EUGENE, Ore. -- (January 23, 2017) -- The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon campus presents the site-specific installation of artist Clay Lohmann’s room-sized fabric piece “Camo Cubes.” The exhibition, on view from February 1 to April 30, 2017, is created specifically for the Artist Project Space. and will be accompanied by two additional recent works.
On February 25 at 2 p.m. a discussion with exhibition curator Danielle Knapp, JSMA’s McCosh Associate Curator, Clay Lohmann, and Dr. Henry Sayre, Distinguished Professor of Art History at Oregon State University and author of “A World of Art,” will explore the artist’s practice.
Lohmann sewed large, modular panels that feature the popular “Tumbling Blocks” or “Baby Blocks” pattern to construct “Camo Cubes.” The presence of camouflage print in his fabric choices invites a discussion about the overlap of craft, design, architecture, gender representation and the marginalization of quilting. He intends for his pieces to be “experienced” and not just “viewed.”
“All of my quilting is an homage to the unsung, underappreciated, and most often, women quilters who, no matter what level of artistic achievement, simply are not recognized as ‘artists,’ Lohmann explained in the eighth edition of “A World of Art.”
Lohmann resides in Corvallis, Oregon, and grew up in Osage County, Oklahoma, where he attended the reservation school. His grandmother was a quilter, but he did not start sewing until 2008. His background in fine art and theater design is evident in the aesthetics, construction, and installation of his quilted panels. “The accompanying painting and video on view demonstrate how Lohmann applies the same intellectual rigor to working with different materials,” says Knapp. “The pieces are playful but have several layers of meaning.”
His works have been exhibited at The Portland Pataphysical Society (Pata PDX), the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, the Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, New York (inaugural show), the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon, and the Arts Center, Corvallis.
About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a premier Pacific Northwest museum for exhibitions and collections of historic and contemporary art based in a major university setting. The mission of the museum is to enhance the University of Oregon’s academic mission and to further the appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts for the general public. The JSMA features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, America and elsewhere as well as changing special exhibition galleries. The JSMA is one of seven museums in Oregon accredited by the American Association of Museums.
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is located on the University of Oregon campus at 1430 Johnson Lane. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens. Free admission is given to ages 18 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and University of Oregon faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541-346-3027.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.
Contact: Debbie Williamson Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu
Links: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu
