Museum exhibits to feature community artists

Sea Wall -- A multi-piece glass sculpture that is part of the exhibit “Fire, Light and Things You Haven’t Seen: New Work by Jan Thomas and Cameron Smith.” The exhibit brings some of the best of the Do U Glass Hot Shop in Murphysboro to University Museum. (Photo provided) Download Photo Here

May 27, 2010

Museum exhibits to feature community artists

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The University Museum at Southern Illinois University Carbondale announces a summer lineup that includes community artists in a variety of media.

Here’s what’s coming to the galleries:

• Sense of Place/Sense of Space: Landscapes of Personal Meaning by Southern Illinois High School Students, June 15-July 9.

This photography exhibit continues the photography highlight the University Museum observed during the academic year 2009-2010. High schools represented are: Anna-Jonesboro, Eldorado, Elverado, Harrisburg, Pinckneyville and Zeigler-Royalton. Bob DeHoet, museum education director, curates the exhibit and directed the photographic study. Carbondale Community Arts, administering a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, contributed funding to this photographic study and exhibit.

• Rodney Walls: Retrospective, June 15-July 12.

Rodney Walls, who made his home in Ava in recent years, passed away on May 16. Years ago, he lived in his native Chicago, where his watercolors, woodcarvings, screen-prints, and brass works contributed to the Chicago-Wide Award he earned in the late 1960s. As part of the award, he sent his work to a New York City venue for display. The University Museum presents a retrospective of Walls’ work. His son, Chris, a SIUC alumnus and former employee of the museum, will assemble the exhibit. Walls’ family presents this retrospective of the distinguished artist as a tribute to “a free spirit artist of the 1960s.”


Media Advisory

Chris Walls, now executive director of the Murphysboro Chamber of Commerce, is available to talk about the retrospective and the life of his father, the artist. Call him at 618/267-6096 or email him at walls@email.com or at chamber@murphysboro.com.


• Exhibit Receptions, 4-7 p.m., June 25, at the museum. Free, open to the public receptions for the Sense of Place/Sense of Space and Walls’ retrospective exhibits.

* Fire, Light and Things You Haven’t Seen: New Work by Jan Thomas and Cameron Smith, July 23-Aug. 6, then Aug. 24-Sept. 5.

Thomas and Smith own and operate the Do U Glass Hot Shop in Murphysboro, housed in the former Douglass School. As their name of their shop implies, Thomas and Smith specialize in glass art. They also teach glassblowing, and they rent shop access for area artists. The two are well known throughout the Midwest. Thomas is a SIUC alumna. This exhibit puts on display one of the hidden treasures of this area.

• Exhibit Reception, 4-7 p.m. Aug. 27. Meet Jan Thomas and Cameron Smith and other glass artists and enthusiasts in the region.

Summer hours at the University Museum are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, closed on Monday. The museum re-opens for the summer on June 16. Admission to most exhibits is free, donations are welcome.

 

Rodney Walls

Rodney Walls: Retrospective --
An example of the multi-genre
work by Chicago artist Rodney
Walls. (Photo provided)
Download Photo Here

Sense of Place/Sense of Space

Sense of Place/Sense of Space -- This
photograph, by an Elverado high school
student, is part of a photography exhibit
featuring the landscape images from area
high school students. (Photo provided)
Download Photo Here