One day in class Megan brought a friend (thanks to the class "open door" policy). She was talking about something (I don't remember what) when she mentioned a "vault" of MFA artwork out at the Oakdale campus.
At first I didn't believe it. I began laughing and could not stop- I mean, seriously, this sounded like something from a World War 2 movie. But then I stopped laughing when I realized she was not kidding. I asked her some questions and Pete jumped in and told us what the Thesis Gallery was. From that point on, we were talking about the Thesis Gallery and what was out there. This was a good thing, because before that we were talking pointlessly about some group project and the idea of making bottle trees, putting Christmas Trees in people's yards, or some futile social protest.
So the Thesis Gallery is O.K. How good could it be? Some of the art was memorable, but on the whole you get the feeling that some of our past MFA graduates were not too geared up to make something for the University that will never be seen again, except on a limited basis. I keep asking Pete what he will be donating. He sidesteps the issue and does not answer and frankly I would not want to answer either. This is nothing to look forward to.
But what the hell? Then we showed up and wanted to do some show with some of this art. And now it's caught on, which is too be expected. Anything out of the ordinary usually does.
The piece that I liked from the start was the Untitled portrait of a woman, with her arms akimbo. He is the story of why-
The Summer that I turned 13, Max, an old widower who lived directly across the street from us, died of lung cancer. His wife had been dead since before I was born. He smoked unfiltered Camels and was a hard drinker. He parked his big LTD right out in front on the street, and sometimes he would have a brown bag with him- his Old Forrester or something of the like. He was good to me, always called me Mark (some old men tend to call boys "son" or, patronizingly, "Sir" with some bullshit sarcastic tone, but not Max).
He had been dying for years, according to my Dad, but still drank and smoked. Once I asked Max about this and he looked at me with a smile and said "What's it gonna do? Kill me?"
People who have cancer usually go the same way- they're fine for a long while, then all of a sudden they go downhill quickly. One day Max came outside and he looked grey and cadaverous . My own grandfather had gone in a similar way just two years previously and I remembered this deathly look. It really bothered me. Then one evening an ambulance took him away- I still remember the look on his face while he was on the gurney, being wheeled across his yard. He would die in the hospital, not his home.
I had been mowing his yard for the previous three years- from April to October, for $6, every week. I would take the $6 and go to the Comic Book store that was a mile and a half from our house, near HW 218 in Waterloo.
Max died right after the 4th of July, and his sister was at his house doing this or that and I wanted another $6. So I walked across the street and spoke to her about the yard and the cash and so on. The phone rang and she let me in while she took the call. So, since I had never been in this house before, I began snooping around.
I went into the old man's bedroom. The curtains were closed but some light came in. I stood at the foot of the bed and looked up to see a painting that would change my life forever- a woman, her arms akimbo, topless. But she was no beauty queen. Her face was a ghostly pale, with a lantern jaw. Her eyes followed you around the room with a Manson-esque stare. But that was not the coup de grace: despite the age in the face of the woman, her body was youthful and kind of perky. It was like a novelty painting out of some fiendish Mad magazine joke. I stood staring at the painting, unable to get my eyes off of it, scared and somewhat horrified- yet mesmerized. It was a real shift in my gears and I still don't know why. It affected my art and my humor.
So now, when I see something creepy like Margaret Olsen's mysterious woman, I can't help but be engrossed. Sometimes art is like that I guess. We like what we like.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
The Thesis Gallery
by Megan Fuhrman
Throughout my years spent as a painting major at the University of Iowa, I have from time to time been told about the Thesis Gallery. The Thesis Gallery, as I have come to understand, is a collection of rooms holding pieces of art which U of I graduate art students were required to give to the school at graduation. (This requirement has since been converted to an option.) The pieces in the collection date back to 1939 and entail mediums such as painting, sculpture, ceramics, metals, printmaking, and photography.
After hearing stories about this collection, I would sit and imagine the thousands of works created by graduate students, just sitting somewhere; never did I visualize myself actually helping to curate a show using those past works.
It was early October and my Issues in Contemporary Art class was trying to decide on a semester class project. When the suggestion about putting together a show using the Thesis Gallery came forth, I was more then ecstatic. However, I soon realized that deciding on a project was the easy part.
Many weeks of visits to the Thesis Gallery, phone calls, and emailing classmates followed and I learned an incredible amount about the difficulties of forming a show. However, with time, our project and its pieces came together and we now have a beautiful show of the past at hand. It has been a wonderful experience and I am very proud of the result.
Throughout my years spent as a painting major at the University of Iowa, I have from time to time been told about the Thesis Gallery. The Thesis Gallery, as I have come to understand, is a collection of rooms holding pieces of art which U of I graduate art students were required to give to the school at graduation. (This requirement has since been converted to an option.) The pieces in the collection date back to 1939 and entail mediums such as painting, sculpture, ceramics, metals, printmaking, and photography.
After hearing stories about this collection, I would sit and imagine the thousands of works created by graduate students, just sitting somewhere; never did I visualize myself actually helping to curate a show using those past works.
It was early October and my Issues in Contemporary Art class was trying to decide on a semester class project. When the suggestion about putting together a show using the Thesis Gallery came forth, I was more then ecstatic. However, I soon realized that deciding on a project was the easy part.
Many weeks of visits to the Thesis Gallery, phone calls, and emailing classmates followed and I learned an incredible amount about the difficulties of forming a show. However, with time, our project and its pieces came together and we now have a beautiful show of the past at hand. It has been a wonderful experience and I am very proud of the result.
