding future. Taylor’s dramatically framed composition, vigorous brushwork, and lush color palette make this a riveting work aesthetically as well as thematically. The painting was a centerpiece of the exhibition Henry Taylor: B Side, recently on view at MOCA Los Angeles and the Whitney Museum of American Art. As New York Times art critic Roberta Smith noted in a glowing review of that exhibition, his work is “startlingly tough and direct.”

Henry Taylor (American, b. 1958). Untitled , 2016-2022. Acrylic on canvas. Private Collection

Untitled is on view in the Focus Gallery through July 28, 2024

New Acquisitions

A Transformative Gift: Diane Arbus Photographs Enrich JSMA’s Collection

In a single philanthropic gesture, through a gift of nineteen iconic photographs by the artist Diane Arbus, San Francisco’s Fraenkel Gallery has transformed the scope and depth of the JSMA’s collection of photography.

The suite of images spans her years as a creative artist from 1957 through 1970, just a few months before her death. It includes early studies shot with grainy 35mm film on the streets of New York City and superb examples of her later images that appeared in magazines, along with a host of iconic images taken throughout the 1960s as personal investigations.

JSMA executive director John Weber expressed deep gratitude for the contribution, stating, “This is truly a breathtaking addition to our photography collection and I can’t thank Jeffrey Fraenkel and the gallery enough! Notably, it includes strong work from all phases of Arbus’s career, allowing us to teach her in depth and breadth. Arbus was one of the most important photographers of the 20 th century, and

Left to right:

Diane Arbus (American, 1923-1971), Seated man in a bra and stockings, N.Y.C. 1967. Gelatin silver print, 13 7/8 x 14 inches. © The Estate of Diane Arbus.

Gift of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Diane Arbus (American, 1923-1971), Lady in a tiara at a ball, N.Y.C. 1963. Gelatin silver print, 14 3/8 x 14 ¼ inches. © The Estate of Diane Arbus.

Gift of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

when you look at 20 th century art as a whole, she is inescapable. Her work remains more important than ever, and we look forward to an exhibition of the Fraenkel gift in the coming years.”

JSMA Associate Curator of Photography, Thom Sempere, echoed Weber’s sentiments: “Arbus, through her photography, challenged conventional notions of beauty and normalcy by inviting viewers to confront a great diversity of human experience with empathy and curiosity. This gift not only expands our collection but also deepens our engagement with the power of photography as a medium for storytelling and introspection.”

Speaking about Arbus and the gift in a recent phone call with Sempere, Fraenkel said, “My most important early ‘eureka’ moments with art and photography took place at school. Those first encounters (only in books back then) were enormously important. And then in college, in museums and galleries, I was able to see some of these great objects as ‘real things.’ University years are especially formative,

which is why we place such emphasis at the gallery on inviting classes in and looking deeply at prints with students. And that is why it is satisfying now to help build a collection at JSMA, where the prints can be shared with students. Especially with Arbus…so many of us remember what it was like to encounter her work for the first time. The work can leave you shaken to the core—in the best possible way.”

The Arbus collection encompasses a wide-ranging cross-section of humanity, and her work remains challenging and often mysterious. Arbus herself remarked about the medium: “A photograph is a secret about a secret, the more it tells you the less you know.”

This transformational gift from the Fraenkel Gallery will allow the JSMA community to question, interpret and reflect for themselves upon their own interpretations of the meaning of Diane Arbus’s photography for generations to come.

Diane Arbus (American, 1923-1971), The three-legged man, N.Y.C. 1961. Gelatin silver print, 8 3/8 x 12 inches. © The Estate of Diane Arbus. Gift of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Half the Sky Women in Chinese Art

On view through July 7, 2024

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the University of Oregon’s Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS), the museum has organized a special exhibition entitled Half the Sky: Women in Chinese Art, referencing Chairman Mao Zedong’s 1968 quotation, “Women hold up half the sky,” meaning that they are the equal of men. The varied works on display attest to the remarkable resilience and creativity of women despite their relatively low status in traditional Chinese society due to Confucian and Buddhist value systems that deemed them to be inferior.

