Past Exhibits 1999-2001
October 25, 2000 - October 28, 2001
Broadbent Gallery | Jean L. Druesedow, Director
The beautiful realm of Ohio art pottery is explored in a new yearlong exhibition appearing Oct. 25, 2000 through Oct. 28, 2001 at the Kent State University Museum titled Uncommon Clay: Ohio Art Pottery from the Paige Palmer Collection.
September 27, 2000 - September 30, 2001
Alumni Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
The history of children's clothing reflects the attitude of adults toward childhood, as, until very recently, children had no voice in the matter. Prior to the late 18th century, children were dressed as miniature adults, in garments which limited their physical freedom and imposed societal restrictions on their behavior.
June 28, 2000 - May 27, 2001
Higbee Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
The Kent State University Museum is pleased to present a unique combination of historic costumes and paper doll art. This exhibition explores fashion from the 18th and 19th centuries through authentic garments of the time period and the paper doll artistry of Norma Lu Meehan.
January 26, 2000 - January 28, 2001
Stager Gallery | Jean L. Druesedow, Director
Flora & Fashion: Gardens Become Us! features a range of fashions influenced by botanicals and florals including 18th-century costume, 19th- and 20th-century ballgowns, garden party dresses, floral hats, textiles, accessories and elegant examples of couture from Dior, Balenciaga, Norell, and Chanel, among others.
March 15, 2000 - October 8, 2000
Broadbent, Palmer, and Mull Galleries | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
Enter Isabel and Ruben Toledo's world and find two highly talented individuals working in synergy. Muse to her husband's sculpture, painting and illustration, Isabel Toledo conceives of shapes and structures to clothe the human body.
April 12, 2000 - September 17, 2000
Alumni Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
The 1970s was a period of self-expression, experimentation and soul-searching. From humble working class denims to high style disco garments, fashions mirrored the changing attitudes that contributed to the emergence of a plethora of new provocative and powerful styles.
June 17, 1998 - June 4, 2000
Higbee Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
When the Kent State University Museum opened its "Victoriana" exhibition in January 1988, it was enhanced by loans from Martha McCaskey Selhorst - six bonnets, six parasols, a carpetbag and a paisley shawl.
November 20, 1999 - April 2, 2000
Alumni Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
Where will you be for the party of the millennium? The event that ushers in more than a change in the calendar but a new era: the inauguration of the first woman president of the United States. Few things are certain but some are inevitable.
May 19, 1999 - February 27, 2000
Broadbent Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
Revolutionaries of design Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo have fused east and west to establish an aesthetic that goes beyond national identity. Their innovative approaches to fashion have baffled and transformed us for the past three decades.
October 25, 2000 - October 28, 2001
Broadbent Gallery | Jean L. Druesedow, Director
The beautiful realm of Ohio art pottery is explored in a new yearlong exhibition appearing Oct. 25, 2000 through Oct. 28, 2001 at the Kent State University Museum titled Uncommon Clay: Ohio Art Pottery from the Paige Palmer Collection.
The exhibition features more than 130 pieces of pottery made by the Roseville, Weller, Rookwood, and McCoy ceramics companies in the Zanesville and Cincinnati area from the 1860s until the 1960s when the companies all had closed. It also features several pieces made by Canton ceramicist, Charles Clewell. The show is being presented with the support of the Ohio Arts Council and 89.7 WKSU.
The Paige Palmer Collection, which she donated to the Kent State University Museum in January 2000, enhances the museum's holdings in decorative arts and provides valuable study for the School of Art, Department of History, interior design, crafts and ceramics. Ms. Palmer, a pioneer of televised exercise shows and international journalist, has just been selected for induction into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame. An avid collector of world art, she became interested in collecting Ohio art pottery in the early 1950s while interviewing art and antique dealers on her weekly show. As a result, her collection includes rare and unusual examples of the pottery, now highly sought after on such auction sites as e-Bay.
"The incredible richness of southern Ohio clay helped propel Ohio pottery to the forefront of the ceramics industry, and is one of the reasons that Ohio Art Pottery has maintained its glaze and beauty for more than 100 years. Another is the sheer artistry of the industry and the remarkable decorators who took ideas from around the world and applied them to a popular art form, " stated Paige Palmer in a recent interview about her passion for Ohio Art Pottery.
