UIMA Magazine Spring 2016 by University of Iowa Stanley Musuem of Art

UIMA

University of Iowa Museum of Art

uima.uiowa.edu 1 Spring 2016

Cover: Ana Mendieta (Cuban, 1948–1985) Untitled: Silueta Series, Mexico, 1976 (Estate print 1991) From Silueta Works in Mexico, 1973–1977 Color photograph from a suite of twelve, 20 x 16 in. © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC, Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York Image courtesy of Galerie Lelong

INSIDE 4 Spring 2016 Calendar of Events 5 From the Director 6 Spring 2016 Exhibition 11 New to the Collection 12 Legacies for Iowa 14 New Staff

16 Member Profiles 18 Lectures 23 UIMA@IMU Visual Classroom 24 UIMA Outreach 26 Education 28 Berlin Opening 29 Community Matters

31 From the University of Iowa Foundation

The story behind the headlines. Not just “what,” but “why.” An intriguing character from around the world or around the corner. New music, or music that is new to you. The lighter side of today’s news. Discover your world. IPR’s News2&UIMA Studio One 90.9 FM | IOWAPUBLICRADIO.ORG

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STUDIO ARTS BUILDING 1375 Highway 1 West/1840 SA Iowa City, IA 52242-1789 319-335-1727

temporary locations IOWA MEMORIAL UNION uima@imu visual classroom black box theater 125 North Madison St. Iowa City, IA 52242 319-335-1742 Free admission Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 12–5 p.m.

FIGGE ART MUSEUM 225 West Second St. Davenport, IA 52801 563-326-7804 Free admission for University of Iowa students, faculty, and staff with UI ID cards, and UIMA members with membership cards. Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. Sunday 12 p.m.–5 p.m.

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SPRING 2016 CALENDAR OF EVENTS

EXHIBITIONS January 8– March 25

Drawing Inventory

Wartburg College, Waverly, IA

February 20– May 15

Social (In)Justice

Black Box Theater 3rd floor, Iowa Memorial Union

April 15– June 11

Crafting Tradition: Oaxacan Wood Carvings

Charles H. MacNider Art Museum Mason City, IA

Through October 30

Clay: Traditions in Shards, Legacies for Iowa Collections Sharing Project

Figge Art Museum

Ongoing

UIMA@IMU Visual Classroom

3rd floor, Iowa Memorial Union

PUBLIC PROGRAMS February 2 7:30–8:30 p.m.

EXHIBITION LECTURE, The Music Composition and New Media Work of Christopher Jette (or...making a ruler sing), by Christopher Jette

116 Art Building West

February 5 5:00–7:00 p.m.

FIRST FRIDAY

FilmScene 118 E. College St., Iowa City

February 11 7:00–8:00 p.m.

THE BETTE SPRIESTERSBACH DISTINGUISHED LECTURE by Charles Ray

1110A Medical Education Research Facility (MERF), 375 Newton Road

February 12 7:30–8:30 p.m.

EXHIBITION LECTURE, Grant Wood’s 125th Birthday, by Joni Kinsey

116 Art Building West

February 16 7:30–8:30 p.m.

EXHIBITION LECTURE, Herm 2016/1, by Neal Rock

116 Art Building West

March 1 7:30–8:30 p.m.

EXHIBITION LECTURE, Tangible Objects, by Terry Conrad

116 Art Building West

March 4 5:00–7:00 p.m.

FIRST FRIDAY

FilmScene 118 E. College St., Iowa City

March 10 7:30–8:30 p.m.

GALLERY TALK with Kathleen Edwards & Anita Jung

Black Box Theater 3rd floor, Iowa Memorial Union

March 29 7:30–8:30 p.m.

EXHIBITION LECTURE, Social Justice and the Feminist Artist: The Personal Is the Political, by Rachel Williams

116 Art Building West

April 1 5:00–7:00 p.m.

FIRST FRIDAY

FilmScene 118 E. College St., Iowa City

April 2 8:00–11:00 p.m.

MUSEUM PARTY

Old Museum Building 150 N. Riverside Dr., Iowa City

May 6 5:00–7:00 p.m.

FIRST FRIDAY

FilmScene 118 E. College St., Iowa City

4 UIMA

FROM THE DIRECTOR

From the Director

Dear Museum Supporter, Happy New Year! The year 2016 will, without a doubt, be the most significant for the UI Museum of Art since its opening in 1969: we expect to see, later in the year, the groundbreaking for our new museum facility. Hoorah! To celebrate this momentous occasion, we will hold our annual fundraising party in the old museum this April, the first time the UIMA has been able to host an event there since the Great Iowa Flood of 2008! We will all say our final goodbyes to our magnificent old edifice— designed in the late 1960s by Max Abramovitz and his firm, Harrison & Abramovitz—and say hello to our spectacular new museum, designed by Rod Kruse and his firm, BNIM of Des Moines and Kansas City. This is going to be one heck of a party, to say the least! See you there!