Art Appreciation in Academia
The University of Iowa preserves a rare body of artwork, dubbed the Graduate Thesis Collection. This collection originated in the 1930s and is comprised of over 6,000 works donated by graduate students completing their studies at Iowa. Departments around campus rent the artwork for their office spaces. Some of the works, due to controversial or explicit content for instance, are never rented and therefore never see past the storage vault in which they are kept. The works can never be officially purchased, or at least have never been in the past. What if you could buy this work? Owning such unique work would give you a critical glimpse of the academic art produced over the past century. Private ownership of any works from the Thesis Gallery would be a one-of-a-kind opportunity that a patron from Iowa could not possibly resist. Erasing the line between the art market and academia would increase the value and awareness of the art created by students.
Pretend that permission is granted to purchase art from the Thesis Collection. A group of works that particularly interesting is chosen. The selected works include four paintings that vary in content and media, but still seem to work well together as a group. The pieces seem to have great “conversation.” Each piece also has different influences evident from the time period in which each was produced. Each piece also helps represent the academic art experience, particularly here at the University of Iowa. A few of the paintings seem to be responses to popular ways of working, whether that be as an undergrad or, in this case, a graduate student.
The first piece chosen, Pieta, is the oldest piece of the four in the group, dated from 1947. Unfortunately this piece has been in storage of quite some time and needs to be cleaned up and restored, but until that can be done, the piece must be analyzed as it is.
This version of the pieta is less traditional and very contemporary for its time. The pieta has been a common portrayal of the Jesus Christ figure for centuries. The Virgin Mary is depicted here mourning her dead son, just as the traditional pieces do. This painting however has colors that are striking and unusual. Overall the color scheme seems to lean toward being complimentary red/green. The electric blue highlights are unexpected. If hung next to the other works in the group, the blue color would work well with those in the other works.
The sliver of the green moon hints at a background that is then contradicted by the line on the right, which leads the viewer to read that as a corner of a room. This abstracted special depiction forces the viewer to concentrate on the figures.
There is a lack of naturalism that may have been more common in earlier pietas. Here the figures are show in a more abstracted manner with thick, black lines to create shadow and form, almost in a cartoon-like style. This handling of the figures, space, and colors seems to almost mock the religious content of the traditional pieta
The next piece in the group, Target: Fan, happens to be the youngest piece. This painting tricks the viewer. The paint was applied so the textures appear so different, they almost looks like different materials. This piece is somewhat smaller than the pieta, but the sharpness of the edges and the smooth paint application helps to give it a loud voice.
An interesting use of text in this image helps suggest that it was produced in the past decade. Text was uncommon in art until contemporary artists began exploring it, especially with advances in technology and design. Connotations of the word “tender” seem to speak with the emotion of the pieta painting. The blue colors behind the bright yellow-green also reflect the colors chosen for the pieta. This piece draws the viewer in with the subtlety of the shadows and textures that create a dimensional quality that is not common in two-dimensional work.
Painting the studios and buildings in which artists study is commonplace in academic art. The Critique depicts the checkered space in the University of Iowa’s older art building. This space is often used to display works or performances. In the painting students are shown critiquing work. This painting’s inclusion is not only based on the common content, but also the immaculate skill in the art of painting.
The use of linear perspective in this painting is very evident and prominent. The hallway and windows lead the viewer’s eye toward the checkered space, which has been represented with great authenticity. The figures are slightly naturalistic and the shadows are consistent and seemingly accurate. This painting has a similar color scheme to the others, a toned done red that has hints of greens and blues.
The last painting included in this group of graduate works represents another common thread in art, particularly in academia. Often students work from nude models for traditional training in depicted forms and shapes and creating a naturalistic representation of a human body. In this painting, Half, it is not quite clear whether the artist was working directly from a model, a picture, or strictly from memory.
The background has been disregarded and turned into negative space. This is a common habit of art students. When dealing with a confined space on the canvas, young artists tend to forget to engage the whole space, foreground and background. They often depict the figure or object and leave the background solid.
The figure appears to be partly clothed. This was common in Greek and Roman nude depictions. This image however shows a shadowy silhouette of the female figure. The face is shadowed, which may also be what covers parts of the body, but that is unclear.
This painting raises questions to the viewer on intention and meaning. Is the body shadowed or draped? Is that a shadow? Is that a reflection? The connotations of a shadow versus a reflection can greatly change the feeling of the work, and being able to shift between the two interpretations creates a delightful tension and depth in the piece.
Overall this group of works from the Thesis Collection has been selected to best represent the experience in art academia over the past century. As a private collection, these works would be invaluable for any art patron to own. Student work is not often appreciated and is rarely ever collected for value. Creating an opportunity for these works to exist in the current art market would raise the value and awareness of all academic art. Unfortunately these works are not available for purchase, but for the next two weeks at least they can be seen at the show titled Regeneration in the third floor atrium gallery of the new art building.
Pieta, Dorothy Eisenbach, 1947
Half, Kenneth Wiley, 1968.
Target: Fan, Steven Wise, 1998.
The Critique, Claire Darley, 1982.
Pretend that permission is granted to purchase art from the Thesis Collection. A group of works that particularly interesting is chosen. The selected works include four paintings that vary in content and media, but still seem to work well together as a group. The pieces seem to have great “conversation.” Each piece also has different influences evident from the time period in which each was produced. Each piece also helps represent the academic art experience, particularly here at the University of Iowa. A few of the paintings seem to be responses to popular ways of working, whether that be as an undergrad or, in this case, a graduate student.
The first piece chosen, Pieta, is the oldest piece of the four in the group, dated from 1947. Unfortunately this piece has been in storage of quite some time and needs to be cleaned up and restored, but until that can be done, the piece must be analyzed as it is.
This version of the pieta is less traditional and very contemporary for its time. The pieta has been a common portrayal of the Jesus Christ figure for centuries. The Virgin Mary is depicted here mourning her dead son, just as the traditional pieces do. This painting however has colors that are striking and unusual. Overall the color scheme seems to lean toward being complimentary red/green. The electric blue highlights are unexpected. If hung next to the other works in the group, the blue color would work well with those in the other works.