https://bit.ly/Soreng2024VT

“Woman was the Sun” Art of Japanese Women

On view through August 4, 2024

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the University of Oregon’s Center for the Study of Women in Society, the exhibition Woman was the Sun celebrates Japanese women through paintings, calligraphy, prints, sculpture, and decorative art from the permanent collection. The artists represented range from 19th-century Buddhist poet, calligrapher, and ceramicist Otagaki Rengetsu (17911875) through cutting-edge contemporary artists Kusama Yayoi (born 1929) and Aoshima Chiho (born 1974), and include calligrapher Shinoda Tōkō (1913-2021), printmakers Minami Keiko (1911-2004), Iwami Reika (1927-2020), Oda Mayumi (born 1941), Betty Nobue Kano (born 1944), and Ozeki Ritsuko (born 1971), and prints by three generations of Yoshida artists: grandmother Yoshida Fujio (1887-1987), mother Yoshida Chizuko (1924- 2017), and daughter Yoshida Ayomi (born 1958). The installation also features female subjects such as religious and literary figures, warriors, heroines, villains, and demons, along with a selection of Japanese artworks intended for curricular use.

https://jsma.uoregon.edu/WomanWasTheSun

XIAO Lu 肖鲁 (Chinese, b. 1962) Tides, 2019. Single-channel video, 20:43 minutes. Filmed by Yang Ping, David Ma, Kai Wasikowski (still photo by Jacquie Manning). Gift of Jerome Silbergeld

NAGARE Manika 流麻二果 (b. 1975). Japanese; Reiwa period, 2022-23. Track of Colors #2 (detail). One from a set of 9 paintings; oil on canvas mounted on wood panel, H. 20 ½ inches. Gonyea Asian Art Acquisition Fund Purchase

Terry Toedtemeier: Photographer

On view through August 11, 2024

Terry Toedtemeier: Photographer brings together a special collection of prints by the artist, given to the JSMA by his friends, family, and colleagues. Born and raised in Portland, Toedtemeier was a fixture in the Oregon cultural community until his untimely passing in 2008 at the age of 61. The exhibition highlights the range of Toedtemeier’s photographic work. It begins with his early works made in the 1970s when, as a self-taught artist, he explored the boundaries of the photographic medium. The exhibition culminates with his impeccable later Northwest landscape images, where he balanced a discerning, scientificallytrained eye with an aesthetic interpretation of nature.

https://jsma.uoregon.edu/TerryToedtemeier

2023-24 Common Seeing: My Body, My Choice? Art and Reproductive Justice

On view through August 25, 2024

JSMA’s eighth annual Common Seeing exhibition is presented in partnership with the UO Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) as part of the campus-wide, year-long “Feminist Futures” programming in honor of the CSWS’s 50th anniversary. My Body, My Choice? considers bodily autonomy, reproductive justice, and gendered and racialized experiences in healthcare through the works of three contemporary artists. Nao Bustamante, Judy Chicago, and Alison Saar address these issues of sexual and reproductive health in wide-ranging bodies of work spanning forty years. They draw attention to complicated and problematic histories to advocate for a more equitable future.

https://bit.ly/2024CommonSeeVT

The First Metal: Arts & Crafts Copper

On view through November 3, 2024

Drawing on the JSMA’s Margo Grant Walsh Twentieth Century Silver and Metalwork Collection and a select number of private and museum loans, the exhibition presents a range of handwrought copper works by many of the premier metalsmiths working in late 19th and early 20th century Britain, the United States, and beyond. The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue, available in the museum store and online, distributed by OSU Press.

https://bit.ly/FMtour

Terry Toedtemeier (American, 1947-2008), Soliton in Shallow Water Waves, Manzanita-Neahkahanie, Oregon, 1978. Gelatin silver print, image: 12 ¼ x 18 inches; sheet: 16 x 20 inches. Gift of Craig Hickman and Kay Kruger

Alison Saar (American, b. 1956), Uproot , 2022, charcoal and acrylic on vintage patched cotton picking bag and found hooks and chain, 108 x 27 x 4 inches. © Alison Saar. Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer

Education

The Art of Belonging

Education Corridor | July 3, 2024 - February 2, 2025

The Art of Belonging features over 75 quilt squares created during the winter term with guest artist-in-residence Steve Prince. The quilts are illustrations of individual stories, narratives and self-portraits that focus on identity and connection. Over a two-week period, Steve led four workshops for medical care providers in Portland who are part of the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative; adults from the Eugene/Springfield community; and UO students, student-athletes, faculty, and staff. UO students enrolled in PPPM 399 Visual Principles examined their past, present, and futures to create a visual map illustrating those milestones and visions.

At the end of the exhibition in the winter of 2025, the quilts will travel to Williamsburg, Virginia, and be integrated into a mile-long quilt comprised of quilts made during workshops with Steve over the last two years.

