UIMA Flood Update

We know you've all been curious about how the Museum of Art is faring during this disaster. Below you will find a note from UIMA Interim Director Pamela White telling detailing some of the events leading up to and during the flood. And just another reminder: Museum offices are currently located at 11 Macbride Hall, and staff members can be reached at the same phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Few bright spots are easily visible amid the heartbreaking images of flooding and destruction from Iowa City, the state of Iowa, and the entire Midwest. Thankfully, because of an immense effort by a dedicated team of staff members, outside experts, student employees, and museum volunteers, I am able to report that the UI Museum of Art is one of those fortunate bright spots.
Working nearly non-stop during the week of June 9, we were able to evacuate artworks totaling approximately 99 percent of the value of our collection. That figure represents nearly 80 percent of the 13,000 works of art in our collection ­-- all evacuated in less than four days.

This is an incredible success story, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the proactive planning of the university and the massive outpouring of support from UIMA and Pentacrest Museums staff, student employees, and volunteers.

The UIMA staff received official word of evacuation Monday, June 9. Working with university representatives, we immediately implemented the UIMA flood plan. Twenty-four-hour security was arranged to monitor the rising floodwaters and ensure the security of the building and the art work. By the end of the day, the university had nearly completed a massive concrete and sandbag dike between the museum and the rising river.

Meanwhile, inside the museum, a team of the finest art professionals, art handlers, and conservators arrived to help UIMA staff, student employees, and museum volunteers. Personnel from the Pentacrest Museums contributed their expertise, manpower, and space. Together, these groups began working around the clock to pack the UIMA collection for removal under the direction of UIMA staff members Jeff Martin, Kathleen Edwards, Steve Erickson, Christopher Roy, and David Riep.

The first of three semi-trailer trucks loaded with art work departed for a secure art-storage unit in Chicago on Wednesday, June 11. The ensuing two days marked the river’s most rapid ascent, according to the National Weather Service. Between 7 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. Friday, the Iowa River rose nearly 2.5 feet to reach 30 feet -- not far from its June 15 crest at 31.53 feet. Because of this quicker-than-expected rise, the university closed many of the arts campus buildings much earlier than originally scheduled. At 7:45 a.m. Friday, the museum was secured, and the final truck departed for Chicago.

While some art had to be left inside the museum, in the wee hours of the morning on Friday workers had moved everything they could to the highest possible levels inside the building. This past weekend, floodwaters had receded enough to allow entry to the museum. Upon inspection it appears that only a few inches of water intruded onto the main floor -- not three to four feet as previously estimated. Thanks to the incredible efforts of everyone involved in the museum's evacuation, nearly everything that remained in the building escaped floodwaters.

Moving the collection was a monumental task, and it is impossible to stress enough just how important the joint efforts and cooperation of staff, student employees, and volunteers have been throughout this process. I’ve witnessed guards working 12-hour shifts for days on end to secure the art work, staff members spending the night at the museum to squeeze every last minute from the day, volunteers willing to come in at 10 p.m. to help however they can, and countless other selfless acts. We are all so incredibly fortunate to have such a dedicated and professional team protecting the art works we love.

It is too early to estimate when the Museum of Art building might be fully operational. In the interim, we are sharing space with wonderfully accommodating members of the Pentacrest Museum staff and have relocated our main office to Room 11 Macbride Hall. We are reachable at our regular phone numbers and email addresses.

Numerous people have offered assistance to the museum. I deeply appreciate these expressions of concern and support. For those who wish to donate to the museum for flood relief, our annual fund through the University of Iowa Foundation will be used specifically for renovations and any other expenses associated with recovery. We would also like to encourage people to consider giving to the general university flood relief fund. ­

All around us, families, students, professors, business owners, and cultural organizations are struggling to move forward as the floodwaters recede. It's a slow-moving and often painful process, but here at the UIMA we have much to be grateful for. We have saved – not lost – the priceless art collection that serves as a resource for so many. We look forward to your continued support in the coming days, and we know that together we will overcome the challenges that lie ahead.

