UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
WI NTER/SPRI NG 2024
JORDAN SCHNITZER MUSEUM OF ART
You’re Invited Celebrate our winter exhibitions!
Artists, Constellations, and Connections: Feminist Futures
2023-24 Common Seeing:
My Body, My Choice? Art and Reproductive Justice
Strange Weather:
From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
Glenn Ligon:
From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
Patron Circle Reception
Friday, February 9, 2024 6 – 8:30 p.m. https://jsma.uoregon.edu/patron-circle-rsvp
Public Tour of Current Exhibitions
Saturday, February 10, 2024 2 – 3 p.m.
Member Reception
Saturday, February 10, 2024 Member Reception 3 – 4:30 p.m. https://jsma.uoregon.edu/members-only-events
DIRECTOR’S REPORT | WINTER/SPRING 2024 I can’t believe it is 2024. But when I look back at Art of the Harvest, our Strange Weather opening in October, Día de los Muertos in November, Isaac Julien’s visit a week later, the flood of class visits from the UO and schools in the Eugene/Springfield area, and everything else going on here now, I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s been busy here, really busy, and time has been flying! And if you are curious about that photo of me, it’s from Emeritus Professor Craig Hickman’s amazing Second-Rate Selfie Machine, which members enjoyed playing with at our event on October 22. Thanks, Craig, for sharing it with all of us. Way back in September, Art of the Harvest was a huge success and people clearly loved the event format. It featured exquisite food presented in different locations throughout the museum by a number of Eugene’s premier culinary artists, allowing guests to mingle and move during the first part of the evening. Then came a sit-down dessert in the Barker Gallery, brilliantly MC’d by Karla Chambers, with comments from Karl Scholz, UO’s new President, Jordan Schnitzer,
Lisa Abia-Smith and OHSU’s Dr. Elizabeth Lahti plan Art Heals programming.
and the JSMA’s Lisa Abia-Smith (who heads up the Art Heals program), together with Dr. Elizabeth Lahti from OHSU, one of our primary Art Heals partners (along with Good Samaritan Health in Benton County). It was a lively, fun evening, and we received generous donations that will help sustain Art Heals in the coming years. My thanks to everyone who came out to support us! A core staff team of Esther Harclerode, Tiana Buckley, Debbie Williamson Smith, Mike Bragg, Will Kingscott, and Justin Stuck did terrific work organizing the event, with assistance from Lisa and her education colleagues Yeseul Lee and Sherri Jones. Lesley Williams in the Director’s Office and many others throughout the museum helped. I can’t say enough thanks to everyone who made Art of the Harvest such a triumph!
Art of the Harvest attendees enjoy dessert as Art Heals artist and supporter Karla Chambers introduces Paddles Up donations.
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Jordan Schnitzer introduces Patron Circle members to works in his collection in the Strange Weather exhibition during the October 20 reception.
Four weeks later, we had a scintillating opening for Strange Weather: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, and Glenn Ligon: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. Jordan toured a big group of UO students through the show and another even larger group of Patron Circle members, too. I’m sure many of you have seen them by now, but if you haven’t, both shows are on view though April 7, and you shouldn’t miss them, Strange Weather in particular. The show hangs beautifully in our Barker Gallery and contains powerful work by a range of internationally renowned artists. My thanks to Jordan, whose collection continues to grow in stature and scope, and to my colleagues Rachel Nelson and Jennifer González of UC Santa Cruz for their astute curatorial work.
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Also in November we were delighted to welcome Isaac Julien to the JSMA, together with his partner, the noted media arts curator and scholar, Mark Nash. Their visit was a great complement to Isaac’s powerful film installation, Lessons of the Hour – Frederick Douglass. We had 279 people in the audience for Isaac’s excellent evening talk, and a group of over 30 students came for the noon-time conversation with Isaac and Mark. Looking forward, we are pleased to collaborate with a number of UO’s art faculty to present Artists, Constellations, and Connections: Feminist Futures, a show featuring their work alongside pieces from our permanent collection selected by the artists. This exhibition in
John Weber, Isaac Julien, and Mark Nash in front of the museum.
Isaac Julien fields questions from the audience at the close of his November 8 talk.
our Schnitzer Gallery is organized by Danielle Knapp and Adriana Miramontes Olivas and presented in honor of the 50th anniversary of the university’s Center for the Study of Women in Society.
UO Art faculty members Anya Kivarkis, Amanda Wojick, Laura Vandenburgh, Tarrah Krajnak, and Stacy Jo Scott use the Collections Lab to plan the installation of Artists, Constellations, and Connections: Feminist Futures.
Another show coming up in 2024 will feature works in our collection by the Oregon photographer Terry Toedtemeier, one of the founders of Portland’s Blue Sky Gallery and the first curator of photography at the Portland Art Museum. The museum has a terrific collection of his work, thanks primarily to Terry’s wife, Prudence Roberts, and to his life-long friend, Craig Hickman, UO faculty member emeritus, and Eric McCready. Terry was a close personal friend of mine, one of my favorite colleagues ever, and a photographer whose work I admire deeply. His death at age 61 in 2008 was a great loss for the arts in Oregon, and for everyone who knew him. We are fortunate to have such a fine collection of his work, and I look forward to seeing it on view this spring, presented by our photography curator Thom Sempere. At the end of October we thanked Esther Harclerode for her nine years of exceptional work here. Beginning as our Development Program Manager, Esther rose to be the JSMA’s Director of Development. Esther has been a great colleague and I’ll miss her at the JSMA, but I look forward to seeing her at future museum events as an honored guest: happily, Esther is staying at the university and moving to the College of Education, where she will serve as their head fundraiser. Good hire!
