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Current The Brunnier Art Museum, Christian Petersen Art Museum, Farm House Museum and the Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden are affiliates of University Museums at Iowa State University. About eight to twelve annual changing exhibitions and permanent collection exhibitions provide educational opportunities for all ages. Lectures, receptions, conferences, university classes, panel discussions, gallery walks, and artist talks are presented to assist with further interpretation of objects. A full listing of programs and events is available by clicking here. Listed below with date and location are the currently schedule exhibitions.
Brunnier Art Museum, 295 Scheman Building August 24 through December 31, 2009
Artists Visions: Prints, Paintings and Drawings from the Permanent Collection This selection of 60 prints, paintings and sculptures from the University Museums’ permanent collection, include works by American artists Marvin Cone, Grant Wood, Dorthea Tomlinson, and their contemporaries and represent over 70 years of fine art. These images record the faces and places of urban and rural communities pursuing recreational and work activities that occupy city and farm dwellers in the 20th century. Landscapes, portraits, as well as political and social themes of the 20th century will be explored. The exhibition is organized and funded by the University Museums, Iowa State University.
ReLationShips: From Our Roots ReLationShips: Integrated Studio Arts Faculty at the Brunnier explores dynamic connections in the work of art faculty and colleagues across campus. Conceived as a cycle of exhibitions, each show will present the work of four art faculty. Educational programs presented by each artist and their campus cohort will provide stimulating insights into the relationships among art and disciplines in the sciences and humanities.Our first exhibition, From Our Roots, features work by four alumni of the College of Design’s studio art program. Carol Faber (MA 1990, MFA 2004), Cindy Gould (BFA 1992, MA 1994), Joe Muench (BFA 1984) and Barbara Eckhardt Walton (BFA 1991, MA 1993) will be participating. Their selection coincides with the 30th anniversary of the College of Design and showcases the breadth and depth of our unique program. – Ingrid Lilligren, guest curator This exhibition is guest curated by Ingrid Lilligren, professor of Art and Design, and is funded by the Department of Art and Design, College of Design, the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities, and the University Museums Membership.
N. C. Wyeth: America In the Making N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945) was an active participant in the golden years of American illustration, which lasted through the first decades of the twentieth century. Wyeth’s first illustration was published by The Saturday Evening Post on February 21, 1903, and up until his death, he created nearly 4,000 works of art. One of three projects completed for John Morrell and Company of Ottumwa, Iowa, America in the Making depicts twelve dramatic scenes taken from American history—those events that N.C. Wyeth believed were the most pivotal in American history. Painted in 1939 these paintings were used as illustrations for the John Morrell Company’s 1940 calendar. In 1940, the president of John Morrell and Company presented the twelve painted, panels to Iowa State College as a gift. Although Wyeth created the majority of his work in series, few have remained intact like America in the Making, thus making the assembling and exhibition of this painting series important.
Upcoming Exhibitions - January 12 through May 8, 2010 ReLationShips: Embodiment ReLationShips at the Brunnier Art Museum explores dynamic connections in the work of art faculty and colleagues across campus. Conceived as a cycle of exhibitions, each show will present the work of three of four studio arts faculty. Educational programs presented by each artist and and on-campus cohort will provide stimulating insights into the relationships among art and disciplines in the sciences and humanities. The second exhibition in the series, Embodiment, features faculty who portray the figure; invite physical interaction; and describe places we might inhabit. This exhibition showcases the work by Brenda Jones, C. Arthur Croyle, Jennifer Drinkwater, and Michael Stanley. The American Scene: Rural Images from a Turbulent Era Faced with tough economic times during the 1930s, American artists celebrated our nation’s drive and determination. This exhibition recognizes the 75th anniversary of the federal Public Works of Art Project that lasted only six months, from mid-December 1933 to June 1934. The New Deal program employed artists during the Great Depression and encouraged them to depict the American scene. From portraits and city scenes to landscapes and images of rural life these prints were created by artists from across the United States, the prints are a lasting record of America at a specific time and embody the country’s hope for a brighter future. Gutzon Borglum sculptor of Mount Rushmore predicted that “aid to the creative ones among us would enlivened the Nation’s mind”, and help “coax the soul of America back to life.” The Public Works of Art Project may have helped rescue the soul of American. This exhibition explores rural experiences during the Great Depression. The 1930s and 40s were tumultuous eras: the Spanish Civil War raged; Hitler and Mussolini rose to power; World War II broke out in