The JSMA considers programs such as this as an opportunity to gather and to consider how symbols and colors can illustrate our individual stories and connect us to one another.

Kitchen Table Talk

Steve Prince is a New Orleans-born mixed media artist currently based in Williamsburg, Virgina. Equal parts artist and educator, Prince’s art making practice is defined by a deep commitment to using art as a medium to engage, build, and connect with communities while exploring themes of social justice. His work is also rooted in the funerary jazz tradition of his native New Orleans, which can be seen in Prince’s use of the medium of printmaking as a way to generate discussion on how to move forward and to encourage reconciliation and healing.

Kitchen Table Talk is presented as part of the artist’s multi-visit residency with his partner and collaborator Leah Glenn, co-sponsored by the JSMA, the UO School of Music and Dance, and the UO Art Department. In his Focus West exhibition, Prince will present a selection of drawings, prints, and installation that meditate on the conversations that occur around the kitchen table. He situates the table not only as an intimate forum for communication and connection, but also a site of miscommunication and silence. By inviting visitors to literally take a seat at the table, the artist provides a space to meditate on our connections with other people, what is said, and left unsaid.

Focus Gallery West | October 5, 2024 - April 13, 2025

An anonymous artists created one of the quilt squares on view at the JSMA.

Steve Prince, American. Sow, Linoleum Cut on Paper, 36 x 84 inches. Courtesy of the artist

Creating Community and Engaging in Empathy: Workshops with Steve Prince and Leah Glenn

During February 2024, visual artist Steve Prince and choreographer Leah Glenn provided an artist-in-residence program for museum visitors and JSMA program participants, including medical care providers in Portland who are part of the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative; adults from the Eugene/Springfield community; UO students, student-athletes, faculty, and staff. Over 100 people participated in the one-week series of workshops held both in Portland and Eugene.

Workshop participation required no previous visual art or dance background. Participants were able to experience each workshop fully by expressing their emotions, identity, and stories through body movements and creating pieces for a group quilt. Activities were designed for participants to build deeper connection with the community around them.

During Steve Prince’s visual art workshops, participants were encouraged to express their unique stories by making quilt squares using varied fabric swatches from both used and new sources. Fabric was placed in the middle of the tables and participants were invited to mingle while selecting pieces they felt connected to, encouraging a more communal creative process. Prince initiated the session by explaining how each of their stories would form the main concept for their art piece. He encouraged workshop members to use their quilt panels to illustrate their individual stories, narratives, and selfportraits, reflecting identity and connections.

Leah Glenn started her workshops by inviting participants to share a little bit about themselves. She then taught body movements, helping participants loosen their bodies and connect with their feelings, music, and people around them. Participants learned to express their emotions, past hurts, memories, and their stories by creating new movements together as a community. Guided by Leah, they experienced healing, a sense of connection to who they are and their community.

In April, Steve and Leah led a remote professional development workshop for classroom teachers, focused on how the arts can support students in understanding history, social justice, and empathy. The discussion between the two visual and performing artists and the educators illustrated how teachers and students can be conduits for compassion, equity, and advocacy. The session culminated with an artmaking workshop for the group, with JSMAsupplied materials, that teachers could use as a model for their classrooms to create pieces for the Communal Quilt Project in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Campus and community members participated in several visual arts workshops with Steve Prince and a movement workshop with Leah Glenn in February 2024.

Art Heals Featured in the American Alliance of Museums

Art Heals continues to garner national attention and visibility in the museum field. In May, JSMA director of education, Lisa Abia-Smith, served as a panelist at the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. Lisa and two colleagues, Beth Redmond-Jones, Vice President of Exhibitions, and Charlotte Martin, Director of Access Initiatives at the Intrepid Museum, discussed strategies and considerations for curating, designing, and planning for museum visitors with unapparent disabilities. Lisa’s presentation focused specifically on how initiatives such as Art Heals provide inclusive programs for participants with anxiety, PTSD, depression, or neurodiversity.

Lisa is a contributing author to a new book titled Welcoming Museum Visitors with Unapparent Disabilities, and her chapter, “Museums as Prescription: Esperanza Para las Madres (Hope for Mothers)” highlights JSMA workshops for Latina mothers who participate in a postpartum depression support group. The book is published by AAM and Rowman & Littlefield and launched with a book signing at the AAM meeting in May.