In December the museum welcomed Alexander Ellis as our new Assistant Registrar. Working behind the scenes to oversee the collection and the movement of art loans, registrars play an absolutely crucial role in museums. Their work is often unseen and underappreciated by our public, but anyone who works in museums knows just how much we rely daily on registrars’ expertise, insight, experience, and good judgement. Alexander joins Miranda Callander, the museum’s Head Registrar and Shared Visions Manager, to complete our department. You’ve all seen evidence of Miranda’s work on our walls, too, and I’m always pleased by the surprising and revealing curatorial juxtapositions she presents in her installations of Shared Visions loans. Welcome, Alexander, and thank you for your great work, Miranda! In March we will welcome Dr. Yan Geng to the JSMA as our new Curator of Contemporary and Traditional Chinese Art. Dr. Geng brings superb credentials and experience to the JSMA and we are delighted to have her join our staff. With the strength of our collection’s holdings in the arts of China, this appointment is long overdue and truly exciting for all of us at the museum. See the Staff Notes section of the magazine for more information about Dr. Geng, and other new members of our staff. Welcome, Yan! Finally, I want to offer a huge thank you to Patti Barkin and Sarah Finlay, the outgoing President and Vice President of our Leadership Council. They have been superb partners and stellar leaders of the LC. You are terrific, Patti and Sarah, and it’s been great working with you! I also want to recognize all of this year’s LC members and the dedicated community members serving on our LC committees. I deeply appreciate the wisdom, wise counsel, and community connections you bring to the JSMA, and we really couldn’t be what we are without you. My thanks! Thanks for supporting the JSMA, and see you at the museum. John Weber
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Tarrah Krajnak. Self-Portrait as Weston with Light Meter/with Test Charis Wilson on Darkroom2 Cover, 1978/2020, from Master Rituals II: Weston’s Nudes, 2020, 8 x 10 silver gelatin print. Courtesy of the artist Tarrah Krajnak. Self-Portrait as Weston/as Test Charis Wilson on Darkroom2 Cover, 1936/1978/2020, from Master Rituals II: Weston’s Nudes, 2020, 8 x 10 silver gelatin print. Courtesy of the artist Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958), Nude, 1936, gelatin silver print, 9 1/2 x 7 5/8 inches
Schnitzer Gallery | January 27 – June 17, 2024
Artists, Constellations and Connections Feminist Futures
Artists, Constellations and Connections: Feminist Futures has been organized by the JSMA and seven members of the UO Department of Art as part of the 50th anniversary of the Center for the Study of Women in Society. Placing current work by studio art faculty alongside and in conversation with works they have selected from the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art’s permanent collection, the exhibition explores critical questions about artmaking, history, the future, and feminist models of intersectional inquiry in the current moment of great social, political, and environmental change. The participating women faculty approached this as a collaborative and collective project. The works in the exhibition are conceived of
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Clockwise from top:
KUSAMA Yayoi 草間彌生 (b. 1929). Japanese; Heisei period, 1993. Three Pumpkins. Screen print; ink and color on paper, edition 155/160, 13 ¼ x 16 7/8 inches. Gift of the Jack and Susy Wadsworth Collection of Japanese Prints Charlene Liu. Soup Spoon, 2023, acrylic paint on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Elizabeth Leach Gallery Charlene Liu. Confection, 2023, acrylic paint on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Elizabeth Leach Gallery
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as a constellation of connections—connections between peer artists responding in diverse ways to our moment, and connections to relevant artists and artworks of the past. Some of the artworks chosen from the JSMA collection, such as the OTAGAKI, Rengetsu (Japan 17911875) bowl, represent echoes and affinities with the faculty work and speak to the power of art to collapse time and space. Artworks provide an uncanny bridge to other moments of lived experience and assert ties of kinship. Other selected artworks, such as the Edward Weston photograph, function as antagonists, as a catalyst to interrogate more inclusive and complex experiences.
A multiplicity of questions, convictions, and uncertainties is evident in the faculty work—social and political histories, wonder and play, agency and subjectivity, material culture and mediation, formal invention, identity and language, posthuman imaginaries, domesticity and the everyday, emergent systems and environmental precarity. The artists’ studio practices reflect current approaches in the field, including a fluid continuum of physical and technological processes. What these artists share are positions deeply informed by changing conceptions of feminism and their ongoing dialogue and commitment in this specific place and time.
Tannaz Farsi. Wayfinding, 2020 Dye sublimation print on aluminum. Courtesy of the artist Anya Kivarkis. Reflection II, 2021. Brooch, silver. Courtesy of the artist
Exhibition curated by Amanda Wojick, Charlene Liu, Stacy Jo Scott, Laura Vandenburgh, Tarrah Krajnak, Tannaz Farsi, Anya Kivarkis from the UO Department of Art in consultation with JSMA curators Adriana Miramontes Olivas and Danielle Knapp.
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2023-24 Common Seeing:
My Body, My Choice?
Art and Reproductive Justice Focus Gallery | January 20 - 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 our attention to complicated and problematic histories to advocate for a more equitable future. Chicago stated in a 2019 interview about her Birth Project, “I do not think art can change the world. I think art can educate, inspire, [and] empower people to act.” This exhibition was organized by JSMA curators Adriana Miramontes Olivas, Danielle Knapp, and Alexis Garcia in response to the 2023-24 Common Reading selected book, The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, A Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having—or Being Denied—an Abortion, by Dr. Diana Greene Foster. Reproductive justice positions the ability to control one’s own reproduction—the decision of whether or not to have children—as a human rights issue; it prioritizes the physical, mental, and emotional health and self-determination of patients. Two serigraphs from Chicago’s ambitious Birth Project (1980-85) act as a celebration of women’s life-giving power and a pointed commentary on world myths of creation. She described this years-long collaboration as one step in her development as a feminist artist. Chicago, dismayed by the lack of images of birth in Western art history and contemporary art, invited 150 female needlepoint artists from around the country to reproduce her images of pregnancy and childbirth in a variety of textile media. As part of this multi-faceted project, she compiled hundreds of questionnaires from women who shared their own reproductive histories and experiences (including pregnancy, abortion, delivery, and aftercare) and made additional drawings and prints of this subject.
Chicana interdisciplinary artist and writer Nao Bustamante uses a wide range of creative strategies, from object-making to performance. Her ongoing project Bloom (2011-2024) addresses the history of gynecological care. In a series of paintings she envisions a womancentered redesign of medical instruments that incorporate natural forms in the pursuit of gentleness, while her darkly humorous video, Gruesome History (speculum puppet), directly confronts that gynecological device’s origins through bold storytelling. Alison Saar’s recent works Uproot and Plucked—a pair of doublesided paintings on vintage cotton-picking bags—respond directly to the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court and the historical and continuing impact of the lack of access to abortion care on women of color. These works were informed by sociological studies of African American herbalism and knowledge of self-induced abortions among enslaved people in the United States. Although Saar does not label her artistic practice as feminist, specifically, she explores recurring themes of duality, gender, race and racism, the African diaspora, and the female experience. Uproot and Plucked encourage viewers to consider the intersectional implications of access to—or restriction from— reproductive healthcare. During 2023-24, the Center for the Study of Women and Society celebrates 50 years of enriching the University of Oregon community. In collaboration with departments and units across campus, the CSWS has developed a year-long program of speakers, symposia, exhibits, performances, and other events that speak to intersectional feminist research and visions of social justice. To learn more, visit https://csws.uoregon.edu/50th-events. JSMA thanks the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation and Nao Bustamante for the loans of these artworks.
Alison Saar (American, b. 1956), Uproot (detail), 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
Artist Talk: Alison Saar Wednesday, April 3, 6 p.m.
Location: PLC 180, reception to follow at the JSMA Alison Saar’s visit is sponsored by Jordan D. Schnitzer RSVP: https://jsma.uoregon.edu/artist-talk-alison-saar
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Terry Toedtemeier (American, 1947-2008). Burning Railroad Tie, Burlington Cut Near Catherine Creek, Klickitat Co., Washington, 1987. Toned gelatin silver print, 12 x 18 inches. Gift of Prudence F. Roberts
Terry Toedtemeier: Photographer APS Gallery | May 4 – 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 experimentations 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, scientifically-trained eye with an aesthetic interpretation of nature. The fortuitous combination of art and science in Toedtemeier’s work began when he earned a bachelor’s degree in earth sciences from Oregon State University in 1969. His coursework included experiential learning as students walked the land to understand that observation and description were foundational skills necessary to interpret the meaning of geologic processes. Over time, he came to intuit that perceiving how the land was formed only increased its beauty. Toedtemeier assumed the role of Associate Professor of Art and History when he began teaching at the Pacific Northwest College
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of Art in the 1980s, and in 1985 he was hired as the first Curator of Photography at the Portland Art Museum. Over the course of 23 years he built an exceptional foundation for that museum’s photography collection that grew to more than five thousand works. As Toedtemeier inhabited the various roles of curator, historian, scientist, educator, and artist, the nuance and depth of his picturemaking matured. Terry Toedtemeier: Photographer presents the informed beauty in which all parts of his artistic awareness and each facet of these roles are indivisibly blended as one. In an essay for a Reed College exhibition in 1986 of Toedtemeier’s photographs of the Columbia Gorge, his Portland Art Museum colleague and friend (and now JSMA Executive Director) John Weber wrote: Within the elegance of these images is humility…. Through his work, he insists that the land is not significant because of what we can take from it or use it for; rather, the land, like our understanding and treatment of it, is crucial because we are ultimately and inescapably a part of nature. Terry Toedtemeier: Photographer is curated by Thom Sempere, Associate Curator of Photography.