Aside from important examples of such successful pottery lines as Rozane Royal, Pine Cone, Sunflower, Louwelsa and Etna, the exhibition will also showcase works by Canton, Ohio, ceramicist Charles Clewell. Believed to be the world's sole producer of "blue bronze," he was a technician with the Timken Company who also created pottery featuring bronze over porcelain. In 1937, the French government awarded him the distinguished Diploma of the International Exposition of Arts and Techniques which he received in Paris. Because Clewell kept his pieces for himself rather than distributing or selling them, examples of them today are very rare. Included in Uncommon Clay are two of Clewell's bronzed works: a vase and mug created at the turn of the century. Unfortunately, not much is known about his process of ceramic art. As Clewell was oft quoted, "The art will likely die with me."
Uncommon Clay: Ohio Art Pottery from The Paige Palmer Collection reflects the dynamic historical forces that shaped the ceramics industry during the Arts and Crafts movement between 1870 and 1930. These include the onsurge of patriotism, women's suffrage, big business, interior design and the industrial revolution.
GENERAL INFORMATION ON OHIO ART POTTERY
Ohio was the center of pottery production due to good waterways and an abundance of raw materials. Ohio's natural gas deposits in Zanesville combined with rich clay provided an ideal foundation for local potteries and gave Zanesville its nickname, "clay city." During pottery's heyday, Ohio pottery establishments numbered 30. The products were sold in fine department stores and considered ideal gifts for weddings and other significant occasions. Ohio Art Pottery can be characterized as a close-knit industry of artists and potters who often switched allegiance, going to work for the competition. As a result, there are a lot of similarities in design and style among the many companies. This industry is also reflective of improved opportunities in the workplace for women, as the advent of modern inventions such as sewing machines and commercially prepared foods enabled women to pursue other activities including artistic professions.
Early on, decorators frequently signed their pieces, however later pieces were not signed. When sales of Ohio Art Pottery began to decline after World War II, companies went from expensive handcrafted artistic lines to more commercial lines such as oven-to-table ware. Despite the transition to basic housewares, most of the companies began to fold between 1919 and 1940, primarily due to declining markets after the depression, changes in management and financial problems. By 1967, all of the companies were out of business.
ROSEVILLE
Roseville Pottery Co. was incorporated in 1892 in Roseville, Ohio. The firm began making stoneware jars, flower pots and cuspidors. in 1898, the company moved 16 miles north to the former Clark Stoneware Plant in Zanesville, however, retaining its original name. For two years, the Roseville Company continued to produce stoneware specialties. Two other Zanesville ceramics factories, Weller and Owens, were already prospering in the production of art pottery.
In 1900, Ross C. Purdy was hired to create the firm's first art line: Rozane, characterized by a thin glaze called "slip" blended in a brown background under clear glaze, then decorated by artists with wild flowers, animals and portraits. Later, the decoration was applied on light backgrounds. The name was eventually changed to Rozane Royal to distinguish it from other lines. The marks on these pieces show "R.P. Co." impressed on the bottom, sometimes with "Rozane" above it. In 1902, Frederick Horton Rhead, a member of an English family prominent in art and ceramics, came to the U.S. to work for a competing company, Weller. One of his techniques was forcing tiny threads of clay from a squeeze bag through a small opening to outline decorations. Soon after, he switched allegiance and was hired as art director for the Roseville Pottery Company where he continued to use the squeeze bag on Aztec and other Roseville lines. In 1905, the first Roseville Catalog was published, which today is very rare and difficult to find.
In 1906, Rhead introduced the Della Robbia line of 75 designs which showcased his technique of cutting away the background to reveal Greek, Persian and conventional decorating with overglaze
By 1908, all handcrafting was abandoned except for Roseville's prestigious line Rozane Royal. Roseville was the first pottery in Ohio to install a tunnel kiln which increased its production capacity. The glazes produced by this company were inexpensive yet conveyed to the onlooker a well designed, technically refined ceramic art piece. Floral motifs dominated most of the wares produced at Roseville, a trademark the company became known for throughout its life span. The Sunflower line revived in the 1930s was particularly successful during the Aesthetic movement. The secret of the company's success was its ability to produce hand-decorated pieces along with commercial dinner wares and premiums for A & P Company.
