JULE, a magazine for Auburn University's Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art

SPRING 2018 | VOL V, ISSUE II

A magazine for AUBURN UNIVERSITY’S JULE COLLINS SMITH MUSEUM OF FINE ART

PERSPECTIVE JCSM.AUBURN.EDU

LOOK INTO THE EYE OF THE TIGER WITH PHOTOGRAPHER JOEL SARTORE Pictured: An endangered Malayan tiger, Panthera tigris jacksoni, at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. Joel Sartore will visit Auburn for programming related to the Audubon exhibition. Details on page 18. For more photographs and information about the National Geographic Photo Ark, go to natgeophotoark.org. © Photo by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark

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| Sloss Furnaces metal artists

| Participants at the Out of the Box grand opening enjoyed carving their own designs and watching the iron pour.

JCSM is a charitable nonprofit organization committed to lifelong learning and community enrichment.

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William Dunlop, co-chair Mark Jones, co-chair Donna C. Burchfield Helen Carlisle Thomas M. Chase Dorothy S. Davidson Patricia Disque Ralph B. Draughon Jr. Melanie Duffey Robert B. Ekelund Jr. Martin Freeman joyce gillie gossom Diana G. Hagler Nancy Hartsfield Edward Hayes Jenny Jenkins David E. Johnson Lynn Barstis Williams Katz Roger D. Lethander Tenley Lewis Julie Lock

Janet Nolan Stuart B. Price Jr. Carolyn B. Reed William Collins Smith Mark W. Spencer Jeane B. Stone Lisa van der Reijden EMERITUS Fran Dillard Batey M. Gresham Jr. Taylor D. Littleton Albert J. Smith Jr. Eugene Edward Stanaland Gene H. Torbert C. Noel Wadsworth EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS Allyson Comstock Johnny Green

ADVISORY BOARD

THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS

THE CONVERSATION WITH MARILYN LAUFER, PHD,

| Outreach participants from the Boys and Girls Club

DIRECTOR

This coming year promises to be full of wonderful opportunities for those who have come to rely on JCSM for unique art and cultural experiences. The year 2018 will mark two important events for JCSM. It is the museum’s 15th anniversary, and we thank our namesake, Jule Collins Smith, her family and the many other people who devoted themselves to making the dream of a university art museum at Auburn become a reality. We are also celebrating the 70th anniversary of the acquisition of the Advancing American Art Collection from an auction of war surplus materials. The significance of this purchase was not only that it provided an invaluable visual arts resource of American modernism for our students, faculty and community, but it also set into motion the need to establish a university art museum for the future. Today, with the documented importance of visual literacy as an essential skillset for our technologically driven future, we are grateful to those who had the foresight to bring the reality of a great collection and a great art museum to this great university.

Our much-anticipated publication of Audubon’s Last Wilderness Journey: The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America is currently available for pre-order through the Museum Shop. We thank our writers who have done a wonderful job examining this unique convergence of art and science as revealed in these extraordinary historical artworks. You are warmly invited to meet them on Friday, March 2, when they will discuss their research and share their perspectives on this important, but often overlooked, Audubon project.

Continuing our celebration of this Audubon project and exhibition, JCSM will host a spectacular ticketed event and reception that evening with National Geographic photographer, Joel Sartore. Mr. Sartore is the founder of the Photo Ark, a 25-year documentary project to save species and habitats that he says was inspired in part by the work of J.J. Audubon in the 19th century. Sartore’s photographs are exceptional.

They are true portraits, evident in the way he is able to capture the very essence and personality of each creature, many of them among the most endangered and rarest on the face of the earth. I urge you to take a look at his documentaries, where you will immediately recognize his insatiable curiosity, driven by his down-to-earth Midwestern principles and enriched by a dry but entertaining sense of humor. Mr. Sartore is dedicated to this work and had noted, “It is folly to think that we can destroy one species and ecosystem after another and not affect humanity. When we save species, we’re actually saving ourselves.” Please plan to join us for what will be a most memorable evening at JCSM.

CONNECT WITH US @JCSMAuburn

All of us at JCSM thank you for your ongoing support and membership.

We are honored to serve you and continue the important work of “art changing lives.”

The Conversation | SPRING 2018

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08 WHAT’S INSIDE 01 PERSPECTIVE 03 THE CONVERSATION 06 EXTRA EXTRA 16 EXHIBITIONS 22 COLLECTIONS 28 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS 36 MEMBERSHIP 38 GALLERY 41 ART CHANGES LIVES

FEATUR 08 WILD

INTO THE

A new exhibition and book takes us on an exciting journey through art and science.

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24 IMPROVED 34 JUNIOR NEW AND

REPORTERS

Get a peek at collection storage­—an area of the museum rarely see by the public.

Artist Jean Shin is interviewed by local elementary school students.

JULE VOLUME V, ISSUE II

ADMINISTRATION Marilyn Laufer, director Andy Tennant, assistant director MANAGING EDITOR Charlotte R. Hendrix DESIGN Janet Guynn Amber Epting CONTRIBUTORS Scott Bishop Connor Lowry Xoe Fiss Danielle Funderburk Dennis Harper Jessica Hughes Lauren Horton Renée Maurer MEMBERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT Joshlyn Bess Cindy Cox Catherine Thompson

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PHOTOGRAPHY Mike Cortez Janet Guynn Charlotte R. Hendrix Lyn Lefevre

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Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University (JCSM) is an academic unit reporting to the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. JULE is published biannually by JCSM and is distributed to museum members and others in the arts communities.

Unless otherwise noted, all works of art illustrated are in the collection of Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University.

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ON THE COVER

Front detail: John James Audubon (American, b. Haiti, 1785–1851), American Bison or Buffalo, plate 56, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, Vol. II, 1845, hand-colored lithograph, printed by J.T. Bowen, Philadelphia, 1845–49, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University; Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Collection, 1992.1.3.2 Back: Detail, with Audubon's expedition route highlighted in red. Burr, David H. Map of the United States of North America with parts of the adjacent countries. [London, 1839] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <https://www.loc.gov/item/98688304/>.