The Shahnameh: Tales from the Book of Kings Graves Gallery | January 20 - May 27, 2024 This exhibition presents a selection of six leaves, or pages, from The Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, a Persian epic poem consisting of at least 50,000 couplets written by the poet Firdausi in the tenth century. The Shahnameh is one of the longest narrative poems in any culture. Blurring myth, legend, and history, it narrates the Persian, preIslamic history of the world. The epic follows the reigns of fifty kings until the fall of the Persian empire to Arab conquest in the early seventh century CE under Shah Yazdegerd III (624-651 CE). Interspersed among monarchical stories are legendary battles between man and div, or demon, the rise and fall of heroes, and narrative warnings of the consequences of poor leadership. Many of the work’s most prominent conflicts occur through the experiences of Iranian warrior, Rustam: between subject and king, father and son, Iran and foreign invaders, hero and mythological beast, and conflict within oneself. The historical, mythical, and legendary stories within The Shahnameh have continued to prove timeless, as select narratives are continuously reproduced in Iranian popular culture even today. This exhibition was curated by 2021-2023 PostGraduate Fellow in European & American Art, Zoey Kambour.
Rustam Mourning the Dying Suhrab (from the Shahnameh of Firdausi) (detail). Persian; 16th century. Pigment and gold leaf on paper, 16 3/8 x 11 3/8 inches. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Binney, III
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Asian Galleries AHN Seongmin 安性玟, 안성민 (Korean, b. 1971). Mindscape, 2020. Minhua (folk) painting triptych; ink and color on mulberry paper, 6 x 11 feet. Farwest Steel Korean Art Endowment Fund Purchase
New Acquisition
AHN Seongmin's Mindscape Contemporary artist Ahn Seongmin created Mindscape using traditional Korean folk painting brush techniques, but she incorporated florescent pigments that lend it an unearthly glow. The composition pays homage to two Joseon-dynasty (1392-1910) pictorial genres: the literati “True View” landscape (jingyeong sansuhwa) tradition, especially paintings depicting the craggy peaks of Mount Geumgang, and the still-life genre of scholar’s accoutrements (chaekgeori). Chaekgeori paintings came into vogue after 18th-century Korean emissaries to the Chinese court encountered illusionistic paintings produced by European Jesuits that used one-point perspective and shading to create a sense of realism. After being transmitted to Korea, this genre morphed from a court-painting tradition to an auspicious theme for the scholarly class, and finally to a folk theme for the middle and lower classes. Ahn’s Mindscape juxtaposes elements of the landscape and chaekgeori genres by creating a bookcase rendered as an illusionistic space fraught with perspectival paradox. The geometry
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of the elegant shelves, drawers, books, and objects recedes to two distinct vanishing points: one behind and the other in front of the depicted furniture. Rivulets of bright chartreuse water pool in open drawers and pour down to the bottom of the composition, creating large decorative splashes that disrupt the curvilinear waves surrounding the cabinet. Stranger still, attenuated mountain peaks and clouds erupt from the center of the painting, where the straight orange outline of the cabinet seems to dissolve or turn to smoke, undermining the sense of verisimilitude that the artist created with such care. This new acquisition will be featured in an upcoming exhibition that portrays nature and modern/ contemporary Korea through the conflation of artistic methods and ideas from the Joseon dynasty and beyond, co-curated by Soojin Jeong, Post-Graduate Fellow in East Asian Art and Gayun Lee, JSMA/Korea Foundation Global Challengers Museum Intern.
NAGARE Manika 流麻二果 (b. 1975). Japanese; Reiwa period, 2022-23. Track of Colors #2. Set of 9 paintings; oil on canvas mounted on wood panels, each 20 ½ inches tall (variable widths). Gonyea Asian Art Acquisition Fund Purchase
New Acquisition
NAGARE Manika’s Track of Colors #2 In this moving set of nine luminous color field canvases, contemporary Japanese painter Nagare Manika eulogizes eight forgotten women artists: Sasaki Kōgen 佐々⽊⾹巌 (1870-1934), Matsuoka Shizunko 松岡静野 (dates unknown), Matsubayashi Settei 松林雪貞 (1878-1969), Yamashita Kouho ⼭下紅畝 (1884-1977), Fujikawa Eiko 藤川栄⼦ (1900-1983), Inoue Teruko 井上照⼦ (19111995), Furusawa Toshiko 古沢敏⼦ (1912-2005), and Kaimi Hisako 海 ⾒久⼦ (1931-2007). To create the series, Nagare traveled to various Japanese museums to study the women’s original artworks. The figural, floral, and abstract compositions of the earlier artists seem to dissolve in her paintings—a visual metaphor for the erasure of women from the canon of art. A comparison of one of Nagare’s works with its source is instructive: Maiko is the only known painting by Matsuoka Shizunko (née Hayashi Shizuno), who abandoned her own career after marrying the artist Matsuoka Eikyū 松岡映丘 (1881-1938). Shizunko’s
MATSUOKA Shizunko 松岡静野 (dates unknown). Japanese; Taishō period, early 20th century. Maiko. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk. Nerima Art Museum, Tokyo
exquisitely nuanced portrait of the young geisha-in-training captures the girl’s demure innocence, rather than portraying her as an object of desire. Nagare Manika’s homage to that painting (center panel above; detail below right) depicts the same figure, which seems to fade into ghostly obscurity, much like the reputation of its artist. This recent acquisition is featured in the special exhibition Woman was the Sun: Art of Japanese Women (through September 2024), which was designed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of UO’s Center for the Study of Women in Society. It was organized by chief curator Anne Rose Kitagawa in collaboration with art history professor Akiko Walley. A few additional works created by Japanese women will be on view in the faculty-curated exhibition Artists, Constellations and Connections: Feminist Futures in the Schnitzer Gallery during the Winter and Spring terms of 2024.
Detail of center panel of NAGARE Manika Track of Colors #2 [after Matsuoka Shizunko]
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Exhibition Highlights Half the Sky: Women in Chinese Art In her evocative video, Tides, contemporary Chinese artist Xiao Lu attempts to place a series of bamboo poles upright in the sand along the shore on a beach while the tide relentlessly threatens their stability. Growing progressively more exhausted and frenetic, she tries again and again to prevail against the challenges of wind, waves, and gravity. The child of two Soviet-style painters, Xiao Lu was assaulted by a family friend during her youth and directed her shame and rage into experimental art. She became infamous in February 1989, when she pulled out a gun and fired two shots into her own art installation during the China/Avant-Garde exhibition opening at the National Art Gallery in Beijing*, which caused the authorities to temporarily shut down the museum and detain her and a male schoolmate. Because she remained silent about her actions but her schoolmate wrote
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a purported explanation, critics deemed the performance to have been jointly planned by the two young artists. Fifteen years after emigrating to Australia in the aftermath of the June 1989 student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, Xiao Lu finally broke her long silence and shared the painful trauma of her youth. Sadly, some influential but misogynistic critics were unwilling to accept the idea that a woman could have conceived such a radical performance and refused to revise their co-attribution of her 1989 actions. Most of Xiao Lu’s subsequent performances reflect and respond to her troubled past, interrogating the value accorded to her life and work. Tides is the most symbolic example to date, with the artist grappling against forces of nature that seem poised to overwhelm even her most heroic efforts.