Leon Polk Smith (American, 1906–1996) Center Columns, Blue Red (detail) Oil on panel 71 x 48 in. Purchased with assistance from the Phillip D. Adler Fund, the Friends of the University of Iowa Museum of Art, and the Judith Rothschild Foundation, 2001.26 Photo by Heather Aaronson

Venice Biennale over the summer months. More than three hundred thousand people attended the Pollock exhibition in Venice, which means that more people know about the museum, the university, and the state than ever before (and for positive reasons!). We expect to add hundreds of thousands more to the total in Berlin, and later this spring we will open the show at the Museo Picasso Málaga for a summer tourist schedule in Spain. Needless to say, this intense international exposure to an exhibition that the UIMA created and presented is critical for changing the outside world’s view of As many of you know, the museum’s Iowa. I am happy to say that people blockbuster exhibition titled who meet me at various events now Jackson Pollock’s Mural: Energy mention how lucky Iowa is to have Made Visible opened with great such a rich cultural history, and fanfare in November at the they even refer to Pollock’s great Deutsche Bank KunstHalle in Berlin, masterpiece as The Iowa Mural. following a great run during the Petit à petit . . .

Much is happening, and the museum is doing great things because you support your beloved institution. Our membership program is growing by leaps and bounds, as you and your friends and colleagues join us on this wondrous ride! With the new location and new building, and with our worldrenowned collection expanding through munificent benefactions, much will change—and much will stay the same, I am happy to report. We are grateful for your generosity and we look forward to seeing you at our next museum event. Onward! Yours truly,

Sean O’Harrow, PhD Director uima.uiowa.edu 5

SPRING 2016 EXHIBITION

Alec Soth (American, 1969– ) and Brad Zellar (American, 1961– ) Dispatch, no. 6, Texas Triangle, Hearne, 2013 Paper, photograph 16 x 12 3/4 x 1/2 in. UIMA School Programs Collections, GNC.35A–C

Social (In)Justice February 20–May 15 Black Box Theater, Iowa Memorial Union 6 UIMA

Social (In)Justice offers an infinite range of possibilities for discussion by considering complex—and possibly contentious—ideas. Conceived as the UIMA’s contribution to Just Living, the University of Iowa’s Spring 2016 Theme Semester on social justice, the exhibition will explore four themes: American identity (at home and abroad); the art world as experienced by women artists; the cultural and political exercise

SPRING 2016 EXHIBITION

Marsden Hartley (American, 1877–1943) E, 1915 Oil on canvas 47 1/2 x 47 1/4 in. Purchase, Mark Ranney Memorial Fund, 1958.1

of justice in Africa; and the status everyone,” says Dale Fisher, the of Grant Wood, Iowa’s “favorite UIMA curator of education and son,” as it is both accepted and lead curator for the exhibition. challenged. Visual cues abound in the works “Because social justice is such a of art included in the section huge concept, the exhibition is not “America, the ‘Other’. . . ,” to signify intended to be comprehensive, the sociopolitical concerns of the nor is it meant to celebrate issues United States and its sphere of of social injustice that have been influence. Several artists examine resolved. Social justice is a noble the social-science concept of goal, a platonic ideal, that doesn’t multiple identities, the idea that really exist. That doesn’t and a person may self-identify as a shouldn’t stop us from struggling member of different social groups to achieve progress in making simultaneously. American Indian, the world a more just place for African American, Jewish, and

gay artists are represented, as are artists who address the rights, responsibilities, and relationships inherent in the social contract between the individual and the community. While some artists in this section of the exhibition make iconic statements specific to historical events, others give statements of hope, defiance, or elegy. These works are historical artifacts to be examined in multiple contexts, but perhaps are better seen as directives meant to inspire action. By mocking the Western tradition of seeing the “other” in uima.uiowa.edu 7

SPRING 2016 EXHIBITION

Willie Cole (American, 1955– ) Men of Iron, 2014 Ink-jet 22 x 29 in. Gift of the Judith K. and David J. Brodsky Center for Print and Paper, Rutgers University, 2006.363 © Willie Cole, reproduced with permission from the artist

condescending or patronizing ways, they challenge longaccepted assumptions about race, gender, sexual orientation, and nationality, thereby demonstrating that these categories have fluid and permeable boundaries.

rights, gay rights, the Poor People’s Campaign—but with a specific set of goals for women artists: their inclusion in the art-historical canon, in cultural institutions, and in the life of the community. Working in a variety of established styles, from the traditional to the conceptual, The artists of the section “The from performance to video- and American Feminist Art Movement” media-based, women artists used actively sought to bring the work the female experience as their of women artists into the dialogue subject and content. Feminist of cultural institutions. Throughout artists created alternative art the 1960s and 1970s, the feminist venues and embraced alternative movement ran concurrently with media that lacked the historical other social crusades—antiwar, civil male-dominated hegemony. 8 UIMA

Co-curators of this section are Kathleen Edwards, UIMA senior curator; Anita Jung, professor of printmaking at the UI School of Art and Art History; and Dr. Rachel Williams, department chair of Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies. “The Path of Power in African Art” explores themes central to understanding social justice in Africa. The arts of Africa provide visual and conceptual sources of power that define and maintain justice irrespective of social

