Seniors present art and research at the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College

The Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College will hold an opening reception for Young Ambitions: 2014 Senior Exhibition on Tuesday., April 29 at 4 p.m.

The exhibition includes works in a variety of media including paintings, photography, video, sculpture, and installation art by seven Randolph College seniors majoring in art with a concentration in studio art: Ashesh Maharjan ’14, Kelsea Hammoura ’14, Kelsey Abell ’14, K. Becker Bickley ’14, Jerelle Morse ’14, Kelly Wood ’14, and Mariah Reed ’14.

On Thursday, May 1, at 4 p.m., Randolph College’s graduating art history students will present their senior papers. Presentation topics include:

• “Physiognomy in the Works of Gianlorenzo Bernini and the Influence on Le Brun’s Treatise A Method to Learn to Design the Passions,” by Katherine Vance ’14;
• "Balancing Gender Roles: The Daphne and Apollo Myth in Victorian Paintings by Henrietta Rae and John William Waterhouse," by Monica Varner ’14;
• "Looking Through the Lens: Optical Means in the Painting of Fabritius and Manet," by Hannah Neifert ’14;
• "Mistress of Misogyny: A Gendered Reading of Feminine and Masculine Representations in Peggy Guggenheim's Collection," by Lian Aurora Perez ’14;
• "Nost-algia: Redirecting the Case for Repatriation of the Parthenon Sculptures," by Glenna Gray ’14;
• “Saving Grace: The Influence of Papal Acquisitions on the Conservation of Roman Monuments and its place in Modern Conservation Scholarship,” by Tierney Dickson ’14;
• and "Harmony with Strangers: Daily Tous les Jours 21 Balançoires (21 Swings)," by Melissa Halka ’14.

These events are free and open to the public, and refreshments will be provided at both the opening reception and the presentation. For more information on exhibitions and events, visit www.maiermuseum.org or contact them at (434) 947-8136 / museum@randolphcollege.edu.

Statewide art history symposium to be held at Randolph

The Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College will host the first annual Virginia Art Historians Colloquium Undergraduate Symposium this weekend.

The symposium will include five presentations on a variety of art history topics, including a paper by Glenna Gray ’14 about modern pillaging of Iraqi art. Presentations begin at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“This symposium gives undergraduate art history students an opportunity to share their research with their peers from other institutions in Virginia,” said Leanne Zalewski, a Randolph art professor.

The idea for a statewide symposium highlighting the work of art history students came up in a discussion between Zalewski and professors from other colleges at a conference last fall. Zalewski offered to host the first one at Randolph.

The presentations include:

“I Heard it Through the Grape Vine: Revelry Scenes in Ancient India” by Ellen Archie, Washington and Lee University

“The Truth Beyond the Loss Register: An Examination of the Economic and Political Factors Behind the Pillaging of Iraq's Cultural Heritage” by Glenna Gray, Randolph College

“She left the web, she left the loom: Pre-Raphaelite Representations of the Lady of Shalott and Gender Ideologies in Victorian England” by Virginia Lefler, Roanoke College

“Odilon Redon: Prince of the Fin de Siècle” by Stephanie Stassi, Hollins University

“Not So Happy Days: A Biographical Analysis of Happy Days (Edward Henry Potthast)” by Grayson Van Beuren, Virginia Tech

There will be question and answer sessions at 1:50 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

Maier exhibitions feature work of student curators and art professor's paintings

This spring, the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College features two exhibitions created by the Randolph community.

Five students curated The Modern Woman: Roles or Reality?, an exhibition that explores how women are depicted in art. The exhibition Fear and Wonder includes 19 works that art professor Jim Muehlemann painted during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Both exhibitions will open to the public with a reception from 6–8 p.m. on Friday.

Last semester, art professor Leanne Zalewski taught a curatorial seminar designed to teach students how to curate an exhibition, from selecting a theme to hanging the paintings. Monica Varner ’14, Ainsley Hoglund ’14, Thea Ezinga ’15, Katie Vance ’14, and Hannah Neifert ’14 took the class and decided to explore artistic depictions of women and think about whether the art is true to women’s psychological and physical reality.

“I hope that we can create a discussion with our exhibition and get people thinking about how women are represented in art,” said Neifert.

Each student found several paintings and drawings from the College’s art collection that relate to the theme. Together, they chose which works to include in the exhibition, wrote wall text, and hung the paintings.

"Angels" is one painting in the exhibition Fear and Wonder.