Following suit with other art potteries in Ohio, Roseville hired Japanese decorator Gazo Fujiyama to enhance the ethnic qualities in the ceramic wares. Greece, Italy, France, and South America were also primary sources of inspiration for decorators.
After the depression, Roseville looked for a line to add business. The Pine Cone line in 75 different shapes and sizes was the most successful of all Roseville lines. They were made by the artist duo, Peters and Reed, who had been rejected by Weller.
Roseville closed in 1954.
ROOKWOOD
The enduring nature of Rookwood Pottery survived two world wars and the life span of the Arts and Craft Movement while continuing to exhibit new lines, glaze techniques, and artistic excellence with entrepreneurial zeal. Rookwood was established in 1880 by Maria Nicholas, one of four recognized visionaries of art pottery during the Cincinnati women's art movement.
A major artistic accomplishment for Rookwood came in 1889 when the company was asked to exhibit wares at the Paris Exposition Universelle. The artistic influences that inspired was ethnically diverse, ranging from Japanese china painting to Greek motifs. This varied design was entirely characteristic in Rookwood and other potteries of the time as they searched for identities in the art world.
Rookwood closed in 1967.
S. A. WELLER
Samuel A. Weller founded Weller Pottery in 1872. His main goal was to mass produce artistic pottery for the general public. Many of his earlier popular wares were glazed brown, shaded ceramics inspired by the Roseville line of Rozane which he renamed "Louwelsa" in 1918. The name came after a year long partnership with Lonhunda Pottery which moved the companies production facilities to Zanesville.
Weller ceramics were largely imitations of Roseville and Rookwood wares, mass produced. Weller's most successful lines came about between 1902 to 1906 during his association with Frederick H. Rhead, an affluent art pottery ceramist. The lines developed were Jap Birdimal and L'Art Nouveau. Another successful line was Etna, also in the exhibition.
Two of Weller's key designers were W. Myers and Hester Pillsbury. Examples of their signed pieces are in the exhibition. Weller was distinguished by frequent incorporation of farm animals and forests.
Weller closed in 1948.
September 27, 2000 - September 30, 2001
Alumni Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
The history of children's clothing reflects the attitude of adults toward childhood, as, until very recently, children had no voice in the matter. Prior to the late 18th century, children were dressed as miniature adults, in garments which limited their physical freedom and imposed societal restrictions on their behavior. From birth, infants were tightly wrapped in swaddling clothes, which immobilized their limbs. Toddlers were put into smaller versions of their parents' clothing, a practice which reflected the prevailing view that childhood was an undesirable prelude to adulthood, to be gotten through as soon as possible.
Until the social revolution of the late 18th century, rigorous and sometimes violent child-rearing practices encouraged early conformity to adult standards of behavior. Parenthood was not necessarily a positive experience when multiple uncontrollable births were the norm and women frequently died in childbirth. Infant mortality was high; less than half the children born survived until age 5, and half of the remainder never reached age 10. Offspring were often seen as "imps of Satan" or the result of original sin. Because the average life span was only 30 years, children were forced into early adulthood, usually between the ages of 7 and 9, depending upon their social status. Early maturity was a necessity since working-class 5-year-olds could be employed 14 hours a day to help support their families.
In opposition to common practices, philosophers and educators such as Erasmus (c.1466-1536), Ascham (1515-1568), Komensky (1592-1670) and John Locke (1632-1704) wrote important treatises on the education of children, condemning the use of fear and violence in teaching, and proposing age-appropriate methods and respect for the child. The movement for children's rights gained momentum and international recognition in 1762 with the publication of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's best-selling and controversial novel Émile. In his writings, Rousseau depicted childhood as a purer state of being to be cherished instead of despised and embraced for its potential for happiness and playfulness. He went further than other reformers and characterized children as individuals in their own right.