Lisa also served as the keynote speaker for the AAM Annual Meeting Network Lunch, attended by approximately 150 curators and

collections managers from across the US. She and her colleague, Dr. Natalie Lanocha, from Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU), provided a talk on “Harnessing the Power of Objects to Foster Health and Well-Being” and discussed how curators and collections staff can create object-based programs to support wellbeing for visitors.

As the museum field begins to further understand its role as a space for wellness and wellbeing, many museums remain unaware how to begin developing public programs and interpretive materials supporting this effort. To address this situation, Lisa and OHSU’s Dr. Elizabeth Lahti are writing a book, Harnessing the Power of Objects:  A Museum Educator’s Guide for Leading Programs for Wellbeing. It will serve as a resource guide for museum educators from all disciplines. The book will cover a range of themes, including those related to the body and spirit. Individual chapters will include an Art Heals template for developing programs; outlines for gathering resources; hands-on activities; suggestions for engaging with participants and community members during in-person and remote workshops; and multidisciplinary approaches to collaboration. The book also includes non-traditional means of object engagement, such as art-andword, paired narrative medicine writing activities, and biophilic art experiences that bring aspects of nature into the healing process.

The authors have invited contributions from other museum and medical colleagues, curators, and artists who will provide narratives about objects from their own collections to serve as focal points for the interpretive programs. Some of the contributors include Nenette Luarca-Shoaf, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, and Jamie Lawyer, from the Rubin Museum of Art. The book will be published by AAM and Rowman & Littlefield and distributed by AAM in late Fall 2025/early winter 2026.

New Art Heals Workshops

Focus on Belonging

The JSMA has recently added two new education workshops as part of Art Heals programming. The first program , Art Transcends, provides one-on-one artmaking with hospice patients from the Pete Moore Hospice House in Eugene. Artist and educator, Betsy Wolfston, serves as the lead artist and facilitator for the patients who are experiencing end-of-life care at the center. The workshops are held at the patient’s bedside or in quiet spaces on the grounds and are designed to meet the needs of the patient, depending on their level of mobility or cognition. Art Heals workshops which have been developed over the last five years are adapted for the participants at the hospice center.

The second set of workshops added to the Art Heals portfolio is designed for staff and faculty from OHSU, many of whom work remotely or hybrid. As part of OHSU’s strategic planning, one of the core values is creating experiences which nurture belonging and connection. These new one-hour workshops provide either an Art Walk using the collection on site at the main hospital, or a one-hour artmaking activity. Art Walks focus on two selected works on display that participants investigate with a slow looking approach and Visual Thinking Strategies. Each participant is given a writing prompt and the group of thirty employees is divided into small groups of ten. Two JSMA museum educators and Dr. Elizabeth Lahti from OHSU facilitate a discussion based on participants’ interpretations of the works of art and written responses. During the artmaking workshops, museum staff present one of the Art Heals activities designed over the last five years and provide a time for OHSU employees to decompress. JSMA Education offers these workshops six times during the year, thanks to funding generously provided by the Tykeson Family Foundation and Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation.

Development News

Member Spotlight: Rebeca Urhausen

How did you first get involved with the JSMA?

I was the chair of Fiesta Latina (a project of the Adelante Sí Hispanic Organization) and it was around 2006 that we started a long time partnership with the JSMA that proved to be very beneficial to both organizations and to our community.

What does being a JSMA member mean to you?

I grew up in Mexico City where you can find amazing museums. Being a JSMA member brings me a sense of fulfillment and joy. Eugene is very lucky to have such an amazing venue.

What has been your favorite JSMA exhibition?

The Barberini Tapestries.

What do you wish others knew about the JSMA?

The JSMA is a hidden local treasure. I know so many people in our community that have never had the experience of visiting this beautiful museum.

How has art impacted your life?

Art is expressed in so many forms. Growing up in Mexico City I had a very unique upbringing. While I was never in the circus, there are six generations of circus performers in my family. My mother was a show business agent which exposed me to many mediums of art, including theater, opera, ballet, acrobatics, etc. There was never a boring moment, and I loved every minute of it.

What hopes do you have for the JSMA and its collaboration on Día de los Muertos?

My hope is that this beautiful annual event will continue to showcase our traditions, art, and music to our local community and will bring new visitors to the JSMA, especially our youth, in the hopes that once they discover this beautiful building and the art it contains, they will continue to return.

What advice do you have for the next generation of community organizers?