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
LI Shuang 李爽 (Chinese, b. 1957). Untitled, circa 1985. Mixed media collage, 20 ¼ x 25 ¾ inches. Loan from Private Collection
Li Shuang was the only female founder of the Stars Art Group**, a collective of young non-professional avant-garde artists who came together in the late 1970s through their shared interests in individualism, freedom of expression, and abstraction. In November 1979 the Stars mounted the first Stars Art Exhibition, for which they secured no formal approval, instead installing their art along the fence surrounding Beijing’s China Art Gallery and in the adjacent Beihai Park. When government authorities shut down their display, the Stars staged a protest that persuaded officials to allow them to reopen the show. They organized a second Stars Exhibition in 1980 but were forced to disband due to political pressure, and various members went into self-imposed exile in Europe and the United States. Despite their political activism, the only member of the Stars who was detained by the authorities was Li Shuang, not for her art, but because she became romantically involved with a French diplomat. The resulting “Li Shuang Affair”—her September 1981 arrest and imprisonment—concluded when she was freed after 22 months of international condemnation of the Chinese government. Li and her husband subsequently relocated
to France. Many of the artworks she produced thereafter reflect the anguish and confusion she experienced during this tumultuous period. In this beautiful, but unsettling collage, a woman and a man seem to tumble beneath leafless branches. Xiao Lu’s Tides and Li Shuang’s untitled collage are featured along with other works by and about Chinese women in the exhibition Half the Sky: Women in Chinese Art, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the UO’s Center for the Study of Women in Society. It is curated by Anne Rose Kitagawa, the JSMA’s chief curator.
*An image by WEN Pulin 温普林 (b. 1957) documenting Xiao Lu’s 1989 shooting performance is on display next to Tides. **Photos of the Stars by Pulitzer Prize-winning Chinese-born American journalist LIU Heung Shing 劉香成 (b. 1951) were featured in the JSMA’s 2023 special exhibition Framing the Revolution: Contemporary Chinese Photographs from the Jack and Susy Wadsworth Collection.
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Shared Visions Spotlight
Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian, 1593- after 1654). Susanna and the Elders, n.d. Oil on canvas, 104 3/8 x 82 11/16 inches. Private Collection
Artemisia Gentileschi On view February 28 – June 2, 2024
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Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi is one of very few women artists to gain widespread recognition in seventeenth century Europe. Raised by her father, who was also an artist, Gentileschi began painting at a young age and later became the first female member of the Accademia delle Arte del Disegno in Florence. She is best known for her history paintings of female protagonists, often featuring heroines such as Cleopatra, Danaë, Judith, Sisera, and other historical and allegorical figures.
honor ensued and Artemisia was tortured to verify her
In 1611, Gentileschi was raped by another artist, Agostino Tassi, at her family’s home in Rome. After Tassi refused to marry her, a prolonged trial over the Gentileschi family
men accuse her of adultery and demand punishment by
testimony. The artist started depicting the subject of Susanna around the time of her rape trial, which is often interpreted through the lens of her struggle against abuse and misogyny. Susanna and the Elders is a later iteration of this subject, likely painted in the 1630s. The biblical figure of Susanna is pictured bathing in a garden when two elderly men spy on her and demand sexual favors, which Susanna refuses. In the biblical story, the death, but their stories are proven false, and Susanna is heralded for her fidelity.
Pat Steir (American, b. 1940). Many Colors / (Yellow), 2022. Oil on canvas, 108 x 72 inches. Private Collection
Pat Steir On view January 31 – May 5, 2024
“The spiritual in my art is giving up control. My paintings are based on what I can do, and what I can do is not controlled. So I give up control, and that’s the spiritual aspect of the work—taking what comes and relinquishing control. Although they look very controlled, they’re really not, because it’s all poured paint.” —Pat Steir, 2016
Pat Steir was one of the first women to gain sustained recognition in the 1960s and 1970s contemporary art world largely dominated by men. Inspired by chance operations, Buddhist philosophies, and the history of East Asian ink painting, Steir embraces the unknown in her dynamic work. In the 1980s, she started to fling, splash, and drip paint on canvases and allow gravity to take its course. Many Colors / (Yellow) is part of the artist’s recent series exploring color theory. The artist first poured a dark black background before allowing layers of orange, green, yellow, blue, and red paint to drip down the surface. As the title suggests, Steir’s attention was focused on the color yellow in this composition, exploring the contrasting and complementary colors that surround yellow on the color wheel. Speaking of her pouring technique, Steir said: “When I started to pour paint, there was no return—you can’t un-pour it. It’s there. So I could start a new one, but I couldn’t change what I had. Like life.”
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Countinuing Exhibitions
Strange Weather: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation Last day on view is April 7, 2024 Strange Weather: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation features contemporary artworks which illuminate and reframe the boundaries of bodies and the environment. The artworks included in the exhibition span five decades, from 1970-2020, and are drawn together for how they creatively call attention to the impact and history of forced migrations, industrialization, global capitalism, and trauma on humans and the contemporary landscape. The exhibition features Leonardo Drew’s immense, breathtaking wall installation, Number 215B. Weather can refer to both subtle and violent atmospheric conditions in a given place and time. The influential artists in the exhibition utilize a range of aesthetic strategies, including abstraction, portraiture, figurative painting, landscape, and installation, to explore the current atmospheric strangeness. Artists include Carlos Almarez, Carlos Amorales, Leonardo Drew, Joe Feddersen, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, James Lavadour, Nicola Lopez, Hung Liu, Julie Mehretu, Wendy Red Star, Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, Charles Wilbert White, Kehinde Wiley, and Terry Winters. Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977). The World Stage: Brazil: Marechal Floriano Peixoto II, 2012, oil on canvas. 107 x 83 inches. Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. Image: Aaron Wessling Photography
Take a Virtual Tour
https://bit.ly/StrangeWeatherTour
Artist Talk: Leonardo Drew in conversation with Jordan D. Schnitzer Wednesday, February 21, 6 p.m. Location: PLC 180, reception to follow at the JSMA Leonardo Drew’s visit is sponsored by Jordan D. Schnitzer RSVP: https://jsma.uoregon.edu/artist-talk-leonardo-drew
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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, this exhibition presents a range of hand-wrought 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. Charger, John Pearson, British, 1896. Copper, Diam: 15½ inches. Margo Grant Walsh Twentieth Century Silver and Metalwork Collection, Gift of Margo Grant Walsh, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, USA
Take a Virtual Tour https://bit.ly/FMtour
Glenn Ligon: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation Last day on view is April 7, 2024 Glenn Ligon: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation brings together works on paper by the influential artist that explore how constructions of Blackness in the United States infuse popular culture, literature, and history. Featuring the series Narratives, 1993, Self Portrait at Eleven Years Old, 2004, and End of Year Reports, 2003, among other artworks, the exhibition provides insights into Ligon’s long-running aesthetic interrogations into his personal social positioning and experiences as a queer, Black man. The structures and histories that make these shared identity categories are also made subject in the artist’s critical examination. The artworks engage the entangled histories of race, literature, and culture, with a broad range of references, from slave narratives to children’s coloring books. Together, they poignantly articulate the role of language and popular culture in the structuring of the self—and society—in both the past and present.