The emancipation of the child started a revolution in dress that would eventually lead to greater freedom and informality in clothing for both adults and children. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries true children's wear emerged. This form of dress bore no resemblance to adult clothes and aimed to provide comfort and convenience for the young. Styles included the light-colored cotton "skeleton suit" for boys and the uncorseted high-waisted dress for girls, both of which were to have a strong impact on later adult styles.
The pendulum swung back to discomfort in the 1820s when children were again subjected to the whims of adult fashions. The industrial revolution enabled a rising middle class to practice a new level of ostentation, in which children were again used to indicate the social status of their parents. Victorian materialism put girls back into crinolines and bustles, and both young boys and girls into stays, long hair and numerous petticoats. Older boys wore tunics, short pants, trousers and a variety of military-style uniforms, which at times provided ease and comfort. However the emphasis was no longer on the child's welfare and needs. Children were dressed in elaborate garments and hats, high-heeled narrow shoes, and heavy, stiff dark fabrics until the end of the 19th century, despite the opposition of dress reformers.
During the 19th century child labor laws and social welfare programs began to remedy the numerous wrongs inflicted on children, but the next great social change did not occur until the 20th century when World War I triggered a relaxation of manners and simplification of dress for all age groups. An interest in psychology in the 1920s brought about revised attitudes toward children and their development. At the same time, a new fashion for sports, fresh air and sunshine, and the growing ready-to-wear industry contributed to the adoption by adults of simpler, more comfortable, active styles that had been devised for children. The cult of youth would become the dominant social trend of the later 20th century and sportswear would blur the differences between children and adult styles.
June 28, 2000 - May 27, 2001
Higbee Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
The Kent State University Museum is pleased to present a unique combination of historic costumes and paper doll art. This exhibition explores fashion from the 18th and 19th centuries through authentic garments of the time period and the paper doll artistry of Norma Lu Meehan.
Meehan began her career as a fashion illustrator, working 40 years for magazines and newspapers until illustrations were replaced by the photographs that became the industry standard. Not ready to put aside her passion for illustration, she searched for an alternative artistic outlet, and soon found it in paper dolls. The creator of numerous paper doll books since 1991, Norma Lu Meehan has worked diligently to develop a reputation as a premier paper doll artist. The book, published by Texas Tech University Press, from which this exhibition is drawn, is a testament to her talent.
The idea for her latest book came when she visited the Kent State University Museum. Excited by what she saw, Meehan approached the museum staff about using the collection in a paper doll book. With Director Jean Druesedow as co-author and Curator Anne Bissonnette as consultant, the project took off. Together, they selected slides of some of the finest garments in the collection for Meehan to study and illustrate. When she showed her first watercolor illustrations for the book, Collection By Design: A Paper Doll History of Costume 1750-1900, to the museum staff, they were inspired to create a complementary exhibition.
Museum staff and volunteers under Bissonnette's direction carried out the myriad tasks of exhibition preparation: stabilizing garments, reproducing items necessary for their display, and finding paintings and decorative art to create authentic surroundings for the costumes. A rare treat for museum visitors are the many 18th-century garments from our collection, which are seldom shown. Recent acquisitions from this era include a purple iridescent gown à la polonaise, a man's orange moiré suit and our first pair of 18th-century women's shoes, shown with an exquisite short gown and quilted petticoat.
Each of the garments and paper dolls on display in the Higbee Gallery is a tribute to the changing face of fashion. The exhibition is a unique opportunity for paper doll lovers and fashion enthusiasts alike to see delightful paper doll creations alongside the period costumes that inspired them.
January 26, 2000 - January 28, 2001
Stager Gallery | Jean L. Druesedow, Director
Flora & Fashion: Gardens Become Us! features a range of fashions influenced by botanicals and florals including 18th-century costume, 19th- and 20th-century ballgowns, garden party dresses, floral hats, textiles, accessories and elegant examples of couture from Dior, Balenciaga, Norell, and Chanel, among others. The exhibition also showcases decorative art from the collection with a special section devoted to the newly acquired Paige Palmer Collection of Ohio Pottery, including beautiful examples of Roseville, Weller and Rookwood pottery.
