Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels September 23, 2004 Eloquent objects at SOU Adapted from an essay by Josine Ianco Starrels, Curator of the Schneider Museum of Art at Southern Oregon University. Seemingly forever people have collected literally anything and everything; from the mundane to the magnificent. Salt and pepper shakers, paperweights, antique toys, marbles, seashells, crystals, gems, orchids, coins, stamps, furniture, weathervanes, quilts, ethnic fabrics, manuscripts, autographs, books, guns and love letters-each of these, have, at one point or another, become objects of someone's desire and for m the basis of a new exhibit at the Schneider Museum of Art. Eloquent Objects consists of selections from six private Southern Oregon collections featuring Mexican folk art, African traditional and decorative sculpture and textiles, musical instruments spanning centuries and cultures from all over the world, South East Asian tribal arts and early hand built American tools. The exhibit opens on Oct. 1. The community is invited to the opening reception to be held on Thursday, Sept. 30, from 5 to 7 p.m. Eloquent Objects is an exhibition that allows us a glimpse into the nature of our local collectors. People collect for a variety of reasons including a fascination with a particular object, culture, media or artist. The circumstances for acquiring are also as varied as the people. Sometimes it pertains to a person's occupation or where they are living. For others it may be through an inheritance, monetary value of the objects or just the love of accumulating a specific thing. Eloquent Objects features Mexican folk art, traditional and decorative African sculpture and textiles, musical instruments spanning centuries and cultures from around the world, South East Asian tribal arts and early American hand-built tools. Josine Ianco Starrels, curator of the exhibition, began inquiries around the valley to find out what people were collecting. This exhibition is just the tip of the iceberg of what is represented in collections in this valley. The selections for this particular exhibition are from John Barker, David Bobb, Chris and Susan Hearn, Wolfgang and Kris Hoppe, Robert and Dana Johnson, and The Schuman Collection. All tap into the powerful lure of collecting, which has long played an important role in art. For example, in Paris, in the early decades of the 20th century, a cook, who owned a small bistro often served meals to poor and hungry artists; they, in turn, offered him the only possessions they had, namely their work. He ended up owning one of the great and highly prized art collections because those poor and hungry artists he fed, were the seminal innovators and creators of Modern Art. A middle-aged couple, Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, who lived in New York City and earned a modest living as a postal worker and a teacher, saved whatever they could and bought small works of contemporary vanguard art. Their small apartment, including the space under their bed, was filled with their acquisitions by artists such as Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris, Sylvia Mangold, Chuck Close, Robert Mangold, Christo, Eva Hesse, and Richard Tuttle. The Vogel's are still actively collecting today and have arranged for their collection of more than 2,000 works to remain together after their deaths under the stewardship of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. Through the ages, the treasures of palaces, graves and temples were plundered by armies, adventurers, grave robbers and thieves who traded their booty for fortunes willingly paid by those who prized what no one else possessed. The goal of this exhibition was to present objects of unusual interest from a number of distinguished private collections in the Rogue Valley and tangentially, to obtain a glimpse into the nature of our local collectors. What collectors focus on often provides not only insight into their interests but into their history, their values and their relationship to aesthetics, as well. Some collections are memory banks containing objects which have become markers on the road of their journey through life. The extent of the variety is a fairly accurate indicator of the collector's adventurous spirit and to their willingness to be the connecting link between these objects when they originate from different cultural traditions. Kris and Wolfgang Hoppe's collection could be seen that way. The folk art of Mexico chosen and collected by David Bobb for his home, reflects an all embracing joie de vivre, a bold, almost wild love of color and an inclination forward the visually exciting and eccentrically imaginative expressions. Clearly, his collection reveals a love for that territory where myth, fantasy and the mysterious collide. Dana and Robert Emory Johnson on the other hand present us with measured temperaments, Catholic tastes and a considered, subtle taste for objects originating all over the world, throughout the centuries. They reflect aesthetically subdued delicacy, yet fully assured poised presences-from tribal and contemporary art to sculpturally exquisite hand-built tools. The Hearn family holdings were inherited from their father who lived and worked in Africa for many years. In spite of that fact, the objects and their origin are obviously greatly prized and have found their way into both their home and their offices. John Barker's overwhelming collection of South East Asian textiles, sculpture and other arts of that region resulted from his familiarity as well as his vast knowledge of those cultural traditions. Having grown up in South East Asia, and having then spent an additional 17 years in that part of the world, Barker has continued and renewed his connection by yearly visits. Collecting developed into connoisseurship which turned into expertise, eventually leading to his mixing pleasure with business and business with pleasure. John Barker became a dealer in 1982 in South East Asian material and has, since then, contributed to the building of museum and private collections. He has also written two essays in the recently published book Textiles from Burma produced in the UK by The James Green Center for World Art. Some collections are meant for the delectation of many, others are kept like hidden treasure by secretive owners who revel in their private passions. No matter how we encounter such prized objects, they can teach us not only about their origin and use but in addition can reveal to us much about the pleasures of the eye and the harmonies of form and color, made by ands that embellished what often started as a mere utilitarian object. That is important because it illuminates the human need for aesthetic beauty and harmony. The exhibition will continue through Dec. 11. The Schneider Museum of Art is located on the Southern Oregon University campus on the corner of Siskiyou Boulevard and Indiana Street in Ashland, Oregon. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday, and First Fridays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. There is a $2 suggested donation. For more information call 541-552-6245 or visit our website at www.sou.edu/sma DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams