holidays

In the Spirit of Martin

By heathercarroll January 15, 2018
Exhibitions, Uncategorized, Weisman Art Museum

Fifteen years ago this weekend, the anticipated exhibition In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. opened at the Weisman Art Museum with a full schedule of events. The purpose of the exhibition is clearly stated in the invitational brochure: “By juxtaposing accounts in Dr. King’s life with visual renderings of those events, In the Spirit of Martin speaks to the power of art to shape collective national memory.”

Although the exhibition was assembled by an outside curator, the local planning committee was comprised of over 38 individuals. Events associated with the exhibition included a preview party, choral performance, a community tribute to john powell, founder of the Institute on Race and Poverty, a talk with MLK’s friend and Pulitzer prize-winning author Roger Wilkins, Special MLK Day programs, Minneapolis Urban League’s documentary screening and a lecture by renowned artist Faith Ringold titled Art, Activism, and African-American Experience.

“Confrontation at the Bridge” by Jacob Lawrence, 1975. Included in WAM’s invitational brochure for the exhibition “In the Spirit of Martin”.

“Let Kingdom Come” by Paul Goodnight, 1992. Included in WAM’s invitational brochure for the exhibition “In the Spirit of Martin”.

“Peaceable Kingdon” by Malcah Zeldis, 1999. Included in WAM’s invitational brochure for the exhibition “In the Spirit of Martin”.

“In the Spirit of Martin was the first major museum exhibition to use the visual arts to explore the inspiring life and enduring legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights leader, statesman, minister, and martyr, Martin Luther King is one of the most compelling figures in American history. An overview of the Civil Rights movement set the stage for the exhibition’s impressive range of artistic offerings. In the Spirit of Martin included paintings, works on paper, prints, sculpture, and mixed-media pieces by such artists as Elizabeth Catlett, Thornton Dial, L’Merchie Frazier, Jacob Lawrence, May Stevens, Charles White, and John Wilson. Some of the artworks cast Dr. King as a martyr and comment on violence in American society. These images convey the tremendous sense of outrage and loss caused by Dr. King’s death. Others examine his status as an icon of popular culture or a source of African American pride. Through its presentation of work in the visual arts, the exhibition demonstrates the extraordinary influence of Dr. King and speaks to the power of art to shape our collective national memory. A wide range of visual artists responded to Dr. King’s life and grappled with his message.”

~from Verve Editions

It wasn’t only visual artists that responded to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. In the archives in an oversize box, there is a black spiral bound sketchbook that was used as comment book for this exhibition. Visitors–especially children–were so inspired by the exhibition that many took the time to share their own inspired thoughts and creations.
Here are just a few:

To quote Mary from Central Senior High, “This I learned and will hold in my mind to help me see, when other’s are blinded”.

—Heather Carroll is the processing archivist for the Weisman Art Museum‘s collection at the University of Minnesota Archives. This project was made possible by funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.

Season’s Greetings Cards

By wilso952 December 3, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery

Don’t let the above-normal temperatures of late fool you — December has officially arrived. Though some of you may have a sliver of pie somewhere in the back of your fridge, Thanksgiving is now far behind, and for many, the focus has sharply turned towards December holiday preparations. It is at this time, every year, that my mother starts to lay the prep work for the 25th: requesting lists of gift ideas, reporting the status of holiday home decorating, and asking that truly pivotal question, “What should we write in the annual Christmas card?”

This question has been on the minds of mothers (and other card preparers) since the Victorian era, as a representative display of card designs exhibited at the University Gallery in 1946 suggested. The exhibit provided a history of printed salutations and displayed an array of designs likely to inspire visitors as they made plans to spread their holiday wishes. A Century of the Greeting Card, held from November 25 to December 28, 1946, included Christmas and other holiday cards produced by English and American card manufacturers. On loan from Brownie’s Blockprints, Inc. of New York City, the cards included then current designs from the 1940s as well as a print of the first Christmas card ever produced. (at left – Betty Maurstad, curator, is shown holding examples of the holiday cards in a photograph printed in the Minneapolis Tribune.)

In the 1840s, Sir Henry Cole (the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London) commissioned John Callcott Horsley, an artist from the Royal Academy, to design a card to send to friends at Christmas. Horsley’s design portrayed a multi-generational family toasting the holidays (the child toasted too, as she or he is shown sipping from the wine glass). The greeting included a simple message:

“A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.”

It wasn’t until the 1860s that the card business developed commercially. The greeting card economy crossed the pond in the 1870s when Louis Prang, a lithographer and publisher, referred to as “the father of the American Christmas card,” began printing cards in the United States.

Though modern day greeting cards have become quite sophisticated, to include audio cards that allow you to record your own greeting, as well as increasingly complex and impressively staged photo greetings, I think I will take inspiration from Cole’s first holiday card and respond to my mother that the simplest of greetings can often be among the best.

You can carry on the tradition of the greeting card by creating your own at WAM’s annual holiday discount event, BeDazzled, on Wednesday, December 4, 2012 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. Letterpress your own card with Studio on Fire and enjoy treats, music, discounts, and more!

Deck the Halls

By wilso952 December 28, 2011
Exhibitions, Weisman Art Museum

From November 19, 1995-March 3, 1996, WAM exhibited, “Deck the Halls: Holiday Photography by Roger Mertin and Christina Patoski.” As, “the most… wonderful time…. Of the year…” has again approached and passed us, it is an apt time to look back at this exhibit which brings into focus the celebrations and pastimes that surround the holiday season.

In the exhibit catalogue, former WAM curator Patricia McDonnell described,

“Christmas in late twentieth-century America is a pervasive cultural phenomenon, and for many it entails a round of rituals that are removed from a specific religious context. Given the importance in our culture of this winter observance, it represents prime territory for the artist interested in cultural meaning, its development, and ways of representation.”

Through the exhibition of the holiday-focused photographs of Roger Mertin and Christina Patoski, we can look at seasonal cultural offerings in different contexts.

An invitation to the exhibition opening and a listing of related programs provides further insight into the discussion of cultural considerations of the winter season:

Former WAM Director of Education Colleen Sheehy described the exhibit,

“The artists’ accumulation of images, taken in far-flung locales over a number of years, builds a composite picture of the country’s holiday folk customs. That larger picture reveals how Americans use objects in an artfulness of everyday life, creating domestic spaces in which ornament, architecture, and landscape are carefully designed and then enhanced through the use of lighting.“

As I returned home for a holiday celebration with family this past weekend I thought of this exhibit. I gave special attention to how my mother used objects in “the artfulness of everyday life” to design our home with holiday décor.

After participating in a secular family viewing of “Home Alone” whilst enjoying a piece of lefsa lightly dusted with brown sugar, I realized just how, “Fast away the old year passes…”

“Hail the new, ye lads and lasses!”

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

holidays

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