The sliver of the green moon hints at a background that is then contradicted by the line on the right, which leads the viewer to read that as a corner of a room. This abstracted special depiction forces the viewer to concentrate on the figures.
There is a lack of naturalism that may have been more common in earlier pietas. Here the figures are show in a more abstracted manner with thick, black lines to create shadow and form, almost in a cartoon-like style. This handling of the figures, space, and colors seems to almost mock the religious content of the traditional pieta
The next piece in the group, Target: Fan, happens to be the youngest piece. This painting tricks the viewer. The paint was applied so the textures appear so different, they almost looks like different materials. This piece is somewhat smaller than the pieta, but the sharpness of the edges and the smooth paint application helps to give it a loud voice.
An interesting use of text in this image helps suggest that it was produced in the past decade. Text was uncommon in art until contemporary artists began exploring it, especially with advances in technology and design. Connotations of the word “tender” seem to speak with the emotion of the pieta painting. The blue colors behind the bright yellow-green also reflect the colors chosen for the pieta. This piece draws the viewer in with the subtlety of the shadows and textures that create a dimensional quality that is not common in two-dimensional work.
Painting the studios and buildings in which artists study is commonplace in academic art. The Critique depicts the checkered space in the University of Iowa’s older art building. This space is often used to display works or performances. In the painting students are shown critiquing work. This painting’s inclusion is not only based on the common content, but also the immaculate skill in the art of painting.
The use of linear perspective in this painting is very evident and prominent. The hallway and windows lead the viewer’s eye toward the checkered space, which has been represented with great authenticity. The figures are slightly naturalistic and the shadows are consistent and seemingly accurate. This painting has a similar color scheme to the others, a toned done red that has hints of greens and blues.
The last painting included in this group of graduate works represents another common thread in art, particularly in academia. Often students work from nude models for traditional training in depicted forms and shapes and creating a naturalistic representation of a human body. In this painting, Half, it is not quite clear whether the artist was working directly from a model, a picture, or strictly from memory.
The background has been disregarded and turned into negative space. This is a common habit of art students. When dealing with a confined space on the canvas, young artists tend to forget to engage the whole space, foreground and background. They often depict the figure or object and leave the background solid.
The figure appears to be partly clothed. This was common in Greek and Roman nude depictions. This image however shows a shadowy silhouette of the female figure. The face is shadowed, which may also be what covers parts of the body, but that is unclear.
This painting raises questions to the viewer on intention and meaning. Is the body shadowed or draped? Is that a shadow? Is that a reflection? The connotations of a shadow versus a reflection can greatly change the feeling of the work, and being able to shift between the two interpretations creates a delightful tension and depth in the piece.
Overall this group of works from the Thesis Collection has been selected to best represent the experience in art academia over the past century. As a private collection, these works would be invaluable for any art patron to own. Student work is not often appreciated and is rarely ever collected for value. Creating an opportunity for these works to exist in the current art market would raise the value and awareness of all academic art. Unfortunately these works are not available for purchase, but for the next two weeks at least they can be seen at the show titled Regeneration in the third floor atrium gallery of the new art building.
Pieta, Dorothy Eisenbach, 1947
Half, Kenneth Wiley, 1968.
Target: Fan, Steven Wise, 1998.
The Critique, Claire Darley, 1982.
Unveiling the Legacy
by Daniel Granias
Endless lists could be written when choosing redeemable qualities of an educational institution. Two characteristics that stand out among that list are prestige and legacy. Why is this a notable institution and what about it makes it notable? How long has this program existed, and to what extent has it changed through history? Since the University of Iowa began the country’s first M.F.A. program in art over sixty years ago, it has accumulated a collection of works (required to be) donated to the school by every M.F.A. Alumnus upon completing the program. Today this collection exists as a precious shadow of our past, hidden in the dusty basement of an abandoned apartment building located at the University of Iowa’s Oakdale campus.
At first glance, the facilities for the Thesis Gallery Collection seem…abysmal. Submerged in what used to be the basement apartment of a slowly deteriorating brick complex, the storage room feels painfully claustrophobic from the stillness of the air as paintings stuff and stack the surrounding shelves and central tables. The windows are covered with yellowing paper, adding to the stale twinge of the warm fluorescent lights and damp odor of creeping mold and mildew. Many of the paintings’ frames (for those that have them) are chipped, warped, or broken; the paintings themselves are faded by time and dust. This environment seems only appropriate for such a place to exist as a suspension of time—a land of limbo—the waiting room where painting #1957.28 waits either to be hung in some administrator’s office or to remain on the shelf, perhaps to be used by future art restoration students.
Though it is hard to tell, there is in fact movement in these depths. Patrick Ellis has been improving and maintaining the Thesis Gallery Collection since June of 2004 after a six-month vacancy period during which the building functioned solely as a drop-off storage location. Upon receiving the position, Ellis had little knowledge of the collection’s former caretaker and was simply told to “take care of it.” Ellis took on the challenge and has made a tremendous effort at making the position his own. He has created a functioning business and continues to document piles of work and slowly but surely preserves the collection as an archive of the University’s own art history.
Considering his background in working with art, it is no wonder why Ellis says, though slightly embarrassed, that he is “bred for the job.” Ellis grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and received his undergraduate painting degree at Arizona State, which may contribute some explanation as to why his office feels like an adobe desert hut. He then received his graduate degree in painting at the University of Iowa. Ellis has also worked in various framing and art handling companies including Claim to Frame in Iowa City since 1979. He even worked part time in framing and art handling while growing up in Arizona. From 1989-1995, Ellis performed technical installation and shipping for the University of Iowa’s Museum of Art.
Unfortunately, there are little to no connections between the UIMA and the Thesis Gallery collection, which is partially due to the collection’s specific domain of alumni works. However, Ellis enjoys the freedom and says that he prefers to have control over the collection instead of having too many people in a situation where “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”
As much as Ellis enjoys working on his own, he appreciates support at the Thesis Collection. UI graduate painting student Mariah Dekkenga has assisted Ellis as a student employee in the past and contributed significantly to improving the order of the collection. Ellis would like to improve the collection’s visibility to more students at the university and to have classes visit and study the collection. He also encourages studio art students to learn framing and documenting work as skills additionally quintessential to working as an artist.
By working with the collection, Ellis has gained a convincing sense of the way the art program at the University of Iowa has functioned and changed over the better part of the century, revealing remarkably noticeable trends in art and art education throughout the decades. Some work in the collection clearly follows the trends of American icons such as Grant Wood and Philip Gustin, while other work, Ellis says, follows trends set by professors at the U of I such as Mauricio Lasansky, who first established the printing department at the university in 1945, was titled as the Virgil M. Hancher Distinguished Professor of Art in 1967 and taught until the mid 80s. Other work that has graced the shelves of the collection includes that of Miriam Shapiro, distinguished alum who received her M.F.A. in 1949 and continued to become a leading scholar in art history and renowned female artist for over thirty years.
Only time can and has created the Thesis Gallery Collection. Not only does it exist as an archive of paintings, it unfolds layers of narratives that can be read throughout the history of twentieth century North America and the University of Iowa. Two high shelves in a back room of Ellis’s office hold nothing but rolled canvases of paintings that were damaged when the Iowa City campus flooded in 1993. Wooden boxes and drawers hold hundreds of loose drawings and prints that have yet to be identified and framed. Only traces of glue remain on a large multimedia piece that once held eighteen unknown hourglass-shaped objects. Yet they all remain in the collection with the hopes that somebody will eventually discover their creator, year, purpose, et cetera, should the funds and techniques become available to restore them to an acceptable state. But for now, the only revenue for the Thesis Gallery Collection is a $35 annual fee available to all University of Iowa offices to rent and exchange pieces as they desire.
Endless lists could be written when choosing redeemable qualities of an educational institution. Two characteristics that stand out among that list are prestige and legacy. Why is this a notable institution and what about it makes it notable? How long has this program existed, and to what extent has it changed through history? Since the University of Iowa began the country’s first M.F.A. program in art over sixty years ago, it has accumulated a collection of works (required to be) donated to the school by every M.F.A. Alumnus upon completing the program. Today this collection exists as a precious shadow of our past, hidden in the dusty basement of an abandoned apartment building located at the University of Iowa’s Oakdale campus.
At first glance, the facilities for the Thesis Gallery Collection seem…abysmal. Submerged in what used to be the basement apartment of a slowly deteriorating brick complex, the storage room feels painfully claustrophobic from the stillness of the air as paintings stuff and stack the surrounding shelves and central tables. The windows are covered with yellowing paper, adding to the stale twinge of the warm fluorescent lights and damp odor of creeping mold and mildew. Many of the paintings’ frames (for those that have them) are chipped, warped, or broken; the paintings themselves are faded by time and dust. This environment seems only appropriate for such a place to exist as a suspension of time—a land of limbo—the waiting room where painting #1957.28 waits either to be hung in some administrator’s office or to remain on the shelf, perhaps to be used by future art restoration students.
Though it is hard to tell, there is in fact movement in these depths. Patrick Ellis has been improving and maintaining the Thesis Gallery Collection since June of 2004 after a six-month vacancy period during which the building functioned solely as a drop-off storage location. Upon receiving the position, Ellis had little knowledge of the collection’s former caretaker and was simply told to “take care of it.” Ellis took on the challenge and has made a tremendous effort at making the position his own. He has created a functioning business and continues to document piles of work and slowly but surely preserves the collection as an archive of the University’s own art history.
Considering his background in working with art, it is no wonder why Ellis says, though slightly embarrassed, that he is “bred for the job.” Ellis grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and received his undergraduate painting degree at Arizona State, which may contribute some explanation as to why his office feels like an adobe desert hut. He then received his graduate degree in painting at the University of Iowa. Ellis has also worked in various framing and art handling companies including Claim to Frame in Iowa City since 1979. He even worked part time in framing and art handling while growing up in Arizona. From 1989-1995, Ellis performed technical installation and shipping for the University of Iowa’s Museum of Art.
Unfortunately, there are little to no connections between the UIMA and the Thesis Gallery collection, which is partially due to the collection’s specific domain of alumni works. However, Ellis enjoys the freedom and says that he prefers to have control over the collection instead of having too many people in a situation where “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”
As much as Ellis enjoys working on his own, he appreciates support at the Thesis Collection. UI graduate painting student Mariah Dekkenga has assisted Ellis as a student employee in the past and contributed significantly to improving the order of the collection. Ellis would like to improve the collection’s visibility to more students at the university and to have classes visit and study the collection. He also encourages studio art students to learn framing and documenting work as skills additionally quintessential to working as an artist.
By working with the collection, Ellis has gained a convincing sense of the way the art program at the University of Iowa has functioned and changed over the better part of the century, revealing remarkably noticeable trends in art and art education throughout the decades. Some work in the collection clearly follows the trends of American icons such as Grant Wood and Philip Gustin, while other work, Ellis says, follows trends set by professors at the U of I such as Mauricio Lasansky, who first established the printing department at the university in 1945, was titled as the Virgil M. Hancher Distinguished Professor of Art in 1967 and taught until the mid 80s. Other work that has graced the shelves of the collection includes that of Miriam Shapiro, distinguished alum who received her M.F.A. in 1949 and continued to become a leading scholar in art history and renowned female artist for over thirty years.
