CURRENT Exhibitions & Events

Bruce Nauman: Language Body mines the collection of the Jordan D. Schnitzer Family Foundation and presents fifteen works that showcases two elemental components found in the oeuvre of Bruce Nauman, anatomy and text. Beginning in the late 1960’s Nauman has forged a sensibility in his work where he puns upon the unstable nature of language and flesh, colliding these materials into a swirl of humor and insight.

This event is co-presented by Converge 45 and the Jordan D. Schnitzer Exhibition and Visiting Artist Series.

Converge 45 is a dynamic community of Portland arts organizations, galleries, artists, art professionals, and community business partners has joined together to realize the vision of Converge 45, an annual event of arts and ideas located in Portland, OR and engaged with national and international conversations on contemporary art. For more information on Converge 45, please visit their website.

EVENT INFORMATION

• PNCA (link)
• Converge 45 (link)

NEWS

• Arlene Schnitzer & Jordan Schnitzer Sponsor Converge 45 Program in Portland
• Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation and PNCA Present Bruce Nauman Exhibit for Converge 45

Kara Walker is one of the most high-profile and controversial artists working in America today. Walker is best known for her powerful, large-scale murals and cut-paper silhouette installations that focus on the complexities and ambiguities of racial and historical representation.

The exhibition Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker's Tales of Slavery & Power presents three narrative portfolio series, executed in print—The Emancipation Approximation (1999–2000), Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War: Annotated (2005), and An Unpeopled Land in Uncharted Waters (2010)—accompanied by single works that underline Walker's employment of Antebellum and Reconstruction-era imagery and themes. Her narratives unfold throughout elaborate tableaux that tackle issues of race, slavery, sexuality, identity, and power. Challenging conventional understandings of American history, Walker's works are intentionally confrontational, sometimes delivered with a crude voice, and offer dissected representations of racial and gender stereotypes from America's not-so-distant past.

The works on view include several of Walker's large-scale print series, cut-steel sculptures, a mural, and a video installation, displaying the range of approaches the artist has taken to exploring the legacy of slavery and its impact on contemporary American identity. Her use of antiquated media such as cut-paper silhouettes, 8mm film, and 19th-century printmaking, augments the breadth of the works on view.

Curated by Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art Jessi DiTillo of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon.

EVENT INFORMATION

• Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker's Tales of Slavery and Power - Bellevue Arts Museum

NEWS

• The Daily of UW Reviews "Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker's Tales of Slavery and Power" at Bellevue Art Museum
• The Bellevue Reporter Examines Kara Walker's Commentary on Social Issues
• High-Profile Artist Kara Walker's Confrontational Prints to be Exhibited at Bellevue Arts Museum

PAST EXHIBITIONS

• University of Wyoming Art Museum - January 30 - May 14, 2016 (link)
• Springfield Art Museum - September 12 - January 3, 2016 (link)
• David C. Driskell Center - February 5 - May 29, 2015 (link)
• Boise Art Museum - June 7 - August 17, 2014 (link)
• Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art - January 25 - April 6, 2014 (link)
• Crocker Art Museum - September 22 - January 5, 2014 (link)
• University of Wyoming - January 30 - May 14, 2016 (link)

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

• University Museum of Contemporary Art, UMASS Amherst - February 1 - May 2, 2017 (link)

An influential figure in American art of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Helen Frankenthaler is a leading abstract expressionist painter, sculptor and print-maker. One of the early abstract expressionists, she was also a pioneer in the development of color-field painting.

EVENT INFORMATION

• Fluid Expression: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler  - Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art

NEWS

• "Fluid Expressions: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler" Opens July 7 at Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art

JORDAN SCHNITZER - DISTINGUISHED ADVOCATE OF PRINTMAKING AWARD

It is with great pleasure that the SGC International Conference honors Jordan Schnitzer with the Distinguished Advocate of Printmaking Award. The 2016 SGCI Conference Steering Committee decided unanimously to give Jordan Schnitzer this award in recognition of his outstanding leadership and tireless efforts in supporting every aspect of printmaking in the Northwest region. Jordan’s vision and willingness to offer access to his collections for curators building exhibitions, for research and curricular activities within academic institutions, and for the promotion of scholarship around printmaking is transformative for the field. And Jordan’s continued support of printmaking initiatives and programs continues to have a tremendous impact on the printmaking community in the region. Printmaking could not have a more committed advocate and supporter. The field is better for it. And SGC International expresses the gratitude of printmakers, scholars, curators, and print lovers everywhere through this award. Learn more about the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation’s passion for sharing art. 

EVENT INFORMATION

• SGCI Portland Printmaking Conference - Flux: The Edge of Yesterday and Tomorrow 

PHOTOS

SGCI Awards Ceremony // Photo credit: Deann Orr

JAMES ROSENQUIST - SGC INTERNATIONAL LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Pop Art icon James Rosenquist (born 1933 in Grand Forks, North Dakota) exploded onto the scene in 1960 with his vivid, large-scale paintings. Trained as a painter of billboard signs, Rosenquist abstracted familiar imagery from advertising and pop culture through alterations in scale and unusual juxtapositions. Although fragmented and overlapped, his images of spaghetti, Marilyn Monroe, hairdryers, and detergent boxes create understandable visual narratives of American culture, often with political implications.

Rosenquist contributed to the renewal of printmaking in the United States when in 1965 he and a number of other artists explored the process of lithography at Universal Limited Art Editions. Rosenquist also experimented with screen prints and etchings, but primarily produced lithographs. Over the years, Rosenquist worked with Graphicstudio, Aeropress, Gemini G.E.L., Petersburg Press, Styria Studios, Tyler Graphics, Ltd., and Derriere L’ Etoile Studio among others.

The work of James Rosenquist is represented in major private and public collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Tate Modern in London. Aside from his many gallery and museum exhibitions, Rosenquist has had more than fifteen retrospectives, with two at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2003, the Guggenheim Museum organized a retrospective that traveled to Houston, New York, Bilbao, and Wolfsburg. He received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement in 1988. Rosenquist has influenced an entire generation of artists and print makers.

PHOTOS

SGCI FLUX Rosenquist Panel // Photo credit: Deann Orr

EVENT INFORMATION

• James Rosenquist Panel Discussion (SGCI Portland)
• Lifetime Achievement Award Exhibition: James Rosenquist (PNCA)

PHOTOS

NEWS

• MOCA Showcases Work of Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, other Printmakers - The Florida Times-Union
• Arts Notes: Printmaking now the focus at MOCA Jacksonville - The Florida Times-Union / Jacksonville.com
• The Power of Printmaking at MOCA Jacksonville - Press Release

PAST EXHIBITIONS

• Philbrook Museum of Art - October 18 - January 17, 2016 (link)
• Tampa Museum of Art - June 20 - September 20, 2015 (link)
• Telfair Museum - March 1 - May 17, 2015 (link)
• Joslyn Art Museum - October 11 - January 11, 2015 (link)

VIDEO

PHOTOS

NEWS

• MMOCA Examines Frank Stella's Complex Abstractions - Wisconsin Gazette
• Frank Stella's Prints Reflect Bravura Artist - Tap Milwaukee
• Frank Stella's Prints Dazzle at MMOCA - Madison Magazine
• The Cap Times Interviews Frank Stella on Collaboration, Memory and Filling Space - The Cap Times
• MMOCA Hosts Frank Stella And His "Fantastical" Prints - Isthmus
• MMOCA Highlights Frank Stella's 50-Plus Year Career as a Printmaker - Beloit Daily News
• Frank Stella Prints: A Retrospective on view at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art - Press Release
• MMOCA exhibit shows Frank Stella as a "A Force to be Reckoned With" - The Cap Times
• Wisconsin State Journal Features "Big, Bold" Frank Stella Exhibition at MMOCA - Wisconsin State Journal
• Isthmus Recommends Frank Stella Prints: A Retrospective at MMOCA - Isthmus
• A New Frank Stella Retrospective, A Black Panthers Documentary, and More Events of Note in Madison this Week - Tone Madison
• Cause and Effect: Frank Stella's Prints - Art in Print
• What You See Isn't All You See: Frank Stella and Abstract Narration - Art in Print
• Frank Stella's Moby Dick Series - Art in Print
• A new Frank Stella retrospective, a Black Panthers documentary, and more events of note in Madison - Tone Madison

PUBLICATIONS

In conjunction with this exhibit, "Frank Stella Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné" was released by Artbook and D.A.P.