The students appreciated getting to practice curating rather than only reading about it. “I was very excited to be able to work in a curation class, since this is the field I want to go into,” said Ezinga. “To get to do this, and get hands-on experience while still an undergraduate, is really amazing.”

The paintings in Muehlemann’s Fear and Wonder exhibition were inspired by Japanese art that often portrays striking beauty intertwined with fearful, violent images. Most of the paintings juxtapose graceful birds flying on alarming backdrops such as burning skyscrapers or flying arrows.

“While the birds in his paintings may evoke fear and wonder, they also appear hopeful,” Zalewski said in an essay she wrote in the catalog for Muehlemann’s exhibition.

The Modern Woman: Roles or Reality? and Fear and Wonder will be on view at the Maier through April 13.

Edward Hopper and Walker Evans discussed in documentary viewing and lecture at the Maier

Two upcoming events at the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College will focus on two American artists who realistically documented the lives of everyday in the 20th century, even as many of their peers modern European styles of art.

Mrs. Scott's House by Edward Hopper is part of the collection
at the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College.

At 1 p.m. on December 2, the Maier will screen the documentary Edward Hopper: A National Gallery of Art Film which discusses the painter and printmaker’s works and influences, The documentary combines archival photographs and film with current footage of locations that he painted. Actor and art collector Steve Martin narrates the film.

One week later, on December 9 at 1 p.m., audiences can return to the Maier to learn more about Edward Hopper as well as Walker Evans, a photographer who documented life during the Great Depression, when Jeffrey Allison presents “An American Silence: Walker Evans & Edward Hopper.” Allison, the Paul Mellon Collection educator and statewide programs coordinator for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, will discuss the works of both artists, who distinguished themselves from many of their peers at the beginning of the 20th century by not following the fads towards a European influence, but rather staying true to their own style.

The Maier collection includes works by both Hopper and Evans. In fact, Hopper’s Mrs. Scott’s House was it was the first purchase made possible by the Louise Jordan Smith Fund in 1936.

Allison’s lecture is made possible because the Maier’s is an educational partner with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Earlier this semester, this educational partnership brought Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda to discuss ekphrastic poetry at the Maier.

Berlind Symposium will examine link between war and art

An upcoming symposium at the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College offers the chance to learn how artists embrace and reflect on their Vietnamese heritage.

Anne Wilkes Tucker ’67

The 22nd annual Helen Clark Berlind Symposium will begin Saturday, Oct. 5, at 1 p.m. Three artists who have art featured in the 102nd Annual Exhibition: Contemporary Vietnamerican Art will be present to discuss their work. Anne Wilkes Tucker ’67, the well-known curator of the exhibition WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY, will deliver the keynote address. Tucker has served as the curator of photography for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Attending artists include Binh Danh, whose works in the exhibition include Vietnam War-era photographs printed on leaves and daguerreotypes of scenes in Yosemite National Park; Pipo Nguyen-duy, who has two photograph series represented in the exhibition; Thomas Thuấn Ðặng Vũ, creator of several abstract paintings depicting elements from his childhood in communist Vietnam. Each artist will present a talk about his work.

Bin Danh, Waiting

Tucker, a member of the Randolph College Board of Trustees, will discuss the concept of war photography, which she studied for more than 10 years while preparing an exhibition with thousands of photographs from combat and the aftermath of war. “This exhibition has three photographers, making it strong in photography,” said Martha Johnson, director of the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College. “It will be interesting to see what Anne has to say about how the experience of war is reflected in their work.”

Johnson also hopes people will engage in conversation with the artists and learn about how their art expresses the impact of war but arrives at deeper meanings. “It would be good for people to see that one can experience something as horrific as the Vietnam War and still be able to be very creative and expressive, and have a keen sense of the beauty in the world,” Johnson said. “I think that’s a really hopeful message.”

This Berlind Symposium was founded by friends of Helen Clark Berlind ’58 and always addresses themes relevant to the annual exhibition. “Its purpose is to extend the educational impact of the annual exhibition,” Johnson said. “There is a much richer benefit to the students to have scholars and artists come to deepen the interpretation of the exhibition.”

Find the detailed schedule for the 2013 Berlind Symposium here.

Maier hosts documentary screening featuring artist in "Contemporary Vietnamerican Art" exhibition

Each artist represented in Contemporary Vietnamerican Art, the exhibition currently showing at the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College, has ties to the Vietnam War. On Monday, the Maier will show a documentary about art and protest to shed more light on the messages in the exhibition.