MISSION STATEMENT Art changes lives. Our mandate within the larger mission of Auburn University is to preserve, enhance, research and interpret the collections entrusted to us. Through the presentation of compelling exhibitions and programs to our diverse audiences, we foster the transformative power of art.

JULE is printed on New Leaf Paper, Reincarnation.

PROCESSED

CHLORINE FREE © 2018 Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University.

Auburn University is an equal opportunity educational institution/employer.

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EXTRA EXTRA

DESIGN, MARKETING RECOGNIZED BY PEERS In the Spring of 2017, JULE launched its new design concept. This plan included two member magazines per year plus an Annual Report to acknowledge all that our supporters do for the arts at Auburn. The Southeastern Museum Conference (SEMC) awarded the highest design honor to the Annual Report with a gold rating in their 2017 publication competition.

For the 2017 SEMC Technology Award, JCSM was awarded silver for the “Save the Bunnies” Digital Marketing Campaign. “JCSM transformed an often-tired campaign—the fundraiser—into a delightfully humorous, grassroots success story. The Jule Collins Smith Museum provided a bridge between their collection and Auburn University’s “Tiger Giving Day” to generate a series of Youtube videos to promote fundraising for the acquisition of Alex Podesta’s Self Portrait as Bunnies (The Bathers).

Using water ballet, “La La Land,” and a series of interviews articulating the importance of art, Jule Collins activated their digital marketing using engaged social media and eBlasts to exceed their fundraising goal. “Save the Bunnies” is a fun, inventive marketing strategy that is exemplary in its out-of-the-box approach to fundraising and community engagement.” ­­—Anna Tucker, 2017 SEMC Technology Award Juror

JCSM staff show their funny bunny side.

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ON SALE IN THE MUSEUM SHOP AUDU BON I MAG E S F I N D NEW L I F E O F F T H E PAG E

AUDUBON-INSPIRED

In celebration of the launch of JCSM’s publication of Audubon’s Last Wilderness Journey: The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, the Museum Shop will offer a line of newly created Audubon-inspired merchandise. Select images of four-legged Audubon critters will jump off the page and onto tea towels, puzzles, magnets, bookmarks and tote bags. This JCSM Audubon merchandise was created to bring a little piece of the museum’s collections into your home.

They are perfect gifts for animal and art lovers of any age. The quadruped images are from The Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Collection and will be exclusive to the Museum Shop.

The shop will showcase all of the new Audubon products, along with other quadruped themed items, in a pop-up shop in the Callaway Sculpture Niche. Look for JCSM’s new Audubon publication alongside additional Audubon titles, plush toys and other merchandise. The Audubon Pop-Up will be open in conjunction with the exhibition Audubon’s Last Wilderness Journey: The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, which runs from January 27–May 6, 2018.

Museum members receive a discount on all regularly priced items in both the permanent and pop-up shops.

INTRODUCING OUR

NEWEST JCSM STAFF MEMBER JOSHLYN BESS I joined the wonderful staff here at JCSM in September as the development coordinator. Upon graduating from Auburn (Bachelor of Arts, Psychology), I began an administrative career in Montgomery. My husband and I returned to live in the Auburn area in 2010. After nearly 10 years of work in telecommunications and office management, I am excited to return and work for my alma mater. Fun fact: gymnastics has been a love of mine since I was five years old. As a gymnast, I competed nationally and won several state and regional titles. I began coaching in high school after I stopped competing due to an injury. I still enjoy coaching when I have time and also judging NCAA competitions as well as lower-level competitions throughout the southeast.

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Journey Excerpts fro m

Audubonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

LAST WILDERNESS

The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America JCSM.AUBURN.EDU

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S E L E C T E D PA S S A G E S F R O M

“The Making of The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America”

By Ron Tyler, former director of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas

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istory would have forgiven John James Audubon if he had retired to a life of hunting and fishing on his Hudson River estate upon the completion of his majestic The Birds of America in 1838. He had given the world “an imperishable monument,” the largest ornithological book ever published, that would forever associate his name with birds; he was a celebrity whose reputation was assured; and critics accepted him as “a man of genius” who “deserves well at the

as an eighteen-year-old in 1803—this time to Mill Grove, Pennsylvania, where the captain owned a farm—to escape conscription into Napoleon’s army and to learn English and useful farming and management practices.

There, to his lifelong fascination with birds, young Audubon added the courtship of a neighbor girl, Lucy Bakewell, whom he married in 1808. (…)

AUDUBON HAD COLLECTED AND PAINTED MAMMALS SINCE CHILDHOOD...

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hands of this country.” But Audubon could not sit idle and immediately focused his “holy zeal” on two new self-publishing projects. One was an octavo edition of his Birds, which he hoped would earn money as well as secure an American copyright to fend off possible competitors. The second was a project on the same form-shattering scale as the Birds: The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. Audubon had begun life inauspiciously enough in Saint Domingue (now Haiti) in 1785, the illegitimate son of a French sea captain and his French mistress. When the Haitian revolutionary struggles began, Captain Jean Audubon took his son home to Nantes, France, where his wife adopted and they raised the boy, but sent him back to the New World

udubon had collected and painted mammals since childhood, but, in fact, he did not know them nearly as well as he did birds and made little progress on the project until a fortuitous encounter in Charleston, South Carolina, in October, 1831. There he met the Reverend John Bachman, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church and a well-known naturalist in his own right. No doubt most of the talk was of birds, but when Audubon returned in the winter of 1836–37, they likely discussed the possibility of collaborating on a quadrupeds book. Bachman was five years Audubon’s junior and, despite occupying a demanding and full-time pulpit, he shared Audubon’s lifelong interest in nature’s denizens and was already a published author on natural history subjects. He and his colleagues, such as zoologist John Edwards Holbrook and Professor Lewis R. Gibbes, had made Charleston the center of scientific inquiry in the South. The ensuing marriage of Audubon’s two sons to two of Bachman’s daughters turned the quadrupeds project into a family matter.