SPRING 2016 EXHIBITION Nigeria; Yoruba peoples Edan (pair of figures for Ogboni society) Bronze H. 11 5/8 x W. 10 5/8 x D. 2 in. The Stanley Collection, X1986.502

structure: both centralized and decentralized societies use art to restrict access to specialized fields of knowledge, positions of authority, and other rights that vary according to culture, region, and historical period. Curated by Cory Gundlach, UIMA curator of African and non-Western art, this part of the exhibition offers illustrative examples from western, central, eastern, and southern regions of the continent, dating from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century. Through form, function, and context, these highly creative and socially dynamic expressions of power demonstrate that justice in Africa is at once political and cultural. Curated by Dr. Joni Kinsey, professor of American art in the UI School of Art and Art History, “Just Living in the Midwest: Grant Wood at 125” commemorates the 125th birthday of Grant Wood (1891– 1942), Iowa’s most famous artist. The theme is particularly relevant to understanding and appreciating a painter whose art illustrates “just living”—both ordinary dayto-day life in the Midwest and the lives of those vexed by issues of social justice during the Great Depression.

Wood’s tenure at the University of Iowa, from 1934 to1942, had its roots in the social justice programs of the New Deal. He became director of the Iowa Division of uima.uiowa.edu 9

SPRING 2016 EXHIBITION

Mali; Bamana peoples Bogolan (mud–dyed cloth), c. 1999 Width 48 in. African Art Purchase Fund Stanley-UI, 2000.19

Grant Wood Study of Daughters of Revolution, 1932 Black and white charcoal on brown paper 20 x 39 3/4 in. Coe College Permanent Art Collection Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Owen Elliott

the Public Works of Art Project in 1933 and was invited to administer his efforts from the university. For public buildings in the state, he oversaw mural projects, many of which celebrated the people of Iowa and the social significance of their labor. His essay “Revolt Against the City” (1935), which has been called a Regionalist manifesto, is his most articulate written statement addressing the 10 UIMA

social tensions of the period, but his visual art is no less articulate, even though it is more frequently discussed in apolitical contexts.

to the human condition, and at times, give voice to calls for social change. Revolutionary visions and traditional works of art challenge artists and audiences to consider From conceptual representations their lives in imaginative ways, full of reality to traditional portrayals of hope and endless possibilities. of the physical world, and in the depiction of themes that are both Funding for the exhibition was metaphorical and literal, Social provided in part by Deborah & (In)Justice incorporates many Rod Zeitler and the UIMA Members perspectives. Artists bear witness Special Exhibition Fund.

NEW TO THE COLLECTION

The Leach Family Gift In 2014, UI Professor of Law Jim Leach, former Iowa congressman and head of the National Endowment for the Humanities, together with his wife, Deba, who currently serves on the UIMA Advisory Board, donated more than 180 works of art to the UIMA. What makes the Leach collection so unusual and special is its depiction of a diverse swath of the American cultural, political, and social narrative. Highlights of the Leach gift are the collaborative print Art Cash, 1971, in which Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and four other artists designed faux paper currency including 3-, 12-, 24-, 51-, and 88-dollar bills; an early pop art portfolio, X x X: Ten Works by Ten Painters, 1964, which includes prints by Stuart Davis, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Motherwell, and Frank Stella; the Kent Bicentennial Portfolio, 1976, for which twelve artists, including Jacob Lawrence, Alex Katz, Robert Indiana, Red Grooms, and Marisol, created prints responding to the question “What does independence mean to you?”; a themed portfolio of twenty prints celebrating the

Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917–2000) The 1920’s . . . The migrants cast their ballots and cast their ballots, from the Kent Bicentennial Portfolio: Spirit of Independence, 1974 Screenprint 34 1/2 x 26 in. Gift of James A. Leach and Elisabeth F. Leach, 2015.79b © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

bicentennial of the birth of George Washington (1932) by artists Childe Hassam, Kerr Eby, Earl Horter, and Samuel Chamberlain; Twenty-one Etchings and Poems, 1951–1960, an artist/poet collaboration in which artists created etchings to accompany poems inscribed by hand by their own authors. Included in this rare portfolio are the first published print by Franz Kline and the only etching ever rendered by

Willem de Kooning. Finally, the gift has a treasure trove of 1920s to 1950s works by both European and American artists, such as Andre Derain, Max Bill, Jean Arp, Sonia Delaunay, Corneille, Victor Vasarely, Raphael Soyer, Emil Ganso, Mark Tobey, and Harry Gottlieb. Gifts of art from the Leach family will continue into 2016. Stay tuned! uima.uiowa.edu 11

LEGACIES FOR IOWA

Drawing Inventory January 8–March 25, 2016

Waldemar A. Schmidt Gallery Wartburg College 100 Wartburg Blvd., Waverly, IA 50677

