NIU Art Museum

Model Making

2011-10-08T11:14:00.004-05:00

Sometimes a floor plan and some paint swatches just aren't enough to visualize an exhibition space. So, we museum folks build little models out of foamcore, balsa wood and even just plain old cardboard. You can use a computer, too, but we choose to kick it old school at a recent workshop we held on model making, lead by Museum Studies grad student Agnes Ma.

Hanging the Underdog

2011-08-27T14:11:00.013-05:00

There is a sculpture called Underdog by Chicago artist Juan Angel Chavez in one of our current exhibitions. It hangs from the ceiling from a single wire - not a problem if you have an old wooden warehouse ceiling. We have acoustic tiles; not designed to hold much weight, so we needed to add a long bolt with an eye hook at the end:

We drilled a hole in the ceiling tile and anchored the bolt in a square aluminum rod suspended between two wooden 1x2s. The 1x2s rested on the metal grid that holds the ceiling tiles in place. This distributed the weight across a wider area; now the entire weight of the sculpture is not concentrated on a single point. Here is a photo taken from a ladder of the top side of the ceiling - you can see our 1x2s, the cross rod and the long bolt threaded through (the black pipe to the right of the bolt takes water to a sprinkler head).

Here's the sculpture as it looks to a museum visitor.

By the way, a sculpture that lives suspended by a wire needs a fancy crate to provide support when the piece isn't on display. The artist made a wooden framework, lined with ethafoam to hold Underdog securely and safely. This framework gets screwed to the the floor of a crate - pretty cool.

Invasion from Wisconsin

2011-08-16T21:44:00.003-05:00

New shows are going up at the museum. On the entrance wall will be a band of "Fish Hunters" from Wisconsin artist and NIU alum John Balsley. This is a tentative layout for color and shape; the text will be replaced by "professional" adhesive vinyl lettering.

Conference

2011-08-01T14:56:00.010-05:00

A museum conference was in town (Chicago-town, not DeKalb-town), so we went. Museumpalooza was a joint venture of the Association of Midwest Museums and the Visitor Studies Association.

In addition to the usual panel discussions, roundtables and product fairs, there were some good field trips.

I saw the art storage, art transport and crate building facilities of Terry Dowd, Inc.

At the Chicago Conservation Center, we got a tour of how several types of artifacts are cared for. One question an art restorer asks is, how much patina to remove (because it is harmful to the object) and how much should be left (because it part of the object's history and aesthetic presense)?

Here is an old painting that has actually been removed from its original, unstable canvas, and be-backed with new, stable linen.

An ornate frame from the 19th century has suffered many losses. Molds are made of the elements that remain; these can be used to fabricate replacement bits which will be re-gilded once they are applied.

Dirt & Glitter Curator's Talk

2011-07-22T12:28:00.010-05:00

Yesterday I presented an informal talk about my strategies for arranging and installing the current hall case show: Dirt & Glitter - Graphic Design by Vaughan Oliver and v23.

Part of talk was conducted with the hall lights off, thus accentuating the drama of the curator's lighting choices.

Photos by Janean Koebbe.

Mural Restoration

2011-07-12T16:09:00.041-05:00

Its Merits Recommend It was a tag line used to advertise barbed wire from DeKalb in the 19th century. It is also the title of the DeKalb Community Mural, painted in 1999 at the corner of Lincoln Highway and First Street in DeKalb, IL. Over the years, the mural has suffered some minor wear and tear, so yesterday Jo Burke, Dan Grych and I did a little touch-up. The three of us were also involved the original painting, with lead artist Oliva Gude of Chicago.

The worst damage was to an area of dark foliage.

First we matched the value of the area surrounding the hole with grey acrylic paint. A glaze of phtalo green was the final healing touch.

The sky above the foliage had cracked. A little chip of the original paint was tucked behind the surrounding area; we glued it back in place & repainted the area.

Another spot that needed fixing was the roots of a giant corn plant.

The entire surface of a single brick had cleaved off; we had to re-paint the brick surface to blend in, then repaint the text. As you can see, the remaining surface was pocked and difficult to paint on.

A large "credit box" of volunteers and supporters had faded, so we repainted the names with paint markers.

Cross-country art delivery

2011-06-29T09:49:00.017-05:00

I recently drove to New York, to return the artwork from Notations 21 to its owner. Naturally, I squeezed in a few extra stops.

Somewhere in Pennsylvania

Over the George Washington bridge and into Manhattan.

I had to visit the Museum of Modern Art.

MoMA had nicely-designed posters for a two-part exhibition.

And a big show on German Expressionism - my alltime favorite!

Of course I had to be a museum geek, and check out how pictures were hung & lit etc. This is downstairs in a show of prints from South Africa.

Yours truly by Central Park.

Next to Central Park, at Grand Army Plaza, is Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, the first outdoor piece by Ai WeiWei, a Chinese artist whose work we showed here at the NIU Art Museum back in 2005.

Huge woodcut of a cow head, plastered to a wall in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Finally, an image of nostalgia for me. I grew up in New Jersey, and stopped through my old hometown. This rusted pulley wheel still hangs from the phone lines across the street from my childhood home. I remember being fascinated by it as a boy, wondering what its purpose was. An unexpected pleasure to stumble upon it, still there after all these years, and be transported back in time.

Assembling Dirt and Glitter

2011-06-08T14:11:00.016-05:00

The galleries are usually closed over the summer, but we try to have something in the cases which line the hallway, since those are still visible to everyone who passes through the building. This year I put together a little homage to some heroes of mine: British graphic designer Vaughan Oliver and the folks he has collaborated with over his 30 plus year career so far.

The show will be called Dirt and Glitter, to acknowledge the many dualities that Oliver's designs encompass: monochromatic versus high key color, the mundane and the exotic, and the ambiguous versus the carefully delineated, to name a few. Both dirt and glitter create textures, and textures have always been central to Oliver's work.

Rather than our straightforward, sober and austere gallery display, I decided to allow certain qualities in the designs to inspire a presentation strategy that went in a similar direction. So, among the record covers (Oliver has worked almost exclusively in album sleeve design) are magnifying lenses, bones, colored lights, rusty metal and taxidermy birds.

Here's some photos of the process:

I had to select from dozens of record covers, and think about objects with to augment them.

I loves bones; bones are always good.

Heather and I had to rig up some little display stands.

Look how beautifully this chance encounter works.

Normally we rest objects on shelves. Here was a chance to try something new: hanging cds from above.

The same window with cds installed, and the logo of one of Oliver's design firms, v23, on the glass.

Photos of the cases, taken at night for maximum drama, are on the museum's Flickr page

Deinstalling "Music to My Eyes"

2011-06-06T11:36:00.006-05:00

Cassie Steele, a student in the Museums Studies program, uses acid-free tissue to wrap up musical instruments after the close of the exhibition that her class was responsible for.

Safely boxed, & ready to go back to their owners.

The whole class pitched in to pick off adhesive vinyl letters from a wall in the front gallery.

Here's the same wall during the exhibition, with a quotation from Rich Holly, who supported the exhibition in many ways (thanks, Rich!)

Museum Studies graduation

2011-04-29T15:11:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to those who completed the graduate certificate in Museum Studies! Pictured are John Linnehan, Carol Clark, and Bianca McGraw.

Music To My Eyes

2011-04-29T15:03:00.005-05:00

Every spring, the Exhibitions and Interpretation class from the Museum Studies certificate program organizes and exhibition in one of our galleries. For this year's focus - visually compelling musical instruments from around the world. The students have the opportunity to be involved in many aspects of museum work, including planning the reception, which featured musically inclined treats, both sweet and savory.

Spring Reception

2011-04-29T14:46:00.010-05:00

At the reception for our Spring 2011 exhibitions, we put out enough food for a small army of the culturally enlightened.

Erin Coleman-Cruz and Heather Green

Museum Director Jo Burke and Erin Coleman-Cruz

Notations 21, an exhibition of non-traditional music scores.

Composer Kyong Mee Choi discusses her work

Exhibition curator Theresa Sauer, with composers Paul Paccione, Kyong Mee Choi and Robert Fleischer.

2011-04-15T15:04:00.003-05:00

Curator, geek and born again record collector Pete Olson presents his thesis.

On the Road Again

2011-03-31T14:48:00.003-05:00

Packing and Shipping; after an exhibition the art has to get packed safely & returned to the artists we borrowed it from. Here's a whole-room installation going back to Amy Catarina in California.

Here's Bradley Cahill and I loading a rental truck to return artwork to Chicago.

Reset button

2011-03-31T12:41:00.005-05:00

Click the reset button; it's time once again to change shows. First, a new coat of paint. We're feeling like primary colors this time, so we need to find funky shades of red, yellow and blue.

Lim used the roller on an extension pole to write Chinese calligraphy. She promised us that this was a nice word: Zen.

Road Trip

2011-03-10T10:48:00.009-06:00

I just got back from the SUNY campus in Fredonia, New York, where I was picking up the Notations 21 exhibition. If forced to come up with something positive to say about driving across the Midwest, it would be that it instills in one an appreciation of subtlety. Slight changes in the landscape or the weather make up extremes on a spectrum that, admittedly, is not terribly wide.

Illinois

Indiana

Ohio (it was raining)

Pennsylvania

New York

It Might Get Loud

2011-02-23T17:08:00.004-06:00

Preview of coming attractions: I am gearing up for an exhibition of sheet music & record covers, Graphics of Their Time. Various lenders have been dropping off source material for me to choose from. What's your favorite album cover? Leave a comment.

Printpalooza!

2011-02-04T16:18:00.009-06:00

Last weekend, we took a bus ride to Northwestern University for an afternoon of ink and satire. The Block Museum is hosting two printmaking exhibitions: Thomas Rowlandson: Pleasures and Pursuits in Georgian England and The Satirical Edge in Contemporary Prints and Graphics. Here's museum member Ivan Shills' photo from the front of the Block, looking out towards an icy Lake Michigan:

To celebrate, the Block threw a print fest, which included some NIU grad students as one of the main attractions. Eric Fuertes, assisted by John Medina and Adam Bock, were on hand with Eric's Dumbo Press, a re-purposed playground contraption, retrofitted to print woodblocks.

Here's Eric printing, he drew quite a crowd:

Also turning out prints, mostly in the form of t-shirts, was Drive-By Press, who are homeless and travel the country printing hand made woodcuts in exchange for goods and services (yes, they recently visited NIU too).

Several local printshops and bookstores were also on hand, as was Martin Mazzora, of Brooklyn's Cannonball Press. It seems like only yesterday he was out here at NIU setting up his own exhibition. See it on our Blog. Or on Flickr.

If a Tree Fell in the Gallery, Would Anybody Hear It?

2011-01-17T11:11:00.012-06:00

There is now a forest in the gallery. We have been installing this used to be real estate but now it's just fields and trees by Amy Caterina, which will include a diorama-like set-up complete with background murals and a forest floor with furry little creatures.

The shipping crate after we first opened it.

A few of the deer that will soon be returned to their forest home.

Photo mural in panels, printed on vinyl and hung with velcro.

Erin and Lim took measurments and hung the panels.

And here it is with the ground and a few animals in front of it:

See you in 2011!

2010-12-25T21:17:00.002-06:00

The semester has ended; the exhibitions are packed. Out with the old; in with the new. Keep watching this space to see what 2011 will bring (I think it's going to be good...)

Keep On Truckin'

2010-12-25T21:10:00.004-06:00

Nothing is better than loading a truck in the winter. We recently returned artwork to Mike Rea, Diane Simpson and Patty Carroll. Screwing 2x4s to the floor of the truck helps to keep things in place.

Autumn Leaves photo shoot

2010-12-25T21:04:00.005-06:00

Here's some snapshots from a photo shoot we did right after Autumn Leaves closed. Our aim was to get some "really good" shots of the individual dresses before they went back into storage.

Pickin' n' Grinnin'

2010-12-17T16:27:00.003-06:00

At the end of an exhibition, we have to remove any adhesive vinyl lettering that remains on the walls. It looks great during the show, but man is it a pain to peel off.

Some Assembly Required

2010-12-09T16:40:00.004-06:00

The exhibition INsideOUT is over, and Mike Rea's mighty sculpture, Prosthetic Suit for Steven Hawking with Japanese Steel, must be dismantled and returned to it's orbit around one of Sautrn's moons.

Overworked & Underpaid?

2010-12-09T09:55:00.004-06:00

You know you have been working on de-installing a show for too long when you get restless & start doing stuff like this.

Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing

2010-12-09T09:33:00.009-06:00

Diane Simpson's piece Mesh Bonnet, is displayed on a "swing" platform. The aesthetic of the sculpture is very clean and precise, so the support had to be visually sympathetic.

Our ceilings are acoustic tile; a small amount of weight can be suspended from the support grid. The problem: tying the swing to the support grid would make for diagonal rope; the rope needed to go straight up through the ceiling. So, we drilled holes in the acoustic tile & ran the rope straight up.