The Maier will screen “Protest,” a segment in the PBS Series Art in the 21st Century, at 1 p.m. September 30. This segment focuses on the way artists use their art to engage in discussion about war, injustice, and current events. An-My Lê, a photographer represented in the Maier’s current exhibition, is one artist featured in this segment.

An-My Lê is the most well established of the five artists featured in the exhibition. Her interest lies primarily in photographing war without focusing on the combat experience. She attempts to capture the day-to-day events outside of battle. Contemporary Vietnamerican Art includes several of her early photographs that were taken at Vietnam War reenactments in Virginia.

Lê’s portion of the Art in the 21st Century Protest episode features her works done after the photographs in the Maier were created, so the viewers will be able to see what she has done more recently.

The documentary stands out because rather than using narrators, most of the speaking is done by the featured artists themselves.

Nancy Sparrow, who has pieces in the College's art collection, also has a part in the segment.

Exhibition highlights “Vietnamerican” art

Without ever showing a scene of combat, the art in Randolph College’s 102nd Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art tells the story of the Vietnam War and its legacy.

Binh Danh devised a way to print photos onto leaves. Several
pieces are in Contemporary Vietnamerican Art at the Maier.

The exhibition, titled Contemporary Vietnamerican Art, features the works of five artists who were born in Vietnam but now live and work in the United States. “All of the artists were affected by the Vietnam War, but they’re not singularly defined by it,” said Martha Johnson, director of the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College.

Each work has some connection to the artists’ Vietnamese heritage and childhood. Most also hearken to the war that ravaged the country 40 years ago, forcing some of the artists’ families to flee their home country.

The works include photographs displayed on leaves using a technique photographer Binh Danh developed, as well as more traditional photographs showing modern schoolchildren in Vietnam by Pipo Nguyen-duy.

Several black and white photographs by An-My Lê  capture scenes from Vietname War reenactments held in Central Virginia. Lien Truong’s surrealist paintings portray bomb craters that are transforming into pools from which new life springs.

Thomas Thuấn Ðặng Vũ’s abstract works are full of symbols—gas masks, loudspeakers that were used to spread communist propaganda, toys from his childhood, fresh fruit he once presented on an altar to his ancestors. “More than any of the other artists, he talks about his work as really digging through the images and feelings of his childhood as a cathartic process,” Johnson said.

The idea for this show grew from the 2012 exhibition, Bridges Not Walls, which focused on the art of several artists who have immigrated to America from several other countries. This year, Johnson wanted to narrow the focus to artists from one country. Because Randolph has more international students from Vietnam than from any other foreign country, it became the subject. Johnson discovered the term “Vietnamerica” in the title of a book a Vietnamese author wrote about his family.

The exhibition will open Thursday, Sept. 5, with a panel discussion at 6 p.m. The panel discussion will include two students from Vietnam, a student whose research has focused on Vietnam, and a local participant in Vietnam War reenactments. The exhibition will be on view until December 9.

“I hope people will enjoy the imagery at face value: we have work that is humorous as well as work that is contemplative,” Johnson said. “I also hope they can consider things about identity, consider assumptions about identity and the concept of bridging our cultural differences.”

Love at the Maier highlights life of Arthur B. Davies

One man, multiple lives. Perhaps not the traditional Valentine’s story, but this weekend the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College will host the 10th annual Love at the Maier event, focusing on the intriguing story of Arthur B. Davies. This two part program is traditionally held in February and focuses on love, what it means, and its relation to art, said Andrew Schaeffer ’14, president of Randolph’s student docent club F.R.A.M.E..

This year’s Love at the Maier is titled “The Loves of Arthur B. Davies,” and the plurality of “loves” is no mistake. Davies, the artist featured in the Maier’s current exhibition, is recognized not only for bringing European Modernism to America, but also for his uncanny private life with multiple loves revealed after his death.

On Friday, from 5:30 – 7 p.m., Randolph College students Stormy Clowdis ’13, Mariah Reed ’14, and Natalie Flores ’16, will give presentations about the women in Davies’ life and how they influenced his art. Hors d’oeuvres will be served and a cash bar will be available. The event is free for Randolph College students, $5 for Museum members, and $10 for non-members.