Take a Virtual Tour https://bit.ly/GlennLigonTour
Glenn Ligon (American b. 1960), Self Portrait at Eleven Years Old (detail), edition 7/20, 2004, stenciled linen pulp on cotton-based sheet. 36 x 30 inches. Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. Image: Strode Photographic
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Education
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Student Spotlight on Education
Christalee Kirby Christalee Kirby is a student employee working as an Education Program Assistant in the Education Department. She has been involved in a range of programs, including serving as a mentor for the World of Work program, leading tours for University of Oregon students and K-12 student tours, assisting with collaborative partnerships with the Lane African American Black Student Success program, writing museum labels, and teaching summer camps. She was recently hired by the Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center as a Student Leader. In 2022, she joined the JSMA Education Program Committee and in 2023 she joined the full Leadership Council, serving as the UO undergraduate representative.
Where were you born and raised? I was born and raised in the Dallas, Texas area in a city called Denton. Why did you choose the University of Oregon for college? I came here recruited as an athlete and the UO aligned with everything I wanted in a school and in an athletic program. What is your major? I am a Social Sciences major and minoring in Anthropology. Tell us about your two favorite classes at the UO and why you enjoyed them. Law and Anthropology was my favorite class EVER because of how different societies past and present were governed. We also got to choose a topic that interested us to do a research paper on and I learned about different things that I was interested in and topics I would like to study in the future. Museum Education was also one of my favorite classes, not only because of the content in the course, but it was the first class that I had actually enjoyed and participated in. It was in this class that I also discovered I would like to actually work in museums as a career.
How did you first get involved at JSMA? After I took Lisa Abia-Smith’s PPPM 410 Museum Education class, she asked me if I wanted to intern at the museum and I said yes. I thought it was only going to be for the year, but as I kept working I loved it and I didn’t want to leave. What has been the most memorable time for you working at JSMA? This past summer, I worked as a museum teacher for the museum’s youth summer camps. This was a memorable part of my time at JSMA because of the connection we made with the kids and the relationships I made with fellow students and staff, including creating our own inside jokes. I also have enjoyed the opportunity to be involved in facilitating tours and programs for the Lessons of the Hour: Frederick Douglass exhibition by Isaac Julien. How does your experience at JSMA fit into your career goals? My experience here at JSMA is the basis of what I want to do in the future. I am starting to work on and have discussions with various JSMA staff in regard to works of art on view, including the different social issues they represent and the perspective of the African American experience from my specific point of view. What else would you like us to know about you? I LOVE CHEESECAKE! It’s the best food known to man!
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Art Teaches Educational Videos for Teachers & Students
Ten Symbols of Longevity Screen The first eight panels of this vibrant screen depict the Ten Symbols of Longevity: the sun, clouds, mountains, water, pine trees, bamboo, mushrooms of immortality, deer, cranes, and turtles. The last two panels bear a long inscription naming the 14 court officials who commissioned the screen in 1879 to celebrate the recovery from smallpox of Crown Prince Yi Cheok (later known as Emperor Sunjong, 1874-1926), the final ruler of Korea’s Joseon dynasty (1392-1910). The exquisite composition of auspicious landscape, floral, and animal motifs reflects a court painting tradition laden with symbolism intended to confer happiness, longevity, and prosperity on both the ruler and nation. Ten Symbols of Longevity (detail). Korean; Joseon dynasty, 1879-1880. Ten-panel folding screen; ink, color and gold on silk; 79 x 203 1/8 inches. Murray Warner Collection
Watch now
https://youtu.be/c8mNaObnJJg
Jade Pagoda This nine-story jade pagoda is a superb example of imperial craftsmanship. Many of its architectural features were designed and assembled in emulation of full-scale construction practices. Model pagodas made of wood, stone, ivory, jade, and other materials have a long tradition in China, though few can rival this in terms of scale or execution. Jade Pagoda. Chinese; Qing dynasty, circa 1711. Jade, teakwood, metal; H. 9 feet (including base). Gift of Mr. Winston Guest
Watch now https://youtu.be/pAnshlVjeA4
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The JSMA has released our newest Art Teaches video that will provides an in-depth and relatable background to the JSMA’s important Korean work, the Ten Symbols of Longevity screen. It joins our other videos focused on a view of a few of our most cherished pieces from our Chinese collection: the flying tiger banners, Jade Pagoda, and Hung Liu’s work, Imperial Column. Each video is accompanied by lesson plans, curriculum, and resources for further investigation. Created for mid-grade students, Art Teaches is fully tailorable to younger or high school students and can also be enjoyed by adult audiences.
See all the videos and lesson plans at https://jsma.uoregon.edu/ArtTeaches
Flying Tiger Banners This banner representing a winged tiger was likely created for use in military parades. Such banners were located to the right of the commanding officer, a position derived from the ancient system of animals representing the cardinal directions. Although the beast conveys menace with mouth agape and brandished claws, the overall feeling is playful. In the background are depicted stylized clouds and mushrooms of immortality, evoking auspicious wishes. Flying Tiger Banner. Chinese; Qing dynasty, circa 1775-1825. Light yellow and orange silk embroidered with multicolored silk floss in satin and stem stitch and couched with gold-wrapped thread; 48 ½ x 49 inches. Murray Warner Collection
Watch now https://youtu.be/pxX8u_EusiU
Hung Liu’s Imperial Column This monumental work combines imagery from an early 20th-century photo of a man embracing a gigantic pillar in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in Beijing’s Forbidden City with flying angelic Buddhist figures and flower petals derived from 8th-century cave temple paintings at Dunhuang. It was created by Hung Liu, an artist who combined the Socialist Realist style of her youth in China with more expressionistic brushwork and layers of dripping pigment and circles that connote the passage of time. Hung LIU (LIU Hung 劉虹, Chinese-born American, 1948-2021). Imperial Column (detail), 2016. Mixed media, 93 x 82 inches. Gift of Artist Hung Liu and Trillium Graphics/David Salgado
Watch now https://youtu.be/yviGUoswLQg
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Member Spotlight:
Development News
Georgia Quick
What does being a JSMA member mean to you? I like to think that I am in some small way supporting access to beautiful art in Eugene. What has been your favorite JSMA exhibition? Most always it is the current one! Strange Weather is my current favorite JSMA exhibition. Many Wests and Hung Liu at Trillium are a close second and third. What was it like becoming a member during the pandemic? I really missed the museum when it was not open to the public. Once it reopened, it was an enjoyable place to visit and get inspired and feel hopeful about the future. How has art impacted your life? I am a painter. Art has provided me with escape from whatever was eating at me and helped me to solve problems. Viewing the art of others inspires my art practice.
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What do you wish others knew about the JSMA? I wish that others knew how dynamic the museum is. The exhibits are not static. In addition to the curated exhibits in the galleries, the Shared Visions program brings wonderful, surprising art to our museum—art that I might not otherwise see. In the MacKinnon gallery recently a Kandinsky hung next to a Monet, which hung next to a Van Gogh. On the opposite wall was a Mondrian and a Picasso. A true feast! What has been your favorite program at the JSMA? The Exhibition Interpreter program is my favorite program. Through it, I have learned about the artists and the art in order to share that knowledge with the students who tour. I love touring with the students. I don’t have to be an expert. The Visual Thinking Strategy method of discourse with the students provides a way to give students confidence to talk about what they see.