To teach the art of volunteerism. Volunteering one’s time or talent is a gift we can give to others and unfortunately it is not taught in many cultures.

What book are you reading? What book do you recommend?

I am reading El Siglo de Oro del Circo en México (The Golden Century of the Circus in Mexico) by Julio Revolledo, my first cousin.

Coming in Summer 2024!

The JSMA is thrilled to launch our new website, built and designed by Surface Impression, in the summer of 2024. Our new website will be an online reflection of our robust exhibitions and collections, our engaging programs, and the diverse resources we offer for faculty, students, educators, and community. Please watch our enewsletters and social media for more details as we approach the launch.

If you are interested in being one of our beta testers for the new site, please contact jsma@uoregon.edu with your name, phone number, and email.

The JSMA receives national recognition for Many Wests

The Board of Directors of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) named JSMA and its Art Bridges Cohort who organized the traveling exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea (2021-24) a recipient of a 2024 Award for Recognition for the Advancement of Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion in Museums. We are proud to be among the 12 other extraordinary individuals, programs, and institutions recognized by AAM’s selection committee for leadership and excellence within the museum field this year. Danielle Knapp, McCosh Curator and Many Wests co-curator, was presented the award on behalf of JSMA and our partner museums at the AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo in Baltimore on May 15. Many Wests, which was on view in the Barker Gallery from September 28 through December 28, 2022, examined the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists who offer a broader and more inclusive view of the “American West” in public understanding, and resist romanticized myths and Euro-American historical accounts.  Although the exhibition’s travel tour has ended, it can still be visited virtually at: https://bit.ly/ManyWestsTour

Steph Littlebird: JSMA Art Acknowledgement of the Land

As part of the museum’s ongoing recognition of Indigenous communities and acknowledgement of the painful history and contemporary legacies of colonization, the University of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is launching the Art Acknowledgement of the Land, a bi-annual art partnership connecting an Indigenous artist from the Pacific Northwest with public spaces in the Museum’s lobby and exterior.

The inaugural acknowledgement will be created by Steph Littlebird (Grand Ronde, Kalapuya). Littlebird is the curator of the This IS Kalapuyan Land Project, initiated when she reframed a previous

exhibition at the Five Oaks Museum (formerly Washington County Museum), correcting errors and collaborating with historian David G. Lewis (Grand Ronde) to launch an historically accurate statewide installation. Her digital artworks question the stereotypes and cultural appropriation experienced by Native and Indigenous communities through pop culture and capitalism. Littlebird’s JSMA collaboration coincides with her year-long engagement with several other campus partners, including MNCH, Oregon Folklife Network, and Knight Library.

To commemorate the installation, the JSMA will open on Indigenous Peoples Day, Monday, October 14, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and with free admission.

Ducks Give Thank You

The museum sends a big Thank You to the JSMA members, donors, and friends who participated in Ducks Give on May 16, 2024, and helped raise funds for the JSMA’s Education program, Fill Up the Bus. With your help, we raised $14,689 over 68 gifts! Fill Up the Bus helps build connections between K-12 education and art by helping to cover the cost of bus transportation to the JSMA. Thanks to your support, this program will keep providing valuable arts learning opportunities for the Eugene, Springfield, and surrounding communities. Thank you for helping us Fill Up the Bus!

Welcome

New Leadership Council President, Paul Peppis, and Vice President, Doug Blandy

The JSMA and Leadership Council are pleased to announce new leadership for the Council beginning in July 2024.

Paul Peppis will step into the President role for a two-year term, and Doug Blandy will join the leadership team as Vice President.

A long-time LC member and supporter of the JSMA, retired professor in the University of Oregon’s English Department, director of the Oregon Humanities Center, and chair of the JSMA’s Faculty Engagement Working Group, Paul has a deep connection with and understanding of both the JSMA and the UO.

