School of Art + Design Faculty Exhibition
November 15, 2003 through January 4, 2004
This exhibition featured new work by faculty in the School of Art + Design.
Exhibition programming
Faculty Talks: 12 pm
November 19: Conrad Bakker
December 3: Kevin Hamilton
December 10: Melissa Pokorny
December 17: Gerald Guthrie
Anna Pottery: Plagiarism as Art
November 7, 2003 through January 4, 2004
Guest Curator: Richard D. Mohr
This exhibition re-introduced Illinois to its greatest potters, the brothers Cornwall and Wallace Kirkpatrick, and their Anna Pottery (1859-96). Anna Pottery: Plagiarism as Art focused on the brothers' large-scale incised works which obsessively reproduce texts from quirky yet mundane sources like telephone books and corporate reports. Ahead of its time, the Kirkpatricks' work is forerunner to both the outsider art and pop art of today. This was part of KAM's Featured Works Series (XIV).
Exhibition programming
November 9
1 pm: Second Sunday Gallery Tour
Guided tour of the exhibition led by exhibition curator Richard D. Mohr
The eShow
November 7, 2003 through January 4, 2004
Guest Curator: Barry Blinderman
Digital technology so quickly and consummately replicates everything around us that the distinction between "here" and "there," fake and real, tangible and ethereal, is rapidly disappearing. The eShow included computer-driven installations by four Illinois artists—Kevin Hamilton, Sabrina Raaf, Scott Roberts, and Siebren Versteeg—who explore the interpenetration of actual and virtual spaces.
December 14
1 pm: Second Sunday Gallery Tour
Guided tour of the exhibition led by exhibition curator Barry Blinderman
Remnants of Ritual:
Selections from the Gelbard Collection of African Art
August 26 through October 26, 2003
Curator: Michael Conner
Traditional African masks and sculptures were created for a multitude
of purposes. Today, the original context of these artworks has all but
disappeared. In Remnants of Ritual: Selections from the Gelbard
Collection of African Art visitors were presented with the astonishing physical presence
of the rites and festivals which once bridged everyday life and mythical
time for so many distinct African peoples.
The Gelbard brothers have assembled a magnificent collection of 100 works
in wood and metal including a rare brass Temne, Karfi masks, Akan gold
regalia, a Royal Benin Kingdom ivory figure, a Sango ritual mortar attributed
to Olowe of Ise, an Azande harp, and a life-size Yao figure from Malawi.
Each piece was photographed and fully documented in a color catalog.
Exhibition and related programming supported in part by Illinois Arts Council; Krannert Art Museum Council; and Hampton Inn
Exhibition programming
September 10
5:30 pm: Traditional Processional
A ceremonial opening for the exhibition featuring the local Adidzo Drum Club playing Ghanaian Dagbamba music, with a brief dedication by Agbenyega Adedze, assistant professor of History at Illinois State University.
September 10
1 pm: Gallery Conversation
"Legacy of Power and Form," a moderated discussion featuring Arhus P. Bourgeois and Scott Rodolitz, authors of the exhibition catalogue
October 12
1 pm: Second Sunday Gallery Tour
Guided tour of the exhibition led by exhibition curator Michael Conner
Visualizing the Blues:
Images of the American South, 1862–1999
September 5 through November 2, 2003
Guest Curator: Wendy McDaris
This exhibition explored the historical, cultural, and visual foundations of the blues through the history of photography. More than 100 haunting and powerful images, from the Civil War to the present day, portrayed the physical and cultural environment of the South that gave birth to America’s most influential musical form. Among the photographers represented in the exhibition were Matthew Brady, Alexander Gardner, Margaret Bourke-White, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ralson Crawford, William Eggleston, Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, Eudora Welty, Ernest Withers, Jane Rule Burdine, and Larry McPhearson. Organized by the Dixon Museum and Gardens in Memphis, TN.
Exhibition and related programs were supported in part by Krannert Art Museum Council; Donald and Gay Roberts; Charles and Anne Slichte; Illinois Arts Council; Frances P. Rohlen Visiting Artist Fund/College of Fine and Applied Arts; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; WWHP The Whip 98.3 FM; WILL-FM 90.9 FM; and Hampton Inn
Exhibition programming
September 24
5:30 pm: Lecture
"Moving the Blues from the Cotton Fields to Town," a talk by Michael Lasser, music historian and host of National Public Radio's Fascinatin' Rhythm
October 8
5:30 pm: Artists@Krannert
"Fattening Frogs for Snakes," a musical performance and reading by John Sinclair, Blues musician, poet, and political activist
October 9
5:30 pm: Gallery Conversation
"Images of the American South," a discussion with John Sinclair
October 22
5:30 pm: Film Screening
Mystery Train (1989), directed by Jim Jarmusch
The Spirit of Mediterranean Pathos:
The Early Work of Pierre Daura
August 26 through November 2, 2003
The work of Pierre Daura (1896-1976) evoked for many critics—Catalan, American, and French—the spirit of the place from which he came, Catalonia, as well as the places he lived: Paris, St. Cirq Lapopie, and Virginia. Daura, an artist born on the island of Minorca, was a member of significant modern art movements in the early twentieth century, from the "Agrupació d'Artistes Catalans" to "Cercle et Carré." Exploring the forms, colors, and critical reception of Pierre Daura's paintings and drawings from about 1910 to the late 1930s, this exhibition provided a glimpse into a selection of Daura's work that forms part of the Krannert Art Museum's permanent collection. This was part of KAM's Featured Works Series (XIII).