The second part of the program will be geared towards families and held on Sunday from 2 – 4 p.m. The public and Randolph community may drop in and meet Mac Cosgrove-Davies, the great-grandson of the artist. Children ages 5 –15, with an adult, will have the opportunity to create “sun print” valentines with Cosgrove-Davies and Randolph students. Admission for the family program is $4 for Maier members and $5 for non-members. (Please note: The exhibition includes works that contain nudity.)

Volunteers are still needed for this event. If you are interested in participating, please contact Schaeffer (awschaeffer@randolphcollege.edu) or Martha Johnson (mjohnson@randolphcollege.edu).

Exhibition highlights art from Arthur B. Davies, dance from Isadora Duncan

A new exhibition at the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College combines never-before-exhibited artwork with internationally-renowned dance.

Lori Belilove, artistic director of the Isadora Duncan Dance Company,
explains the dance-centered artwork of Arthur B. Davies.

On Friday, the Maier will open Modern Movement: Arthur Bowen Davies Figurative Works on Paper from the Randolph College and Mac Cosgrove-Davies Collections. The Isadora Duncan Dance Company will be on hand to explain and demonstrate the dance poses depicted in many of Davies’ works.

“The art would be great alone, but introducing the dance aspect makes it more meaningful,” said Martha Johnson, director of the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College. “This is interdisciplinary programming in action. That is always at the core of the liberal arts experience.”

Modern Movement

Exhibition Opening
When: Friday, Jan. 18, 6–8 p.m.
Where: Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College
Featuring art and dance interpretation by the Isadora Duncan Dance Company.
Free and open to the public

The Art of Isadora

Lecture and dance performance by the Isadora Duncan Dance Company
When: Saturday, Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Smith Hall Theatre
Tickets: $5 (free for students)

Davies was an American who is best known for his role in The Armory Show, an avant-garde exhibition that broke ground for modern art in America in 1913. Davies was the primary curator of the show, officially titled  the International Exhibition of Modern Art, and organized it with other American artists who wanted to see something new in American art.

“The academic training for artists had just gotten to be very predictable, so they were trying to breathe new life into the art scene in this country,” Johnson said. “People were tired of the tried and true, and they were looking for something new, something that was unique and creative, and about ideas.”

The exhibition shocked and scandalized many viewers because of the non-traditional nature of the art, which included cubist, surrealist, styles. But it also had its intended effect, ushering in a period of modernism in American art.

At the same time, Isadora Duncan was working to restore ballet from mere entertainment to an art form focused on beauty and natural movement. Occasionally, Davies drew inspiration from Duncan, attending her performances and sketching the dancers. Dancers were the subject of many of his works.

Many of Davies’ figure drawings featuring dancers were purchased by an art collector named Lillie P. Bliss. Her family donated much of her artwork to the College in 1949 after her death, making the College the custodian of one of the largest Davies collections in the country.

For decades, the Davies pieces from that gift remained in the College’s archives. Ten years ago, several pieces underwent conservation treatments to preserve them and allow them to be used in an exhibition. Several years later, the artist’s great-grandson Mac Cosgrove-Davies and Maier staff members began planning an exhibition to mark the centennial of the Armory Show.

The exhibition includes more than 70 works by Davies from the College’s collection and from Cosgrove-Davies’ private collection.

In addition to providing demonstrations at Friday’s exhibition opening, the Isadora Duncan Dance Company will present a concert in Smith Hall Theatre on Saturday. During the week, the dance company members are participating in a residency to teach techniques to Randolph dance students.

American art by international artists featured in new Maier exhibition

The new exhibition at The Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College tells the story of cultures that have come together in America to make unique art.

Opening Reception

Bridges Not Walls opens Friday, Aug. 31, 3:30 p.m., with a gallery talk.

See the poster for details.

Bridges Not Walls: The 101st Exhibition of Contemporary Art includes the works of six artists from other countries who have made their home in the United States. It follows the theme of the College’s quality enhancement plan, also titled “Bridges Not Walls,” which seeks to build students’ intercultural competency.

“It seemed to offer a lot of opportunity for us as a theme,” said Martha Johnson, director of the Maier. “There is an overabundance of great examples of people expressing themselves creatively, bringing with them all these different heritages.”

The new exhibition opens on Friday, August 31, at 3:30 p.m. when artist Sook Jin Jo will give a gallery talk, followed by a reception. Originally from Korea, her work follows themes of finding common ground in humanity. Her work in Bridges Not Walls is an installation art piece featuring empty frames hanging from the ceiling, as well as a video of her performance art Crossroads.