“Among the many things that attracted me to the University of Oregon as an incoming faculty member was the first-class art museum in the heart of campus: the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. I have loved museums since I was a kid, growing up in New York City and regularly visiting the Met, MoMA, the Guggenheim, and the Whitney. That I married an accomplished artist only intensified my belief in the value and impact of art museums. So, I was honored and delighted to be invited to join the JSMA’s Leadership Council (LC) as a faculty representative in 2015. Since then, my admiration for the museum and its amazing exhibits, programs, and staff has only grown. As Director of the Oregon Humanities Center, I’ve had the pleasure to collaborate with the JSMA’s leaders, curators, and staff on a variety of shows, projects, and initiatives. As a member of the LC and chair of a couple of JSMA Committees, including the Faculty Engagement Working Group, I’ve not only learned so much about how the museum accomplishes the incredible work it does, but I’ve also been able to help spread the word to colleagues across campus and encourage them to experience, share, and contribute to the museum’s work. I’m flattered and excited by the opportunity to serve as LC president and to help support the JSMA’s essential mission of enhancing the UO’s academic mission and furthering the appreciation, enjoyment, and understanding of the transformative power of the visual arts among UO students, faculty, staff, and the general public.” —Paul Peppis

Doug Blandy, Professor Emeritus, School of Planning, Public Policy, and Management has had a long and distinguished career at the UO. He served as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the School of Architecture and Allied Arts, as Program Director in the Arts and Administration Program, and as Director of the Center for Community Arts and Cultural Policy. Doug has been a member of the Education Committee since 2021 and chaired the committee in the 2022-2023 academic year with the JSMA’s Lisa Abia-Smith before joining the Leadership Council in 2023-24.

“I am honored to serve as the incoming Vice President of the JSMA Leadership Council and look forward to working with Paul Peppis, Council President, fellow Council members, John Weber, and the JSMA staff in advancing the museum’s mission. The arts play a vital role in sustaining our communities and enhancing individual and collective identities, as well as our overall quality of life. I firmly believe that museums, such as the JSMA, serve as sources of inspiration, education, and unity through our shared cultural heritage.

The JSMA has been significant to my research and teaching since my arrival on the UO campus in the fall of 1987. I have personally witnessed the profound impact the JSMA has had on our local community and the wider region. Moreover, on a broader scale, the collections, exhibits, and educational initiatives at the JSMA exemplify the evolution of museums in the 21st century. I am continually impressed by the vision, dedication, and resourcefulness demonstrated by the entire JSMA team.” Doug Blandy

Leadership Council Updates

The JSMA celebrates the contributions and service of Tyrell Crosby, Margaryta Golovchenko, Ken Kato, Christalee “CK” Kirby, and Susy Wadsworth, whose terms on the Council concluded in June 2023.

Tyrell Crosby was an offensive tackle for the Detroit Lions and made his NFL debut against the Seahawks in 2018. He was a student athlete at the University of Oregon from 2014-2017 and participated in the JSMA’s Art of the Athlete program. Through Art of the Athlete, Tyrell was instrumental in mentoring children in the Museum’s VSA program and working directly with Julie Woodworth, who survived the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in 2015. He majored in Planning, Public Policy, and Management (PPPM) at the University of Oregon.

Margaryta Golovchenko served as a student representative on the Council for academic year 2023-2024. Margaryta is a Ukrainian settlerimmigrant from Tkaronto/Toronto, Canada, and a PhD student in the art history department at the University of Oregon. Her research looks at depictions of human-animal relationships in 18th and 19th century French and British art, while her SSHRC-funded doctoral project focuses on portraits of women with animals. Her literary and art criticism has appeared in a variety of publications, and she is a published poet.

Ken Kato is the founder and director of the Location Innovation Lab (LIL) at the University of Oregon. He serves as the director of the UO’s Campus GIS and Mapping Program, the university’s official system of record for all rooms, buildings, and underground utilities. He directed

the development of unique software applications for Oregon state agencies, private sector companies, and collaborated with other faculty on sponsored research projects. Previously, he served as the associate director of the Department of Geography’s InfoGraphics Lab. Ken will continue to assist the JSMA by leading the Strategic Alignment Network.

CK Kirby served as a student representative on the Council for academic year 2023-2024. CK is an undergraduate student in Social Science and Anthropology who has worked closely with the JSMA Education Department on a variety of programs, including World of Work and Summer Art Camp. CK plans to earn a master’s degree in Museum Studies or another related field and focus on helping the Black general public become more accepted and seen in museum spaces.

Susy Wadsworth was CEO (now Emeritus) of W.L.S. Spencer Foundation, which focuses on education programs both inside public schools and in museums that encourage cross cultural understanding. Susy has served on many boards and committees, including the Board of Trustees of MASS MoCa, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Breakthrough Collaborative, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Renaissance Society International Board in Chicago, and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

The JSMA is deeply grateful to Tyrell, Margaryta, Ken, CK, and Susy for their service to the Leadership Council and museum, and to Patti Barkin and Sarah Finlay for their years of leadership. Thank you!