Excerpts from Audubon's Last Wilderness Journey

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The talk grew serious when Bachman visited Great Britain in the summer of 1838 and spent three weeks in Edinburgh helping Audubon with the last volume of the Ornithological Biography. Even before he returned to the United States, Audubon had begun informing his many friends of the new undertaking, which he envisioned as a small project that could “be finished (God granting me life and health) in two years!” But he had no real plans and leaned heavily on the formula for the double elephant folio: images about half the size of the Birds, approximately twenty-two by twenty-eight inches, but still larger than any book that had ever been printed in the United States, issued in fascicles of five plates every two months. He projected as many as thirty numbers (more if whales, seals, and bats were included) for a total of 150 plates with a selling price of $300 ($10 per fascicle) plus binding.

ALL THE

A R D O R

AND VIGOR OF YOUTH As with the double elephant folio, Quadrupeds was a team effort in every sense, with Audubon providing the inspiration, about half the paintings, and some of the text from his journals, and selling most of the subscriptions.

John, Victor, and Maria Martin, Bachman’s sister-inlaw and later wife, provided the other paintings and backgrounds; and Bachman provided the scholarly rigor and wrote most of the text. The final member of the team was John T. Bowen, the Philadelphia lithographer who had provided most of the lithographs for the octavo Birds. The guiding genius, however, remained Audubon, of whom the critic Charles Wilkins Webber later wrote, everyone involved felt “the infusion of his presence throughout, and … all parties concerned have shown themselves worthy to share with him the glory of such a Work.”

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With those decisions made, Audubon planned a longpostponed western trip. Ever since the Lewis and Clark and Long expeditions, he had believed that some of the most exotic North America specimens lay west of the Mississippi River and watched enviously as younger naturalists such as John Kirk Townsend returned from the Far West with birds, mammals, and plants previously unknown to science. He even ridiculed such expeditions as “Galloping Parties” and claimed that he would never join a “caravan of fur traders moving with all possible expedition from St. Louis … at the rate of a fast traveling vessel.”

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espite the fact that Audubon was about to turn fifty-eight years of age—one reporter estimated him to be sixty—the newspapers unanimously reported that he retained “all the ardor and vigor of youth” and was “ready to endure the toils and deprivations of long and tedious journies [sic] through savage wilds and uninhabited territories.” Audubon and his party departed St. Louis on April 25, 1843, and reached Fort Union, less than a mile west of the present-day boundary between Montana and North Dakota, on June 12, the quickest that the steamboat trip had been made at that time and precisely the kind of experience that Audubon had ridiculed. He spent a busy two months hunting, trapping, observing nature, drawing and painting, and watching his companions in what seemed to be daily buffalo hunts. They began their return on August 16.

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ack home, Audubon threw himself into finishing the octavo Birds, which he called the “little work,” in the spring of 1844 and bringing out the first volume of plates for the Quadrupeds in late January 1845. As he and Victor went on the road to Baltimore and Philadelphia to sell subscriptions, newspapers such as the U. S. Gazette urged their readers to subscribe— “This is a national work, and we hope a proper national pride will secure ample patronage for it”— and the Raleigh Register, and North-Carolina Gazette recommended it to “those who have taste and feeling for works of genius.” They soon pushed the number of subscribers past 300, which Audubon considered the tipping point for financial success.

“The last two numbers of the … Quadrupeds … are most beautiful & perfect specimens of the Art[.] I doubt whether there is anything in the world of Natural history like them,” Bachman wrote after seeing some of the early prints.

Nevertheless, when Audubon made errors, Bachman pointed them out. He criticized Audubon’s painting of the Texas skunk as awkwardly done. The plate of Richardson’s Spermophile shows the squirrel with a hairless tail because, Bachman charged, Audubon did not realize that the hair had fallen out of the tail of the poorly preserved specimen that he had received. And “That tremendous scrotum of the Californian squirrel was not given to it by its creator whose works are all natural, but was stuffed out of character by [taxidermist John] Bell.” To all of this, a declining Audubon replied, “I cannot help copying nature.”

BOTTOM RIGHT: Long Haired Squirrel Upper LEFT: Journal entry from the diary kept by Edward Harris while on expedition with J. J. Audubon along the Missouri River in 1843. Courtesy of the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH Q24144)

Excerpts from Audubon's Last Wilderness Journey

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S E L E C T E D PA S S A G E S F R O M

“Set in Stone: The Use of Lithography for Audubon’s Quadrupeds”

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By Dennis Harper, curator of collections and exhibitions, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art

he Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America is rightly praised as an ambitious and extensive inquiry into this country’s mammalian wildlife. Though its authors conceded that the catalogue of species fell shy of achieving a definitive record, the three-volume folio nonetheless greatly advanced the study and appreciation of New World natural history. Carefully researched text by the Reverend John Bachman addressed taxonomic

was naturally the goal of Audubon and Bachman, each of whom was well aware that their project’s ultimate success relied on the fidelity of its reproduction as much as the quality of the original content. After all, it was the sheets of printed multiples that would be sold by subscription, not the Audubons’ singular paintings and sketches. Bowen’s prints, therefore, were not simply the final step in the group’s arduous labors; they are in fact the very objects that embody Audubon’s grand oeuvre. Bowen’s translations of the original paintings into lithographs are far more than the products of a mechanical, merely duplicative process, such as the term “reproduction” commonly implies today. Instead, these “original prints” produced by hand are themselves extraordinary examples of artistry, containing pictorial elements redrawn by skilled draftsmen after the Audubon team’s preparatory renderings. Moreover, they reflect high technical mastery of a complex printing process. Bowen’s craft on the Quadrupeds, superlative among his peers, is difficult to exceed even today. Lastly, Bowen’s skilled watercolorists excelled in the best means of the time for producing color multiples, tinting the black-inked prints with such precision and delicacy that their coloration seems integral to each image rather than applied.

The results are prints that resemble more the appearance of paintings. By any measure, the Quadrupeds are an astonishing accomplishment.

Twentieth-century lithographic press and stone.

...AN AMBITIOUS AND EXTENSIVE INQUIRY INTO THE COUNTRY’S MAMMALIAN WILDLIFE... and behavioral matters, leavened with firsthand observations drawn from John James Audubon’s expeditionary journals. The folios’ imagery, conceived by Audubon with his sons Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse, is likewise acclaimed as a compelling body of art. The collection of 150 compositions stands among the most notable achievements in animalier painting created in America or abroad.

Yet, the remarkable outcome of this melding of disciplines—art and science—would be greatly diminished were it not for the efforts of a third component of the collaboration, the print production by John T. Bowen (b. England ca. 1801; d. ca. 1856), of Philadelphia.

Publication of the Quadrupeds

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Precision & Delicacy Excerpts from Audubon's Last Wilderness Journey

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Lithography was a relatively new process in the midnineteenth century. The term derives from the ancient Greek word for stone (lithos). Its use for the mammals was a departure from Audubon’s earlier experience with The Birds of America, which was etched and engraved in copper. Though the prints in both publications are embellished with richly hued hand-painting, the foundational black ink images beneath their colors reflect very different characteristics owing to each medium’s material and procedural properties. Engraving and etching, as used for Audubon’s Birds, are techniques belonging to a family of printing known as intaglio (from the Italian intagliare, meaning to engrave or cut).

Dating to the first half of the fifteenth century, intaglio printmaking—the creation of a print from ink pressed into incised marks—likely arose from the decorative practices of goldsmithing.

Engravings result from a laborious technique, whether occurring on a silver chalice or sheet of paper. To create a template for printing, the engraver pushes a special knife, called a burin, into the polished surface of a thin sheet of copper (or occasionally a different metal), thus carving an image composed of incised lines. Each furrow the engraver cuts will eventually hold viscous ink that transfers to paper during printing.

A common example of engraving familiar to most readers is paper currency. Close inspection of an American dollar bill reveals that George Washington’s likeness and all the surrounding flourishes are formed by a series of carefully placed lines, dashes, and crosshatches. The viewer’s perception of tonal gradations arises from a visual blending of crisply defined incisions of varying widths and depths that, when inked, create a sense of light and shadow. The related process of etching substitutes a corrosive mordant for the burin to create grooves into a plate. This allows an artist easier freedom of movement in establishing an image. The etcher wields a needle-like tool in the manner of a pen and needs only to scratch through a thin, waxy film rather than carve by force into a resistant metal. Both etching and engraving are well suited to a linear style of rendering with clearly defined forms and details, as any sheet from The Birds of America will confirm. Prints created in this manner share the same crisp marks as a drawing in pen and ink. While such lines may modulate in thickness or darkness, they cannot easily replicate the graduated shading of marks made by a pencil or crayon. Here is where lithography differs and excels.

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lthough J. T. Bowen’s firm was not quite as famous as Currier & Ives, it certainly ranked among the most capable American lithographic establishments.

Bowen’s nota bene declaration on the company’s bill of fare described its specialty as “Views of Public Buildings, Landscapes, Maps, Plans, Charts, Circulars, &c. executed in the most beautiful style and at the shortest notice…” At roughly the same time as that 1838 directory notice, Audubon was making inquiries into having the forthcoming Quadrupeds folios engraved and printed in England by Robert Havell Jr., who with his father had produced The Birds of America. Havell’s reluctance to take on the project, combined with Bachman’s admonition to keep subscription costs low, convinced Audubon to publish the work at home and switch to the newer medium. He was already aware of Bowen’s exceptional work for Thomas McKenney and James Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America, published in three volumes beginning in 1836 and ultimately comprising 121 hand-colored lithographs. As evidence of his confidence in the Philadelphia printer, Audubon contracted Bowen to print the reducedscale octavo version of The Birds of America (1840–44).

Bowen’s method of production, like that of Currier & Ives, was exacting and refined. Still, the task was no simple undertaking. (…)

(Detail) Engraved copper plate for Blue Yellow back Warbler, Plate XV, No. 111, from The Birds of America. Drawn by J.J. Audubon, F.R.S.E. M.W.S. Engraved by R. Havell, Jr. Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University; gift of Susan Phillips, 2004.03.14

Adventure AWAITS! “Audubon’s Last Wilderness Journey”

Pre-order your copy for $49.95 with keepsake bookmark Through Jan. 31.

Audubon’s Last Wilderness Journey: The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America features: • • • •

150 full-color, high quality reproductions of recently conserved lithographs Essays covering this seminal journey and folio production Questions of zoological classifications—then and now Journal entries from the expedition and family letter transcripts

Receive free USPS shipping to contiguous U.S. on pre-orders, and experience the companion exhibition at a member preview on Jan. 26!

ORDER ONLINE AT HTTPS://AUB.IE/QUADS

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EXHIBITIONS AUDUBON'S LAST WILDERNESS JOURNEY THE VIVIPAROUS QUADRUPEDS OF NORTH AMERICA Bill L. Harbert and Gallery C

JAN. 27-MAY 6, 2018 JCSM will exhibit the three-volume Imperial Folio, as well as a selection of unbound prints on loan from the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Loans have been arranged for other materials, such as paintings by John Woodhouse Audubon produced as part of the original folio production process, maps of the journey and assorted ephemera from the Edward Harris Collection at the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Friday, January 26, 6â&#x20AC;&#x201C;8 p.m.

AUDUBON'S LAST WILDERNESS JOURNEY SPECIAL MEMBER PREVIEW

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EXHIBITION PROGRAMMING

Friday, March 2, 9 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

SCHEDULE

LAUNCH AND LEARN

9 a.m.

WELCOME, INTRODUCTION, AND REMARKS ON LOUISE HAUSS AND DAVID BRENT MILLER AUDUBON COLLECTION AT JCSM Marilyn Laufer, director, JCSM

9:15 a.m.

“THE MAKING OF THE VIVIPAROUS QUADRUPEDS OF NORTH AMERICA” Ron Tyler, former director of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, and author of Audubon’s Great National Work: The Royal Octavo Edition of The Birds of America

One of JCSM’s cornerstone collections, The Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Collection, has inspired far-reaching investigations into the artistic and scientific representation of the natural world, particularly in North America. Within that collection, one of the true gems is a complete set of the bound volumes of The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, a publication John James Audubon began working on almost immediately after he completed his more well-known project, The Birds of America. The Quadrupeds was published in three volumes between 1845 and 1848, though work on the project began in the early 40s.