March 15, 2000 - October 8, 2000
Broadbent, Palmer, and Mull Galleries | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
Enter Isabel and Ruben Toledo's world and find two highly talented individuals working in synergy. Muse to her husband's sculpture, painting and illustration, Isabel Toledo conceives of shapes and structures to clothe the human body. Complementarily, Ruben Toledo's surreal view of life brings humor and unconventionality to her industrial world.
Born in Cuba one year apart from each other, Isabel and Ruben met while attending high school in New Jersey. They married soon afterwards, and entered the New York fashion world almost immediately. Strongly anchored in Cuban culture yet highly individualistic, both approach their craft with passion. From her American upbringing, Isabel gained an appreciation of machinery, practicality and comfort while retaining a love for traditional elegance. Ruben's irrational, instinctive approach to art fused with American popular culture, exploding in playful, incisive and intensely surreal observations on fashion, beauty and life.
After decades of mutually inspired creative endeavor, the couple refuses to be categorized or assimilated by the establishment. An idiosyncratic figure in the American and European fashion world, Isabel stopped presenting bi-annual collections in 1998 after twelve years of intense production. Today she creates at her own pace, testing the results until they meet her standards of excellence, and furthering her investigations into concepts close to her heart. Effortless at first glance, her garments are actually painstakingly engineered to be fluid and comfortable and to feel familiar. Even the elaborate spinning helixes, suspended shapes and geometrical constructions are anchored with both pragmatism and poetry. A multi-faceted artist, Ruben Toledo is the master of several media. His best-known work delights in the absurdity, audacity and charisma of the fashion world. Unlike many illustrators, he adds wit and perspective to the representation of the human figure.
Entwined in the same universe but respecting their separate talents, Isabel and Ruben Toledo draw sustenance from each other's abilities, strengths and esthetic beliefs. Freedom of thought is their common ground.
April 12, 2000 - September 17, 2000
Alumni Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
The 1970s was a period of self-expression, experimentation and soul-searching. From humble working class denims to high style disco garments, fashions mirrored the changing attitudes that contributed to the emergence of a plethora of new provocative and powerful styles.
Prior to this decade, French Couture had played dictator to the masses. This unilateral stylistic discourse catered mostly to the elite and was watered-down as it reached the base of the social pyramid. With the growing political disenchantment of the 1960s and the emergence of radical subcultures, a wider variety of influences began to be perceptible among American society. Where the "youth quake" of the 1960s had projected the bright-eyed futuristic rhetoric of its era, the 1970s drew on the volatile political atmosphere that fueled change in society and, irrevocably, in the fashion system.
At a time when countercultures re-defined society and a growing number of people started experiencing, perhaps painfully, the principles of democracy, individuality and freedom of expression became catalysts for new ideas, new behaviors and new styles. In both politics and fashion, ideas that were once subversive made their way to the forefront and contributed to the abolishment of autocratic rules. To this day, no two individuals feel they must conform to a unique dress code.
Fashion rules are slowly becoming an endangered species and ideas now emerge from various social strata. Street styles trickle-up to the middle classes and even to the elite. Although the politics of style are still subject to a multitude of social, cultural and economic forces, it took a time of turmoil and protest to get the fashion revolution started.
June 17, 1998 - June 4, 2000
Higbee Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
When the Kent State University Museum opened its "Victoriana" exhibition in January 1988, it was enhanced by loans from Martha McCaskey Selhorst - six bonnets, six parasols, a carpetbag and a paisley shawl. The Selhorst Collection was well known in the Cleveland area through the entrancing and entertaining shows of period fashions created by Marty Selhorst.
Begun during the 1970s fashion for wearing vintage clothes, the collection grew, and grew, and grew to encompass 150 years of fashion history and a thousand pieces. Marty's eye for period fashions sought out exquisite, pristine examples wherever she traveled, and some of the pieces were purchased in London and Paris. The collection was particularly known for the Victorian and Edwardian lingerie dresses made of wonderful assemblages of white laces, its jazzy "flapper" dresses from the 1920s and its slinky bias cut fashions from the 1930s. Less well known, but of great significance to the Kent State University Museum's holdings, were a group of cotton day dresses from the 1860s and two exceptional costumes for fancy dress balls, also from the nineteenth century.