Most of the other artists represented in the exhibition will present gallery talks and participate in a panel discussion during the Heather Clark Berlind Symposium, Sept. 15–16.

The other artists include:

Edgar Endress
Born in Chilé, much of Endress’ art tells the story of people moving from one country to another, Johnson said. In Bridges Not Walls, he presents The Shrine of the American Dream, which features images from patent applications for inventions that never became successful, combined with wood from demolished homes.

Muriel Hasbun
Hasbun grew up in El Salvador during a civil war. Her father, a dentist, was often called upon to use dental X-rays to identify casualties during the war. Her work Ex Post Facto turns these X-rays into art. “These images had a very haunting kind of role, but they also are very beautiful abstractions,” Johnson said. “She sees them as inner landscapes of individuals who now are identified and remembered by these X-rays.”

Assaf Evron
Primarily a photographer, Evron will display pieces from a series of photographs that portray a phenomenon in his home country of Israel. Because of the price of scrap metal, many people fill shopping carts with scrap that they can sell. His photographs in this series portray these shopping carts and their shadows with background removed, making them appear as floating sculptures.

Kukuli Verlarde
Verlarde is from Peru and now lives in Philadelphia. Her art works include ceramic sculpture inspired by pre-Columbian imagery and life-size self-portrait paintings. “She explores different identities that are stereotypical identities of Peruvian women,” Johnson said. The Maier exhibition will include four of Verlarde’s self-portraits.

Jiha Moon
Compared to the other artists represented in Bridges Not Walls, Moon’s work involves more visual blending between American culture and her native culture. “She combines Korean imagery with American imagery and puts them together in a very playful way,” Johnson said. Moon now lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Johnson said the exhibition was originally inspired by the College’s 2010 exhibition, which included works from Korean artist Sang-Ah Choi. Randolph acquired Choi’s Welcome to America, a mixed-media piece that depicts immigrants being welcomed by Mickey and Minnie Mouse and surrounded by American cultural symbols. “A lot of her work is about her coming here and about her impressions of what life is like here,” Johnson said.

“It’s a very American thing,” she added. “Ultimately, we’re a country of immigrants. It’s an old story, but one I think we sometimes tend to forget.”

Student-curated exhibition opens Friday at Maier Museum of Art

Lots of students can say they have visited to museums and analyzed exhibitions, but students at Randolph College can now talk about what it is like to curate one.

Watch this short video about what the students learned as they curated this exhibition.

Mirror of a Passing World

Ephemeral Places, Vanishing Spaces

Opening Reception: Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, 4 - 7 p.m.
On View Until: April 15, 2012

For the next three months, the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College will show Mirror of a Passing World: Ephemeral Places, Vanishing Spaces, which was curated by a group of six students last semester. The exhibition explores the way that art preserves memories, events, and locations that otherwise would fade away.

In the past, some students have had the opportunity to curate exhibits in the Maier’s small gallery, but this is the first exhibition curated by a group of students and taking up both of the museum’s galleries, said Leanne Zalewski, who teaches art history at Randolph College.

Zalewski decided to teach a student curatorial seminar so more students could work hands-on with the College’s art collection. This gave students experience with each stage of curating an exhibition, such as selecting, choosing artwork, writing wall text, and hanging art. The process also helped them learn about the strict deadlines involved, especially when the exhibition is curated in a short amount of time.

“In this situation we had to curate the exhibition in a period of one semester, which is unusually short considering the scope of the exhibition—we have almost 50 objects in the exhibition,” Zalewski said.

Glenna Gray ’14 said Zalewski suggested the class to her, and she jumped at the chance to have hands-on experience planning and executing the exhibition. “Since it's student curated, we had a direct role in each decision of the exhibit,” she said.

Stormy Clowdis ’13 said the class gave her experience in the career field she is pursuing. “I want to go into the museum field. I felt taking this class would prepare me for the real world in museum studies and I could establish a good career for myself.”

Zalewski said the exhibition has turned out to be a success, and she and the Maier Museum staff plan to have another student group-curated exhibit in the next couple of years.

The exhibition includes oil paintings, prints, etchings, and other works of art. Each piece inspires a sense of nostalgia for the past, emphasizing how art preserves memories and impermanent locations.

Melissa Halka ’14 said she hopes the exhibition inspires viewers to pause, consider how the world is passing around them, and resolve not to let life pass them by. “I hope it inspires a meditative state, and that visitors will notice more of the smaller details in life and have a richer experience in life,” said Halka.