Installation view of Leonardo Drew's 215B in Strange Weather.
Grant Announcement: The Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation The JSMA is honored to announce a $26,000 grant from The Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation to support Teacher Professional Development Sessions. The grant provides funding for in-person and remote workshops for K-12 teachers from urban, rural, and underserved communities throughout Lane County. The Professional Development Sessions will encourage K-12 teachers to incorporate arts education into their curriculum using Isaac Julien’s Lessons of the Hour— Frederick Douglass installation and the Strange Weather exhibition.
The JSMA began developing Teacher Professional Development Sessions after receiving consistent feedback from teachers requesting training and resources to help them create engagement opportunities that teach students to utilize what they are learning in practical applications. Teachers also seek hands-on and multidisciplinary approaches to instruction that incorporates the visuals arts. With this grant from The Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation, the JSMA is wellpositioned to directly support teachers and their students.
Thank you to the Daura Foundation The Daura Foundation awarded the JSMA a $70,000 gift to support the PostGraduate Curatorial Fellow in European and American Art. As a teaching museum, the JSMA is able to offer post-graduate positions. Fellows work alongside curators, collections staff, faculty, and staff in all areas of the museum to gain crucial on-the-job learning for careers in museums, higher education, and academia. Support from the Daura Foundation fosters future generations of art historians and museum colleagues who will continue to engage students and the public in European and American Art. Alexis Garcia uses the JSMA Collections Lab to display works by Pierre Daura.
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Will Zeng
wins 2nd Annual Hung Liu/Trillium Award Along with gifting the JSMA a legacy collection of her mixed-media works, artist Hung Liu, together with Trilliam Graphics studio of Oakland, California, established a new endowed art prize in support of UO MFA grad students. Called the Hung Liu/Trillium Award, it will provide one recent MFA graduate approximately $4,500 to support their work in any way they choose after graduation. A committee comprised of the JSMA executive director, a member of the curatorial staff, and the head of the UO Art Department select a recipient annually, based on the annual MFA show. In May 2023, painter Will Zeng won the second annual Hung Liu/Trillium Award.
From the Leadership Council President It has been my honor to serve as the President of the Leadership Council. In this position I have been blessed to offer opening remarks to welcome you all at Patron Circle and other special events. I thank you for your wonderful support of this gem of a museum: our JSMA. Facilitating the Executive Steering Committee and LC meetings as well as attending all the Committee meetings has been an enriching experience. My joy in serving the JSMA is also greatly enhanced by my role as an Exhibition Interpreter, leading tours with 2nd- to 12th-grade students and older adults. During my term of service, the JSMA has re-opened to UO students and the community to pre-pandemic levels, exceeding attendance records for so many activities. Just after I began last year, we moved from Zoom to Hybrid to in-person meetings and events. It has been great to be back in the museum! Along with staff, we engaged in the Long-Range Strategic Planning process, bringing many perspectives to shaping the role of the LC. As voices of the community, our advocacy and advisory role plays an important part in making connections and supporting the mission of the JSMA. We also undertook the revision of our bylaws so that they align with our current structure and place within the UO.
As a Bay Area native, Zeng acknowledges the influence of Hung Liu on his artistic practice: “My parents are first-generation Chinese immigrants and shared similar experiences that Liu depicts in her work around the Cultural Revolution. Liu’s work serves as a lens through which I can better understand a historical moment and my familial history. Being a Chinese immigrant of the same generation as my parents, Liu’s lifelong dedication to fine arts has made my decision to pursue art feel more tangible.” In his series, “Rice,” Zeng surveys import racing and rice rocket culture, exploring intra-racial solidarity, alternative masculinities, and utopic queering to challenge and reimagine societal norms and expectations related to gender and sexuality. Zeng completed his MFA program at UO in June 2023, and thanks to the Hung Liu/Trillium Award, he has relocated to Los Angeles. There, he continues to evolve as an artist while actively building his artistic community.
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As my term comes to an end, I am grateful that Paul Peppis, Professor of English and Director of the Oregon Humanities Center, will follow as LC president, following his retirement from teaching and the OHC. He has long been a great friend to the museum and will begin a twoyear term in July 2024. Currently, Paul serves on the LC and convenes the Faculty Engagement Working Group. I am thankful for the contributions of time, expertise, and resources of all the Leadership Council members and especially those who serve as committee co-chairs along with our incredible staff. A special shout-out to my Vice President, Sarah Finlay, who helped establish the Communications and Engagement Committee, bringing together a broad range of art organizations in the city. I want to offer a warm welcome to our new members: Kate Ali, David Tam, Doug Blandy, and Christalee (aka CK) Kirby, who are recognized elsewhere in this magazine. With gratitude for all of you, Patti Barkin
Welcome New Leadership Council Members
From left to right: Doug Blandy, David Tam, and Kate Ali
From left to right: Margaryta Golovchenko and Christalee Kirby
At the start of the 2023-2024 academic year, the Leadership Council
Doug Blandy has been an academic leader in the arts at the University of Oregon for decades, including stints as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, the Program Director in the Arts and Administration Program, and Director of the Center for Community Arts and Cultural Policy. Doug’s research explores community arts, civil society, program accessibility and art education. Doug has been a member of the Education Committee since 2021 and has chaired the committee since 2022.
welcomed Kate Ali, Doug Blandy, and David Tam as members, along with student representatives Margaryta Golovchenko and Christalee "CK" Kirby. Margaryta is serving a second 1-year term as the graduate student representative and is a PhD student in Art History at the UO. Christalee is an undergraduate student in Social Science and Anthropology who has worked closely with the JSMA Education Department on a variety of programs, including serving as a member of the LC Education Committee in 2022-23. Kate Ali is the Public Art Manager for the City of Eugene’s Cultural Services Division and joins the Council after serving on the Communications and Engagement Committee since 2020. She began chairing that committee in Fall 2023.
David Yuen Tam is the Chief Executive Officer of Grey Snow Management Solutions LLC, a corporation wholly owned by the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and chartered under Tribal law. David has partnered with the JSMA in the past on Eugene Asian Celebration programs, which he leads as a volunteer, and has served on the Communications and Engagement Committee since 2021.
A New JSMA Website is on the Way!
COMING SOON!
After a rigorous international search, the JSMA selected the British/ Canadian firm Surface Impression to develop our new website. Surface Impression specializes in making attractive, accessible, relevant websites for museums and the heritage sector, along with other cultural, charitable and public sector organizations. They have worked worldwide with museums such as The National Gallery of Ireland, The British Museum, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and many more. In the fall of 2023, the JSMA staff began working with Surface Impression, planning for a dramatically new visual look, layout, and architecture to reflect the dynamic nature of our institution, exhibitions, and programs. Look for our new site to launch in spring 2024.