Only time can and has created the Thesis Gallery Collection. Not only does it exist as an archive of paintings, it unfolds layers of narratives that can be read throughout the history of twentieth century North America and the University of Iowa. Two high shelves in a back room of Ellis’s office hold nothing but rolled canvases of paintings that were damaged when the Iowa City campus flooded in 1993. Wooden boxes and drawers hold hundreds of loose drawings and prints that have yet to be identified and framed. Only traces of glue remain on a large multimedia piece that once held eighteen unknown hourglass-shaped objects. Yet they all remain in the collection with the hopes that somebody will eventually discover their creator, year, purpose, et cetera, should the funds and techniques become available to restore them to an acceptable state. But for now, the only revenue for the Thesis Gallery Collection is a $35 annual fee available to all University of Iowa offices to rent and exchange pieces as they desire.
Whirlwind exhibition
The past month or so has been a whirlwind of excitement and perseverance. We as a class decided to create a group project based on some research we had come across in discussion. The initial ideas were rocky at best, until we landed on a gold mine, the thesis gallery collection. Immediately the mood of the class changed and the challenge began. We elbowed through paintings, ceramics, prints, and metals work until the very last day when we decided on a group of 28 works.
With all the individuals in our class we had quite an array of various pieces, which held no obvious cohesion other than they all came from this storage unit at the Oakdale campus. The real excitement and probably largest task began when we started hanging the show. Artists works were moving from location to location with people running around trying to get their ideas herd, it was a good two hours of pure pandemonium. But when our show clicked it really clicked. I am truly impressed that a show that looks so professional and so well thought out was done by us!!
It is truly a testimonial to the students and faculty of the University of Iowa’s Art and Art History department. To look at the pieces and the show as a whole and know that it was all done by the students definitely says something for our school and for us as individuals.
With all the individuals in our class we had quite an array of various pieces, which held no obvious cohesion other than they all came from this storage unit at the Oakdale campus. The real excitement and probably largest task began when we started hanging the show. Artists works were moving from location to location with people running around trying to get their ideas herd, it was a good two hours of pure pandemonium. But when our show clicked it really clicked. I am truly impressed that a show that looks so professional and so well thought out was done by us!!
It is truly a testimonial to the students and faculty of the University of Iowa’s Art and Art History department. To look at the pieces and the show as a whole and know that it was all done by the students definitely says something for our school and for us as individuals.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
The Southern Belle
By: Dexter Jacobs
“Target: Fan” painted in 1998, by Steven Wise.
The image is of a green abstracted fan shape hung on a stage. A word, ‘tender,’ is written on the fan. It appears to have been taped upon a stage with an encircling black oval around the boarder of the canvas. This painting is representative of a series of “stage” paintings Wise painted around ten years ago. Wise collected church fans and this is where he got the inspiration for these paintings.
The images in these paintings by Wise were chosen to symbolize the American South. He says he chose to paint these fans upon a stage to symbolize “the artificiality of the illusion of painting and the artificial world of the Southern belle.” He created an illusion of a stage to symbolize the illusion of these icons from the past, which we attribute to the better parts of the south.
Wise was fascinated with the image of the Southern belle. These real people of the past serve as an icon of the contemporary “and live in the present day through images from movies such as Gone with the Wind.” as defined by wikipedia; A Southern Belle epitomized southern hospitality, cultivation of beauty and a flirtatious yet chaste demeanor. These women of the past have created a fine picture of the south and it is clear why Wise would want to immortalize the idea of these qualities in his paintings.
The fan itself, the very symbol of these women, “were common in the South where there was no air conditioning.” The general shape of the one in ‘Target: Fan’ is similar to that of the generic hand fan given for free at the Iowa State Fair. In this painting the fan is actually a piece of mylar which Wise cut and affixed to the canvas. “At the time, I was playing with the illusion of real and implied textures.” This goes back to the illusion Wise pointed out by placing the fan upon the stage in the beginning. He chose to place the word ‘tender’ on the fan to refer to the general use of the word as well as to reference the song by Elvis, Love me Tender.
Personally, I was drawn to this piece by its quiet mystery. I found the fan object to be quite beautiful, simply by its shape and luminescence. It caused me to wonder why this shape should imply tenderness? Why were these colors chosen to portray this feeling? I wanted to know these answers yet at the same time I was able to appreciate the simple beauty that all of these elements were chosen to merely be together on the same canvas. Now that I know why Wise painted these things it makes me want to further discover why he was so interested in these women of the past. Was it the mystery of the past created into an icon of today? Or, was it their beauty? Either way the painting itself has become a ‘belle’ of its own.
Something Finding Form
Something Finding Form.
A reflection on our experiences. Group curating a show and my interest in a selected piece by Brian Van Donslear Balancing Set #7 1994.20 .
We initially had shy hopes of creating a group 'art' project for Peter Schulte's class, Issues in Contemporary Art. We all seemed to show interest in Collectives and thought we might try it ourselves. But taking in all of our different personas and styles as artists the idea seemed to feel more like we were all trying to conform to create a physical thing that was urning for meaning.
On the other hand, due to all of our whispering word of mouth we found out about the Theses Gallery and thought it might be a fun and knowledgeable field-trip, maybe to inspire a project that was having trouble taking form. Before we knew it, our 'Collective' turned into a collectively curated show of selected works from the theses gallery. An homage to former artists like ourselves (minus a few years).