From the moment the collection entered the Museum parts of it have been on exhibition. Many of Marty's extensive group of Pucci designs were in the 1996-97 "Pucci!" exhibition, her paisleys part of "Wrapped in Splendor, the Art of the Paisley Shawl", and one of the cotton day dresses in "Fashioning Fashion". "Silhouettes of Style" marks the Museum's first rotation of selected costumes from the Selhorst Collection, and officially welcomes the collection to the University. We are most grateful to Martha Selhorst for her keen eye, the extraordinary care she gave the collection, and her generosity in donating it to the Kent State University Museum.
November 20, 1999 - April 2, 2000
Alumni Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
Where will you be for the party of the millennium? The event that ushers in more than a change in the calendar but a new era: the inauguration of the first woman president of the United States. Few things are certain but some are inevitable.
When American women obtained the right to vote in 1920, they changed the political arena forever. At the dawn of the new millennium, women have attained positions of leadership and power that many thought impossible a century ago. The ultimate party of the millennium will be an occasion for joy, a celebration of true balance in democracy and an affirmation of the contributions of all our citizens.
Strengthened by women's achievements in the last century, let us embrace the future and look forward to the day when the last barrier of gender inequality is overcome. Let us tap into the national resources of women's strength and determination, and encourage them to run for political office at all levels, including the presidency.
This exhibition showcases the creativity of American designers and envisions the brilliant and glorious evening that will forever be engraved in people's minds as the party of the millennium.
April 16, 1999 - March 5, 2000
Mull Gallery | Jean L. Druesedow, Director
Introduced on the air in Cleveland, Ohio at WEWS on January 13, 1949, as the "First Lady of Physical Fitness," Paige Palmer starred in her own television program for 25 years and kept women in Northeastern Ohio tuned in as she told them how to stay young looking, thin and glamorous. Decades ahead of her time, Paige Palmer was the first in the nation to bring a regular exercise regimen to her viewers complete with patented exercise equipment and apparel bearing her name.
The museum exhibition highlights the years on Cleveland television, the fashion and fitness promotions, the travel, the celebrities, and the personal panache that have kept Paige Palmer in the spotlight for fifty years and more.
The station brochure seeking potential sponsors for her show called her "A Lady with Sensational Style Who Sells and Sells and Sells." The mere mention of a product on the "Paige Palmer Show" found it flying off the shelves. The exhibition looks at the way the business of fashion merchandising was practiced during the time span of the show, and how a television personality in the early years of television participated in fashion and product promotions.
May 19, 1999 - February 27, 2000
Broadbent Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
Revolutionaries of design Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo have fused east and west to establish an aesthetic that goes beyond national identity. Their innovative approaches to fashion have baffled and transformed us for the past three decades. Beneath a surface of metamorphosing modern forms, the intellectual core of their work is solidly informed by the traditional principles of Japanese design.
A new generation of creative designers came of age in the chaos of post-war Japan, a time of radical political and cultural change. It was then that western clothing replaced the kimono as the usual dress of daily life. Traditional codified attire was swept away, and the Japanese fashion system re-invented itself from a model aesthetically and structurally foreign to Japanese ways. New forms emerged, rooted in a culture that had spent centuries searching for beauty and balance in all aspects of life.
The work in Japanese by Design retains a respect for craftsmanship that manifests itself in the knowledge of the nature of chosen materials, an understanding of the discipline imposed by structure, and a control of technical processes. The freedom that emerges from this time-honored approach permits the creation of new styles that satisfy both traditional tenets of eastern design and the cutting-edge visions of radical chic.
From the conjunction of old and new, a unique vision was born. During the recent past Japanese fashion designers have searched, questioned and shaken the foundations of western dress. They have invigorated and modified it profoundly along the way. The creations of Miyake and Kawakubo bring the art of clothing design to a different level, and propose new proportions, diverse sensitivities, and an original take on comfort and appropriateness. In them we find a fresh perspective.
The Kent State University Museum would like to thank Mary Baskett for sharing her knowledge of contemporary Japanese design, for the inspiration and enthusiasm she brought to this project, and for temporarily parting with pieces from her wardrobe. Japanese by Design would not have been possible without her unfailing generosity.