---Pamela White, UIMA Interim Director and Director of the Pentacrest Museums

We've moved -- take two

The UIMA offices have been relocated once again to 11 Macbride Hall. We're sharing cozy office space with gracious members of the UI Museum of Natural History staff. We are still reachable at our regular phone numbers and email addresses, though many of us are still waiting for hookups to become fully operational.

Thanks to everyone for you kind inquiries and goodwill throughout this difficult time. We'll keep you updated with new information as it arises, and keep an eye out for a complete statement from UIMA Interim Director and Director of the Pentacrest Museums Pamela White in the coming days! We look forward to your continued support, and we know that together we will overcome the challenges that lie ahead.

New UIMA offices

The Museum of Art offices have been temporarily relocated to 107A Lindquist Center. For information and to reach UIMA staff members, you may call (319) 335-1727. All staff members will be reachable at their same phone numbers and email addresses as soon as possible. Up-to-date flood news is available at the University of Iowa Flood Information web page

Note from the interim director

This note from Pamela White, the UIM interim director and director of the Pentacrest Museums:

I appreciate the concern that members of the public have shown for the Museum of Art and the wonderful artworks in our collection. I can assure everyone that the artworks are safe. The University has made remarkable efforts to protect all of the buildings along the west bank of the Iowa River, and we are confident that the UIMA building is protected. We particularly want to thank all of the volunteers who came out to help fill and place sandbags along the river. After the waters have receded, we look forward to moving back into the building and once again being able to share our collection with the public.

UI suspends activities on arts campus due to anticipated flooding

The river just keeps movin' up, and now we're movin' out. From the University of Iowa Flood Information blog:

The University of Iowa has suspended normal activities on the arts campus due to anticipated flooding. University officials are making plans to temporarily relocate offices in all buildings along the west bank of the Iowa River including Hancher Auditorium, Voxman Music Building and Clapp Recital Hall, the Theatre Building, the Museum of Art, the Art Building and Art Building West.

This means The University of Iowa Museum of Art will be closed to the public until further notice, and all your favorite UIMA staffers will be spending some time at another work space on the UI campus. Stay tuned for more info as things progress. Up-to-date flood news is available at the University of Iowa Flood Information web page.

Ponseti Sneak Peak

I just got down to the galleries to take a look at the new Ponseti Collection exhibition -- and I thought I'd share my sneak peak with you! The show opens tomorrow, June 4, and will be up most of the summer. You can read the press release on the show here, and make sure you stop by the museum in person to have a look for yourself!
This is a portrait of Dr. Ignacio Ponseti by the artist Ramon Herreros, a Spanish artist born in 1947. You can see more of Herroros' work and read more about him here. Here's a general shot of the mezzanine gallery where about half the works are on display. The other half are down the stairs -- it's sort of a split-story show :)There are six selections from Goya's "The Disasters of War" print series in the show. This series of 80 prints, created between 1810 and 1820, is considered one of the most important artistic examinations of the horrors of war from social, economic and moral perspectives.This is a detail of one of the Goya prints. Pretty intense. More works by Herreros.This etching, Au Revoir M by Miquel (or Michael) Barceló, depicts a scene of goodbye -- the title means "Goodbye M" in French -- as a boat pulls away from the shore. But the large shoe in the foreground signifies gives some hope of return: "In folk history and folk philosophy, leaving your shoes means you'll be back," says Helena Ponseti. The painting in the foreground is especially treasured by the Ponsetis -- it depicts an area of Spain they have fond feelings for. It's called Calla San Visente, and it was painted in 1932 by the American artist Hans Paap.

New & Upcoming

We've got a couple cool things going on this week at the UIMA.

First, we decided to make good use of the fancy video screen leftover we put up for Winona Ryder in the Carver Gallery during VOOM by showing off some of the fun videos we have in our permanent collection. In what we're unofficially calling our Summer Video Series, we're featuring some early video classics from American artist William Wegman (we had an exhibition of his Weimaraner portraits dressed in couture a few years back) and Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss, as well as some later works by UI emeritus faculty member Hans Breder and Roman Singer, another Swiss artist. Here's the lineup for the series:

-- May 21-June 22: selected 1970s shorts by William Wegman (See still at right.)
-- June 25-July 27: Peter Fischli and David Weiss's The Way Things Go
-- July 30-Sept. 7: UI emeritus faculty Hans Breder's Fontana Song for Scrim
-- Sept. 10-Oct. 5: 19 short films by Swiss artist Roman Singer