Staff Updates

Leadership Enrichment Interns for 2023-24

The JSMA is happy to salute Seberiana Lopéz and Gio Betancourt, the museum’s two Leader Enrichment Interns. The Leadership Enrichment Internship (LEI) program is an opportunity for undergraduate work experience and mentorship in a paid competitive internship program managed by the Division of Equity and Inclusion at the UO. The opportunities for employment in this program focus on giving jobs to students with diverse academic interests, whose backgrounds are currently underrepresented in their chosen careers.

The interns chosen for the current 16-week program at the JSMA have an interest in art, art history, and technology. During the interview process both students impressed Assistant Administrator of Education, Sherri Jones, with their deep interest in museum art education, their excellent administrative and communication skills, and their interest in bringing their lived experiences into this role.

Seberiana Lopéz is studying for her BFA in Art and Technology while working as a marketing and design assistant at the Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence. Seberiana is also a Transfer Team member supporting new transfer students to the UO, and is a directorial intern with MECHA UO. Seberiana is working with the JSMA as an LEI Museum Education Coordinator,

focusing on administering our World of Work program, the JSMA’s high school focused internship program which begins in April each year.

As an artist, Seberiana is interested in exploring all mediums of art and empowering artists of color. She enjoys reading, working on collaborative projects, and is always interested in adding a new hobby to her list of unfinished craft projects.

Gio Betancourt is also a third-year student working on their BA in Art and Technology with a Psychology Minor. Gio’s expertise as a research assistant analyzing human behavior during times of natural hazards and environmental stress offers valuable experience when working in public spaces such as the JSMA. Gio notes that the experiences they are having as an LEI Museum Education Coordinator, working with high school students and administering our program from start to finish, has helped them realize that they would like to learn more about working with youth arts programming.

Gio is interested in providing spaces that are inclusive of all people, especially within the arts. In Gio’s free time they love to dance, bake, crochet, sew, and anticipate learning how to perform in all genres of dance in the future!

Joey Capadona speaks at national conference

The biennial preparators conference for PACCIN (Preparation, Art handling, and Collections Care Information Network), the organization dedicated to building a network of professionals to share practical information and essential resources for collections care professionals to better protect and preserve cultural property in their care, is taking place in Kansas City at the Nelson-Adkins Museum of Art. Joey Capadona, JSMA Exhibition Designer and Head Preparator, will be presenting on integrating technology into exhibition design to create immersive and interactive displays. He’ll also be talking about artworks that have incorporated technology and some of the challenges they present when the technology becomes outdated or fails.

Alexis Kielb joins JSMA staff

Alexis Kielb is joining the JSMA with over fifteen years of experience in higher education student services. She has a BA in English from University of Minnesota and an MA in medieval literature from Eastern Michigan University. She is fascinated by how illuminations and marginalia blur the boundaries between art and text in medieval manuscripts.

As the child of field biologists, some of Alexis’s formative memories of art are of taking sketchbooks and markers into meadows, forests, and marshes to draw plants and wildlife while her parents were working. Because of this, Alexis sees art as a valuable resource across disciplines and is hoping to work with a broad swath of university departments. She is also hoping to increase the number of Title I schools (schools with a high percentage of low-income students) who bring their K-12 students to visit the JSMA.

Three members of the JSMA’s superb prep team, Anthony Edwards, Joey Capadona, and Noah Greene, in front of Leonardo Drew’s 215B

Art Seen

Artist Talk: Leonardo Drew In conversation with Jordan D. Schnitzer

February meant the auditorium at PLC was filled with a lively conversation between artist Leonardo Drew and Jordan D. Schnitzer, who discussed Drew's career, and his immense and powerful installation, 215B, that was part of Strange Weather: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. This delightful evening ended with a reception at the JSMA honoring both Drew and Alfredo Jaar, who spoke in Lawrence Hall earlier that day. Leonardo Drew’s visit was sponsored by Jordan D. Schnitzer.

Alison Saar: Uproot

Los Angeles based sculptor, mixed-media, and installation artist Alison

filled the auditorium for a remarkable discussion about her career followed by Q & A with Jordan Schnitzer. She discussed recent works, including works on view in Strange

and Reproductive Justice. Alison Saar’s visit was sponsored by

Saar

Weather: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and My Body, My Choice? Art

Jordan D. Schnitzer.

