2/4/2008

Teacher Workshop

"African Art from Cameroon"

This teacher workshop will focus on the exhibition Sleeping with the Leopard: African Art from Cameroon (January 24-June 28, 2009), which features more than 60 masks, sculptures, containers, stools and pieces of jewelry, among other types of objects.  The workshop will include both a formal lecture and a gallery visit.  We will begin with an overview of the geographical, social and cultural factors that affect artistic production in the West African country of Cameroon and then move to a more in-depth examination of some individual pieces.  Educators will learn about the main themes of the exhibition, such as animal motifs in Cameroonian art and their underlying meanings, materials and techniques, and royal arts.  Participants will receive teaching materials that include illustrations of select works from the exhibition.  There will be an opportunity for questions and discussion.

Dr. Kimberly Cleveland is an assistant professor of Art History at Georgia State University.  She is also the curator of the exhibition Sleeping with the Leopard: African Art from Cameroon and former Associate Curator at the Figge Art Museum.  She teaches courses on African art and has won numerous awards for her research. 

Please contact Heather Aaronson at 563.326.7804 x2045 or haaronson@figgeartmuseum to register.  CPDUs are available.

6/19/2008

Gallery Talk

"Teapots: Object to Subject"

Rob Lipnick, art instructor and coordinator of the Humanities Department at Scott Community College, and Megan Quinn, professor of art at Augustana College, will lead a gallery talk for the exhibition.  The artists will discuss the appeal of the teapot form and aspects of a functional teapot, and consider the unique qualities of contemporary forms in this exhibition which challenge our notions of what a teapot is supposed to look like. 

9/23/2008

Teacher Workshop

"Art as Propaganda"

This workshop will survey the role of art and artists within the context of early 20-th century wartime propaganda.  Dr. Switzer will discuss artistic involvement in the creation of Wolrd War I and II posters as tools of recruiment and visual persuasion to maintain popular support for the war efforts.  The Nazi Party's efforts at controlling and regulating art in the Degenerate Art exhibition of 1937 will also be covered.  Teachers will have time to discuss classroom curricular connections in small groups after Dr. Switzer's lecture. 

Presented by Dr. Terri Switzer, St. Ambrose University

Registration Deadline is 9.16.08.  For more information please call 563.326.7804 x2045.

9/27/2008

Artist Demonstration

Betsy Zmuda-Swanson - The Mindful Artist

Join us in the Art's Café for this Free demonstration organized by the Left Bank Art League.

9/27/2008

Family Event

Woven Stories

Why was Henry Moore (1898-1986) such an important artist?  What's the difference between a tapestry and a weaving?  Come and find out the answers!  Participants can try their hand at weaving simple projects on mini looms.  After viewing the exhibition, participants can create their own family portraits using the drawing media that British sculptor Henry Moore used for his drawings on display in the exhibition.  Families can also enjoy snacks in the studios.

This program is offered in conjunction with the exhibition Mother and Child: Henry Moore's West Dean Tapestries.

9/27/2008

Lecture and Artist Demo

"Unraveling the Threads: The History and Art of Tapestry"

Tapestries have been woven, used and appreciated around the world for centuries.  This lecture will cover the history of tapestry weaving and provide an overview of trends in contemporary tapestry and woven fiber art.  Rowen Schussheim-Anderson will also discuss the challenges the West Dean weavers encountered when interpreting the mixed media drawings made by British sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986).  After the lecture, Ms. Schussheim-Anderson will demonstrate tapestry weaving. 

Rowen Schussheim-Anderson is a weaver and art professor at Augustana College.  Shee has taught weaving at the Smithsonian and Arizona State University, and in her current position.  Her tapestries are in many permanent collections.

9/28/2008

Gallery Talk

Focus on Eliot Porter and Olivia Parker

Meet in the Level 3 Orientation Gallery.

The Figge recently received a gift of photographs from collector Brent Sikkema.  Join us for this series of gallery talks that provide and overview to the exhibition and highlight selected photographers whose work in on display.

Presented by Anna Heinemann.