The theses gallery to one student, Mark, was 'The Vault'. A hidden chamber, filled with buried treasures that might have had to be found by way of map and X marks the spot. To all of us though, I truly think the Theses gallery became subconsciously a secret garden we got to explore and try to tame. A place to revel in the unbounded past and creativity that went before! We befriended all the artists we uncovered. Whether the artists were now deceased, or never to be found or heard of again post grad. School, or successful working artists in New York, like Franklin Evans, or Brian Van Donslear still working happily in Iowa, or even Pat Ellis returning and now holding down the fort, all these diamonds in the rough, raising them like his own.
In any of these cases though, we each found a little piece of an artist like an imaginary friend in the window as if we were five again. So this is how today...not just an art show stands, not just a bag of rocks, not just an erotic rooster, not just a damaged frame, but something stirring, something festering, something we would like to share as an expression of life that wants to be bold again and boast its mere existence.
Amidst all of the many works of art we sifted through, the notorious 'bag of rocks' (more properly titled "Balancing Set #7") kept re-instating itself. Especially for me, I think every trip we made out to the collection someone would ask, " What’s in that canvas bag again? Who did it again? Write that down." Marcel Duchamp's Bo-en-valise, for some reason came to mind, where miniatures of his work are put into suitcases.
To me it seemed Van Donslear preserved not only his work in a bag, but the very idea of his work and maybe the time and care that filled this bag. He not only has preserved the concepts of the original, but created a whole new work from the reproduction of the rocks in what looks like an old canvas army bag. I created this pseudo idea of who Brian van Donslear was, and his art that could conveniently be taken and set up wherever you so pleased (disregarding the fact that it weighs probably 150 pounds).
Even though we read the 'directions' on the canvas bag we never fully understood it and still brought it along for the show. Were we to try and re-build this impossible structure of balancing rocks? Were the public to come and have a go at it? Were rocks missing? Was this a mockery to the draft calling one of each MFA student's pieces to be left behind? Was this a feat only Andy Goldsworthy could try at home?
Still perplexed but hopeful, Katie and I attempted to take the rocks out of the bag! A mistake Pete soon realized after reading the inscription one more time. Then we put the rocks carefully back in their bag and all had a good laugh and sigh of relief. Now the old canvas bag, filled with beauty, sits boldly at the top of the stairs as it welcomes us all to the show.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Tipping our Hats or Tipping the Scales?
Examining the Evolution of Regeneration Selected
Art from the University of Iowa's Thesis Collection
by: Katie J. Jones
Many art students have experienced the plight of sitting in a lecture hall listening to an art history professor regurgitate past art movements, artists, facts, and dates and for many art majors this historical background may be relevant and in many cases influential. However, this methodology essentially spoon-feeds information and concepts to these students. Why not focus on individual studio practices and growth… Grapple with concepts and ideas relevant to our own work? Peter Schulte, a graduate student in the MFA drawing program, considered these questions and decided to pioneer this interdisciplinary course, Issues in Contemporary Art, “I wanted to have a class where we could have open-ended discussion and explore the art world beyond just ‘modern and contemporary art,’ but introduce the realm of websites, blogs, and pod-casts into the art world today… your guys’ studio practices, anything and everything that pertains to art. What are you guys seeing, doing, everyday stuff that inspires you?”
This class not only provided a forum for open-ended discussion and the exchange of new ideas, but helped to open our eyes to this vast and fast-paced art world of the post modern era. In the process of examining our own studio practices and new artistic innovations throughout the community, we were presented with an opportunity to explore a collaborative project. This opportunity brought our class together: from print-maker, graphic designer, painter, photographer, drawer, and art historian. After days of grappling with fresh ideas, modifying these ideas, pondering old ones, and pounding out new ones, we arrived at one decision: Regeneration: Selected Art from the University of Iowa’s Thesis Collection.
–So what exactly is “Regeneration” anyway? Regeneration includes a rebirth, renewal, restoration, or starting a new. For many of us “regeneration” yielded a special significance rooted within our personal experiences working on this project. For me, “regeneration” signifies the unique experience of unveiling 60s years of dusty history. Who were these artists? Why did they donate these objects? What the heck is the Thesis Gallery in the first place?![1] For several weeks we pondered these questions and decided to plan an exhibition featuring a conglomeration of works from the Thesis Collection in order to pay homage to the University of Iowa and honor former MFA graduate students.
Some of these former students paid homage to the University of Iowa in unique and individual ways. Jonathan Haddock, Brandon Buckner, and Dan Attoe surfaced as viable candidates, in my mind, to paying homage to the School of Art and Art History. However we wonder, were these students tipping their hats or flipping off something else? Haddock raises these evocative questions in Three Years and the Pig Gets Enlightened (fig. 1). In this oil painting, Haddock portrays a man milking a pig as it looks off into a hazy fog in the distance where a cross looms above the horizon. Some argue that the pig represents “the institution” and the man milking the pig represents graduate students in the MFA program. The cross signifies the light at the end of the tunnel; in other words, after three years of labor at the graduate level students graduate with their masters and only then feel the satisfaction, or enlightenment, upon completion.
Brandon Buckner’s Postcard (fig. 2) also raises some interesting questions of artist intention. This bright pink painting reproduces, on a much larger scale, the exhibition announcement for the MFA show in 2005. Is this painting paying tribute or mocking the very enterprise that we are displaying in Regeneration: an exhibition of MFA graduate student’s work? The answer is uncertain, however, one thing is clear that Buckner primarily focused on reflecting the narratives from his own personal history and background throughout his university career.
Another artist who also incorporated his personal experience undoubtedly tipped his hat to the University of Iowa. One might even say that he tipped the scales in his creation of Thank You (fig. 3). Attoe pays respect to current and former faculty members in Thank You by literally inscribing it at the top of the canvas. The painting shows a forest night scene where the only light source appears from the stars and moon. Each star illuminates a figure in the lower center which presumably represents Attoe. Above each star, Attoe engraved the name of each faculty members in the School of Art and Art History.