The tile, however, isn't strong enough to support the weight of the sculpture. Long wooden 2x4s, placed on the topside of the grid, above the tiles, created sturdy support beams. The gallery below looks orange in the photo.

Un-dressed dressforms

2010-12-08T09:46:00.002-06:00

Autumn Leaves, our exhibition of 20th century fall fashion, has concluded. All that is left in the gallery is a small batallion of "naked" dressforms.

Repacking art made from clothing fragments

2010-12-07T17:57:00.004-06:00

As the semester closes, so do our shows. Jane Brucker's multi-panel Memorial now has to be shipped back to Los Angeles. On each frame is stretched a piece of clothing, some including snaps or buttons of some sort. These have to be packed carefully, so the protrusions to not scrape or rub against the piece next to them in transit. Erin Coleman-Cruz carefully selects individual pieces to pack next to each other, to insure this doesn't happen. The artist provided us with detailed instructions, which grad assistant Heather Green consults.

Blood on the Floor

2010-10-21T06:54:00.003-05:00

Artist and NIU alum Mike Rea and Grad Assistant Heather Green put the finishing touches on a decaptitated wookie; part of Mike's sculpture Olympia (after Manet). The material is colored yarn. We don't know how the wookie died; could have been a suicide, although foul play has not yet been ruled out.

Keep the museum lint-free!

2010-10-18T13:42:00.002-05:00

Our new show, INsideOUT, opens in a couple days. We just finished hanging Jane Brucker's grid of clothing fragments called Memorial. Erin Coleman-Cruz, armed with a lint roller, is giving the pieces the final once-over.

French Cleats & Vitrines

2010-09-17T17:35:00.017-05:00

Our current exhibition, Autumn Leaves: A Century of Fall Fashion, contains a timeline of the 20th century, concluding with Toni Morrison receiving the Nobel Prize in 1993. A first edition copy of her novel Beloved is included, and we wanted to protect it with a plexiglass vitrine.
Sort of (well, exactly) like this:

Two steps were involved: hanging a shelf, and putting a vitrine over it. We had to use a vitrine that was already lying around, and there just so happened to be one big enough for the book. It encompassed the shelf as well, which, while not necessary, also worked in our favor.

The shelf is hung with what is called a french cleat: two 45-degree angles meet to form a sturdy suspension system. First, a piece of wood, trimmed along the top at 45 degrees, is hung level on the wall. A matching piece, attached to the shelf, rests on top of it. Museums use this this strategy to hang very heavy objects and works of art (but it works for single books, too).

Next for the plexi, which I had to to clean and buff out the light scratches. Then, I cut a small piece of 1x2" wood (painted white in the photo below) to hold the plexi vitrine to the wall. I will do this by screwing the wood to the wall first, at the height of the top of the vitrine, then screwing the vitrine to the wood.

Here's the pre-drilled holes in the vitrine.

I used a counter-sink bit to drill them; this makes a tapered hole to accommodate the screw head which will be flush with the plexiglass instead of sticking up.

After I screwed the 1x2 to the wall, I covered the screw head with a sticker (those red dots they use in galleries next to pieces that have sold), an extra step to make the screw less visible. I will paint this white.

Lastly, the vitrine is screwed down. Regular or security screws can be used for this; either can also be covered with red dots & painted for added security (the red dots make regular screws look like nails and can deter tampering and even potential art theft).

A Simple Idea Grows Even More Complex (Part 4)

2010-09-11T15:07:00.017-05:00

The devil is in the details. This phrase is tattooed on every museum employee's forehead. I have already posted three times about displaying Judith Brotman's Leaf assemblages, collectively titled Natural Selections. (here, here and here).
Her assemblages are fine, that's not the complication; it's us trying to be clever and elegant in presenting them. After doing all the things we did in the first three posts, there were still two little problems that nagged at us.
Number one: there was a bit of a crack at the top of the door on each cabinet. The light was visible and a little distracting. Here's a close-up:

We came up with a simple solution: black paper on a shelf above the bulb.

The result:

Problem number two: when viewed from the side (as all of these are since they are mounted in a hallway) there is a small gap between the cabinet door and the framed leaf, which looks like a big fat dark vertical line.

Again, a fairly simple solution: a strip of matboard, scored and folded, was taped to the cabinet door so that when the door closed, only the matboard was visible in this gap.

The result:

Hanging Unframed Drawings

2010-09-07T16:39:00.008-05:00

Our current exhibition, StAGEs of Transition, includes three drawings by Michael Ferris Jr. that depict a speculative "flash-forward" to the artist's old age, surrounded by the triumphs and detritus of his creations. Since the drawings were made as preparatory studies for paintings, they came to us unmatted and unframed.
So, how to hang them on the wall? We made small tabs out of linen tape (an archival conservation tape - strong but fairly easily removed) and put pins through the tabs (not the artwork).

Let's back up and review the steps:

Tools: scissors, linen tape and water to moisten the tape (in this case in a handy ceramic dispenser with a rotating cylinder).

About two inches of tape are cut off, and a tab is folded back.

The tape is moistened.

The moist tape is adhered to the back of the drawing with a bone folder. The folded-over tab is sticking up; a second piece of tape can be added for security.

Since the tape is wet (and can wrinkle when it dries), it is dried under weight to keep it nice and flat.

Transcending the Commonplace

2010-09-03T22:50:00.006-05:00

Burmese Lacquerware is transcendent. The colors, the patterns; the narratives. When it came to hanging some platters in the gallery, though, we used pretty commonplace materials: L-hooks from the hardware store.

They come in different sizes, so we just picked the right size for the platters in question, and painted them to complement the dominant colors of the platters. Finally, we covered the metal hooks with flexible clear rubber tubing, making a soft and non-slippery pad for the platter to rest on.

Object Labels

2010-09-01T16:46:00.004-05:00

Curator Catherine Raymond affixes an object label to the wall behind a clear vitrine. We use a little ball of white poster-hanging putty called "plasti-tak" in each corner on the back of the label. She's wearing white cotton gloves to keep fingerprints off the newly-made label.

Keep it Level

2010-08-31T16:32:00.009-05:00

What to do when there are numerous small items to place on a gallery wall, all at the same height but covering nearly 20 feet? The perfect tool is the tripod-mounted laser level; it projects a horizontal red line that is perfectly level across the wall (even around corners or on curved walls).

We had just such a situation recently. There were two heights to line stuff up with, one for photos; one for text panels. We hung everything that went at the same height on the first pass, measuring spaces between for text panels, which we hung on a second pass with the laser adjusted higher.