Opening of Artists, Constellations, and Connections: Feminist Futures

In February, we opened exhibitions inspired by the 50 th Anniversary of the Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS). In the Schnitzer Gallery, Artists, Constellations, and Connections: Feminist Futures, features a conversation between works from our collections and seven faculty artists from the UO’s Department of Art. Thanks to the featured artists, Amanda Wojick, Charlene Liu, Stacy Jo Scott, Laura Vandenburgh, Tarrah Krajnak, Tannaz Farsi and Anya Kivarkis, for creating this exhibition. Our Asian galleries included three exhibitions curated in honor of CSWS , Capital and Countryside in Korea, Half the Sky: Women in Chinese Art, and “Woman was the Sun” | Art of Japanese Women. Finally, our 8th Annual Common Seeing , My Body, My Choice? Art and Reproductive Justice, explores the themes from the UO’s Common Reading Program.

Artist Talk: Seongmin Ahn

Korean contemporary artist Seongmin Ahn offered a rich and nuanced introduction to her art in a delightful talk organized by Gayun Lee, Korea Foundation Global Challenge Intern, Soojin Jeong, Post-Grad Museum Fellow East Asian Art, and Anne Rose Kitagawa, Chief Curator of Asian Art. The talk was followed by a private viewing of the JSMA’s recently acquired monumental painting Mindscape (2020) that marks Ahn’s critical practice within the cultural, social, and art historical context of interdisciplinarity and multiculturality. This painting will be the centerpiece of the upcoming Korean exhibition (see pp. 16-17).

Latinx Studies Night at the Museum

Latinx Studies Night at the Museum is an annual event that began in March 2023. This celebration is the result of a collaboration between students (Ambassadors) in the Latinx Studies minor at the UO and its Director, as well as the Curator of Academic Programs and Latin American and Caribbean Art at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Conceptualized by the Latinx Ambassadors, it provides a unique opportunity for students to learn about the program, network, discuss artworks, and create community. Faculty, alumni, leaders from the region including Mexican Consul Carlos Quesnel Meléndez, and allies, convened at the museum for an evening of community. Latinx Studies Night at the Museum was sponsored by Jordan D. Schnitzer.

Student Appreciation Dinner

In April, JSMA Staff organized a student appreciation dinner for the student employees that are integrated into each department at the museum. It was an evening of fun and silliness to thank all the students that help us function and succeed. Everyone enjoyed dinner while staff gave thanks before heading into the “casino” where staff served mocktails, dealt blackjack, spun the roulette wheel, called bingo, and students used their winnings to grab prizes from The Museum Store. Thank you, students. You make our work possible.

Aaralyn Reed

Abby Punches

Adeline Norris

Aislyn Morrill

AJ Iboa Garcia

Alondra Vargas Jimenez

Aubrey Jayne

Audrey Tyler

Ava Wisdom

Bee Bredbenner

Ben Asbury

Chandlor Henderson

Christalee Kirby

Dylan Podrabsky

Eleanor Foster

Elizabeth Van Atta

Emma Norris

Ethan Pearo

Francis Cortez

Gabi Fallon

Gio Betancourt

Hailey Rydman

Haven Nasif

Isaiah Lightdancer

Jamis Gully

Jess McComb

John Adair

Josephine Paik

Karis Frazier

Lara Akmehmet

Laura Steinman

Lucy Menendez

Madeline Magana Solis

Maya Lekarczyk

Michelle Isaro

Naimah Johnson

Niko Berger

Nina Olson

Paitra Daniels

Payton Jones

Ryan Rudd

Sam Brooks

Samantha Joh

Seberiana Lopez

Serafina Zolnoski

Tanner Ringo

Valyree Chavez

Yirui Li

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

Freida Rothman

JSMA Visitor Services Associate Saher models our exquisite new collection by Freida Rothman, an award-winning jewelry and accessories designer located in Brooklyn, New York. Her handcrafted and intricately detailed pieces are made for effortless elegance. Prices range from $125.00-$295.00.

Be sure to visit the JSMA Store soon to find gift ideas for the graduates in your life.

Mailing address:

Street address: 1223 University of Oregon 1430 Johnson Lane Eugene, OR 97403–1223 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

Hours

Wednesday: 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. Thursday - Sunday: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Academic visits by appointment

Cover Image: Doris Salcedo (b. 1958 Bogotá, Colombia).  Plegaria Muda , 2008-2010, wood, mineral compound, metal, and grass, Each 64 5/8 x 84 ½ x 24 inches. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Purchase, by exchange, through a fractional gift of Shirley Ross Davis.