Anna Heineman is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Iowa.  She has been a fan of photography for years, and fervently believes one only needs a good eye - and not a good camera - to take amazing images.  She is currently teaching art history and photography at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

10/4/2008

Art Seminar

"Issues in Art Museums - Connoisseurship"

Guest scholar David Mackie will share his new research on artist Sir Henry Raeburn R. A. (1756-1823).  The research pertains to Raeburn's painting  Portrait of John, Lord Swinton (1723-1797), which the Figge recently purchased.  Dr. Mackie will provide background information on the artist and place the portrait in context.  Executive director Dr. Sean O'Harrow will explain the importance of the Raeburn acquisition to the Figge's permanent collection. 

David A. T. Mackie studied art history at the University of Edinburgh and Yale University.  He was the recipient of the Carnegie Scholarship and Sotheby's Parke Bernet Prize, and served as a Vans Dunlop Scholar and and Andrew W. Mellon Fellow.  Mackie is the author of the complete catalogue of the paintings of Sir Henry Raeburn, which was later turned into an exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland and National Portrait Gallery, London.  He has taught art history and architectural history at Edinburgh University and Savannah, before coming to the Department of Art History at Cambridge University in 2006.  He is also a member of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he researches.

Please click here for more information about the Art Seminars Program, including registration, receptions, and certification.

10/9/2008

Lecture

"Random Order: The Art and Life of Robert Rauschenberg"

The lecture will provide an art historical and biographical overview of Robert Rauschenberg's career as one of the leading figures of the New York avant-garde during the latter part of the 20th century.  While the variety of Rauschenberg's artistic output will be highlighted, specific emphasis will be given to his innovative work in collage, assemblage and printmaking during the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as his interest in post-war mass media, in particular the aesthetic and social issures of early television, magazine publishing and popular film  Dr. Gilbert's lecture is offerend in conjunction with the exhibition A Tribute to Robert Rauschenberg in the Learn to Look Gallery.  The exhibition is co-organized by the Knox College Department of Art and Art History. 

Gregory Gilbert received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University and is currently Associate Professor of Art History and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois.  He is the author of various books and catalogs on American 20th century art and has published articles in the Oxford Art Journal, the Art Journal, The Rutgers Art Review, and Aurora: The Journal of the History of Art.  He has lectured on Rauschenberg's art at the Midwest Art History Society in Chicago and at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

10/19/2008

Gallery Talk

Focus on Harold Edgerton and Gyorgy Kepes

Meet in the Level 3 Orientation Gallery.

The Figge recently received a gift of photographs from collector Brent Sikkema.  Join us for this series of gallery talks that provide and overview to the exhibition and highlight selected photographers whose work in on display.

Presented by Anna Heinemann.

Anna Heineman is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Iowa.  She has been a fan of photography for years, and fervently believes one only needs a good eye - and not a good camera - to take amazing images.  She is currently teaching art history and photography at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

11/1/2008

Art Seminar

"Issues in Art Museums - Art Conservation"

This presentation will cover the history of conservation and repesent some case studies from the Intermuseum Conservation Association that required innovative thinking and analytical work about the artwork and its treatment.  Ms. Chevalier will also touch on conservation challenges associated with contemporary works of art.  She will analyze two works in the Figge permanent collection that need conservation treatment and outline how she would approach each work. 

Andrea Chevalier has been a paintings conservator at the Intermuseum Conservation Associaton in Cleveland, Ohio since 1996.  She is currently the senior paintings conservator.  She received a master's degree in art history and a diploma in conservation from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.  She then spent many years as an intern and contract conservator working at various museums in Germany.  In addition to working on paintings during this period, she also gained experience treating wood sculpture.  At the ICA, she has treated paintings from the 16th to 20th centuries ranging in size from small easel paintings to large murals. 

Please click here for more information about the Art Seminars Program, including registration, receptions, and certification.

11/2/2008

Family Event

Dia de los Muertos Festival

This family event is offered in conjunction with the Figge Community Gallery exhibition El Día de los Muertos: A Celebration.  Participant will create traditional Mexican crafts associated with this festival including papel picado and sugar skulls.  Enjoy tradional Mexican food in the lobby, the Community Gallery exhibition, craft-making in the studios, and a special live theatrical presentation on the Figge Plaza. 

El Día de los Muertos is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and by people of Mexican heritage.  The celebration focuses on family and friends gathering to pray for and remember friends and relatives who have died.  Traditions include building private alters honoring the deceased, and using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed.  The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, and hope the souls will hear the prayers and comments of the living.  Celebrations can be humerous as guests tell anecdotes and funny stories about the deceased.

11/8/2008

Trip

SOFA at Navy Pier

Trip participants will travel to Chicago's Navy Pier to visit the 15th Annual International Exposition of Scupture Objects and Functional Art.  This exhibition features exquisitely crafted glass, ceramics, textiles, jewelry, wood and furniture.  The trip fee includes transportation and general admission to SOFA.  Participants are free to explore the exposition on their own, attend lectures by artists, curators and collectors, and watch glass blowing demos. 

For more information, please call Heather Aaronson at 563.326.7804 x2045 or email haaronson@figgeartmuseum.org.

11/13/2008

Lecture

"The Curious Case of the John Jay Commission: Vanderlyn and Burr, Trumbull and Hamilton"

This presentation explores a complicated portraiture commission awarded by the New York City Hall during the opening years of the 19th century.  The city of New York originally offered this prestigious commission first to Gilber Stuart (1755-1828), and then to John Vanderlyn (1775-1852), and finally to John Trumbull (1756-1843).  The portrait Trumbull painted demonstrates the important role of politics in the commissioning and production of portraiture in early Federal America.

Dr. Bryan J. Zygmont is a scholar of 18th and 19th-century American art, history, and culture.  He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Maryland.  His dissertation explores the interaction between aesthetics and politics in New York City portraiture between 1790 and 1825.  Zygmont has taught at the University of Arizona, the University of Maryland, and The George Washington Unviersity.  He is currently assistant professor at Clark College in Dubuque.  Zygmont is at work on a book-length study on Federal American portraiture.

12/6/2008

Trip

Art Institute of Chicago

Participants will view the special exhibition A Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestries from the Art Institute's collection.  The tapestries, which were recently conserved in Belgium, date from the 15th through the 18th century.

Please call Heather Aaronson at 563.326.7804 x2045 for details or email haaronson@figgeartmuseum.org. Limited seating available.

12/7/2008

Holiday Tour

"Sacred Christmas"

Join us for a tour of selected European and Mexican Colonial paintings.  A Figge docent will meet you in the main lobby.  Holiday cookies and hot beverages will be served after the tour.

12/11/2008

Lecture

"Jewish Art: An Artist's Perspective"

In the Torah, the second commandment (Exodus 20: 4-5) states: "You shall not make for yourself a sculpted image or any likeness of what is in the heaven above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth, you shall not bow down to them or serve them".  Because of this commandment, Jews have had a complicated relationship with art.  The interpretation of what is acceptable and unacceptable in art has varied depending on the times and the religious orientation of the artist.  This talk will examine iconography in Jewish ceremonial objects and contemporary art as we explore the queistion, "What defines Jewish art"? 

Robert Lipnick is an art instructor and coordinator of the Humanities Department at Scott Community College.  Mr. Lipnick received his BS from the University of Maryland and MFA from the University of Notre Dame.  His ceramics are in the collections of the Minneapolis Art Institute, the Munson Williams Proctor Institute, Utica, NY; The Jewish Museum, New York City; the Skirball Museum, Los Angeles; and the Figge Art Museum.

12/14/2008

Holiday Tour

"Sacred Christmas"

Join us for a tour of selected European and Mexican Colonial paintings.  A Figge docent will meet you in the main lobby.  Holiday cookies and hot beverages will be served after the tour.

12/21/2008

Holiday Tour

"Sacred Christmas"

Join us for a tour of selected European and Mexican Colonial paintings.  A figge docent will meet you in the main lobby.  Holiday cookies and hot beverages will be served after the tour.