EVENT INFORMATION

• Exhibition Information - Jordanschnitzer.org
• Frank Stella Prints: A Retrospective - Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
• Behind the Scenes of "Frank Stella Prints: A Retrospective" at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

• Addison Gallery of American Art - April 16 - July 31, 2017 (link)
• Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts - August 19 - October 31, 2017 (link)

Kara Walker is one of the most successful and widely known contemporary African American artists today; she is remarkable for her radical engagement with issues of race, gender, and sexuality and the media with which she pursues her studies. Though mainly celebrated for her provocative installations, composed of cut-paper silhouettes, Walker’s work in other media is equally strong and expands on the many powerful themes and questions of her practice. 

Walker’s selection of particular media is both aesthetic and conceptual. Often using outmoded technologies or old-fashioned techniques, she draws on the historical memory of her media, bringing her contemporary perspective into confrontation with the artifacts of history. Explaining the importance of historical representation for contemporary life, Walker explained, “One theme in my artwork is the idea that a Black subject in the present tense is a container for specific pathologies from the past and is continually growing and feeding off those maladies....” By looking carefully at a selection of Walker’s projects in different media, this exhibition will emphasize the interface between technique and concept in her work. Walker’s use of historically inflected techniques investigates the question: “How is contemporary identity shaped and affected by the imagery from the past?”

Kara Walker is both prolific and innovative. The projects presented in this exhibition will display the range of approaches she has taken to subject matter, historical narrative, artistic media and technique, and the complexities and ambiguities of racial and historical representation. By highlighting the obscure references and old-fashioned techniques of Walker’s artistic process, Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker’s Tales of Slavery and Power will illuminate the rigorously researched underpinnings of Walker’s work with the aim to make her provocative approach accessible to a diverse audience.

This retrospective of prints, featuring works from the series Emancipation and Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War, as well as selected other prints, videos and a wall silhouette, is organized by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, from the Portland, Oregon-based collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer.

The exhibition was curated by Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art Jessi DiTIllio, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon from the Portland, Oregon-based collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation.

PHOTOS

NEWS

• Annual Shepard Symposium on Social Justice Kicks off at the UW Art Museum
• UW Students to Visit Kara Walker Exhibit as Part of Social Justice Conference - University of Wyoming
• "Art as a Source of Dialogue" In Kara Walker Exhibit at University of Wyoming - The Branding Iron
• University of Wyoming Art Museum Hosts Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation Curated Exhibition (Press Release) - University of Wyoming Art Museum
• Kara Walker Exhibit at University of Wyoming Explores Race Issues - Wyoming Tribune Eagle
• Jordan Schnitzer Leads Walk-through of Kara Walker Exhibit at University of Wyoming - Laramie Live

EVENT INFORMATION

• Exhibition Information - Jordanschnitzer.org
• Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker's Tales of Slavery and Power - University of Wyoming Art Museum

PAST EXHIBITIONS

• Springfield Art Museum - September 12 - January 3, 2016 (link)
• David C. Driskell Center - February 5 - May 29, 2015 (link)
• Boise Art Museum - June 7 - August 17, 2014 (link)
• Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art - January 25 - April 6, 2014 (link)
• Crocker Art Museum - September 22 - January 5, 2014 (link)

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

• Bellevue Arts Museum - July 8 - November 27, 2016 (link)

This exhibition will showcase the prints of contemporary icon Richard Serra. Best known for his large scale public sculpture, Serra has consistently maintained a practice in related media including film, drawing, and printmaking. The exhibition features his earliest graphic attempts in lithography from 1972 through more recent works created in 2015.