JCSM’s set is particularly beautiful, since the original binding is of high quality, the set has been cared for and the individual prints have had little exposure to light and other damaging environmental factors.

On Friday, March 2, we will invite all of the authors of Audubon’s Last Wilderness Journey: The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, to give talks about their research. The book event will be in the morning, so visitors will have the opportunity to visit the corollary exhibition featuring The Quadruped folios, as well as framed loose prints and contextualizing objects and information.

9:45 a.m. “SET IN STONE: THE USE OF LITHOGRAPHY IN AUDUBON’S QUADRUPEDS” Dennis Harper, curator of collections and exhibitions, JCSM 10:15 a.m. “MODERNIZATION OF NATURAL HISTORY: FROM AUDUBON TO NOW” Sarah Zohdy, assistant professor of Disease Ecology in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences and College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University BREAK 11 a.m. PANEL DISCUSSION BY CO-AUTHORS OF “MODERNIZATION OF NATURAL HISTORY: FROM AUDUBON TO NOW” Sarah Zohdy, Christopher A. Lepczyk, Robert A. Gitzen, and James B. Armstrong, faculty of Auburn University’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences 11:30 a.m. “JOHN JAMES AUDUBON’S WORK IN THE CONTEXT OF ART AND SCIENCE: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON NATURE WRITING” Daniel Patterson, professor emeritus of American Literature, Central Michigan University, and author of The Missouri River Journals of John James Audubon, and John James Audubon’s Journal of 1826: The Voyage to The Birds of America.

12:30 p.m. BOOK SIGNING

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EXHIBITIONS Friday, March 2, 2018, 4 p.m.

U.S. TIGER UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM In partnership with Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Auburn, JCSM invites campus and community to a special presentation with Joel Sartore. Auburn University, Clemson University, Louisiana State University and the University of Missouri, are leading the efforts of the U.S. Tiger University Consortium, so named for the mascots that these institutions share. The goal is to save remaining populations of wild tigers, with a goal of doubling tiger numbers in the wild by 2022.

Joel Sartore is a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, conservationist, National Geographic fellow and regular contributor to National Geographic magazine. His hallmarks are a sense of humor and a Midwestern work ethic.

Sartore started the Photo Ark in 1995 in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska. Since then he’s visited 40 countries in his quest to create this photo archive of global biodiversity. Sartore has produced several books including RARE: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species, Photographing Your Family, and two new National Geographic Photo Ark books: The Photo Ark and Animal Ark. In addition to the work he has done for National Geographic, Sartore has contributed to Audubon magazine, Life, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated and numerous book projects. Sartore and his work have been the subjects of several national broadcasts,

Foy Ballroom 258 including National Geographic’s Explorer, NBC Nightly News, NPR’s Weekend Edition, Fresh Air with Terry Gross and the PBS documentary series, Rare: Portraits of the Photo Ark. He is also a regular contributor on CBS Sunday Morning.

Sartore graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in journalism. He currently lives in Nebraska with his wife and children.

Photo by Grahm S. Jones. Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Ohio. After a photo shoot at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, a clouded leopard cub climbs on Sartore’s head. The leopards, which live in Asian tropical forests, are illegally hunted for their spotted pelts. For more, go to photoark.org. © Photo by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark

“It is folly to think that we can destroy one species and ecosystem after another and not affect humanity. When we save species, we’re actually saving ourselves.”

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Fumi Amano, pictured with her work, Voice. Amano responded to communication barriers.

Select Thursdays, 6 pm Stacey Rathert sitting on You are Here, a sculpture inspired by an unfurled picnic blanket.

OUT OF THE BOX A JURIED OUTDOOR SCULPTURE EXHIBITION Lethander Art Path and museum grounds

OCT. 6, 2017–OCT. 6, 2018

OUT OF THE BOX ARTIST TALKS The three Out of the Box award recipients join us this semester to give Thursday evening public lectures shedding light on the evolution of their work, their studio practice, and the conceptualization of the work they have in JCSM’s outdoor sculpture exhibition. Don’t miss the chance to learn firsthand from the artists whose works grace our grounds during 2018. This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

FEB. 1: STACEY RATHERT

Out of the Box is a biennial competition that began in 2013 in celebration of the museum’s 10-year anniversary. Now in its third iteration, our program continues its goal of presenting engaging and educational works of art to our university audience and broader community, as well as actively pursuing the growth of our permanent collection of outdoor sculpture. This exhibition is co-curated by curatorial assistant Jessica Hughes and assistant director Andy Tennant.

You Are Here, 2013, steel, artificial turf, and ground cover

The third installment Out of the Box: A Juried Sculpture Exhibition is presented with support in part by the Haynes Family, in memory of Julian Roberts Haynes and Dr. Lucille McGehee Haynes, and Grace and David E. Johnson with additional funding from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment of the Arts.

MARCH 29: HYE YEON NAM

(Note: Rathert is also joining us for a Family Studio on Sat., Feb. 3 at 10:30 a.m.)

FEB. 22: FUMI AMANO

Voice, 2017, old window frames, wood, and sheet glass (Note: Amano's artist talk will be a collaboration with Teen TBD)

Floating Identity, 2017, plexiglas and meeting (interactive sculpture)

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EXHIBITIONS

“I was struck by a number of artists who are embracing the concerns, materials, and forms of the everyday.”

Out of the Box juror notes interaction, movement and repurposing as common sculpture themes A water feature where you control the movements of the subject’s face; an artificial-turf picnic blanket unfurled for you to climb; an American flag marked with your freedom of expression and others.

These descriptions represent just a few of the 11 large-scale sculptures on view at Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University, in the third installment of Out of the Box: A Juried Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition.

Museum staff invited New York-based artist Jean Shin to jury the exhibition and visit Auburn to meet with faculty, students, and the community. Shin is internationally recognized for her artworks that transform cast-off materials into expressions of identity and community.

During her visit, Shin named three winners from the 11 Out of the Box finalists selected from nationwide submissions to exhibit on the grounds for the year. The winners are: Stacey Rathert of Mississippi, You Are Here (first place); Fumi Amano of Washington, JCSM.AUBURN.EDU

Voice (second place); Hye Yeon Nam of Louisiana, Floating Identity in Auburn (honorable mention).