The larger question, though, is the evolution and achievement of this collaborative project. Either way you look at it, this project allowed us to blaze an otherwise undiscovered terrain while paying homage to the upstanding tradition of the MFA program at the University of Iowa. We invite you to consider all of the objects in our exhibition, and our mission of tipping our hats to 60 years of a unique tradition.
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
[1] Please refer to Daniel Granias’ blog.
Art from the University of Iowa's Thesis Collection
by: Katie J. Jones
Many art students have experienced the plight of sitting in a lecture hall listening to an art history professor regurgitate past art movements, artists, facts, and dates and for many art majors this historical background may be relevant and in many cases influential. However, this methodology essentially spoon-feeds information and concepts to these students. Why not focus on individual studio practices and growth… Grapple with concepts and ideas relevant to our own work? Peter Schulte, a graduate student in the MFA drawing program, considered these questions and decided to pioneer this interdisciplinary course, Issues in Contemporary Art, “I wanted to have a class where we could have open-ended discussion and explore the art world beyond just ‘modern and contemporary art,’ but introduce the realm of websites, blogs, and pod-casts into the art world today… your guys’ studio practices, anything and everything that pertains to art. What are you guys seeing, doing, everyday stuff that inspires you?”
This class not only provided a forum for open-ended discussion and the exchange of new ideas, but helped to open our eyes to this vast and fast-paced art world of the post modern era. In the process of examining our own studio practices and new artistic innovations throughout the community, we were presented with an opportunity to explore a collaborative project. This opportunity brought our class together: from print-maker, graphic designer, painter, photographer, drawer, and art historian. After days of grappling with fresh ideas, modifying these ideas, pondering old ones, and pounding out new ones, we arrived at one decision: Regeneration: Selected Art from the University of Iowa’s Thesis Collection.
–So what exactly is “Regeneration” anyway? Regeneration includes a rebirth, renewal, restoration, or starting a new. For many of us “regeneration” yielded a special significance rooted within our personal experiences working on this project. For me, “regeneration” signifies the unique experience of unveiling 60s years of dusty history. Who were these artists? Why did they donate these objects? What the heck is the Thesis Gallery in the first place?![1] For several weeks we pondered these questions and decided to plan an exhibition featuring a conglomeration of works from the Thesis Collection in order to pay homage to the University of Iowa and honor former MFA graduate students.
Some of these former students paid homage to the University of Iowa in unique and individual ways. Jonathan Haddock, Brandon Buckner, and Dan Attoe surfaced as viable candidates, in my mind, to paying homage to the School of Art and Art History. However we wonder, were these students tipping their hats or flipping off something else? Haddock raises these evocative questions in Three Years and the Pig Gets Enlightened (fig. 1). In this oil painting, Haddock portrays a man milking a pig as it looks off into a hazy fog in the distance where a cross looms above the horizon. Some argue that the pig represents “the institution” and the man milking the pig represents graduate students in the MFA program. The cross signifies the light at the end of the tunnel; in other words, after three years of labor at the graduate level students graduate with their masters and only then feel the satisfaction, or enlightenment, upon completion.
Brandon Buckner’s Postcard (fig. 2) also raises some interesting questions of artist intention. This bright pink painting reproduces, on a much larger scale, the exhibition announcement for the MFA show in 2005. Is this painting paying tribute or mocking the very enterprise that we are displaying in Regeneration: an exhibition of MFA graduate student’s work? The answer is uncertain, however, one thing is clear that Buckner primarily focused on reflecting the narratives from his own personal history and background throughout his university career.
Another artist who also incorporated his personal experience undoubtedly tipped his hat to the University of Iowa. One might even say that he tipped the scales in his creation of Thank You (fig. 3). Attoe pays respect to current and former faculty members in Thank You by literally inscribing it at the top of the canvas. The painting shows a forest night scene where the only light source appears from the stars and moon. Each star illuminates a figure in the lower center which presumably represents Attoe. Above each star, Attoe engraved the name of each faculty members in the School of Art and Art History.
The larger question, though, is the evolution and achievement of this collaborative project. Either way you look at it, this project allowed us to blaze an otherwise undiscovered terrain while paying homage to the upstanding tradition of the MFA program at the University of Iowa. We invite you to consider all of the objects in our exhibition, and our mission of tipping our hats to 60 years of a unique tradition.
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
[1] Please refer to Daniel Granias’ blog.
Monday, December 3, 2007
An Interview with Amze Emmons
by Christina McClelland
As a BFA candidate in Printmaking, I took special interest in the prints we included in the show, especially Amze Emmons' Street Life. Emmons (MFA 2002) is currently an Assistant Professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania and was kind enough to take time to answer some of my questions about the piece, as well as about his experiences at the University of Iowa.
I'm interested in exploring your experiences in the Printmaking program at the University of Iowa. How would you describe your time there?
My time at Iowa was very fruitful and important to my development as an artist. I look back on the years I spent in Iowa City very fondly. I really enjoyed the wisdom and experience the faculty brought to their teaching and the wide range of talent and personalities my fellow graduate students brought to our community. I also think the relative isolation of Iowa City was important too. I see students of mine who are now in grad school at Hunter, with gallery owners coming through their studios, it horrifies me. My work couldn't have grown in those conditions.
Your experiences and interactions with the SAAH?
I had some interactions with the SAAH administration as a student, most of them positive. But in full disclosure I should say that I was invited back to teach at Iowa as a visiting Professor in '04-05 and in that role I was able to get a more
priviledged view of the inner workings of the SAAH and the school's role within the larger University. It seemed that the studio art program felt very besieged and under resourced. You'd hear things about budgets hadn't been increased since the 80's. And they seemed to be losing faculty lines when folks retired or at the very least not getting any new lines. This was especially true in the Print program. Here you had this top nationally ranked program with a lot of graduate students, but very limited funding, very limited space and no new faculty to help with the ever increasing service load.