Drawing, the search and experimentation of ideas and forms, is an essential part of an artist’s practice. Whether depicting details of a particular person or place, presenting a message or question, or creating an illusion, artists often draw from the world around them, capturing their observations and experiences. As an activity, drawing offers the most direct way of recording an artist’s thoughts, explorations, and observations. Unlike painting and sculpture, drawing is not inhibited by an obligation to create a final, finished object. Instead, the drawing process allows artists to experiment and explore concepts freely, without having to concern themselves with the realities of material or space. Drawings, as objects, take a variety of forms, functioning as informal studies, historical documents, narratives, or records of passing observations. Today, artists continue to expand the traditional definition of drawing by including unconventional media and applications. The works presented here explore a wide variety of drawing subjects undertaken by artists represented in the UIMA permanent collection. Pivotal artists such as Sam Francis, Ellen Lanyon, Robert Michel, Lil Picard, and Frederick Kiesler are included in this exhibition. This exhibition is curated by Sarika Sugla, assistant curator at the UIMA, and is organized by Legacies for Iowa: A University of Iowa Museum of Art Collections Sharing Project, Supported by the Matthew Bucksbaum Family.

Sam Francis (American, 1923–1994) Tokyo, 1964 Gouache on paper 13 3/4 x 9 3/4 in. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George Rickey, 1978.231 © 2015 Sam Francis Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

12 UIMA

LEGACIES FOR IOWA

Crafting Tradition: Oaxacan Wood Carvings April 15–June 11, 2016

Charles H. MacNider Art Museum 303 Second Street SE, Mason City, IA 50401

Wood carvings from the Mexican state of Oaxaca are part of a worldwide trade in ethnic and tourist arts. This exhibition shows how this trade can result in new artistic forms that straddle the border between popular craft and fine art. Although the inspirations for these pieces are often rooted in the past, they are also influenced by contemporary change in Mexico and designed to suit the artistic taste of buyers in the United States and Europe. In conjunction with the exhibition, the UIMA will bringing two distinguished Oaxacan artists for a week-long residency at the Charles H. MacNider Art Museum. Thanks to funding from the National Endowment for the Arts’ Challenge America grant, visitors will have the opportunity to meet the artists and see them at work in the studio. For more information, please visit http://macniderart.org. This exhibition was curated by Professor Emeritus Michael Chibnik in 2005 (Anthropology, University of Iowa) and was adapted for travel by the UIMA. This exhibition is funded in part by the John K. and Luise V. Hanson Foundation and organized by Legacies for Iowa: A University of Iowa Museum of Art Collections Sharing Project, Supported by the Matthew Bucksbaum Family.

Jesús Sosa Calvo, Juanita Ortega, and other family members Seven Regions of Oaxaca, 2005 Copal and acrylic paint 69 x 15 x 15 in. (approximately) Museum purchase, 188.2005

uima.uiowa.edu 13

New Staff @ UIMA

Cory Gundlach Associate Curator of African and Non–Western Art What does your job entail?

What were you doing before you came to the UIMA?

Black Box Theater and another of Native American art for the Visual The core of my responsibilities Classroom. I have also worked lies within the preservation, very closely with museum staff to interpretation, presentation, and develop a strategic plan for the development of the non-Western next five years and gallery spaces collections. For conservation for the new museum. needs, I work with our registrar, who works closely with independent What are your goals for the conservators. My interpretation of UIMA? the collection draws on research in Africa, libraries, archives, museum I have four main goals: Develop an and private collections, exhibitions, exhibition program that reflects and conversations with scholars, the strengths of the non-Western collectors, students, and the public. collections; develop temporary To present the collection, I work exhibitions that complement closely with our exhibit designer the permanent collection and UI and preparator. Development of scholarly and artistic interests; the collection requires research, conduct research on and create review of donation proposals, publications for the permanent and direct purchasing. I am also c o l l e c t i o n ; a n d d e v e l o p a committee member for the Art underrepresented areas of the in State Buildings Program and non-Western collections. board member for the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA).

My history with museums began with a BA in fine art and certificate in museum studies at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. In 1998, I began working nearby at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, first as head preparator and then as the exhibit manager. In 2004, my wife and I moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, where I was an administrative assistant for the city’s public art program, and then an exhibit designer at the Fort Collins Museum. I earned a second BA in art history at Colorado State University, where I began researching Lobi art in the Jan and What have you accomplished Richard De Vore Collection. since you started at the UIMA? I began graduate studies in art history at UI in 2010. Since then, I have done research on Lobi sculpture twice in Burkina Faso, worked regularly as a teaching and research assistant in the School of Art and Art History, and I developed the Art & Life in Africa website at UIMA. Last summer I also conducted research among several European private collections of Lobi sculpture. 14 UIMA

I’ve sorted through about 4,500 objects in the non-Western collections in order to determine storage access priorities at the new museum, added 250 objects to the non-Western collections, reviewed twelve donation proposals consisting of about 700 objects, hosted six undergraduate classes on African and Chinese art in the Visual Classroom, and curated an exhibition of African art for the