October 13, 1999 - January 2, 2000
Stager Gallery | Dr, Catherine Amidon, Exhibition Curator (University of Nebraska, Lincoln)
Different Voices: New Art from Poland is based on the works of 20 women artists whose activity is related to the fiber arts lineage. The exhibition and catalog highlight the strength of their production, outline underlying themes, explore techniques and challenge the extent to which their participation in this lineage questions their relationship to "contemporary art."
All made since the end of the Soviet era, the art in this exhibition is contemporary. It is of our time and addresses issues relevant to the artists, but it is embedded in a tradition outside of the historically male-dominated spheres of painting and sculpture that carry different cultural and political traditions. Polish culture has historically been more solid than the country's geographic borders, engendering an art history that is often preoccupied with national identity. The works in the fiber art lineage embody the aesthetics of a different, quieter dialogue, defined by conscientious process and more reflective of feelings and individual experiences.
Although the work in this exhibition is current, modern and post-modern traditions have instructed the viewer to instinctively anticipate something from "contemporary art" other than art that is simply contemporary to the viewer. The term "contemporary art" suggests that the work plays off or responds to broader, internationalized issues. Gender, sexuality, the environment, human rights and censorship are among the most potent content in the established art world. Commodification and institutionalization of "contemporary art," by galleries, museums and universities, have insured the propagation of a certain kind of discourse around the content. The work in this exhibition is entering the mainstream, but still exists on the margin of those systems; hence it is read differently.
What are the issues that enframe our understanding of these works? Are media and message through the media the only challenge in naming these works products of "contemporary art?" What is the role of the lineage of weave and textile arts as women's work, craft or even domestic activity? These are some of the questions to be explored. And the story goes deeper, much deeper, into the body knowledge of the maker and gestures of the act of creation.
Body, process, gender, social product, spiritual vision and media exploration converge and diverge in the works in this exhibition, revealing new perspectives on a society moving through socio-politial changes, and altering human psyches in the process.
November 4, 1998 - September 19, 1999
Stager Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator
The woven journey through India's history of dress unravels into a splendid and diverse tale. The second most populous country in the world, India is currently inhabited by over 950 million people. Indians exhibit phenomenally varied ethnicity and culture. At least two dozen major languages are spoken. The predominant religion is Hinduism (83%), but Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains represent important minority religions. This cultural diversity contributes to hand-woven fabrics and traditional dress of stunning variety and beauty.
Weaving is one of the oldest and best known of India's arts. In rural India, where three-quarters of the population still lives, traditional dress and weaving methods remain vital although threatened by the development of power looms and modern mills. Once, weaving was a high-status occupation, with skills handed down from father to son, and injuring a royal weaver was punishable by death. Today, a craftsman still holds an assured, hereditary position, but the rewards are more likely to be personal satisfaction than financial gain. A waning supply of raw materials and traditional dyes and the change in demand has also modified production. Nevertheless, Indian silks retain their worldwide reputation and an export volume second only to that of China.
The dance of bold colors and metallics created by the inventive drapes of these textiles catches the imagination like no other contemporary clothing. Their woven splendors prove the Hindu craftsman right when he states that "the first, the best, and the most perfect of instruments is the human hand."
September 10, 1998 - September 5, 1999
Jean L. Druesedow, Director
A Brief Passage
Erin Rachel Pincus was born June 10, 1981, younger by 47 seconds than her twin sister Jessie Amber, to Mike and Kathy Pincus. As their mother has written, "The first night home, a never to be forgotten dream came to my husband of a mischievous leprechaun sitting on top of a big bookshelf. As Erin grew, clearly she represented this elf-some spirit, obviously here on a great lark with her winsome sister who cheerfully sang her way through the house and our life." On the Fourth of July, 1989, Erin suffered an excruciating headache, and before the week was out a brainstem tumor was discovered and removed as far as possible. Benign at first, but ever threatening, Erin's cancer forced her through numerous additional surgeries and treatments. Each time, no matter how difficult, her mother noted, ". . . Erin's love and exuberance would bring her to a new level of recovery. She amazed us and her doctors, event after event." Fighting to retain a normal life, her cheerful optimism kept even her school friends from knowing of her condition. But when Erin was 15, the growing tumor was found to be no longer benign. Even after more surgery, and a new type of treatment, immunotherapy, which did seem to kill the cancer cells, Erin's condition was so weakened that she could not survive. She died on January 12, 1997.