This seems to be a major difference between the Academy and the private sector, if U of Iowa were a private company and the Print division was selling a highly acclaimed nationally recognized product they would get more funding to maintain market share and brand dominace, but instead they get slowly squeezed off, only hiring new faculty when they absolutely have to. Of course, the private sector probably wouldn't have supported the arts to start with....
But I hope this is starting to change, the new building, the renovations to the old facilities and some recent high profile hires seem to indicate a renewed support.
Can you talk about the high ranking of the Printmaking program and how you felt about being a student in it?
I never came to Iowa because of it's rank. At the time, in addition to it's rank, Iowa was known to have very little grad funding and shantytown grad studio space. Almost by chance I came for a visit and found the community very welcoming and I was
really impressed with the range and depth of the student work. I think the rank helps some with job applications but I have noticed a bit of a 'market correction' in recent years as other schools have invested heavily in their print programs. There are now a number of schools as well regarded as Iowa, regardless of rank.
How did your work develop and change during your time in iowa City?
It changed totally. I came to graduate school with a good deal of baggage about art and that was totally stripped away during my three years. I also gained a great deal of knowledge about how to live in the world as a professional artist.
I'm interested in hearing about Street Life and the thought process in making it.
I was fortunate enough to work with a number of graduate students who were very interested in Situational Aesthetics, namely Robert Tillman, John Freyer and Adam Wolpa. Their work really opened up some doors for me conceptually. The seed for this work came from an interest in making this kind of Marxist critique of advertising in public space. I was awarded a grant from the university to fund the project and with it I rented this billboard space for a month. I had been scoping out this billboard for a while, it was a perfectly weird residential street with this large billboard in
front of a house. I drew the street as it would look without the advertising, using simple pencil lines to negate the 'loud' vocabulary of the printed billboard. Then I had the drawing scanned, printed commercially and posted on the billboard. It was a well received at the time. This work proposed some ideas about art and print that I still make room for in my studio practice.
As a BFA candidate in Printmaking, I took special interest in the prints we included in the show, especially Amze Emmons' Street Life. Emmons (MFA 2002) is currently an Assistant Professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania and was kind enough to take time to answer some of my questions about the piece, as well as about his experiences at the University of Iowa.
I'm interested in exploring your experiences in the Printmaking program at the University of Iowa. How would you describe your time there?
My time at Iowa was very fruitful and important to my development as an artist. I look back on the years I spent in Iowa City very fondly. I really enjoyed the wisdom and experience the faculty brought to their teaching and the wide range of talent and personalities my fellow graduate students brought to our community. I also think the relative isolation of Iowa City was important too. I see students of mine who are now in grad school at Hunter, with gallery owners coming through their studios, it horrifies me. My work couldn't have grown in those conditions.
Your experiences and interactions with the SAAH?
I had some interactions with the SAAH administration as a student, most of them positive. But in full disclosure I should say that I was invited back to teach at Iowa as a visiting Professor in '04-05 and in that role I was able to get a more
priviledged view of the inner workings of the SAAH and the school's role within the larger University. It seemed that the studio art program felt very besieged and under resourced. You'd hear things about budgets hadn't been increased since the 80's. And they seemed to be losing faculty lines when folks retired or at the very least not getting any new lines. This was especially true in the Print program. Here you had this top nationally ranked program with a lot of graduate students, but very limited funding, very limited space and no new faculty to help with the ever increasing service load.
This seems to be a major difference between the Academy and the private sector, if U of Iowa were a private company and the Print division was selling a highly acclaimed nationally recognized product they would get more funding to maintain market share and brand dominace, but instead they get slowly squeezed off, only hiring new faculty when they absolutely have to. Of course, the private sector probably wouldn't have supported the arts to start with....
But I hope this is starting to change, the new building, the renovations to the old facilities and some recent high profile hires seem to indicate a renewed support.
Can you talk about the high ranking of the Printmaking program and how you felt about being a student in it?
I never came to Iowa because of it's rank. At the time, in addition to it's rank, Iowa was known to have very little grad funding and shantytown grad studio space. Almost by chance I came for a visit and found the community very welcoming and I was
really impressed with the range and depth of the student work. I think the rank helps some with job applications but I have noticed a bit of a 'market correction' in recent years as other schools have invested heavily in their print programs. There are now a number of schools as well regarded as Iowa, regardless of rank.
How did your work develop and change during your time in iowa City?
It changed totally. I came to graduate school with a good deal of baggage about art and that was totally stripped away during my three years. I also gained a great deal of knowledge about how to live in the world as a professional artist.
I'm interested in hearing about Street Life and the thought process in making it.
I was fortunate enough to work with a number of graduate students who were very interested in Situational Aesthetics, namely Robert Tillman, John Freyer and Adam Wolpa. Their work really opened up some doors for me conceptually. The seed for this work came from an interest in making this kind of Marxist critique of advertising in public space. I was awarded a grant from the university to fund the project and with it I rented this billboard space for a month. I had been scoping out this billboard for a while, it was a perfectly weird residential street with this large billboard in
front of a house. I drew the street as it would look without the advertising, using simple pencil lines to negate the 'loud' vocabulary of the printed billboard. Then I had the drawing scanned, printed commercially and posted on the billboard. It was a well received at the time. This work proposed some ideas about art and print that I still make room for in my studio practice.
Regenerations Show Set Up
Here are some photos and video from transporting the work for the show from the MFA Thesis Gallery in the Oakdale Campus, arranging the pieces, and hanging them. Whew!
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