NEW STAFF

Kimberly Datchuk, PhD Assistant Curator of Special Projects What were you doing before you came to the UIMA? I managed a contemporary art gallery called Frog Hollow in Burlington, Vermont. The gallery, which was the first recognized state craft center in the nation, represents Vermont artists working in diverse media, including painting, printmaking , photography, ceramics, woodworking, glass, and jewelry. While there, I co-curated an exhibition on Vermont boatmaking traditions, as well as a photography exhibition highlighting the diversity of residents of the Old North End in Burlington. In addition, I was a regular contributor to Art Map Burlington and Kolaj Magazine. In December 2014, I completed my PhD in art history at Penn State with a focus on nineteenth-century European art. My research and teaching emphasize how artists participated in the social, cultural, and technological moments in which they lived. What does your job entail? I have a joint appointment with the UI College of Education. As an assistant curator and visiting assistant professor of art education, I see my core responsibility as building bridges across departments, subject matter, and artists. At the museum, centering on the UIMA@IMU Visual Classroom, my work involves reaching out to instructors to

demonstrate how the museum’s collection can complement their courses, curating mini-exhibitions of works on paper for class visits, and leading groups through the exhibitions installed there. Additionally, I am planning the spring exhibition for the UIMA@ IMU, which will focus on women artists. Last, but not least, I also give monthly presentations about the collection to residents at Oaknoll Retirement Community. I’m looking forward to being more involved in community outreach events like this one. What have you accomplished since you started at the UIMA? Since arriving in July, I have been focused on learning as much as I can about the museum’s collection and, with that knowledge, contacting people across campus; the results has been visits to the Visual Classroom by classes in creative writing, studio art, and art history. In November, I gave a tour of the exhibitions Ingenious Gentlemen and Caprice and Influence for the UI Reach program’s first-year students. UI Reach gives students with intellectual, cognitive, and learning disabilities an opportunity to live on a college campus, take courses, and prepare for a career. A meeting with the directors and staff at the College of Education sparked the idea of a visit, and I was thrilled to show the students the exhibitions.

What are your goals for the UIMA? My main goal is to forge relationships with departments across campus, to increase the number of instructors who use the Visual Classroom regularly in their courses. For example, after a class visit, a studio art instructor who also works for the College of Engineering contacted me about organizing a visit for engineering students interested in art. I also look forward to participating in more community events that use resources in the Visual Classroom, as well as curating exhibitions that highlight the contributions of women and minorities to the art world. uima.uiowa.edu 15

MEMBER PROFILES

UIMA Members Museums are community treasures. They reach the broadest possible public audiences, allowing visitors to engage with works of art that can challenge and provoke, enlighten and inspire, educate and amuse. We are delighted to share the stories of two families whose membership in the University of Iowa Museum of Art helps maintain this prized cultural resource for our community. We’d like to share more stories in future issues. Please contact UIMA and tell us why you became a member.

“The gift is given in honor of my children, Jasper and Jade, who are growing up with the understanding that the creative arts are to be lived, not just admired.”

The Strayer Family

Brian and Lori Strayer of Savage, Minnesota, members of the UIMA since 2011, credit their children with the motivation to visit museums— of science, interactive play, and art, including the UIMA, of course. When visiting art museums as a family, they agree, everyone benefits. Brian and Lori gain new perspectives by viewing artwork through the eyes of their children, and in turn Jasper, 12, and Jade, 10, receive inspiration for their own art projects. Brian lived in Iowa City from 1978 to 1983 as a UI graduate student, earning an MS in physics and an MBA. Although physics drew him to the university, a major appeal was its reputation for strong arts and writing programs—he even 16 UIMA

took a writing course while studying science. Immersion in a culture rich in the fine arts and coupled with strong liberal arts programs inspired him and served as a great balance to his technical graduate work. At his first visit to the UIMA, Brian remembers, he was stunned by the quality of the collection. Here was a small museum with impressive offerings, in an idyllic setting along the river, unburdened by the logistical hassles that entangle visits to major big city museums.

The UIMA’s easy accessibility gave him many opportunities to pause, and to really focus on a few pieces at a time. Brian’s connection with UI is still strong; he has mentored students and served on the advisory boards of the Friends of the Libraries and the College of Liberal Arts. He also led the Twin Cities Iowa Club for many years and gives occasional guest lectures to MBA students. Brian continues to work in engineering, and Lori, also a scientist, is an epidemiologist.

MEMBER PROFILES

The Koza Family

Photo by Green Door Photography

Education â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and esp e cially education in the artsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;is of particular importance to Joshua Koza and Sarah DeJong, since their families are full of professional educators, including five art instructors! Joshua and Sarah, members of the UIMA since 2015, live in Iowa City with their daughter, Abigail.

is the high school art instructor for the Solon Community School District. He has degrees in the fine arts and in traditional illustration from both Iowa State University and the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, and continues to work as a freelance artist and designer. In 2009, he received a certificate in art education from the University of Iowa.

arts. Joshua, Sarah, and Abby are thankful to be part of the community in which the UIMA flourishes and provides wonderful opportunities to experience artistic expression. The Koza-DeJong family believes that supporting the UIMA, and ensuring accessibility to its invaluable resources, is paramount for maintaining the cultural vibrancy of our community. Sarah, who comes from Keokuk, They look forward to the day received a BS in nursing, worked for In their travels around the nation when the UIMA once again has a several years as a traveling nurse, and the world, and throughout permanent home in Iowa City. and is now a registered nurse at their lives, both Joshua and Sarah UIHC. Joshua, an Iowa City native, have displayed a passion for the uima.uiowa.edu 17

Lectures Grant Wood Fellows

Christopher Jette

The Music Composition and New Media Work of Christopher Jette (or . . . making a ruler sing)

February 2 7:30–8:30 p.m. ABW 116 Christopher Jette will discuss his work as a composer and New Media artist who works at the intersection of technology and humanity. Blending human performers, computers, game controllers, 3D printing, live video processing, and good old fashioned wood/metal instruments, this talk will present a range of compositional works and installations. These pieces capture the unique affordances of working in the early twenty first century and use a hybrid of techniques and tools to explore the co-dependence of technology and humans. A biographical sketch (complete with childhood pictures) and the aesthetic influence of collaborators will be presented in order to provide a conceptual framework for the pieces. Finally, he will discuss his work at the University of Iowa, where he is leading the Laptop Ensemble (LOUi), exploring the possibilities of multi-person musical performance that posits the personal computer as a musical instrument. 18 UIMA

Christopher Jette is a curator of lovely sounds. Jette’s research details his technical and aesthetic investigations and explores technology as a physical manifestation of formalized human constructs. A highly collaborative artist, he has created works that involve dance, theater, websites, electronics, food, toys, typewriters, cell phones, instrument design, and traditional instruments. In addition to creating concert music, Jette explores “creative placemaking” through site-specific and interactive work as a core-four member of the Anchorage-based Light Brigade. He trained as composer at the New England Conservatory (MM) and UC Santa Barbara (PhD). Learn more at www.cj.lovelyweather.com.

Terry Conrad

Neal Rock

LECTURES

Herm 2016/1

Tangible Objects

February 16 7:30–8:30 p.m. ABW 116

March 1 7:30–8:30 p.m. ABW 116

Rock ’s talk will focus on a central concern of paint within a painting practice, one that has exchanged traditional supports of paint for other materials and relations. An understanding of Greek herm sculpture is used as an organizational tool to explore paint as a cultural and material prosthetic. Neal Rock gained his BA in painting from the University of Gloucestershire in 1999, an MFA from Central St. Martins School of Art, London, in 2000, and a PhD in painting from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2015. He has exhibited extensively across Europe and the United States with commercial solo shows in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, and Amsterdam. His work has been included in survey exhibitions at venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; the Royal Academy of Arts, London; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio; and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. His work has been exhibited in various art fairs such as Art Basel Miami, The Armory Show, New York; Art Cologne; and ARCO Madrid. He lives and works in London and Los Angeles.

Neal Rock Prosopon Lorn, 2015 Pigmented silicone, styrofoam and MDF 39 1/3 x 29 1/2 in. Image courtesy of the artist

Terry Conrad Home Press (2) Lithograph vary

Terry Conrad uses printmaking as a medium of trace and markmaking as well as a way to connect with people and place. He also works in writing, sculpture, and collage. In Conrad’s work, process is inseparable from the finished object. Most recently, his explorations deal with extending the studio outside the traditional workspace and into the world. Tools, inks, and other materials are frequently made from found materials, creating objects and prints that are often time-based. Collecting and gleaning the landscape for materials ends up being an important part of the content of his work. Terry Conrad is from outside of Buffalo, New York. He received his BFA from Alfred University and his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Some recent exhibitions have been in Arkansas, New York, Philadelphia, and smaller communities in upstate New York. In 2014, he was awarded a Saratoga Program for Arts Funding (SPAF) Artist Grant to develop the Adirondack Forum, a collapsible venue to function as a meeting place, performance space, and classroom. He and his wife Rachel Ziegler-Sheridan founded a preschool in Round Lake, New York. uima.uiowa.edu 19

The Bette Spriestersbach Distinguished Lecture

Charles Ray February 11 7:00–8:00 p.m. MERF 1110A Charles Ray, an artist based in Los Angeles, has exhibited his work at venues that include Documenta IX (1992), the Venice Biennale (1993, 2003, 2013), and the Whitney Biennial (1989, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2010) at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and in solo exhibitions at the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Institute for Contemporary Art, London. Mr. Ray studied at the University of Iowa with Roland Brener, receiving a BFA in sculpture in 1975.