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Please welcome Dr. Yan Geng as our new Curator of Contemporary and Traditional Chinese Art Beginning on February 28, 2024, Dr. Yan Geng will join the curatorial team at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art as our inaugural Curator of Contemporary and Traditional Chinese Art. Geng earned her PhD in East Asian Art History at the University of Heidelberg in Germany in 2012 and holds an MA in Chinese Art History from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, as well as an MA in Art History and a BA in History from Peking University in Beijing, China. Geng brings an impressive variety of museum and academic experience to her role, having worked as a research fellow for the Later Chinese Bronzes collection at the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne, Germany, as a consultant for the re-installation and re-interpretation of the Asian Art Gallery at the Slater Memorial Museum in Norwich, CT, and as a curatorial fellow for the Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany. She has also held academic positions at the University of Bonn, Germany; the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT; the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN; and the University of Heidelberg. Geng’s book, Mao’s Images: Artists and China’s 1949 Transition, examines the images of Communist leader Mao Zedong (1893-1976) from the perspective of their producers, focusing on four artists, chosen for both the varied media they worked in and their diverse backgrounds. The book suggests an alternative perspective on the making of propaganda not only as politically themed representation but also as an expression of artists’ subjectivities and their roles as pivotal agents in modern Chinese art history. Geng has also published scholarly articles in Archives of Asian Art and the Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, and has contributed research to multiple books in the field. The JSMA’s new Curator of Contemporary and Traditional Chinese Art will oversee, develop, research, and present contemporary art from China in conjunction with modern and traditional Chinese art, and assist with other Asian collections and projects. One exciting responsibility of this position will be to organize a series of exhibitions drawn from the Jack and Susy Wadsworth Collection of Contemporary Chinese Photographs. This position is funded in part by the WLS Spencer Foundation.
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Congratulations, Esther! After a competitive search last year, the UO College of Education named Esther Harclerode as their next Director of Development. Esther has been a deeply trusted, highly effective, and allaround fantastic member of the JSMA staff since she joined the museum nine years ago as our Development Program Manager, ultimately rising to be the JSMA’s Director of Development. She will be the COE’s head fundraiser, where she will work directly with their dean and oversee a much larger operation. This is a great step for her professionally, and Esther leaves with our immense gratitude for all of her superb work here, and our congratulations. In Fiscal Year 2022, Esther led the JSMA to its best fundraising year ever, and Esther goes out on the highest of high notes, having captained the brilliant Art of the Harvest last fall. She leaves huge shoes to fill, along with an excellent head start to JSMA fundraising in 2023-24. Thank you, Esther! .
New public art on campus! Lee Kelly, who passed away last year at age 89, was a major figure in Oregon sculpture. His larger body of work ranged from monumental outdoor commissions to paintings to sculpted elements for landscape design. Water Piece—For Michael, from the JSMA’s permanent collection, was made with two of Kelly’s most frequent sculpting materials, stainless steel and cor-ten. Kelly’s other public works on campus include Akbar’s Garden, situated on the quadrangle south of the Erb Memorial Union, and The Professor, located just inside the south entrance of the Ford Alumni Center.
SAVE THE DATE
Lee Kelly (American, 1932-2022), Water Piece—For Michael, 1993. Stainless steel with core-ten base, 99 x 44 x 34 inches. Gift of Eric McCready in memory of Evelyn B. and S.W. McCready
May 16, 2024 Get ready for the University of Oregon’s Annual Day of Giving: Ducks Give. The JSMA is raising funds for Fill Up The Bus, a program that covers the transportation costs for school tours. If you would like to be a challenge gift partner, please email Tiana Buckley at jsmamember@uoregon.edu.
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Alexander Ellis
Assistant Registrar We’re excited to welcome Alexander Ellis as our new Assistant Registrar. With an MA from the University of Vermont, Alexander has worked in collections management in both nonprofit historical museums and a commercial art conservation studio in New England. He has worked on a variety of collections and conservation projects, including a 2021 IMLS grant for the acquisition of a large twentieth century photography collection; supporting the recent Rosemarie Castro paintings exhibition at the Judd Foundation; and the first institutional solo exhibition of Kyohei Inukai (1913–1985) at the Japan Society in New York City. Most recently he served as the Assistant Studio Manager and Registrar at Naples Studio in Kent, CT, where he supported a team of painting conservators. With a history in curatorial and collections management roles, Alexander is well-versed in museum practice. His qualifications and experience will help keep our art processes organized and efficient. We look forward to his contributions and welcome him to the Pacific Northwest.
Gayun LEE
JSMA Korea Foundation Global Challengers Museum Intern Gayun Lee has a BA in art history/museology from Chungbuk National University in Cheongju (including study at Senshu University in Japan), and a Masters in Asian art history from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, where she specialized in Korean Buddhist art. Gayun wrote her Masters thesis about the Ten-Story Stone Pagoda at Gyeongcheonsa (dated 1348), which she presented at the Buddhist Art Society conference and published in the Journal of Buddhist Art History. She also brings work experience from the Buddhist Central Museum in Seoul, the Seoul Museum of History, the Museum SAN in Wonju, and the Chungbuk National University Museum.
Soojin JEONG
JSMA Post-Graduate Curatorial Fellow in East Asian Art Soojin Jeong has a BA in photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Masters in Education from Hongik University in Seoul, and a Masters in the Humanities with curatorial focus from the University of Chicago, where she wrote her thesis about Korean Dansaekwa artists and conducted research about underrepresented global contemporary artists at the Smart Museum. She also brings work experience from the Gyeong-gi Museum of Modern Art in Ansan, and the Pinocchio Museum, Kukje Gallery, and Art Institute in Seoul.
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Asha Logan
Visitor Services Assistant Asha Logan is a Eugene local who grew up visiting the JSMA and first started working here as a volunteer during high school. After high school they attended the University of Oregon where they majored in Fine Arts and minored in Comic Studies. While at the University of Oregon Asha worked at the JSMA as a student worker at the front desk for all four years. Asha took some time away from the JSMA after graduating in 2020 but returned in the fall of 2021 in a temporary position. Asha has now been hired as the Visitor Services Assistant. They will help supervise the student workers on the Visitor Services team. When they are not working at the JSMA, Asha spends their free time illustrating, crafting, playing with their cat, and reading comics. Asha also works part time as a tattoo artist.
Jamis Gully
Building Services Assistant Jamis Gully joins the JSMA as the museum’s new Building Services Assistant. He will help support the wide range of JSMA public programs, including member and visitor events, special community events, space rental activities, and JSMA openings and receptions. Jamis brings a longtime interest in art, museums, and architecture to his work here and is enrolled in the UO Master of Architecture program. His undergraduate work in theater, scenic design and construction prepares him well for his work at the JSMA, as does his enthusiasm for the history of art, fostered from a young age by his art historian grandfather.
Alexis Garcia
JSMA Post-Graduate Curatorial Fellow in European & American Art Alexis Garcia received a master’s degree in art history from the University of Oregon, where she also earned her bachelor’s degree. Her areas of special interest include women and slavery in the art of ancient Greece, the display of classical antiquities in modern museums, and the adaptation and reinvention of classical narratives, imagery, and themes in contemporary art. Alexis has presented her research at the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) Annual Meeting and at the annual meeting of the Classical Association of the Pacific Northwest (CAPN). She is additionally an alumna of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, where she conducted field research during the summer of 2022.
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Chefs from Akira Omakase plated smoked salmon steam buns with aioli and caviar (below) as one of their artful bites.
Thanks to Victoria and Jeff Wilson-Charles, pictured here with their hosted table, for their inspiration and insight in planning Art of the Harvest.
Vineyards, Swallowtail Spirits, and Caffe Pacori, and were responsible as well for the spectacular charcuterie table! Bravo and thanks to all of our culinary partners!!
