2011

Process: A Public Sculpture

By arecaroe April 20, 2011
Exhibitions, University Gallery

If you’ve spent much time on the East Bank of the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus, you’ve no doubt seen the large steel sculpture near Williamson Hall. I’ve walked by it many times without knowing the artist or the title of the work — until I found a WAM file called “Process: A Public Sculpture by Stewart Luckman”. The University Gallery had an exhibition in 1981 showcasing images and plans from the making of the sculpture.

Artist Stewart Luckman was commissioned to create the sculpture, called Rokker V, to commemorate the Alumini Assocation’s 75th anniversary in 1981. Luckman also founded the sculpture program at Bethel University in St. Paul. Current images of the sculpture and the location can be found at Start Seeing Art: Your Guide to Public Art in the Twin Cities.

Luckman at work, plus the plans for the sculpture

Intaglio Techniques

By wilso952 April 17, 2011
Exhibitions, University Gallery

A key component of the history of the University’s art museum is its role in instruction and its function as a teaching museum. Not only does the history of exhibitions reflect periods of art and profiles of artists, but it also includes many exhibits that demonstrate how art is created. In the folder containing materials for the 1977 exhibit, “Intaglio Techniques,” images mounted on thick boards that display the intaglio printmaking process were found:

Mirror of the Middle Ages

By wilso952 April 17, 2011
Exhibitions, University Gallery

From Charles Helsell’s (curator) files associated with the exhibit titled, “Mirror of the Middle Ages,” held at the Gallery from March 28-April 20, 1978, we receive a glimpse into exhibition planning through the design specifications of an exhibit case, as well as fabric swatches considered for the display:

Southwestern Weaving, ’80s style

By arecaroe April 14, 2011
Exhibitions, University Gallery

I discovered a stack of Polaroids in the “Loans” file for the 1984 exhibition Southwestern Weaving Traditions: Past and Present. The images feature rugs and blankets being held up by their owners (I can only assume), and views of the items in the homes of the lenders. I’m not sure whether these weavings were loaned for the exhibition, but I find the casualness of the snapshots and the vivid (Polaroid-enhanced) colors of the rugs charming in and of themselves.

Looking back

By arecaroe April 12, 2011
Exhibitions, University Gallery

Exhibitions come and go quickly, so sometimes it’s nice to look back and remember past accomplishments. These are a few of the catalogues we’ve found from exhibitions developed by the University Gallery in the latter half of the 1970s:

Animals from Legend and Life in Antique and German Porcelain, 1977
The Desert: Indian Art of the Southwest,1976
People of the Plains 1820-1850, 1978
Mimbres Painted Pottery, 1979
Once Upon a Time: Illustrations of Children’s Tales from Around the World, 1979
The Mountains of Marsden Hartley, 1979

Noted.

By wilso952 April 11, 2011
Processing

A few notes on… keeping notes.

Museology

By wilso952 April 9, 2011
University Art Museum

Prior to the University’s current Museum Studies graduate minor, a museology program was offered through the Department of Art History. The program, as well as a discussion of the field of museum work, is described in a July 3, 1975 article in the MN Daily titled, “Art interns: learning in a crowded field” (pg. 9).

From a folder of records documenting a course in museology at the University Art Museum in Spring 1985, a chart detailing The Planning, Designing, Construction, and Installation of Exhibitions:

Happy Anniversary!

By wilso952 April 4, 2011
University Gallery

Seventy-seven years ago, on April 5, 1934, the experiment in fine arts, the “Little Gallery” opened at the University of Minnesota in a few rooms on the top floor of Northrop Auditorium. The front page of the MN Daily for April 5th announces the opening convocation that was held to commemorate the opening, and advertises that Mr. Russell A. Plimpton, of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, would be giving a speech titled, “Who Started Museums Anyhow?,” to include a slide presentation of, in Plimpton’s regard, “some of the most interesting museums in the world.”

The following day, April 6, the MN Daily front-page headline reads, “Museum Head Converts Students to Art, Culture.” Another article, placed near the bottom of the page, titled, “Art Finds Home In New Gallery Over Auditorium,” vividly describes the activity in Northrop Auditorium with the addition of the new gallery:

“While several hundred students and faculty members wandered through the University’s ‘Little Gallery’ on the third floor, viewing the work of famous European and American artists, a typist on the floor below blended the staccato notes of her machines with opening chords of Beethoven’s fifth symphony, as interpreted by the orchestra on the stage of the auditorium.

An unnamed workman, oblivious of the great event which was transpiring upstairs, found the necessity to grasp a hammer firmly and contribute to the booming of the drummer, practicing in the University band rehearsal room.

Upstairs, a professor gazed at the exhibits hung along the wall of the improvised gallery, ‘Those are the first original pieces by Corot and Henner that I have ever seen,” he declared to no one in particular. And that was the general impression as the University contributed a full-fledged art gallery to its courses in culture.”

(The Plimpton speech article continues onto page 3. Also on page 3, don’t miss the advertisements for Rice Krispies cereal or Arrow Underwear. “Nothing tries my patience like creeping underwear.”)

Luciano’s Lines

By arecaroe April 3, 2011
Exhibitions, University Gallery

An Italian artist named Luciano Lattanzi had an exhibition titled “Semantic Paintings and Drawings” at the University Gallery in 1960. While logging his file, I found a mysterious stack of pen drawings, rendered in a spiderweb-like scrawl. These turned out to be made by the artist himself — you can see his signature at the bottom of the images. I realized these were templates for a promotional poster for the show. The file contained a reproduction of the following drawing, so I assume they chose this for the poster:

And here are two of the unused poster designs:

Questionnaire

By wilso952 April 3, 2011
University Gallery

As I reached to pull the folder titled, “Victorian Questionnaire” out of the box and opened the front flap to transfer the contents, to my surprise, there were no loosely assembled papers or correspondence, research, or exhibit checklists (as per usual), but rather a stiff and tightly packed manila envelope.

A peak inside the envelope revealed a stack of ¼ sheet questionnaires, completed by those that attended the campus-wide festival, “The Art & Mind of Victorian England” held September 28-November 8, 1974, and included public balloon ascensions, Victorian music performances, production of the operetta, ‘Patience,’ library display of 19th century boys magazines, and a lecture series. A University Gallery exhibition titled, “The Art and Mind of Victorian: England: Paintings from the Forbes Magazine Collection,” was also part of the festival. From an August 20, 1974 U of M News Release (Digital Conservancy):

“Included are 47 paintings, spanning the reign of Queen Victoria, and furniture and decorative objects from the period. This will be the first time the paintings, assembled by Christopher Forbes as part of the Forbes Magazine Collection, have been publicly displayed.”

I wonder who was tasked with tallying all of the submitted answers?

« 1 … 6 7 8 9 10 »

2011

Contact Information