“Among the selected sculptures, I was struck by a number of artists who are embracing the concerns, materials, and forms of the everyday,” Shin said. “In this approach, some artists repurposed, combined, or refer to architectural elements such as windows, wooden floors, and benches to reimagine the places that connect us, while other works metaphorically and literally speak to where we are.”

While climbing sculpture is usually prohibited, first-place winner Stacey Rathert welcomes it with her picnic-inspired piece You Are Here, as she explained her artwork explores ideas of place and home.

“I am originally from a rural farming community in Kansas. To me, picnics are something of necessity because they allow farmers more time in the fields,” she said. “However, in the city, picnics were an occasional, fun weekend activity.

“It is these differences that inspired the construction of a gently sloping surface that mimics the unfurling of a blanket before a picnic. The use of artificial turf suggests that the earth is being lifted, as well as revealing something underneath that relates to the location of the piece. The viewer is invited to sit on the blanket and perhaps consider the place in which he or she exists or to long for a place that is more like home.”

Out of the Box is one of the ways that the museum develops its outdoor sculpture program. The museum acquired Alex Podesta’s Self-Portrait as Bunnies (The Bathers) from the 2015 exhibition with funds provided by Christopher S. Warren, Melissa L. Voynich ’08, Monroe Floyd Vest III ’75 and Teresa Peters Vest ’78, and 122 additional 2017 Tiger Giving Day donors.

Photo: Juror Jean Shin judges Floating Identity on site at JCSM with curatorial assistant Jessica Hughes.

Florence Neal cutting woodblocks at residency, 2016

77TH ANNUAL

NATIONAL WATERCOLOR SOCIETY EXHIBITION Bill L. Harbert Gallery and Gallery C

MAY 20–JULY 29, 2018 OPENING RECEPTION, SUN. MAY 20, 1–4 P.M. The Watercolor Society of Alabama was organized in 1939 and has been a continuing and vibrant influence in advancing the art of watercolor painting and in contributing to the enrichment of the cultural environment of the citizens of the State of Alabama. Each year the Society sponsors a national juried exhibition and competition, the location of which changes within the state in order to give Alabama residents an opportunity to view the exhibition in their locality.

Most recently, the national exhibitions have been held at the Jemison-Carnegie Heritage Hall Museum in Talladega; Johnson Center for the Arts, Troy; Littlehouse Galleries, Homewood; Tennessee Valley Art Association, Tuscumbia; Hartselle Fine Arts Center, Hartselle; Carnegie Visual Arts Center, Decatur; Fairhope Arts Center, Fairhope; and Alabama Center for the Arts, Decatur.

Juror of selection Carol Carter is a longtime resident of St. Louis, Missouri, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Washington University. Long admired in the St. Louis area, she earned national recognition in 2002 when her work was featured on the cover of New American Paintings magazine. She stepped onto the international arts stage in 2002 with a solo exhibition in Guayaquil, Ecuador, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy. She has had solo exhibitions in Norway, France, and USVI. She was AIRE fellow-Everglades National Park in 2010. Crate & Barrel and Verizon Wireless recently added her to their collections.

Awards judge Barbara Nechis is an artist who has developed a style known for its masterful balance of spontaneity and control of the watercolor brush. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Fine Arts from the University of Rochester and a Master of Science from Alfred University. She was a faculty member of Parsons School of Design for many years and has taught seminars at Pratt Institute, throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. She has served as a juror and director of the American Watercolor Society and is the author of Watercolor From the Heart (Watson-Guptill Publications, 1993) and Watercolor the Creative Experience (North Light Books, 1979). Her work appears in many publications and collections, among them the Butler Institute of American Art, IBM, and Citicorp.

The Society has had a significant impact on the arts within the state by encouraging and fostering support of artists working in the field of watercolor. The Society is one of the oldest major watercolor organizations in the nation.

With The Grain, 2016 Mokuhanga (water-based woodcut) on Japanese paper (washi)

FIRE AND WATER

PRINTS BY FLORENCE NEAL Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Galleries

JUNE 9–AUGUST 19, 2018 FLORENCE NEAL ARTIST’S RESIDENCY WATER TO WOOD: RESURFACING JUNE 11–16, 2018 Auburn University alumna (1976) and New York-based artist Florence Neal will set up a working studio in the gallery adjacent to her exhibition Fire and Water: Prints by Florence Neal. Neal is the director and co-founder (since 1990) of Kentler International Drawing Space, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing to the public contemporary drawings and works on paper by emerging and under-recognized local, national and international artists, and to providing the opportunity to experiment, explore and expand the definition of art in society. An accomplished artist working across media, Neal has had 19 solo and nearly 100 group exhibitions since 1977. Her work has been displayed in the United States, Japan, Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

Entitling her project, Water To Wood: Resurfacing, Neal will explore the flow from nature to art, water to wood, wood to paper. During her week residency at JCSM she will work on site at the museum to produce a set of mokuhanga prints (water-based woodblock prints) stemming from selected tree rubbing drawings made at the Donald E. Davis Arboretum. Water and wood, both the theme and medium of this project, will continuously interchange during the creation process, resonating in the final print. The process and interplay of water to wood, drawing to printmaking, allows for exploration, discovery, chance and connections. Visitors to the museum will be able to see the printmaking tools, materials and process unfold.

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COLLECTIONS

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SPOTLIGHT

TODD MCGRAIN Todd McGrain (American, b. 1961) Carolina Parakeet, from the series The Lost Bird Project, 2007 Bronze Edition: 4 of 15 Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University; museum acquisition in process with funds provided by Miller Audubon Endowment

A LOST BIRD

JCSM ACQUIRES TODD MCGRAIN’S SCULPTURE IN MEMORY OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEMISE OF THE CAROLINA PARAKEET The now extinct Carolina Parakeet once thrived in great abundance prior to the 20th century in the eastern half of the United States from as far west as Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico.