You really don't want to miss these videos. Most haven't been shown for quite a while, in large part because we rarely have the space in the galleries or our exhibition schedule. And most of them are hilarious. Wegman's videos use props, his own body, and his dogs as comic material -- in one short, Wegman spits out milk in a trail and his Weimaraner, Man Ray, laps it up, while another Wegman makes his belly "sing"; Fischli and Weiss use explosions, found materials, and other substances to create a domino-effect installation that keeps you wondering what will happen next; Breder's video is a bit more serious, but stunningly beautiful; and we wrap things up with Singer's "event sculptures," which present funny twists on traditional science.

For more information on the exhibition, check our website or read the full press release. And keep checking back here for more detailed previews/reviews of each video as the series progresses.
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We're also opening an exhibition of African Ceramics this week on Saturday, May 31. The show will be going up in the Ceramics II gallery, a revamped space connected to the current Ceramics Gallery on the southeast corner of the building. (The space had been closed for about two years; previously, it housed other African works from the collection.) The show is culled largely from a promised gift of nearly 100 African works from an anonymous collector. If you like African art, you know the museum has an outstanding collection, much of which came to us from Maxwell and Elizabeth Stanley of Muscatine, IA. This gift helps to expand the current collection, adding a broad sampling of African Ceramics from across the continent, creating wonderful research opportunities. The crew has been doing a lot of work getting the space prepped for the opening -- installing shelves, tiling, etc. -- and the show is going to look beautiful.

Check our website for more information and the press release on African Ceramics; we'll post a review here on the blog after the show opens.

Power of Line and MFA 2008 opening

On Friday, we held an opening for two shows: The Power of Line: European and American Etching Revival Prints from the Lee Collection and MFA 2008. We had around 250 people attend, with food catered by Chef Mickey's Catering. I snapped a few photos for those of you who missed it -- but they're nothing like seeing the show in person, so come on out! The MFA show closes June 8, and Power of Line is up through September 28.Food (above) and Power of Line (below).We love intermedia art. This guy stood outside the UIMA entrance in a mixed media construction distributing modified copies of The Iowa Source. To wrap up the afternoon, Dorothy Johnson, director of the UI School of Art and Art History, gave some words of advice to the MFA grads, and each area head spoke about his or her students. Congratulations, graduates!

UIMA Director Collinson resigns; White named interim

As the seasons change, so does the Museum of Art. This spring we say goodbye to Howard Creel Collinson, director of the UIMA since February 2000, who announced his resignation effective May 5 -- and we welcome Pamela White (right), director of the UI Pentacrest Museums (the Natural History Museum and the Old Capitol Museum) who will serve as interim UIMA director. A national search for a new UIMA director will be launched at a later date.

Read the full press release online.

Know the Score LIVE! --- with Tom Brokaw!

Courtesy of KSUI, we've got some photos from last week's Know the Score LIVE!, which featured Tom Brokaw. The event was really great -- thanks to everyone who made it happen and everyone who came to listen! Check out the KSUI flickr page to see the rest of the photos from the evening.
We had a big crowd -- nearly all the chairs were filled!
The first segment featured (from left to right) host Joan Kjaer interviewing Arthur Canter, UI professor emeritus, Christopher Merrill, director of the UI International Writing Program, and Jason Weinberger, director of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony. The three guests shared personal stories and literary selections related to World War II and the Holocaust for this program, which was presented in recognition of Holocaust Remembrance Day.Tom Brokaw, the former NBC Nightly News anchor and UI Alumni Service Award winner, arrives!
Browkaw discussed his latest book, Boom, and reflected on people he met and stories he heard when researching his bestseller The Greatest Generation. Browkaw also shared some personal stories about his own family, and briefly discussed his time attending the UI as an undergraduate in 1958-59, during which he "smoked a lot of pot." :)
One of the audience members was a woman whose family Brokaw once stayed with in Iowa.The program concluded with a performance of selections from the Quartet of the End of Time by Weinberger and a group of principal-chair players from the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony. This work was written by French composer Olivier Messiaen in a German prison camp during World War II.