(right) Charles Ray School Play, 2014 Solid stainless steel 76 x 23 x 15 1/2 in. Photograph by The Art Institute of Chicago © Charles Ray Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery (below) Charles Ray Handheld Bird, 2006 Painted steel 2 x 4 x 3 in. Photograph by Joshua White © Charles Ray Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery

Charles Ray will talk about his work from the past ten years, much of which appeared in his recent retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Kunstmuseum Basel.

s Ray Handheld Bird 2006 Painted steel 2 x 4 x 3 inches; 5 x 10 x 8 cm

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The B ette Spriestersbach Distinguished Lecture will be presented following a public opening and reception for the new public art space in the southeast lobby of the John and Mary Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building, featuring artwork by Charles Ray, Viola Frey, Sue Hettmansperger and Phillip Chen. The opening reception will be held from 6:00–7:00 p.m.

Joni Kinsey

Rachel Williams

Lectures Faculty

Professor, UI School of Associate Professor, Art & Art History Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies

February 12 7:30–8:30 p.m. ABW 116

March 29 7:30–8:30 p.m. ABW 116

Grant Wood’s 125th Birthday

Social Justice and Feminist Artist: The Personal Is the Political

Commemorate the 125th birthday of Grant Wood (1891–1942) and get a glimpse into what “Just Living” meant for Iowa’s most famous artist. The theme is particularly relevant to understanding and appreciating a painter who both devoted his career to celebrating just living in his art, especially ordinary day-today life in midwestern farms, small towns, and cities, and responded in a variety of ways to issues of social justice during the era of the Great Depression.

Professor Williams will provide a brief historical overview of feminism and the arts for the past 75 years. She will show how the feminist art movement overlaps and was deeply influenced by the social movements of women’s liberation, gay liberation, civil rights, the anti-war movement, and black power. She will highlight the work of contemporary feminist artists whose practices are influenced by themes related to social justice, queer theory, reproductive health, ecology, and immigration. uima.uiowa.edu 21

Gallery Talk

March 10 7:30–8:30 p.m. Black Box Theater

Kathy Edwards

UIMA Senior Curator

Anita Jung

Professor, UI School of Art & Art History

The American Feminist Art Movement Emerging out of an era of social revolution, the American feminist art movement sought to change the world through art. In the 1960s and ’70s, feminist artists focused upon actions and images that were intended as interventions, confronting both the art-historical canon and the exclusion of women from representation in galleries and museums. They called for equality in professional opportunity through dialogue that valued the female perspective and challenged prejudicial gendered stereotypes. Feminist art changed the core of art by questioning what art is, as well as what it could and would be.

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UIMA@IMU VISUAL CLASSROOM

Doing It All: Female Artists Take Over the UIMA@IMU Spring 2016

This spring the UIMA@IMU highlights the contributions of female artists to figural and abstract work. The main gallery space will feature images of women by women, including a female nude by Suzanne Valadon (1926) and Lil Picard’s portrait of Faith Ringgold (1973–75). In culture and politics, male voices often lead the discussion of the female body; in this exhibition, women lead. Female artists may understand the female body and psyche in ways male artists cannot. Similarly, a female model may experience a different level of comfort, or show a different aspect of herself, while posing for another woman.

Lil Picard (American, born Germany, 1899–1994) Faith Ringgold, 1973–1975 Ink on paper, Xerox, ink on Xerox, Xerox with piercing 14 x 8 1/2 in. Lil Picard Collection, 2012.801a-e

and showed their individuality. As Mary Cassatt said, “Women should be someone, not something.” The examples here of women representing women investigate multiple facets of the female experience, including femininity and race.

depth and breadth of female artists’ contributions to twentiethcentury art. Their styles range from simplified geometric forms (Dorothy Dehner) to op art (Bridget Riley). The prints by these artists prove that, although names like Jackson Pollock and Willem Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) de Kooning may dominate our and Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), predecessors of the artists featured The work in the smaller gallery thoughts about abstract art, in the exhibition, often painted area, the Visual Classroom of women pushed boundaries on and the women of their inner circle the UIMA@IMU, suggests the off the page. uima.uiowa.edu 23

UIMA OUTREACH

The UIMA Shares the Maquoketa Art Experience Reflections by Jude Langhurst

Jude Langhurst (pictured left) has been a UIMA School Programs volunteer docent since 2007. In October 2015, she spent a week in Maquoketa sharing art and cultural information with over 350 students and adult learners. It seems few can remember a time in Maquoketa when there was no significant art. The town is home to the noted painter Rose Frantzen, whose work graced the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, in a 2009–2010 exhibit titled “Portrait of Maquoketa.” Landscape artists have long been active in Jackson County, their presence perhaps a lingering influence of Grant Wood, 24 UIMA

who painted in nearby Anamosa. And the textile-art community is well known in the area for quilting and design. Now, thanks in no small part to the University of Iowa alumnus Bob Osterhaus, the University of Iowa Museum of Art is fast earning an important place within the Maquoketa community through both the UIMA School Programs and Legacies for Iowa: A UIMA Collections Sharing

Project, Supported by the Matthew Bucksbaum Family. In 2008 Osterhaus led the fundraising to establish a community art center–museum, the Maquoketa Art Experience, in the downtown area. MAE, as it is nicknamed, is the central gathering space for community members who support all the arts. The MAE calendar is crammed with art