There were many reasons that attributed to their ultimate demise including a loss of traditional habitat and an active market for their colorful plumage. These birds also had an ill-fated flocking behavior that had them respond to distress calls from members of the flock instead of fleeing from hunters. This often resulted in their being more easily shot when they returned to see to those wounded and dead birds.

The last known wild specimen of this bird was killed in Okeechobee County, Florida, in 1904. But the last captive bird—a male named Incas, died at the Cincinnati Zoo 100 years ago, February 21, 1918.

Since March of 2015, JCSM audiences have appreciated the installation of the, a group of five bronze sculptures by Todd McGrain, that are the artist’s interpretation of what are now extinct birds of North America. They include the Great Auk, the Heath Hen, the Labrador Duck, the Passenger Pigeon and the Carolina Parakeet. In honor and to memorialize the centennial of the death of the last Carolina Parakeet, the museum has acquired Mr. McGrain’s sculpture of that bird with funds from the Miller Audubon Endowment.

It is our greatest hope that over the next four years, donors will step forward to assist us in our efforts to acquire the four remaining pieces. We will begin that effort with the 24-hour online fundraiser, Tiger Giving Day on Feb. 21. The elegance and monumentality of these sculptures can only be matched by their power to generate deeper conversations, such as our shared

John James Audubon (American, b. Haiti, 1785–1851), Carolina Parrot, plate 26, The Birds of America, Vol. I, 1828, hand-colored etching, aquatint, and line engraving, printed by R. Havell and Son, London, 1827–38, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University; Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Collection, 1992.1.1.25 Audubon labeled the original double elephant folio print of the bird “Carolina Parrot”; however, in the octavo edition it is labeled “Carolina Parrot or Parakeet.” In the text accompanying the Birds of America, the Ornithological Biography, Audubon uses “parrot” and “parakeet” interchangeably. For instance, his introduction reads, “Doubtless, kind reader, you will say, while looking at the figures of Parakeets represented in the plate, that I spared not my labour.

I never do, so anxious am I to promote your pleasure.”

responsibility about the ongoing crisis of our loss of entire species across the globe. The Lost Birds are important works of art and it is our hope to have them remain at JCSM for future generations.

If you would like to know more about this project please be in touch with Catherine Thompson, JCSM’s development officer.

GIVING DAY 24 HOURS. 20+ PROJECTS. ONE BIG FAMILY.

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VAU JCSM.AUBURN.EDU

THIS IS PROGRESS

ULT

BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE NEW AND IMPROVED JCSM

By Danielle Mohr Funderburk,

REGISTRAR

Upon completing construction of the museum in 2003, the vaults were a relatively empty and unfurnished space with only a few shelves to hold artwork. Fast forward fourteen years, the acquisition of many large-scale prints and paintings, a permanent collection that had nearly doubled in size and the vaults were no longer empty or anywhere close. In fact, they were bursting at the seams with outdated and cumbersome fixtures.

As chance would have it, the museum was already planning to be closed over the summer of 2017 to make acoustical updates in the Grand Gallery, Museum CafĂŠ, and the Dwight and Helen Carlisle Lobby and Rotunda which meant the remaining galleries would be empty and available to store the collection. The stars had aligned and the vault project was added to the renovation plan with the help of Birmingham-based storage solution firm Patterson Pope.

The PROCESS The design began to take shape over the spring and the decision was made to remove one wall and combine the two existing vault spaces into one large room and enclose the doors in the second space to increase the available wall capacity. Additionally, rolling shelf storage would be added for large sculpture, boxed items and three-dimensional artworks and new flat files would be added to hold unframed works of art on paper with a 60-inch-wide drawer to hold oversized prints and drawings. This would provide increased storage for the growing collection and a space for professors and students to come and examine the artwork.

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All of the artwork would be moved upstairs into the galleries in preparation for the construction to begin in June. Along with the reorganization of the space, the existing lighting would be replaced with LED bulbs in new fixtures running the length of the new vault space. The LEDS are not only more efficient and help reduce power costs but can help preserve artwork as they do not emit any UV rays.

THE PRESENT Start to finish, the project took three months to complete. The new art racks are mounted on a carriage-and-rail system which compacts to eliminate wasted space in the aisles. This system also provides anti-tip and anti-vibration mechanisms to protect the artwork. The museum cases that previously held glass and ceramic objects were relocated to the main vault. The flat file cabinets that held the Audubon Collection in the Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Works on Paper Study Room were also moved into the vault freeing up the space to be converted into a small seminar room.

With the new vault and seminar room we have created a better functioning space with which to share an expansive view of what we do in a university museum.

Just in the last semester, our staff was able to host several classes as well as facilitate the development of a student practicum exhibition. We believe this renovation will allow us to continue to grow our collection and share the works with a wider audience across campus and the community.

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PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Pictured members of the Mosaic Theatre Company

Performance by Mosaic Theatre Company A Little Lunch Music THURSDAYS, NOON A Little Lunch Music is an informal, comeand-go performance presented by JCSM.You can sit in and listen to the entire program, dine in the Museum Cafe from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., browse the Museum Shop, or explore the galleries. A Little Lunch Music is coordinated by musician Patrick McCurry.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, NOON AUDITORIUM Mosaic Theatre Company (MTC), directed by Dr. Tessa Carr, Auburn University Department of Theatre, is dedicated to the creation and performance of original works of theatre that investigate current issues of diversity in the hopes of crafting lifelong alliances. The primary purpose of MTC is to foster dialogue about diversity through performance. You will not want to miss this thought-provoking, dynamic presentation

by Auburn University students.

www.

Visit JCSM.AUBURN.EDU for complete program listings. Our E-MUSE is the best way to stay current with JCSM programs and events. Sign up today at jcsm.auburn.edu.

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Third Thursday Poetry Series SELECT THURSDAYS, 6:30 P.M. JCSM's literary arts program, Third Thursday Poetry Series, continues this semester.

This program has been made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

THURSDAY, JAN. 18, 6:30 P.M. Alan Shapiro, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has published ten books of poetry, most recently, Old War. He has been the winner of the Kingsley Tufts Award and an Los Angelas Times Book Award in poetry, and has been a finalist in poetry and nonfiction for the National Books Critics Circle Award. He has received two awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, and the O.B. Hardison Jr. Poetry Prize from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Shapiro has taught at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1995.

