EUGENE, Ore. -- (November 5, 2012) – The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art looks back at the art of the ‘60s and ‘70s with “West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965-1977,” on view February 9 through April 28, 2013. The exhibition opens with a free, public reception on Friday, February 8, from 6 to 8 p.m.

In the heady and hallucinogenic days of the 1960s and ’70s, a diverse range of artists and creative individuals based in the American West—from the Pacific Coast to the Rocky Mountains and the Southwest—broke the barriers between art and lifestyle and embraced the new, hybrid sensibilities of the countercultural movement. “West of Center” explores their unique integration of art practices, political action, and collaborative life activities.

Featuring videos, photographs, drawings, constructions, ephemera, and other artifacts, the exhibition addresses the experiential art activities that incorporated dance, video, performance, political action and communal life, all aimed at creating utopian life-styles, personal growth, and social transformation. The countercultural movement has typically been associated with psychedelic art, but “West of Center” presents psychedelia as only one dimension of a wider integration of art practices.

Curated by Elissa Auther and Adam Lerner, from the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, “West of Center” brings together a range of projects by groups and individuals.  This includes the multi-media light show “The Single Wing Turquoise Bird,” a 15-foot tall geodesic dome and video environment presenting the hand-built architecture of Drop City commune, in Colorado,; video and photographic documentation of dances by Anna Halprin, performances by The Cockettes and The Angels of Light, an inflatable installation designed by the collective Ant Farm , and ephemera from the Black Panthers and Lesbian Feminist Communes in Southern Oregon.

“West of Center” also features a re-creation of the legendary “Ultimate Painting” (1966), a spinning circular canvas made for Drop City’s “Theatre Dome.” Lost after its exhibition in Robert Rauschenberg’s “Experiments in Art and Technology” at the Brooklyn Museum in 1969, this work was recreated in 2011 by Clark Richert, one of its original makers.

“West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965-1977” is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. The exhibition is supported, in part, with funds provided by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) and the National Endowment for the Arts. It is made possible at the JSMA by the Coeta and Donald Barker Special Exhibitions Endowment Fund and JSMA members.

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 six 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. Tuesdays and 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

Link: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu

Celebrations feature music by Los Musiqueros, keynote speaker Alejandra Espinosa Andreu, and art activities lead by Benita Rodriguez Alvarez

EUGENE, Ore. -- (October 17, 2012) – The annual Día de los Muertos celebration returns to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art for two days of activities, on Tuesday, October 30, and Thursday, November 1, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. The free celebrations are open to the community and feature poetry, music, and a keynote address.

Alejandra Espinosa Andreu, artist and keynote speaker, will focus on the importance of Mexican traditions in the Latino community of the United States and “muerte en cartelera,” ephemeral artworks with death as a central theme. In the JSMA art studio, Benita Rodriguez Alvarez, will lead activities for children focused on traditional Mexican folk art practices, including making sugar skulls. Musical guests “Los Musiqueros” return to Eugene from el Bajío, Mexico, to perform music and dance as part of the celebrations.

The program features a traditional Día de los Muertos ofrenda, also known as a Day of the Dead altar, which will be constructed and placed on display. The altar is a customary part of the holiday that is meant to honor family members who have passed on. In addition to the event times, the public is encouraged to visit the ofrenda on Wednesday, October 31, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursday, November 1 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The celebrations and ofrenda are co-sponsored by Oak Hill School in conjunction with the University of Oregon MEChA, Casa de Cultura de Guanajuato, Instituto de Cultura de Guanajuate, Dirección de Atención a Comunidades Guanajuatenses en el Extranjero, and

Adelante Sí. The celebrations are made possible, in part, by a grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust awarded to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

Día de los Muertos, as we know it today, began thousands of years ago in the valley of southern Mexico where the Mayas, Zapotecas, Mixtecas, and Aztecas honored their dead with elaborate ceremonies, dances, and rituals. In the 16th century, when Cortez conquered Mexico and Catholicism was introduced, the religious All Saints Day and All Souls Day coincided with the indigenous Mexican celebrations, giving us the tradition of altars with food, art, candles, flowers, and photographs of the deceased alongside those of saints.

The particulars of the celebration vary widely by region in Mexico, but traditionally, on November 1, Día de Muertos Chiquitos, the departed children are remembered. The evening is sometimes called la Noche de Duelo, The Night of Mourning, marked by a candlelight procession to the cemetery. On November 2, Día de los Muertos, the spirits of the dead are remembered. Entire families visit the graves of their ancestors, bringing favorite foods and alcoholic beverages as offerings to the deceased as well as a picnic lunch for themselves. They spend the day cleaning and decorating the grave sites and visiting with each other and other families. There are sugar skulls and toys for the children, emphasizing early on that death is a positive part of the life cycle. It is a happy occasion for remembering pleasant times with departed family members.

About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a premier Pacific Northwest visual arts center 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 and Russian icons as well as changing special exhibition galleries.  The JSMA is one of six 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. Tuesdays and 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 a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Debbie Williamson Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu

Link: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu

EUGENE, Ore. -- (October 31, 2012) – The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art opens “Pinceladas en el Insomnio (Insomnolent Brushstrokes),” a new exhibition by Mexican artist Rolando Rojas, on Saturday, November 17, 2012.The show of twelve oil paintings are on loan from the Consulate of Mexico in Portland and will be on display through January 13, 2013.