Europe; and, economic survival was the common concern for most Americans. The Gross National Product fell, imports dropped, and national income shrunk while unemployment steadily mounted. Even rural America struggled to feed and sustain itself. Ironically, as a result of New Deal federal employment programs, this era was also one of the most artistically prolific in American history. Under federal sponsorship, artists created approximately 2,500 murals, 17,000 sculptures, 108,000 paintings and 200,000 silk-screened posters between 1933-1943. The sheer volume of new art inspired artists working outside of the federal programs to adopt themes of work, progress and survival, such as those by Christian Petersen, artist-in-residence from 1934 to1955 at Iowa State College. Reacting to policies and economics cries of the time, artists conveyed their concerns about social ills that affected millions, as well as an optimistic spirit through imagery of people and rural industry. Some artists sought to establish a unique style that would convey their renewed belief in the promise of America. For inspiration, they turned to the Midwest where the folkways, customs and ideals of farmers and workers provided an endless bounty of reassuring, nostalgic images. With straightforward naturalism, artists depicted the everyday heroism of life on the farm and in small towns. The exhibition includes 100 prints, drawings and sculptures from the Permanent Collection and the Christian Petersen Art Collection. Jay N. “Ding” Darling (American, 1876-1962), twentieth century editorial cartoonist and conservation activist promoted education about America's natural resources. Darling was a noted Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist for the Des Moines Register, was also a fine arts print maker and created over 84 etchings, photo-etchings and dry-points between 1925 and 1960. Renowned for advocating conservation of our natural resources, Darling was the father of the Federal Duck Stamp Program, founder of the National Wildlife Federation, creator of the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Program, "Ding" Darling laid the groundwork for the system of today's National Wildlife Refuges. In this exhibition Darling depicted Iowa’s wildlife, showing migrations of geese, ducks and quail naturalistically and realistically. The exhibition consists of 61 of Darling’s prints including the one for which he is best known as a printmaker, the original 1934 design for the first Federal Duck Stamp. The prints in this exhibition were gifts to the Brunnier Art Museum from the J. N. “Ding” Darling Foundation, Inc.
Printmakers in Paradise: Selections from the Permanent Collection Japanese woodblock prints quickly captured American and European attention after the Meiji Restoration (1868) opened Japan to the world following nearly three centuries of isolation. These captivating prints were one of the principal forces in the development of Japonisme in Western tastes. Ukiyo-e, as these prints are called, developed during the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-186, the Edo Period. They reflect the passions and interests of an increasingly affluent merchant class with increasing leisure time. The subject focus of early ukiyo-e was theater and beautiful women; however, this grew over time to include military subjects, historical tales, folklore, ghost stories, erotica, and landscape. By the middle of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) Westernization began to contribute to a decline in quality and quantity of woodblock print production, with most of the prints that were being produced going overseas to Western collectors. In the early 20th century two schools of print design emerged: shin hanga (new prints) and sosaku hanga (creative prints) — both an effort to define an essential Japanese character and claimed to carry on the true spirit of traditional ukiyo-e. Looked at from a contemporary perspective, it was shin hanga that to the Western eye successfully carried on the traditional appeal of the Japanese woodblock print. Shin hanga artists revived the style, technique and subject matter of ukiyo-e within the context of a modern Japan. Landscape became an increasingly important genre in woodblock print design in the 19th century. Hiroshige and Hokusai, the Japanese ukiyo-e masters probably best known abroad, excelled in the production of atmospheric landscape views. Often there is a sense of romanticism in the 19th century depiction of Japanese landscape, flora and fauna. In 20th century shin hanga that romanticism is more nostalgic. Consequent to Shinto and Buddhist concepts of nature and the proper human relationship to the natural world, a comfort with and respectful enjoyment of nature is often an aspect of a Japanese woodblock print, regardless of the print’s principal subject. One finds in Japanese woodblock prints a reverence for Japan as a place, the “garden” within which the nation has always existed. In 20th century shin hanga, there is almost always a sense that even with change, Japan (as a place and as a matrix of traditional values that were once there in that particular place) should still be thoughtfully remembered. This exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints is a selection from the Brunnier Art Museum’s permanent collection and from recent acquisitions and promised gifts. While evidencing a variety of styles, subjects, and techniques of ukiyo-e and shin hanga, the emphasis is on prints depicting landscape, flora, and fauna either as subject or background.