A Disney Fan
From her earliest childhood, Erin had loved Disney cartoons and wanted to be a Disney animator. Kathy Pincus writes that "early on, with her future so uncertain, we wrote to the Disney people, and asked if she could meet one. In 1992, when she was 10, we were lucky enough to be ever so cordially received at the Florida Disney Animation Studio. She got to meet Mark Henn, who had just drawn Jasmine for the upcoming animated feature Aladdin. We got a tour, she got to see how things were done . . . . Mark told her she could write to him, so she did; in fact, all through the years. And somehow Mark found time to write back. She would send her artwork, he would tell her about their movies to come. She hoped to be Staff one day . . . . In the last months before Erin died . . . Mark Henn's wife, Pam Henn . . . found a way to try to grant Erin's wish to be accepted as a Disney Staff Animator. She made Erin a beautiful Staff Bag, with Staff T-shirt and hat, and most importantly a book signed by all the Disney animators with signature drawings. It was probably one of the last things Erin really saw. . . ."
A Dress for Erin
On June 25, 1997, Christie's, an auction house with offices in London and New York, conducted a charity auction of 79 dresses from the collection of Diana, Princess of Wales, that raised more than $5.7 million dollars for charities devoted to AIDS and cancer research. Such an unprecedented event was the idea of Prince William, who suggested that such a sale might raise funds for his mother's favorite causes. At the time of the sale, Princess Diana was quoted as saying, "Words cannot describe my absolute delight at the benefits which the results of this auction will bring to so many people." Shortly after Erin died, the catalog for the Christie's sale arrived at Pam Henn's home. "Her parents had just informed me of her death, and here was this catalog advertising the auction of Princess Diana's dresses to benefit, among other causes, cancer," she said. "I thought, if I could purchase one of the dresses, then I could use it in the same way. I'd honor a wonderful child and raise philanthropic funds." Bidding by telephone, she successfully acquired Lot 9, a pale pink evening dress embroidered in pearls, designed by Catherine Walker, worn by Princess Diana on a state visit to Pakistan, and recorded by Lord Snowden in an official photograph. Pam Henn purchased the dress in Erin's name and memory.
February 17, 1999 - April 25, 1999
Walter B. Denny, Curator
In 1998 the Kent State University Museum presented an exhibition entitled "Court and Conquest: Ottoman Origins and the Design for Handel's 'Tamerlano' at the Glimmerglass Opera," featuring costumes designed by Judy Levin. The exhibition was organized by the museum and the AXA Gallery (formerly the Equitable Gallery) with the cooperation of the Glimmerglass Opera, Cooperstown, New York. The AXA Gallery is sponsored by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States.
In 2001, the exhibition will be on display at The Brunei Gallery of The School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. The London venue is sponsored by Continental Airlines.
Curated by Dr. Walter B. Denny, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the exhibition focused on the original Ottoman and European Orientalist sources used by Miss Levin as inspirations for her designs. Included were Ottoman textiles, armor, illuminated manuscripts, sultan portraits, Orientalist prints, clothing and jeweled buckles juxtaposed with the opulent opera costumes created for the 1995 Glimmerglass Opera production.
Composed by Handel in 1724, just 25 years after the Treaty of Vienna concluded peace between European states and the Ottoman empire, the opera's story of the Central Asian conqueror Timur's epic battle and defeat of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I, in 1402, had great currency for Handel's audience. The director of the Glimmerglass production, Jonathan Miller, felt that the design of the production should reflect the 18-century view of the Ottoman empire and of the historic 15-century battle. The challenge met by set designer John Conklin and costume designer Judy Levin was to create a contemporary opera production that fulfilled Dr. Miller's concept for the opera.
The Kent State University Museum published a fully illustrated catalog to accompany the exhibition with essays by Dr. Denny; Dr. Aileen Ribeiro of the Courtauld Institute, London; Judy Levin; and Jean L. Druesedow, director of the museum.