The finished wall:

Here's a close up of a photo, backed with foamcore & covered with plexiglass. They are attached to the wall with brass tentor hooks, which go in with a hammer.

The numbers were cut from adhesive vinyl & put up along the same level as the text panels.

An Exhibition Grows

2010-08-27T14:01:00.013-05:00

Here's a chance to see an exhibition (Autumn Leaves: A Century of Fall Fashion) develop.

We started with colored sheets of paper on the floor to represent where each dress might go. Different colors relate to different decades of the 20th century.

Barbara Cole Peters, who curated the show from her own collection, brought over each garment on a dress form.
She arranged them according to the original plan...

And made necessary minor adjustments.

We added signage, like object labels, descriptive text and poems or quotations that evoked the unique qualities of autumn. (I apologize for the autumnal "golden glow" of the color balance in this photo).

She also provided ropes and stanchions. Here's how it looks now:

One final addition was an illustrated time-line of major cultural events from the 20th century, which helped place the garments in a sociological context.

Vitrines

2010-08-25T11:54:00.005-05:00

To protect artifacts in the Legacy in Lacquer: A Living Art from Burma exhibition, plexiglass vitrines are placed over the pedestals on which the objects rest. Here we are gently setting one in place, wearing gloves so we don't get fingerprints on the plexi.

Curator Catherine Raymond and her assistant Rachel Walters Ndiho seem pleased.

Troubleshooting

2010-08-24T17:25:00.009-05:00

It was a good idea - just untested. Our circular mat windows with light behind them (chronicled in this post) ended up teaching us the lesson that matboard is translucent. At least when a fairly bright light is right behind it. The photo below is enhanced a little to convey the problem of the orange halo.

Plan B: cover the offending area with duct tape - not elegant, but effective. One note about duct tape - it reflects a grayish light. So we switched to white duct tape.

The result: no more unwanted "lumenescent infiltration".

By the way, we put the lights on timers behind the locked case doors, as there are no external switches and we didn't want to open them more than we have to.

Label Making Assembly Line

2010-08-20T19:20:00.010-05:00

To make the object labels that go on the wall next to the artwork in the galleries, we first print a Word file and adhere it to matboard using double-sided "dry-mount" adhesive.

Today we had an assembly line going: Lim drew marks around the text boxes to indicate where edges of the labels should be. Tom laid down the adhesive sheets on matboard. Heather attached the printed labels after peeling back the paper from the adhesive sheet, and Erin cut the labels on a matcutter, using the bevel housing where the blade is held at a 45 degree angle.

The finished labels. We usually adhere them to the wall with plasti-tak (the white putty that one uses to hang posters in dorm rooms).

Cleaning Lacquer

2010-08-20T18:43:00.011-05:00

In order to get Burmese lacquered objects looking their best for our upcoming exhibition Legacy in Lacquer: A Living Art from Burma, extra care has to be taken.

Catherine Raymond, Director of NIU's Center for Burma Studies and curator of the exhibition, instructs John Benson about a hsun ok offering vessel.
Erin Coleman Cruz in is the foreground, painstakingly removing decades of dust and soot from an ornate mirror stand.

John uses a cotton swab and some warm water to gently dislodge accumulated grime.

Hanging Pictures in a Grid

2010-08-17T18:29:00.008-05:00

This happens more and more. Remember the FSA show in the spring? We recently had to do something similar, hang 12 photographs in identical frames in a grid. So, we hung them from the upper edge of the frames on two level nails, rather than the picture wire that one usually finds on the back of a frame. This strategy offers several benefits: the pictures stay level (rather than rocking back and forth on the wire), and can be nudged sideways on the two nails so that the alignment can be perfected.
BTW, these photos are by Nicholas Nixon, from his famous series on the 4 Brown sisters, taken at intervals as they aged. Our exhibition is called StAGEs of Transition, curated by museum director Jo Burke.

(the camera lens is distorted a bit - our pictures are straight!)

Displaying Leaves

2010-08-02T14:20:00.006-05:00

Most of the leaf sculptures (are leaves 2D or 3D?) by Judith Brotman that we will be showing this fall were already framed, but two of them were not. To display them in a manner consistent with the framed examples, we had to attach loose leaves (no pun intended) to 4-ply "antique white" museum board. Since the leaf fragments were already stitched together, Erin Coleman-Cruz, one of our assistants with a lot of expertise in this department, suggested using our own thread to loop through Judith's stitching and secure the leaves to small pieces of matboard. This way our stitching is not visible, and the small piece of board to which it is attached can be cut to fit behind the leaf.

This way, the leaf is supported and elevated slightly, so it appears to "float". They are attached to the larger backing board with double-sided tape.

Seeing the Light

2010-07-15T17:13:00.010-05:00

Coming up next month, when the museum re-opens for the fall, will be a group of works by Judith Brotman, collectively entitled Natural Selections. Most of the pieces, made from two or more dried leaves stitched together, are fairly small for the display cases in which they will be displayed.
The idea surfaced to cover the case doors with matboard, into which will be cut a circular viewing aperture. This seems to solve the size discrepancy and add to the specimen-like quality.

Here is a "test" in a rough-cut mat window.

That looked good, but I couldn't help but wonder what the addition of some lighting might do. These cases do not have separate lights mounted inside them, so I had to improvise. The leaves were already framed, like any other picture might be. They had to be close to the glass doors of the case, or the edges of these frames would show, so there wasn't much room for a little spotlight in front of them.
I tried putting a light above and behind the framed artwork, pointing toward the white matboard which would reflect some of the light downward.

Here is the light fixture on a little stand, with a CFL bulb (which won't produce much heat when the case door is closed). As the door closes, the circular hole will cover up the rectangular white frame.

Here is a close-up of the leaf with the light on. Actually, the photo is kinda crappy compared to the actual effect.

Next step - get some nice, perfect, beveled mat windows cut. The show opens August 24 and runs until October 2.

Bus Trip to see Chciacgo Architecture

2010-07-08T11:11:00.003-05:00

We recently journeyed to downtown Chicago to tour the many architectural marvels with the Chicago Architecture Foundation.
Ivan Shils and his wife Judith have been world travelers for many years; he thought they were the best tours he's been on, in any city. Below is one of his photos:

Rescuing Prints from Old Frames

2010-07-06T13:20:00.005-05:00

Recently I was gathering artwork from the collection for our annual NASCAR (NIU Art Museum Summer Collection Art Rental Program) exhibition, an I came across a couple prints that needed to be unframed, because the frames they were in were old and "acidic". Until relatively recently, framers used materials such as corrugated cardboard and masking tape. Over time, these become brittle and discolored, damaging the artwork they are supposed to be protecting.

