On view through September 2, 2018, the exhibition looks at the growth in the museum’s collection since Jill Hartz became the executive director.
EUGENE, Ore. -- (June 14, 2018) – The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon marks its 85th anniversary with a new exhibition, “A Decade of Collecting.” On view through September 2, 2018, in the Coeta and Donald Barker Gallery, the exhibition features works added to the collection in the past 10 years, since Jill Hartz took the helm as executive director in 2008. The exhibition is organized into collecting areas: American and Pacific Northwest, Asian, European, and Caribbean/Latin American.
Founded with a collection whose strengths remain in the fields of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Pacific Northwest art, the JSMA has, over the past ten years, extended the depth and breadth of its collections in support of its mission to serve as both a teaching museum and a cultural educational center for our larger community.
“In the first year I was here, following extensive conversations with on- and off-campus community members, including our Leadership Council, the JSMA created a new collections strategy,” says Hartz. “We have also created an impressive and enviable curatorial team: Anne Rose Kitagawa, our first full-time chief curator of Asian art; Danielle Knapp, McCosh Associate Curator; Cheryl Hartup, Associate Curator of Academic Programs and Latin American Art; and Richard Herskowitz, Curator of Media Arts.”
Within the JSMA’s mission documents, its collection objective states, “The museum collects, preserves, studies, exhibits, and interprets works for the benefit of the University of Oregon curriculum and for the enrichment of the general public. The JSMA is dedicated to strengthening its American, Asian, European, Latin American, and Pacific Northwest art collections and to acquiring fine examples from the history of art, form earliest times to the present, representing cultures throughout the world.”
“A few years ago, we created our first permanent European gallery and designated an area of our Focus Gallery for Masterworks on Loan, which enhance our collection in ways not otherwise possible,” says Hartz. “Expertise, opportunity, and ambition are a formidable combination, and thanks to this strong curatorial staff, faculty engagement, generous collectors and museum supporters, our collections have grown in exciting and enlightening ways.”
The eclectic exhibition features new media work by Stacey Steers and Nina Katchatorian, photographs by Reineke Dykstra and Gus Van Sant, paintings by Morris Graves and Rick Bartow, and Old Master prints by Dürer, Goya, and Rembrandt. The JSMA’s newest collection area – Caribbean and Latin America – is represented by Mexican masters like Tamayo and Cuban artists like Jose Bedia and Aurora Molina. Prints and calligraphy by such artists as Hung LIU, JUNG Do-jun, and KUSAMA Yayoi represent our fine Chinese, Korean, and Japanese collections.
In addition to the works featured in the Barker Gallery, many others acquired over the last decade on view throughout the museum. These range from classical pottery and contemporary Korean ceramics in the Jin Joo and Huh Gallery, the Margo Grant Walsh collection of silver and metalwork in the MacKinnon Gallery, the recent gift of Hung Liu’s mixed media work on view in the Soreng Gallery, Wendy Red Star’s photographs in the museum entrance.
“A Decade of Collecting” is made possible with the generous support of the Coeta and Donald Barker Changing Exhibitions Endowment; the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation; the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; 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. 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, Europe, and the Americas as well as changing special exhibition galleries. The JSMA is one of seven museums—and the only academic art museum-- 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. 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.
Contact: Debbie Williamson Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu
Links: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu
