UIMA@IMU: New photos and press coverage

The UIMA@IMU, located in the Iowa Memorial Union's (IMU) third floor Richey Ballroom, is open to the public, and in case you haven't checked it out yet, here are some photos of the completed installation to entice you!

Come visit the space and take a look at some of the more than 250 art objects on display during the public hours:

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday

10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday

12-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Also, the UIMA@IMU was featured in the news around its Sept. 8 opening. Here are links to the articles:

Relocated U of I programs fit into spaces very nicely, Des Moines Register

UI finds homes for music, art programs, Iowa City Press-Citizen

State of the arts, The Daily Iowan

Swing by the IMU sometime and post a comment here on the blog letting us know what you think!

--Claire Lekwa, UIMA Marketing and Media Assistant

UIMA Word Painters: Work from Cheyenne Nimes

Last night in the Old Capitol Museum, the UIMA hosted its first Word Painters reading of the semester. Cheyenne Nimes (right), a graduate student in the UI Nonfiction Writing Program and one of the University of Iowa Museum of Art's Fall 2009 "Word Painter" fellows, read from her recent work, as did Ryan Van Meter, who currently holds the 2009-10 Provost's Postgraduate Writing Fellowship in Nonfiction.

Following each Word Painter reading, the UIMA "Art Matters" blog will be featuring work from the Word Painter fellows. The first selection (below) comes from Nimes, who is currently working on her thesis statement, a group of nonfiction essays addressing issues of the world's water crises. This selected essay focuses around the Cuyahoga River located in northeastern Ohio. The piece is just one example of how Nimes' work really makes you think about rivers in a completely new way, from their raw power and natural mystique, to their role in the larger water crisis issues of the world.

Make sure to check the blog next week for another highlighted work by Nimes, a piece about the Colorado River.

--Claire Lekwa, UIMA Marketing and Media Assistant

Running from the surface.
By Cheyenne Nimes

Call this "Cuyahoga," "crooked river" in Iroquois.
Usually 3-6 feet deep, most of us can stand in it. I meant mostly can’t stand it. Time magazine says it "oozes rather than flows" and in which a person "does not drown but decays”.
Fires occurred on the Cuyahoga River in 1868, Dying would have been better at the beginning, 1883, the rules to survive this situation? 1887, A voice so far back having it is a haunting, and explanatory, 1912, toy, plaything to ring in the century, 1922, All-out war, 1936, It has no before or after now, 1941, she grinned black blood out her toothless mouth, tongue cut out pleased for them like that, 1948, ___slipped quietly away with the current, drifting down the river that stretched into the darkness and in 1952. The 1952 fire caused over 1.5 million dollars in damage. River sound goes dry, 1969, A flame that never really left. Flames going into and out from, going in as many directions as there are.

UIMA preparator to tell challenges of converting old ballroom into UIMA@IMU

How do you transform an old ballroom (above), used mostly for meetings, into a multi-functional, visual classroom suitable for housing museum artwork, all in five months?

The task that Steve Erickson, preparator for the University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA), faced in creating the museum's new, temporary on-campus art venue, the UIMA@IMU, challenged him quite unlike his past experiences in exhibition design.

Erickson will discuss the design process for the UIMA@IMU in his lecture "You Want Me to Build What???...Where???" at 5 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 23, in the University Athletic Club, 1360 Melrose Ave. The event is free and open to the public.

UIMA@IMU now open to public, plus: Q&A with UIMA Chief Curator Kathy Edwards

As of Tuesday, Sept. 8, the University of Iowa Museum of Art's new, temporary, on-campus art venue, the UIMA@IMU, is now open to the public. Located in the former Richey Ballroom on the Iowa Memorial Union (IMU) third floor, the UIMA@IMU will hold regular public hours from:

Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: noon to 5 p.m.
Closed Mondays and on university holidays.

To give you an idea of what to expect from this new visual classroom, UIMA Chief Curator Kathy Edwards (shown in the photo on the left), who has been part of the planning process over the past five months, answered a few of the questions that might be on visitors' minds.

UIMA: What can people expect when they come to visit the UIMA’s new space at the IMU?

KE: There are six basic areas in the space. The entrance area; the Study Room, which is accessible by appointment only; an area for Ancient and Native arts; and areas for African Art; figurative art; and conceptual and contemporary art. People will be greeted by a volunteer and a UI student employee when they enter. Of course there will also be a museum guard for everyone’s protection! There are cubbies for backpacks and coat racks. Paper and pencils can be used (no pens) and laptops in the Study Room if space allows. The Study Room contains European and American studio ceramics, and African and Pre-Columbian art. Over 250 prints, drawings and photographs will be stored in a room adjacent to the Study Room. A selection of works on paper can be identified prior to a class meeting in the Study Room and can be viewed there on special wall easels. The area for Ancient and Native arts contains objects from Ancient Rome, Greece, Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Persia, etc.), Pre-Columbus Mexico, and the Native Americas. The objects in the African art area represent an overview from the UIMA’s renowned collection. People will also be able to view Prof. Chris Roy’s Bwa video. The area for figurative art includes Philip Guston’s “The Young Mother” and other works that are narrative in nature—that is, they tell a story. In the last area people will see works that are about ideas—what is sometimes called conceptual art.

Sneak preview: UIMA@IMU

Throughout August, Maggie Anderson, UIMA Media and Marketing Manager, documented the UIMA@IMU's transformation into the museum's new temporary on-campus art space. Renovated from the Richey Ballroom to a sleek, state-of-the-art venue, the UIMA@IMU will open to the public on Sept. 8 with a global selection of art from the UIMA's collection, as can be seen in the pictures above. The installation features more than 250 art objects from a wide range of locales and periods -- Africa, China, Japan, Tibet, and the Ancient Americas among them -- as well 20th-century European and American ceramics, conceptual art and a changing selection of figurative art. In addition, the more than 250 prints, drawings and photographs that had been available since October in the University of Iowa Libraries' Special Collections will move to the UIMA@IMU for a total of more than 500 objects. I'm sure this tantalizing preview will only whet your appetite for more come the opening next Tuesday. We hope to see you all there!

Check out the press release here for more information on the UIMA@IMU.

Coming soon: Q&A with UIMA Chief Curator Kathy Edwards about highlights and what visitors can expect to see when they visit the UIMA@IMU next week.

--Claire Lekwa, UIMA Marketing and Media Assistant

Pictures from UIMA Welcome Week event

Check out this slide show of pictures from the Fall 2009 Welcome Week Black and Gold Carnival on Sat., Aug. 22, where UIMA staff members and volunteers gave students a sneak preview of the new UIMA@IMU space and led an art activity. At the event, more than 65 UI students checked out the UIMA@IMU and were entered to win UIMA merchandise and a $50 gift certificate to Atlas World Grill. Congrats to the winner, UI student Andy Thompson! And thanks to all who participated in this event!

--Claire Lekwa, UIMA Marketing and Media Assistant

'Thursdays at the Figge' features talks on UIMA masterworks

As a part of the ongoing collaboration between the University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA) and the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, several UIMA staff members will present art talks for the fall "Thursdays at the Figge" series.

These informal events aim to provide a fun, relaxed way to engage with works of art on display at the Figge. UIMA Director of Education Dale Fisher will speak about Abstract Expressionist artist Ad Reinhardt for the first of the UIMA's talks at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3.

Reinhardt's work "Abstract Painting No. 6" is on display through Dec. 31 at the Figge as part of the UIMA exhibition "A Legacy for Iowa: Pollock's 'Mural' and Modern Masterworks from the University of Iowa Museum of Art."

"It's a hard painting for audiences to love, because there is nothing visual in it that specifically addresses any traditional content or subject matter," Fisher said. "Reinhardt used a minimalist approach to some very big ideas, and this is a dichotomy that I'm going to discuss in the lecture."

Other UIMA staff members will present "Thursdays at the Figge" on the following dates:

* Thursday, Sept. 10: UIMA Graduate Curatorial Assistant Nathan Popp on Marsden Hartley
* Thursday, Sept. 24: UIMA Chief Curator Kathleen Edwards on Sam Gilliam
* Thursday, Oct. 29: Edwards presents "American Workshop Prints (Part II) from the 1950s into the 21st Century" in conjunction with Figge exhibition "Paper Trail: A Decade of Acquisitions from the Walker Art Center," on display through Jan. 3, 2010.

"Thursdays at the Figge" events are free with paid Figge admission and to UIMA donors with their Donor Courtesy Cards and UI students, faculty and staff with their university ID cards. The talks are held weekly on Thursday and begin at 7 p.m.; the Figge Bar will be open from 5-9 p.m. with live music from 6-8 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month. Regular museum admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and students, $4 for children ages 3-12. For a full schedule, visit www.figgeartmuseum.org.

Due to the 2008 flood, the UI Museum of Art offices have been relocated to the Studio Arts Building, 1840 SA, Iowa City, IA 52242, and Museum of Art events and exhibitions are being held at various locations. Under a 2008 agreement, the Figge will house and display most of the UIMA collection until a permanent museum space in Iowa City becomes available. For up-to-date UIMA information, visit http://www.uiowa.edu/uima or call 319-335-1725.