Here's some photos: The first shows the difference between types of tape - the yellow is old masking tape; it has even discolored the once-white linen tape which is attached to the art. At least the acid-free linen tape has remained white where it touches the paper, so there really isn't much damage to the art, just to the mat, which will be replaced with 4-ply acid free museum board (made from cotton rather that wood fibers, which contain naturally-occurring acidic chemicals).

In the following photo, the ink of the print has reacted with the glass in the frame, causing it to be cloudy where it once was clear. The glass will be replaced with new plexiglass (much safer for a university setting, don't you think?)

I Got-On-The-Bus and saw Cool Things!

2010-05-21T11:02:00.006-05:00

Last week the museum sponsored another Get-On-The-Bus trip to Chicago to see some murals from the 1930s. This complements our current exhibitions of Art of the New Deal Era in our galleries.

Our first stop was Lane Tech College Prep High School, home to dozens of these murals. These are a few of the 40 (!) large paintings by Miklos Gaspar (& his assistants), originally commissioned by General Motors for the 1933 "Century of Progress" Chicago world's fair. These murals were restored in 2000 by the Chicago Conservation Center led by Heather Becker, who was our tour guide for the day. Becker's excellent book on WPA Murals of Chicago can be found here.

We also stopped at two other schools. Pictured is a cubist-inspired mural, painted in 1936 by Rudolph Weisenborn at Louis Nettelhorst Elementary School.

Museum Studies

2010-04-22T11:53:00.008-05:00

Yesterday was a full day of events for the Museum Studies graduate certificate program at NIU. Dr. Elizabeth Seaton, the Eli Associate Curator at the Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, was here to evaluate the Coming of Age exhibition of WPA/FAP prints.
In the afternoon, she spoke with the class responsible for organizing and installing the show.

This was followed by a reception, where current graduates of the program were recognized (Cherrie Tymkiw is pictured).

Lastly, Dr. Seaton gave a public lecture about the exhibitions organized by the Graphic Section of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s & 40s to promote the artists supported by the program.

All this only days after the same class took a "Field Trip" to Chicago for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium. We got to see many things, including birds being prepped as study skins.

Songs of Woody Guthrie

2010-04-09T14:03:00.004-05:00

Last night, at the opening reception for our Art of the New Deal Era exhibition suite, we enjoyed learning about a great musician and storyteller from that time period: Woody Guthrie. Bucky Halker brought the songs and stories to life; tales of race relations, labor unions, coal mine disasters, hydroelectric dams and cowboys.

Up on the Walls

2010-04-06T15:30:00.007-05:00

Here's a view of the same walls from the previous post after the photos were hung.

Here's a few more views of the exhibition:

10 pounds of flour in a 5 pound sack

2010-04-06T15:05:00.003-05:00

Sorry to exhibit questionable taste by using a food metaphor to convey certain qualities of a photography show about the Great Depression. "This Great Nation Will Endure" contains about 150 photos, some which are enlarged quite a bit, plus text panels & a few videos. Here they are laid out on the floor, grouped by geographic region. How will we make it all fit? Stay tuned...

Crates

2010-04-03T17:22:00.006-05:00

The next exhibition has just arrived: "This Great Nation Will Endure": Photographs of the Great Depression. The crates are beautiful: custom built by California-based ArtCrate. Here are two examples of packing strategies: vertically-stacked frames of consistent size, or horizontal foamcore "trays" with custom ethafoam partitions.

Mounting Posters

2010-04-03T17:15:00.004-05:00

As visitors enter the museum, they are greeted by a title wall currently sporting enlargements of WPA-era prints and posters mounted on black foamcore. To mount these panels, tiny nails are driven at a 45 degree angle through the sides of the foamcore into the wall. This way no support hardware will be visible; the piece will appear to "float" on the wall.

New Acquisition

2010-03-31T10:01:00.010-05:00

The latest gift to the Museum is a folio of prints and "pomes" (poems) by retired NIU professors David Driesbach and William Johnson. The folio from 1980, entitled 20/20 Visions, features 20 examples of each; half the prints were made to illustrate existing pomes, and half the pomes were written to accompany existing prints. Our thanks to DeKalb resident Carolyn Hays for the generous donation.

Coming Soon: "Coming of Age"

2010-03-23T16:30:00.006-05:00

Opening on April 8, 2010 will be our Art of the New Deal Era exhibition suite, which will include "Coming of Age: The WPA / FAP Graphic Section and the American Print" an exhibition that is being curated, organized, installed, etc. etc. by Peter Van Ael and his ART 656 Exhibits and Interpretation museum studies class.

Dave Malhosky has been hanging many of the prints. The class chose and applied the lovely and complementary wall color.

Danielle Barton edits text for YET ANOTHER object label.

Burn Baby Burn

2010-03-21T10:59:00.003-05:00

When the Cannonball Press Root Hog, Or Die! exhibition was over, we were left with a site-specific sculpture that was created just for the show. Now what happens to it? We couldn't really ship it back to Brooklyn, and without the context of the rest of the exhibit the piece didn't seem to have as much gravitas (plus it is too big to store). So, in the spirit with which the piece was first created, we had a funeral procession, complete with homemade percussion, followed by a ritual pyre. The students who helped build the piece at the beginning of the exhibit were involved in this sacrificial offering.

Here's museum director Jo Burke tossing a piece of the woodcut-encrusted carcass on the fire.

Student Gallery Talks

2010-03-04T15:13:00.004-06:00

Two of our undergraduate Museum Assistants have recently lead talks in our current exhibitions. John Benson is seen below discussing the Midwestern BLAB! 2 show, while Robert Sabala brings us up to date on what has been happening in the world of comics and graphic novels in the last 10 years.

Don Colley is a Diety

2010-03-04T14:52:00.006-06:00

Last week we were graced with a visit by Chicago artist Don Colley, whose work is in our Midwestern BLAB 2 exhibition. He showed sketchbooks to a class in the afternoon, then gave a public lecture, aided by an overhead projector. Don offered copious insight into his working methods and provided lots of inspiration and practical tips.

Private Reception

2010-01-27T11:46:00.004-06:00

On Sunday, we hosted a special reception for Museum Members & Friends of the University Libraries. Our featured speaker was Lynne M. Thomas, director of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University Libraries and curator of Heroes, Villains and the American Zeitgeist. Read the entry on Lynne's blog about curating the show here.

