June 29, 2012

University Museum offers alternative summer fun

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The University Museum at Southern Illinois University Carbondale offers an alternative retreat from the heat this summer with exhibits exploring color, form, and artistic medium.

A highlight of the summer exhibits is “American Spirit: Selections from the Wells Fargo Corporate Art Collection.” Wells Fargo Financial Advisors Barbara J. Blacklock and Daniel Lampe organized the exhibit.  The Wells Fargo collection includes a wide representation of art and some famous names.  Visitors to this exhibit at the University Museum will see Andy Warhol’s “Uncle Sam, 1981” frontier artist George Caitlin’s “Buffalo Chase, 1844” American realist painter George Caleb Bingham’s “County Election, 1854,” and Francis Flora Bond Palmer’s “Across the Continent, 1868,” to name a very few.  

This exhibit runs through Sept. 7, with a closing reception set for 4-7 p.m. on Sept. 7.  The museum is closed Aug. 3-15, but because of the special nature of this travelling exhibit, this exhibit may be available for viewing during the museum’s summer closure period.  To make arrangements, call the University Museum at 618/453-5388.

The exhibit, “Sensation, Revelation! Themes and Variations in Color and Form,” curated by Robert DeHoet, education director for the museum, pulls from the museum’s print collection.  DeHoet presents a new perspective on individual pieces by pulling together several modern masters of studies of color and form.  This exhibit runs until Dec. 14.

Several other exhibits celebrate aspects of Southern Illinois.  Susie Phillips, an artist known for her collages, watercolors, and pastels, captures Southern Illinois in photographs taken during road trips through the area.  The exhibit, “Susie Phillips: Road Trips,” runs through Sept. 14.

Mike Chervinko also captures a side of Southern Illinois in photographs.  His images of petroglyphs, “Symbolism in Sandstone,” show a prehistoric side to the region not always available to the public. Chervinko’s work will also be part of a display at the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site this year.  His exhibit runs through Sept. 7.

Southern Illinois artists Bea Phillips and Steven Martin share their fiber wall hangings and carved wooden boxes in an exhibit called “Stories in Fiber and Wood.”  This exhibit runs through Sept. 14.  Local paper artist Polly Winkler-Mitchell shares a collection of small metal objects originally assembled, over a period of years, by her mother.  “The Mitchell Collection of Historic Metal Treasures,” has no firm closing date yet.

“Out of the Box: A University Museum -- Southern Illinois School Partnership Exhibit,” is the result of the ongoing cooperation between the museum and area schools to educate young artists about art history, and to invite their interaction with art by making art.   This exhibit focused on Joseph Cornell’s box art.  Cornell used found objects to create “visual poems” that took everyday objects and urged viewers to look differently at their textures, surfaces, light, and form.  Students from Cobden High School, Elverado High School, Eldorado High School, Zeigler-Royalton High School, Anna Junior High School, and John A. Logan College created their own art based on their study of Cornell’s boxes.  Carbondale Community Arts contributed funding to this project.  The exhibit continues to Sept. 21. 

Three other exhibits are on semi-permanent display, including the Tlingit Totem Pole, “The Legacy of Katharine Kuh: Building the University’s Art Collection,” and “The Kilenge: Anthropological Fieldwork by Dr. Philip Dark and Dr. Joel Maring,” remain on display until further notice.  All three exhibits highlight strengths of the University Museum’s permanent collection. 

The University Museum is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays, and 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays.  The museum is closed Aug. 3-15.  Admission is free, but donations are welcome.  For more information, visit www.museum.siu.edu