UIMA OUTREACH

exhibitions, music performances, workshops, gallery talks, and art history presentations. Each year children from area schools come to the Maquoketa Art Experience museum for UIMA School Programs presentations. Since 2012 nearly 1,700 students have learned—with hands-on opportunities—about art from Africa, India, the American Indians, and the First Nations, and, in a

turn to a very contemporary art form, that of the graphic novel. The UIMA transports more than a hundred pieces from the school programs collections to Maquoketa Art Experience for a week of presentations. In addition, UIMA School Programs provide regular art appreciation talks with topics ranging from art of the ancient world to twentieth-century contemporary art. The Legacies for Iowa project has also worked

with MAE in 2014 to exhibit art by Elizabeth Catlett. MAE community volunteers are enthusiastic about the number— and the diversity—of the patrons drawn to their museum. A longtime volunteer and educational liaison, Nancy Kilburg, explains, “Many children in our community would not be able to see, touch, and learn first-hand about art without the UIMA School Programs collections. We open a new window for them to understand what art is all about.” Celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Osterhaus Pharmacy in October, Bob took a few minutes to reflect on the importance of art to his corner of rural Iowa. As a former state legislator for nine years, he is keenly aware of the importance of bringing together organizations and institutions to better the quality of life in Iowa’s smaller communities. “We want to bring art to everyday life; when that occurs, our entire community benefits. Whether through education, art appreciation, or creation, everyone has a place.” uima.uiowa.edu 25

EDUCATION

Meet Julia Jessen Education Coordinator After graduating from the University of Iowa in 2014 with a BA in art history, studio art, and journalism, and a certificate in museum studies, I began working as the education coordinator for the UIMA.

Columbian art, an underutilized area of our holdings. We hope to engage new classes with these objects once the new museum building opens. Teachers across the state will be able to use the guide via our website, even if they can’t come to the galleries (although we I schedule and facilitate class hope they’ll use it for an in-person visits to the UIMA@IMU Gallery class visit!); it will also be available and Black Box Theater, as well as to docents and gallery attendants all outreach presentations of the who lead tours. To encourage traveling K–12 collections. I lead teachers to take advantage of presentations and tours, record this teaching resource, I’ll include the numbers of all UIMA audiences, ideas on aligning the objects and assist with docent training, information with Iowa’s K–12 socialsupervise the gallery attendants, studies curriculum standards, and and coordinate public programs. create guiding questions to spark discussion and further engagement One exciting project I’m currently with the artworks. working on is the creation of a K–12 teaching guide to correspond Since I am not a pre-Columbian with the UIMA’s collection of pre- expert, I have been fortunate to rely on the expertise of Hope and Gerry Solomons, the donors Colima drummer, 100 BCE–250 CE Terracotta of many objects in the collection; 12 3/4 x 6 1/4 x 6 1/2 in. Gift of Gerald and Hope Solomons, 1996.38 Ellen Hoobler, assistant professor of art history at Cornell College; and Cory Gundlach, our African and non-Western curator. It has been wonderful to interact with so many knowledgeable and interesting people over the course of research, and I look forward to their continued collaboration as I finish up the project!

Maya Jaina-style ballplayer figure, 600–800 CE Earthenware and pigment 6 1/4 x 3 x 2 1/4 in. Gift of Eugene and Ina Schnell, 1983.15

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I have greatly enjoyed learning more about this aspect of the UIMA’s collection, having the chance to delve deeper into a topic, and create something which will further the UIMA’s mission with audiences across the state.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016 OLD MUSEUM BUILDING, 150 N. RIVERSIDE DRIVE

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BERLIN OPENING

Willkommen in Berlin

Photos by André C. Hercher

Following a six-month stay in Venice, Italy, the UIMA-organized exhibition Jackson Pollock’s Mural: Energy Made Visible traveled to the Deutsche Bank KunstHalle in Berlin, Germany. Peripatetic UIMA members and staff attended the opening celebration in late November. The scale of this magnificent venue has allowed additions to the exhibition from the UIMA collection: Pollock’s Portrait of H. M.; Roberto Matta’s Like Me, Like X; Charles Seliger’s Homage to Erasmus Darwin; and photographs by Herbert Matter, Barbara Morgan, and Gyorgy Kepes. The exhibition will travel to Museo Picasso Málaga, Málaga, Spain, in April. 28 UIMA

COMMUNITY MATTERS

Photo by John Moyers

Homecoming UIMA Members Council, staff, volunteers, and a certain boy in a plaid sweater (look closely!) participated in the University of Iowa Homecoming Parade this past October. We distributed 500 pencils, 100 t-shirts and (of course) lots of candy. Go Hawks!

Community Matters

Ride for Reading National Ride for Reading Week is an annual nationwide project that enlists volunteer cyclists to host book deliveries to schools in their communities. On September 17, 2015, UIMA Members Council, volunteers, and staff partnered with other local organizations to bring books to Alexander Elementary School in Iowa City. uima.uiowa.edu 29