Don Colley sketchbooks

2010-01-22T23:46:00.004-06:00

There are numerous cool elements of the Midwestern BLAB! 2 exhibition; perhaps my personal favorite are the sketchbooks that are exhibited in glass cases. These shimmer and writhe with thousands of intimate drawings. I love sketchbooks for the selfish and voyeristic reason that I feel like I get to hang out inside an artist's head for a few minutes. At the opening reception, Don flipped through these books for an even closer journey through some of the synapses of his brain. Thanks, Don!
Next thing I'm going to do is visit his website.

Coins

2010-01-22T23:36:00.009-06:00

Another element of Root Hog, or Die! were the coins that spilled forth from the butchered carcass at the reception. These 12" cardboard coins were minted by NIU's talented graduate printmaking students. By the way, they have their own blog.
Here are the drying racks in the printshop, and finished coins being placed inside the carcass by Martin Mazorra on the night before the opening.

photo by Randi Stella

Faux Woodgrain

2010-01-21T13:58:00.002-06:00

NIU printmaking grad student Jessica Robles paints woodgrain on a wooden beam in the gallery. Oh, the irony.

Hanging the Biggest Woodcut on the Planet

2010-01-21T13:50:00.003-06:00

"Marketplace" is a collaborative/collaged woodcut by Mike Houston and Martin Mazorra of Cannonball Press. Yes, it is printed on cheap paper, starts out folded and is held together by scotch tape. When I recovered from a non-archival materials induced museum-preparator coma, I grew to admire the ambitious and monumental print.

Hanging Small Woodcuts

2010-01-21T13:24:00.003-06:00

Balancing the colossal woodcuts in one gallery of the Cannonball Press show is a room of smaller woodcuts, all printed on 18x24" thick posterboard. To hang them straight, we used a laser level (high-tech meets low tech).

Hanging More Big Woodcuts

2010-01-17T11:19:00.007-06:00

Cannonball Press produces woodcuts that make the Tom Hucks we hung the other day look small. These are printed on canvas, and can hang from dowell rods. We chose to re-use old dowell rods from another art project and suspend them with monofilament line from the ceiling grid.

Making a bull carcass in the gallery

2010-01-16T19:22:00.012-06:00

For the exhibition "Root Hog, Or Die!" Martin Mazzora and Mike Houston a.k.a. Cannonball Press are here form Brooklyn. Here's some process photos:

Bradley Cahill paints the "abbattior" black.

Jessica Robles & Mike Houston begin to fashion the ribcage.

Darren Houser, Kyle Turner & Mike Houston give shape to the skeleton.

Two sets of ribs in need of a spine.

Mike Houston shows off his achievement to museum director Jo Burke.

The infrastructure is in place!

Painting Walls / Prepping for Cannonball Press

2010-01-13T16:32:00.003-06:00

Bradley Cahill paints a couple of walls black; walls that will, within the next week, hold aloft a giant bull. Stay tuned for more photos as the project unfolds...

Hanging Big Woodcuts

2010-01-13T16:24:00.004-06:00

Today we hung a really big woodcut in the gallery - "The Transformation of Brandy Baghead", a triptych by Tom Huck. To secure it to the wall, we used pins with little (1/8") round black heads. The pins are placed right along the edges of the prints, so they don't actually pierce the artwork. Since the print is black and white, they virtually disappear when viewed from a few feet away.

Installing Hallway Cases

2010-01-11T11:08:00.009-06:00

Asisstant Director Peter Olson places numbered stickers on the glass front of the museum hallway cases. These will correspond to interpretive text for our new exhibition, "Heroes, Villains and the American Zeitgeist". Featured are comic books and graphic novels from NIU's Rare Books and Special Collections department of Founders Memorial Library.

Museum Staff Holiday Party

2009-12-09T14:45:00.013-06:00

After the semester ended, but before finals began, we held a little gathering for the staff.

Danny Cruz, Diana Arntzen, Erin Coleman-Cruz, Heather Hine's back, Janean Koebbe and Rachel Papp.

John Benson has been good all year; no way he's getting coal.

Erin & Bradley discover that an electromagnetic field is created when the tips of santa-hats touch.

Jo Burke, Ian Johnson, Danny Cruz, Erin Coleman-Cruz and Bradley Cahill.

John Benson, Chan-Mei Yu, Janean Koebbe and Peter Olson.

Brandon Kirkman is so funky that normal cameras cannot capture a clear image of him.

Graduate Assistant Heather Hines and husband Dana.

Installing the Faculty Biennial

2009-11-21T14:52:00.002-06:00

Graduate Assistant Heather Hines employs the powers of mathmatics to insure that artwork by professor Harry Wirth will be straight and level on the wall.

Museum Studies fieldtrip

2009-11-21T14:46:00.003-06:00

We took our ART465/565 Intro to Museum Studies class over to the Regional History Center and Archives in NIU's Founders Memorial library. Cindy Ditzler, the director, showed us around and explained the many roles of an archive of local, regional and university history.

Hand-made book enclosures

2009-10-18T22:12:00.007-05:00

Artist Karen Hanmer not only makes fabulous books, she also makes elegant protective enclosures for them. I had a chance to take a few snapshots when we packed up her recent exhibition RetroTech.

Here's a soft enclosure for a bound stack of printouts. Made of archival cardstock, the top and bottom fold in, followed by the right flap. The left flap is held in place on top by those two small dots of velcro.

A hand-tooled leather-bound book gets stored in a custom-made clam-shell box lined with suede.

Wrapping it back up

2009-10-18T22:04:00.002-05:00

The first exhibitions of the fall semester are already over. Here's Bradley stapling bubble-wrap and plastic sheeting over Jessica Gondek's paintings. The paintings are backed with thin plywood, giving the artist a surface to staple her canvas to, and us a surface to staple the wrapping to.

Techno Dance Rehearsal

2009-09-30T17:10:00.004-05:00

NIU student dancers have been rehearsing for the upcoming free performances in the galleries. They will be interpreting & responding to the pieces in our current "Technology and Art" exhibition suite.

Student Monique Hickman and instructor Paula Frasz

GOTB Milwaukee

2009-09-30T14:42:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we took a Get-On-The-Bus trip to Milwaukee to see the Art Museum, Discovery World and galleries in the Third Ward neighborhood. In keeping with the "behind the scenes" feature of this blog, I present to you a photo taken in the Men's room at the Milwaukee Art Museum, where there is currently a big Andy Warhol exhibition. I hear tell that the women's featured the same quote, but I can't speak from personal experience.
(click on photo to enlarge)

Matting Temple Rubbings

2009-09-16T10:15:00.003-05:00

The NIU Anthropology Museum is presenting an exhibition that will feature some rubbings made at the Wat Po temple in Thailand. To mat them for display, I had to attach them with hinges made from a thin, long-fibered paper similar to the art itself. For an adhesive, I used wheat paste, which is water-soluble and considered the best choice for archival matting.