The Figge Art Museum is an encyclopedic museum with more than 4,000 works of art in its collection, ranging from the 16th century to the present. The Figge is best known for its extensive collection of Haitian, colonial, Mexican and Midwestern art, particularly pieces by Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, Marvin Cone and Grant Wood, including the only self-portrait Wood ever painted. The three-year-old, state-of-the-art museum building was designed by Stirling Prize-winning British architect David Chipperfield.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Dan McNeil, Figge Art Museum, 563-326-7804, ext. 2047; dmcneil@figgeartmuseum.org; Steve Parrott, University Relations, 319-384-0037, steven-parrott@uiowa.edu; Writer: Hilary Leigh.

UI envisions a new Museum of Art

Saying that "It's time to look toward the future," of the University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA), UI President Sally Mason today announced the formation of the Envisioning Committee for the UIMA, which will hold its first meeting at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 28, in Room B5 of Jessup Hall.

"I have charged the envisioning committee to imagine all of the possibilities for the University of Iowa Museum of Art," said Mason. "The museum makes invaluable contributions to the cultural life of our campus, our community and the entire state."

Carroll Reasoner, UI interim vice president of legal affairs and general counsel, will chair the UIMA Envisioning Committee. Reasoner, a UI College of Law alumna, said the group will consult UIMA staff, museum experts and other UI and community talents as resources in order to develop the most comprehensive and informed recommendations for the UIMA's future.

"The University of Iowa Museum of Art is an integral part of the academic mission of the University of Iowa," Reasoner said. "We aim to develop an overall creative vision that can be accomplished by the Museum of Art in a new setting and to put best ideas into practical contexts."

The historic 2008 flood ravaged the Museum's Riverside Drive facility. As the rising waters threatened its celebrated collection the museum staff had to prioritize. First, rescue the art. Then, make art accessible through alternative locations. Now, says UIMA Interim Director Pamela White, recovery from the devastation has become their focus.

"We are all, of course, saddened by the loss of the former Museum of Art building," White said. "But it's time to turn the page and begin thinking about the future of the museum, how we can make it even better than before."

Composed of community members, faculty and students, the committee's charge from the president is to "assess best practices among art museums joined to institutions of higher learning and the aspirations of Iowans for the UI Museum of Art." The group will meet throughout the next six months and make recommendations to UI leaders in early 2010.

Other members of the UIMA Envisioning Committee are:

* Community Members: David Bright, Deb Galbraith, James Hayes, Sharman Hunter, Linda Paul, Nancy Quellhorst, Joyce Summerwill and Craig Willis

* UI Faculty Members: Ruth Ann Bentler, professor of speech pathology and audiology, Barbara Eckstein, associate provost of academic administration, Robert Fellows, emeritus professor of physiology, H.D. Hoover, professor emeritus of education, Alan MacVey, director of the Division of Performing Arts, chair of the department of theatre arts and interim chair of the department of dance, Christopher D. Roy, art history professor and UIMA African research curator, John Beldon Scott, director of the school of art and art history, and Susan White, professor of painting

* Student Members: Benjamin Lipnick and Nathan Popp, UIMA graduate curatorial assistant

* Advisory Resources: UIMA Chief Curator Kathleen Edwards, UI Facilities Management Director of Design and Construction Rod Lehnertz, Jeff Lieberman, UI Foundation, UIMA Manager of Exhibitions and Collections Jeff Martin, and UIMA Interim Director Pamela White

The UIMA Envisioning Committee can be contacted by e-mail at envisionuima@uiowa.edu.

The UIMA was evacuated from its Riverside Drive building during the June 2008 flood and is exhibiting art from its collection at various locations on and off campus while it is without a permanent home. For more information visit http://www.uiowa.edu/uima or the UIMA blog "Art Matters" at http://uima.blogspot.com, or call 319-335-1725. Temporary UIMA offices are located in the Studio Arts Building, 1840 SA, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242.

MEDIA CONTACT: Tom Moore, 319-356-3945, thomas-moore@uiowa.edu

UI Museum of Art to open new on-campus location in Iowa Memorial Union

More than 500 works of art from the University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA) collection will be available in a new on-campus art venue this fall.

The "UIMA@IMU," located in the former Richey Ballroom on the Iowa Memorial Union's (IMU) third floor, is a visual classroom that will serve as a temporary location while the museum is displaced because of the June 2008 flood.

The UIMA invites students to preview its new space from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22 during the UI Welcome Week Black and Gold Carnival in Hubbard Park. The museum will host a table in the park where students may participate in an art activity. Students who visit the UIMA's new location will also have the chance to enter a raffle for UIMA merchandise and an Atlas World Grill gift certificate for two.

"With the 'UIMA@IMU,' we can continue to offer the invaluable experience of art until a new permanent home is available on campus," said UIMA Interim Director Pamela White. "The space will serve as a visual classroom for the arts, and we hope both students and members of the public will visit often."