Rolando Rojas was born in the ancient city of Tehuantepec, which lies in the southern state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Tehuantepec means Cerro del Ocelote or “Hill of the Ocelot,” and its inhabitants believe they are descendants of the Záa people, who emerged from the roots of fabled trees and legendary animals. Such aspects of oral tradition figure heavily in Rojas’ work, where human figures coexist and interact with creatures of mythic origin in dreamlike landscapes of intensely saturated color. 

Rojas attributes the fantastic imagery that now dominates his canvases to the tales of his land and his people that populated his mind as a child. The elements of fantasy the artist first heard in stories from his grandparents and great-grandparents in Mexico are seen especially in works such as “El gigante del es bosque (The Giant of the Former Forest), where the hulking figure of the giant looms above the treetops of a barren forest. In other works, such as “Vitalidad (Vitality), a sense of eroticism is subtly suggested by the repetition of elongated and rounded forms. Though never overt, these allusions to masculinity and femininity, gender and the body, are seen often in Rojas’ paintings. 

Rolando Rojas received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the  Benito Juárez Autonomous University of  Oaxaca and a Bachelor of Arts of Restoration from the school of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. His work has exhibited in Argentina, Japan, Italy, Spain, France, Cuba, and Canada. Rojas was chosen for an individual travelling exhibition by the Foreign Ministry of Mexico and the show traveled to Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, and Nicaragua from 2008 to 2010.

“Rolando Rojas: Insomnolent Brushstrokes” is organized by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene. The exhibition is made possible by a grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust and the generous support of the Consulate of Mexico in Portland, the UO Latin American Studies Program, and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

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 six museums in Oregon accredited by the American Alliance 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. Tuesdays and 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

Link: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu

EUGENE, Ore. -- (September 18, 2012) – “Art and Language” is the theme of this season’s Schnitzer Cinema series, complementing the exhibitions “Lesley Dill’s Poetic Visions: From Shimmer to Sister Gertrude Morgan” and “Good Grief! A Selection of Original Art from 50 Years of Charles M. Schulz’s PEANUTS.” Cosponsored with the Cinema Pacific film festival, Schnitzer Cinema is the JSMA's monthly showcase for adventurous cinema, featuring screenings and live Skype dialogues with special guests.  Schnitzer Cinema screenings, on the second Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m., are free and include free popcorn and soda.

The season opens with a screening of ““Beauty is Embarrassing” on Wednesday, October 10 at 7 p.m. The film screening will be followed by a live Skype interview with artist Wayne White.  Admission is free.

“The museum’s exhibitions this season inspired me to select new films that highlight ‘art and language,’ from the word paintings of artist Wayne White in ‘Beauty is Embarrassing” to the Beat poetry of Diane DiPrima in ‘The Poetry Deal,’ ” says Richard Herskowitz, series curator and director of Cinema Pacific.

           
Part biography, part live performance, “Beauty Is Embarrassing” is a funny, irreverent, and inspiring documentary on artist Wayne White, a designer, painter, puppeteer, sculptor, and musician. The film traces White’s career from his start as an underground cartoonist in New York’s East Village to his big break as a designer, puppeteer and voice-over actor on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” for which he won three Emmy’s.  It follows Wayne’s success designing and animating for other children’s shows like “Beakman’s World” and music videos for The Smashing Pumpkins (“Tonight, Tonight”) and Peter Gabriel (“Big Time”) through a dark period of struggle and self-reflection before emerging in his present-day incarnation as a respected painter and performer.  Director Neil Berkeley discovered hours of video which White shot throughout his career including never-before-seen behind the scenes footage of the making of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” now included in the film. The film, like White, embraces the ragged edges and messy contradictions of life, art, and family with biting humor and honesty.

The season continues with a screening of “The Connection” featuring a Skype dialogue with film preservationist Dennis Doros on November 14. “The Connection,” the first feature film, by Shirley Clarke, takes on a controversial play by Jack Gelber that was running off-Broadway, performed by the Living Theatre. It was a play within a play within a jazz concert. It portrayed a group of drug addicts, some of them jazz musicians, waiting in a New York loft apartment for their drug connection. A producer and a writer, meanwhile, have entered their lives to study them and write a play about them. The brilliantly written Beat dialogue was blended with jazz music written and performed by the great pianist Freddie Redd.

On December 7, the season closes honoring the 40th anniversary of film distributor Women Make Movies, and features two of their latest releases, both addressing the work of courageous poets. “Poetry of Resilience” is a documentary by Academy Award-nominated director Katja Esson about six international poets who individually survived Hiroshima, the Holocaust, China’s Cultural Revolution, the Kurdish Genocide in Iraq, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Iranian Revolution. “The Poetry Deal: A Film with Diane di Prima” is an impressionistic document on the great Beat poet. The screening includes a Skype dialogue with Women Make Movies executive director Debra Zimmerman

All films will be screened in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Ford Lecture Hall. Schnitzer Cinema is brought to you in partnership with Cinema Pacific and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

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 six 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. Tuesdays and 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

Link: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu

            Cinema Pacific, http://cinemapacific.uoregon.edu/