On September 22, we gathered to celebrate the museum’s 90th Anniversary at Art of the Harvest: JSMA at 90. It was a perfect fall evening that featured artful bites from the chefs at Akira Omakase, Marigold Cooking Collective, Stewart’s Soul Fusion, and Yardy throughout the first floor of the JSMA. Upstairs in the Barker Gallery, guests ended the evening enjoying delicious dessert plates from Noisette Pastry Kitchen. Carte Blanche carefully orchestrated the bars, serving beverages from ColdFire Brewing Co, Territorial
Karla Chambers was the Master of Ceremonies for the evening, and we learned about the impact of Art Heals, the JSMA’s innovative and groundbreaking wellness program, from Lisa Abia-Smith and Dr. Elizabeth Lahti. Our Art Heals programs are created in partnership with Samaritan Health Services, Oregon Health & Science University, Stahlbush Island Farms, the Institute for Mind Body Medicine, and JSMA museum educators. Together they offer healing, art-based activities for a diverse range of populations across the state, serving over 2,000 participants annually. Leadership Council President Patti Barkin, Executive Director John Weber, University of Oregon President Karl Scholz, and Jordan Schnitzer rounded out the evening with remarks. Thank you to all who attended the sold-out event and for all of you who gave so generously. We raised almost $140,000 at the event, bringing our 2023 Art Heals fundraising total to $345,270.
UO President Karl Scholz and John Weber (above) and artful bites from Noisette and Yardy (below).
Ellen Tykeson, Lisa Abia-Smith, and Elizabeth Lahti
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Doug Park and Kurt Neugebauer
Thank you to our featured partners!
Patti and Tom Barkin, and David and Ann Fidanque (above), Paddles Up during the program (below).
Barbara Walker, Susan Cox-Fitgerald, and Marna Broekhoff
Akira Omakase Be-Bop Biscotti Caffe Pacori Capitello Wines Carte Blanche Chase Flowers and Gifts ColdFire Brewing Co. J-Tea International Marigold Cooking Collective Noisette Pastry Kitchen Oregon Cultural Trust Stewart’s Soul Fusion Swallowtail Spirits Territorial Vineyards & Wine Company Yardy Eugene
Thank you to the Art of the Harvest Host Committee Karla Chambers Stephanie Hagerty Elizabeth Lahti Joanna Radke Ellen Tykeson Victoria & Jeff Wilson-Charles
Thank you to our Chef Sponsors and Hosted Table Sponsors Karla and Bill Chambers Jordan D. Schnitzer Carrie and Eric Thompson Ellen Tykeson & Eric Tykeson Victoria and Jeff Wilson-Charles UO Advancement Patti and Tom Barkin & Sharon Ungerleider Sarah Finlay & Sarah Oliver-Johnson Marcy Hammock & Herb Merker
Thank you to our silent auction donors
Melisaa and Karl Scholz with Jordan Schnitzer
The crew at Stewart’s Soul Fusion served slow-smoked brisket and salmon croquettes.
Danielle David, Sarah Finlay, Marie Wallmark, Aaron Davis and Patrick Murcia (above), Elizabeth Lahti, Keith Tinsley, and Jeff Lahti
Claire Burbridge and Matthew Picton Karla Chambers Alex Dakers, Laura Hines, Andrew Hroza and Sarah Oliver-Johnson, Jenny Jonak, and Tony Ngo Elixir Liqueur Eugene Symphony Margaryta Golovchenko Sarah Finlay and Patrick Murcia Elizabeth Lahti Joanna and Otto Radke Jordan D. Schnitzer Stahlbush Island Farms Swallowtail Spirits UO Art Department Faculty UO Athletics Leila Whittemore and John Weber
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Art Seen
Artist Talk: Isaac Julien
November welcomed Isaac Julien and Mark Nash to campus. They both engaged with students and faculty during an intimate lunch, before a capacity crowd filled PLC 180 for the artist talk. A delightful reception held in the JSMA’s Ford Lecture Hall followed, giving students and attendees an opportunity to meet the artist and view Lessons of the Hour.
Black Cultural Initiative presents Black Out Day at the JSMA
We ended Isaac Julien’s Lessons of the Hour with a special collaboration with the Black Cultural Initiative. Thanks to the leadership of Talicia Brown-Crowell and Irene Rasheed, Black Out Day was an afternoon of community and history with historian Kokayi Nosakhere, poet Aimee’ Okotie-Oyekan, DJ Usity aka Amir Pendleton, and tours focused on Black art currently on view. Christalee “CK” Kirby, Chandlor Henderson, and Art of the Athlete alum Lamar Winston led activities in the art studio and participants received an Art Heals activity kit to take home. Photos courtesy of Marcus Holloway.
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Opening of Strange Weather and Glenn Ligon
This fall welcomed the opening of two exhibitions from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, Strange Weather and Glenn Ligon. We celebrated with events for Patron Circle and Members, academic tours with Jordan Schnitzer for UO students, and a public tour with John Weber. And artist Craig Hickman let everyone spend some time playing with his Second-Rate Selfie Machine.
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1
Art of Wellbeing Reception
In October, a reception was held to recognize the artists from The Art of Being Well: Highlights of the Museum’s Programs for Wellbeing, an exhibition of works of art created both in-person and remotely during Art Heals sessions over the 2022-23 academic year. Lisa Abia-Smith recognized artists from the exhibition who represented cancer patients, physicians, medical professionals, student athletes, and hospice volunteers.
Latino Professionals Connect
Thanks to Ashley Espinoza, Lane Workforce Partnership director and JSMA Leadership Council member, the JSMA is the new home for Latino Professionals Connect (LPC). In October, along with Collaborative Economic Development Oregon (CEDO), LPC relaunched with a new bi-monthly event at the museum. The inaugural event was sponsored by PODER, Oregon’s Latino Leadership Network, a nonprofit organization made up of over 1000 Latino leaders, organizations, businesses, public employees, community members, and allies across Oregon.
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Día de los Muertos
We welcomed the Mexican Consul Carlos Quesnel Meléndez to the 42nd annual celebration of Day of the Dead. The evening featured a musical performance by Sindy Gutiérrez y Paax K’aay Cuarteto de Cuerdas, and dance by Familia Lara Stephens and Ballet Folklórico Colibrí. Sponsored by MEChA de UO and Adelante Sí the event included an art workshop led by Yael Hernández Pacheco y Familia and delicious food from El Kora. Thanks to Armando Morales, MEChA Community Advisor; Rebeca Urhausen, Executive Director of Adelante Si and JSMA Communications & Engagement Committee member; and Ashley Pech-Nunez, MECHA Programs Director for their work on this annual event, coordinated for the JSMA by curator Adriana Miramontes Olivas with the expert support of Will Kingscott, Debbie Williamson-Smith, Mike Bragg, JSMA Visitors Service and Security teams, and other JSMA staffers.
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Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Eugene, OR Permit No. 63
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art 1223 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403–1223
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
Hours
Gayun Lee and Soojin Jeong introduce the newest JSMA Store custom item, an umbrella featuring images from our Korean Ten Symbols of Longevity screen.
Umbrellas retail for $29 (member price $26.10)
Wednesday: 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. Thursday - Sunday: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Academic visits by appointment Cover Image: 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
Online ordering includes shipping charges.
ORDER TODAY
https://bit.ly/10SymbolsUmbrella
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