A close-up of a hinge.

Two rubbings in their mats; the weights keep the artwork in place and prevent the moist hinges from buckling as they dry.

Get-On-The-Bus

2009-09-15T17:28:00.001-05:00

A group from NIU went in to Chicago on Friday, September 11 to view the Olafur Eliasson show at the MCA (it sort of fits with our current "Technology and Art" theme) and take in the spectacle of "First Friday" openings throughout the city. Here we are at Intuit Gallery, checking out the technological art of tatooing etc. That's Erin Coleman-Cruz and bearded husband Danny in the center.

Technology & Art reception

2009-09-15T17:17:00.000-05:00

Thursday, September 10, 2009. Among those pictured are museum supporters Steven Johnson and Lori Hartenhof, Jo Burke, Brandon Kirkman, Robert Sabala, Rachel Papp, Heather Hines and Diana Arntzen.

During the reception, three artists - Jessica Gondek, Gerald Guthrie and Karen Hanmer - spoke about their work upstairs from the gallery in Altgeld 315.

Museum assistant Ian Johnson processed museum memberships.

Museum assistants John Benson and Brandon Kirkman know how to have a good time.

Technology & Art

2009-09-15T17:13:00.000-05:00

To augment our Technology and Art exhibitions, Diana Arntzen, our PR & Education person, put the current shows in context by giving two very informative illustrated talks on the the history of artists responding to technology.

Installing Video

2009-08-26T16:33:00.000-05:00

One of our new exhibitions, called Dimensional Figures and Environments, features 3 artists, including Elona Van Gent of Ann Arbor, Michigan. For her video piece "Fallen", the image had to be large, and oriented vertically, to amplify the sense of figures falling through space. This piece is located is a small "turret" off the gallery (the building in which the museum is housed looks like an old castle, so we have turrets). The space is too small for a projected video image to get very large, so we bounced the projection off a mirror to double its dimensions. Yes, this also resulted in a distorted and reversed image, but we managed to minimize those problems. Other images from all the artists in our current "Art and Technology Suite" are on our website.

Installing Karen Hanmer

2009-08-11T16:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we began installing Karen Hanmer's show "Retro Tech". That's her in the official NIU Art Museum blue painting smock, touching up the hanging brackets for "It is a Living Thing". Her husband, Bob, who also came to help with installation, is in the background making sure "Input / Output" is going up straight.

Summer Vacation

2009-08-03T12:06:00.000-05:00

In recent weeks all three of us museum staffers got to travel for a little R & R.

Pete went to Montana to visit his wife's family and watch birds.

Jo enrolled in the Ringling School of Art and Design's Jeanne Blackburn Plein Air class at WildAcres Retreat near Little Switzerland, North Carolina.
The retreat is situated just off the amazing Blue Ridge Parkway and high above mosquito range.

Diana and her family saw the sights in and around South Dakota's Black Hills.

New Acquisitions

2009-07-10T17:30:00.000-05:00

We recently recieved a couple donations to the permanent collection that I want to highlight. We rely on the generosity of donors to enhance our collection, and are always grateful for their support.

Jane Hammond
Full House
Intaglio, silkscreen, lithography with collage, 1992-3
78 1/2 x 51"
Gift of Howard and Kaye Haas of Glencoe

Tunde Odunlade
Music and Acrobats/The Pleasure of Musicians
Woodcut, 1981
17 x 12"
Gift of Margaret Plagge of DeKalb

Not All Glamour

2009-07-10T11:12:00.000-05:00

Sometimes a museum has to do things far less glamorous than installing fabulous art. This week Rachel Walters Ndiho, a student in NIU's Museum Studies program, put the finishing touches on an award application for the Illinois Association of Museums.
We are entering two of our exhibits from last year: Moonlight Cocktails are the Thing, prints by retired NIU art professor David Driesbach and Belief Made Tangible, an exhibition of objects and artifacts from our Burma Art Collection.

Here's an image from each show:

Belief Made Tangible

Moonlight Cocktails are the Thing

N.A.S.C.A.R.

2009-07-07T14:02:00.000-05:00

For years, I have wanted to come up with a better title for our "Art To Lend" program. We make certain artwork from the permanent collection available for display in secure campus offices. For this we charge a small fee, to cover the costs of running such a program (framing & conservation, for example). Hence the word "lend" kind of stuck in my craw.
So I came up with:
N(IU)
A(rt Museum)
S(ummer)
C(ollection)
A(rt)
R(ental) program.
Groan.
Each year, I search through collection storage (see below) for pieces to include.

They have to be "nice" / desirable and appropriate. This year I came up with 25 pieces. The group was augmented considerably by several lovely paintings by Jo Burke, the director of the museum.

Summer Cleaning

2009-07-02T16:28:00.000-05:00

While the galleries are closed for the summer, Bradley and I are taking advantage of this opportunity to re-arrange the prep room, collection storage area and storage closets. Hopefully this will make for more efficiently used space, and allow us to consolidate the collection under one roof. As an added bonus, our floors are being thoroughly cleaned & waxed. You could eat off them, but that could invite pesky bugs into the museum.

Museum Studies reception

2009-04-30T12:47:00.000-05:00

Last night was a special reception to honor our graduating students with a Certificate in Museum Studies, and a lecture by visiting scholar Debora Wood, senior curator at the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University. She spoke about the qualities that make an exhibition successful, emphasizing our David Driesbach exhibition "Moonlight Cocktails are the Thing".

This photo, taken earlier in the afternoon, is her talking to the "Exhibits and Interpretation" class, who contributed heaping dollops of energy, creativity and sweat to the organization and implementation of the exhibition.

BTW, plans to travel the exhibition to other venues are being considered.

moonlight cocktails are the thing

2009-04-11T13:36:00.000-05:00

We wanted to test out our camera's video recording capabilities, so here is a 3 minute, unedited, shaky tour of Moonlight Cocktails are the Thing. You might just have to come see the real thing. The 4 shows in our print suite are open through May 9.

come to the house...

2009-04-03T16:45:00.000-05:00

One of our spring shows, Flock by Jay Ryan, will be considerably augmented by the mythic presence of Jay himself, as a visiting artist in the School of Art, and as a musician in the band Dianogah.