Christian Petersen Art Museum, Morrill Hall
HOT and COOL: Contemporary Studio Glass Sculpture from the Permanent Collection August 24 through December 11, 2009 Studio glass sculpture emerged in the 1960s with the experimentation in hot glass by artistic pioneers Harvey Littleton and Dominic Labino. In 1962, they lead the Toledo Museum of Art glassblowing workshops. Through these workshops, Littleton was introduced to Labino’s creative solution of mixing the raw batches of glass using fiberglass marbles which he formulated to melt at lower temperatures. This revolutionary technique allowed for more fluidity and flexibility in the creation of glass sculpture. The University Museums permanent collection of glass consists of ancient vessels, early European and American glass, as well as a growing contemporary studio glass collection
All the Evils...Christian Petersen and the Art of War Presented in the Reiman Gallery through Februrary 26, 2010. This exhibition includes fifty sculptures and drawings, and is curated from the collections of the Christian Petersen Art Collection, University Museums; Special Collections, Iowa State University Library; and, other public and private collections. Most of Petersen’s sculptures from early in his career (pre-1930) are permanently installed in east coast cities, and are represented through photographs. A substantial publication by the same name accompanies the exhibition. This exhibition is organized by the University Museums, guest curated by Dr. Lea Rosson DeLong and supported by Joanne and Charles Frederiksen, Helen Fleming Reinhardt, the University Museums Membership.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Polyphonic Abstraction: Paintings
and Maquettes by Bill Barrett Known primarily for his sculptures of fabricated aluminum, bronze or steel Barrett is also an accomplished painter. This exhibition will juxtapose his expressive canvases with his sculptural maquettes. With lyrical calligraphic stokes, Barrett’s art explores the interplay between positive and negative space with grace, elegance and exquisite balance. Fluidity, celebration, effortlessness are ideas that are delicately balanced with form, line, color and content while invoking a minimal aesthetic with humanity. This exhibition is organized by the University Museums with major funding from Arthur Klein and support from the University Museums Membership.
Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden, south of Morrill Hall Through August 6, 2010
Exquisite Balance: Sculptures by Bill Barrett Each year nearly twenty new public works of art are accessioned into the Art on Campus Collection at Iowa State. The Elizabeth and Bryon Anderson Sculpture Garden affords the opportunity to present sculptures by artists who have recently been acquired for the permanent collection. By experiencing additional works of art by a newly acquired Art on Campus artist, the campus audience gains access to the artist’s broader and deeper aesthetic expressions.
Bill Barrett’s sculptures of fabricated bronze address the interplay between positive and negative space with grace, elegance and exquisite balance. His sculptures recall fluid effortlessness of calligraphic strokes, and betray a positivism to which many viewers feel drawn. Others have said that Barrett’s sculptures are distinctly American in their directness and lightness. His sophisticated constructions, through a delicate balance of form and content, transcend the starker aesthetics of minimalism with a warmth and humanity. This exhibition was organized by the University Museums and supported by Arthur Klein. In spring of 2010 paintings and bronze sculptural maquettes by Bill Barrett will be presented in the Christian Petersen Art Museum.
Farm House Museum, central campus north of Ross Hall December 1 through December 18, 2009
Merry Christmas to All: A Thomas Nast Christmas More than a cartoonist, Thomas Nast was an inventor of icons, popularizing now familiar subjects such as his illustration of Santa Claus, which continues as our image of St. Nick himself. Nast first drew Santa Claus for the 1862 Christmas season Harper’s Weekly cover and center-fold illustration to memorialize the family sacrifices of the Union during the Civil War. In 1862, Christmas was a traditional festival celebration in the United States, although not yet a holiday. The development of Christmas as a holiday and the use of Santa Claus as a symbol of gift giving removed from its Christian background occurred in the 1880’s. Celebrate the season and the timeless images of Thomas Nast with a visit to the Farm House Museum to experience an authentic founding farm Christmas. Visitors will see traditional holiday décor and hear Christmas songs from the 19th century while touring the 150 year old Farm House.
Admission is free.
Hours: Brunnier Art Museum Tues. - Fri. 11 am - 4 pm Saturday - Sunday 1 pm - 4 pm Closed Mondays and University holidays
Farm House Museum Mon. - Fri. Noon - 4 pm Closed weekends and University holidays and semester breaks
Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden and Art on Campus Open 24/7
Christian Petersen Art Museum Monday - Friday 11 am - 4 pm Closed weekends and University holidays and semester breaks
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University Museums, 290 Scheman Bldg., 515.294.3342
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