September 24, 2004

Festive Oct. 1 event marks museum's anniversary

by Paula M. Davenport

CARBONDALE, Ill. - - The University Museum will herald its 130th anniversary with a free reception, five new exhibits and musical performances, all from 4-7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 1.

Established in 1874 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, the museum is now in the north wing of Faner Hall and behind Shryock Auditorium. Free parking is available in separate lots north and south of the building.

Music by area groups Banjovi and Loose Gravel will add a pleasing aural element to the visual arts displays. Mark your calendar and plan to see the new exhibits, all opening the evening of the reception.

Filling the galleries will be:


  • "Wood: A Second Life: Francis, Jaros, Kinser," featuring handcrafted wooden pieces by a trio of the region's master wood workers, including Tim Francis, a wood turner from Cobden who fashions wooden vessels and natural rim bowls, Rory Jaros, known for his fine riven chairs, and cabinet maker Kyle Kinser of Makanda. whose works are mostly made from native Southern Illinois woods and bear an Asian influence. Jerry Monteith, a professor in the SIUC School of Art and Design, is curating the show, up through Nov. 14.
  • Tom Heintz's Architectural Photographs of furniture based on Frank Lloyd Wright's designs, on display through November. Norman L. Lach, assistant professor of architecture and interior design at SIUC, is curating the exhibit, on display through November.
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  • "Nature: Intimate Exposures" will showcase close-up photographs of flowers by Gene Moehring. Now retired from SIUC's Office of Media & Communication Resources, Moehring is a former exhibit designer at the museum and later oversaw special projects for one of the University's busiest photo and video departments. On display through Nov. 14.

  • "The 9th Biennial" exhibit by the Carbondale Community Arts organization. Twenty works by 11 artists across the Midwest selected by juror and curator Mel Watkin of Cobden. Includes paintings, ceramics, digital prints, etchings, collage and glass- fired copper. Artists are Marilyn Davis, Aaron Hugenberg, JoAnna Johnson and Chad Erpedling, all of Carbondale; Dennis Deane of Kingston, Ohio; Wen Fan of Murphysboro; Karen Fiorino of Makanda; Sharon Harper of Springfield, Mo.; Vivian Kline of Cincinnati; Margaret McAdams of Kingston, Ohio; and Russ Revock of Cleveland. On view through Nov. 14. Part of this year's Arts in Celebration 2004 programming and sponsored, in part, by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council."Working in the Black Gold: Photographs from Four Coal Regions," documentary photos from mines in Southern Illinois, Scotland's County Fife, the South Wales Coal District in Wales and the Ostrava-Karvina District of the Czech Republic. The photographers are recent SIUC master of fine arts graduate Lee Buschbaum and Daniel Overturf, associate professor of cinema and photography at SIUC. Photos are on display through Dec. 18. The Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Illinois General Assembly and the SIUC Coal Research Center are helping to fund the exhibit.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays through Mondays.

Please note the museum will be closed Nov. 11 and Nov. 20-28.

Enhancing cultural outreach efforts is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint for the development of the University by the time it celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2019.

For more information, visit the museum online at http://www.museum.siu.edu or call weekdays, 618/453-5388.