The House Cafe, 263 E Lincoln Highway, DeKalb, IL

SAT. APR. 4TH - 8PM - $8

DIANOGAH w/ Loose Lips Sink Ships / Picture Books

It has been said that "Dianogah's core instrumentation is as a trio of two bass guitarists and one drummer. They have toured the US extensively, traveled throughout Europe and played in South America. In their twelve years as a band, Dianogah has toured with Man or Astro Man?, Blonde Redhead, Shellac, Silkworm, June of 44 and Don Caballero, and shared the stage with Sebadoh, Hum, The For Carnation, Ui, Rachels, Shipping News, Seam and Andrew Bird. When not touring in their critically acclaimed van, Jason, Jay and Kip enjoy talking about the price of real estate. They also really enjoy sushi, Hot Dougs (?), books by Neal Stephenson or Haruki Murakami, clean socks, 'Krispy Kreme' donuts and the country of Italy. Sometimes, two or more members of the band accidentally wear the same t-shirt or the same type of shoes."

Jay's poster for the concert. You can get one, while they last, here.

When we work on installing a show, and get thirsty, everyone writes their name on their cup so we don't give each other cooties. Jay's cup has become one of the most celebrated objects in the museum collection. Pete even found this proper pedestal to install the cup as a permanent fixture in the museum's "kitchen gallery."

As you can see, the entire museum staff has become big fans.

Here's some video of Jay's screenprinting workshop at NIU, which took place in April 2009. That horrid noise is the vacuum table keeping the paper from slipping around.

Here's the finished poster: The Squadron on Patrol.
It sold out in a few short hours on Jay's website.

Reception Tonight!

2009-04-02T10:25:00.000-05:00

Don't miss our opening reception for the Spring Printmaking Suite, tonight 4:30 - 7:00, with a talk by David Driesbach at 6:00.

See you there.

NIU Art Museum, Altgeld Hall, first floor, west end!

Jay Ryan posters

2009-03-13T21:29:00.000-05:00

Today Jay Ryan was at the museum to install his posters in the North gallery. (above: Dog in Socks).

Check out more of his work at thebirdmachine.com

Lunch break.

Jay's band, Dianogah, will also be performing at The House on April 4.

Jay's poster for the show. You can get one, while supplies last, here.

spring print suite

2009-03-13T20:17:00.000-05:00

Here they are, the exhibitions we are busily preparing...

March 24 - May 9, 2009

Opening Reception Thursday April 2, 4:30 - 7:00.

Jay Ryan: Flock
Colorful limited-edition silscreen posters produced in Ryan's shop "The Bird Machine".

Kathe Kollwitz, Images of Death and Life

A survey of of prints by the renowned German artist famous for her graphic style, empathic humanity and mordant social commentary.

The Mayor of Palookaville
Hand-printed, hand-bound books by David Johnson.

Moonlight Cocktails are the Thing
Complex and colorful whimsical etchings summarizing a lifetime of acheivements by printmaker David Driesbach. Co-organized with students enrolled in NIU's "Exhibition Interpretation" a graduate-level Museum Studies course. David Driesbach will present a lecture, the evening of the opening, Thursday April 2, at 6:00 p.m. in Altgeld Hall, room 315.

preparing for new shows

2009-03-13T20:06:00.000-05:00

We have been busy taking down, packaging and returning work from out previous exhibitions.

There has been lots of activity with our new exhibitions, which all open on Tuesday, March 24.

saturday curator's talk

2009-02-09T16:52:00.001-06:00

This past Saturday was the gallery talk with guest curator of Crossing Threads, Crossing Boundaries, Ellen Roth Deutsch. As you can see, there was quite a turn out for the talk. We were fortunate again to have several of the CTCB artists in attendance of the talk, and willing to speak about their own work.

Susan Etcoff Fraerman discussing Reverberation.

Ilse Bolle near Tunnel Vision.

Lindsay Obermeyer (right) and friend in front of her Chirugi work.

reception

2009-02-06T10:00:00.000-06:00

Last night was the opening reception for the three shows in our first series of spring exhibitions.

A must to get a photo of the food spread...before things get started.

We had a good size crowd for the reception and gallery talk from guest curator and painting professor Frank Trankina (tag-teamed with artist Jim Lutes).

We were happy to several artists in attendance for the evening including Danny Mansmith pictured here within his installation in the South Gallery as part of Crossing Threads, Crossing Boundaries.

We were also lucky to have Yvette Kaiser Smith give a gallery talk about her work at the opening- after a busy two days as visiting artist- lecturing, hosting a workshop, and holding critiques with students in the school of art.

I am certain that the big question for our devoted blog followers is... what did we all wear?

Diana and I coordinated with black and gray wool (matching Judith Brotman's piece made from gray felt).

Yes, another great evening at the art museum. If you missed last nights festivities, Saturday afternoon is a second reception and curators talk with Ellen Roth Deutsch.

in the rotunda gallery

2009-01-15T17:51:00.001-06:00

A few installation photos from Push, Pull, Scrub, Drip, Drip curated by NIU painting professor Frank Trankina.

Final touches before we open on Tuesday:
I always enjoy adhering the vinyl show titles to the wall. The title for the painting exhibition Push, Pull, Scrub, Drip, Drip was especially enjoyable. One of my other favorite things to do at work is to pick the vinyl off the wall after the shows close.

today at the museum

2009-01-14T19:00:00.000-06:00

Pete fits perfectly under Cat Chow's She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not.

Sun Choi braved I88 in fun January weather to install her piece The Flowing Memory IV, made of dried gourds. The piece has a terrific smell. You can see Sun's arm busy at work in the upper right corner.

Above is part of Judith Brotman's Objects for Perfect Strangers, which I enjoyed installing today. The shadows are lots of fun.

Bradley got his glove trapped under the vitrine.

There is quite a bit more great work in this show, and the painting show too...more on that to follow as well.

the niu art museum has a blog

2009-01-08T19:43:00.000-06:00

Yes, the NIU Art Museum now has a blog: a great place to see more photos and find out more about everything happening at the museum. To start off the New Year, we have been busy preparing for a few new exhibitions, and working with 3 guest curators. Details on our shows (opening to the public on January 20) can be found on the current exhibitions section of the NIU Art Museum website.

Guest curator, Ellen Roth Deutsch has been with us a few days this week continuing to install Crossing Threads, Crossing Boundaries- a contemporary fiber show featuring fourteen artists- and finalizing the catalog- now at the printer (yea).

Ellen with Jo, Pete, and Erin deciding the best display for one of Cat Chow's pieces:

Some of Lindsay Obermeyer's work:

One of Betsy Youngquist's anthropomorphic beaded forms:

Just a brief look at some of the work in CTCB, check back for a peak at our other shows opening this month!