The "UIMA@IMU" will be available for classroom use by appointment beginning Tuesday, Aug. 25 and the general public starting Tuesday, Sept. 8. Regular public hours for the "UIMA@IMU" will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday; and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The space will be closed Mondays and on university holidays.

The installation features more than 250 art objects from a wide range of locales and periods -- Africa, China, Japan, Tibet, and the Ancient Americas among them -- as well 20th-century European and American ceramics, conceptual art and a changing selection of figurative art. In addition, the more than 250 prints, drawings and photographs that had been available since October in the University of Iowa Libraries' Special Collections will move to the "UIMA@IMU" for a total of more than 500 objects.

UIMA curatorial staff carefully chose the works with potential teaching use in mind, said UIMA Chief Curator Kathleen Edwards. "We already have classes booked to use the space the first week of classes," she said. "It's clear students and faculty have missed the experience original works of art can provide."

The UIMA and IMU began planning to make the Richey Ballroom suitable for art display just five months ago. The renovation cost about $1 million, 90 percent of which was funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Of the $110,000 remaining, the UIMA received $30,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) with the university funding the balance of the match.

Those familiar with the third-floor Richey Ballroom as an event space and periodic Iowa Board of Regents meeting room may not recognize it now. The carpet has been removed to reveal the original maple ballroom floor, which has been sanded and polished to a gleam; the ceiling has been lowered from as high as 18 feet to nearly 12 feet and the windows closed off to allow for light and climate control; and the newly painted walls divide the 4,000-square-foot room into discrete sections, including a glass-walled classroom designated for close study of art and available for use by appointment.

Parking for the "UIMA@IMU" is available in the IMU Parking Ramp on North Madison Street, across the street from the IMU's east side and at the meters in the small parking lot on the IMU's south side. Additional parking is available in the North Campus Parking Ramp, located at the north end of Madison Street by North Hall.

Objects from the UIMA collection will also be exhibited in the Levitt Center for University Advancement's Stanley Gallery, which will house African Art available for viewing by appointment, and the IMU's Black Box Theater, which will be used periodically for UIMA exhibitions. The rest of the UIMA collection is on display or stored at the Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second St., Davenport, until a new permanent home in Iowa City becomes available. Admission to the Figge is free for UI students, faculty and staff who present their UI ID cards, UIMA donors who present their donor courtesy card, and Figge Art Museum members. The general public is also welcome at the event for regular Figge admission prices: $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and students, $4 for children ages 3-12.

Temporary UIMA offices are located in the Studio Arts Building, 1840 SA, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242. For up-to-date museum information visit http://www.uiowa.edu/uima or the UIMA blog "Art Matters" at http://uima.blogspot.com, or call 319-335-1725.

The NEH has awarded $1 million in Emergency Flood Assistance Grants for museums, libraries, archives, universities and other cultural and historical institutions in federally designated disaster areas affected by the floods in the Midwest. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this news release do not necessarily reflect those of the NEH.

MEDIA CONTACT: Steve Parrott, University Relations, 319-335-0552, steven-parrott@uiowa.edu; Writer: Maggie Anderson

For the record...

On Friday, July 31, The Daily Iowan wrote in their article "Some Art Returns" that the University of Iowa Museum of Art collection will no longer be at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport after Sunday, August 2. This statement is incorrect (the paper will be running a correction when it resumes publication in late August). Under a collaborative agreement, the majority of the University of Iowa Museum of Art collection will remain stored or displayed at the Figge Art Museum until a new permanent structure is available on campus. The current exhibition at the Figge, A Legacy for Iowa: Pollock's Mural and Modern Masterworks from the University of Iowa Museum of Art, will remain available to the public though December 31, 2009.

Beginning this fall, a portion of the artwork now housed (not on view) at the Figge Art Museum will be returning to campus to be displayed in the former Richey Ballroom space on the third floor of the Iowa Memorial Union. However, the selection will not include the Pollock Mural as alluded to in the article. Instead, it will consist of more than 250 objects chosen from the over 12,000 in the UIMA collection. These works present a global overview of the UIMA collection that will be useful to UI classes.

In the same article, The Daily Iowan said that UI students, faculty, and staff receive free admission to the Figge. This is correct, but we'd like to clarify that University of Iowa Museum of Art donors will also get in for free when they present their Donor Courtesy Card.

So, please keep planning to visit the Figge Art Museum to view the University of Iowa Museum of Art collection in the A Legacy for Iowa exhibition! And, plan to visit our new on-campus location at the former IMU Richey Ballroom--more info on that coming soon.

--Hilary Leigh, UIMA Intern