THURSDAY, FEB.15, 6:30 P.M. L. Lamar Wilson is the author of Sacrilegion (Carolina Wren Press, 2013) and co-author of Prime: Poetry and Conversation (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2014), with the Phantastique Five. He’s a recipient of fellowships from the Cave Canem Foundation, the Callaloo Workshops, and the Blyden and Roberta Jackson Fund at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he’s completing a doctorate in African American and multi-ethnic American poetics. Wilson, an Affrilachian Poet, teaches creative writing and African American literature at The University of Alabama.

THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 6:30 P.M. Note: Date shifted due to Spring Break Catherine Pierce is the author of three books of poems: The Tornado is the World, The Girls of Peculiar, winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Poetry Prize, and Famous Last Words, winner of the Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Best American Poetry (2015 and 2011), Best New Poets, Boston Review, The Southern Review, Slate, Ploughshares, FIELD, A Public Space, The Cincinnati Review, Ninth Letter, Court Green, Crab Orchard

Review, Indiana Review, Gulf Coast, Barrow Street, The Normal School, Blackbird, diode, and elsewhere. Pierce is associate professor and co-director of the creative writing program at Mississippi State University.

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 6:30 P.M. Kevin McIlvoy has published four novels, A Waltz, The Fifth Station, Little Peg, Hyssop, and a short story collection, The Complete History of New Mexico. His short fiction has appeared in Harper’s, Southern Review, Ploughshares, Missouri Review, and other literary magazines. His novel, At the Gate of All Wonder, will be published by Tupelo Press in 2018. Formerly Regents Professor of Creative Writing in the New Mexico State University English Department and fiction editor and editor in chief of the national literary magazine, Puerto del Sol, he now teaches in the Warren Wilson College Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing.

THURSDAY, MAY 17, 6:30 P.M. Jeanie Thompson has published five collections of poetry, The Myth of Water: Poems from the Life of Helen Keller, The Seasons Bear Us, White for Harvest: New and Selected Poems, Witness, which won a Benjamin Franklin Award from the Publishers Marketing Association, and How to Enter the River. Her work has appeared in Antaeus, Crazyhorse, Ironwood, North American Review, New England Review, Southern Review, and others. She has received fellowships from the Louisiana State Arts Council and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. She is director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum and is a poetry faculty member of the Spalding University low-res Master of Fine Arts Writing Program.

Top to bottom: Alan Shapiro; L. Lamar Wilson.

Photo by: Tyrus Ortega Gaines; Catherine Pierce.

Photo by: Megan Bean/Mississippi State University; Kevin McIlvoy. Photo by Taylor Johnson; Jeanie Thompson. Photo by: Jerry Siegel.

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PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS Spanish Language Film Series SELECT SUNDAYS, 2 P.M. In collaboation with with the Auburn University Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, and the Office of International Programs: Auburn Abroad, JCSM presents these films, all available with English subtitles. Spanish Film Club is made possible with the support of Pragda, the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain and its Program for Cultural Cooperation with United States Universities.

SUNDAY, JAN. 21, 2 P.M. NERUDA, Biographical drama, 2016 (Chile) 1 h 47 min Gael Garcia Bernal joins award winning Chilean director, Pablo Larraín, in this noir-infused reimagining of the Nobel Prize–winning poet and politician’s struggle with the state.

SUNDAY, JAN. 28, 2 P.M. THE COMPANION (EL ACOMPAÑANTE), Drama, 2016 (Cuba) | 1 h 44 min Set in 1988 Cuba as the government dispatched HIV patients to AIDS centers under military rule, The Companion narrates the unlikely friendship between a boxing champion and a conflictive patient.

SUNDAY, FEB. 4, 2 P.M. THE TENTH MAN (EL REY DEL ONCE), Dramatic comedy, 2016 (Argentina) |1 h 22 min Award-winning director Daniel Burman returns with The Tenth Man, a quiet and wellobserved comedy that wrestles with notions of identity, home, and the intricacies of the father-son relationship.

SUNDAY, FEB. 11, 2 P.M. TRUMAN, Drama, 2015 (Argentina-Spain) | 1 h 48 min When Julián receives an unexpected visit from his childhood friend Tomás, the encounter is bittersweet. This reunion, their first meeting in many years, will also be their last.

SUNDAY, FEB. 18, 2 P.M. EVEN THE RAIN (TAMBIÉN LA LLUVIA), Drama, 2011(México-Spain) 1 h 44 min This masterful film-within-a-film raises questions about the exploitation of South America, blurring the lines between past and present, fiction and reality.

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Community Films and Conversations SELECT SUNDAYS, 1 P.M. This series brings our community together for conversation and greater understanding.

Each screening is followed by a discussion led by its host organization, and at the conclusion of the program, a coffee reception in the café.

SUNDAY, FEB. 25, 1 P.M. PRINCE AMONG SLAVES Documentary, 2007 | 1 h Hosted by International Women for Peace and Understanding This film tells the story of Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori, a Muslim prince from West Africa who was enslaved for 40 years in Mississippi before he gained his freedom.

SUNDAY, MAR. 4, 1 P.M. PROMISES Documentary, 2001 | 1 h 45 min Hosted by Auburn’s Beth Shalom Synagogue The documentary film follows several Jewish and Palestinian children whose relationship the filmmakers followed for three years to shine a different light on the JewishPalestinian conflict.

Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers SELECT THURSDAYS, 6 P.M. Southern Circuit brings the best of independent film to communities across the south.

JCSM is pleased to be one of 23 communities screening Southern Circuit films this season.

THURSDAY, FEB. 8, 6 P.M.

THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 6 P.M.

THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 6 P.M.

LIYANA Documentary | 1 h 16 min

QUEST Documentary | 1 h 45 min

78/52 Documentary | 1 h 31 min

Touring with the film are directors Aaron Kopp and Amanda Kopp.

A Swazi girl embarks on a dangerous quest to rescue her young twin brothers. This animated African tale is born in the imaginations of five orphaned children in Swaziland who collaborate to tell a story of perseverance drawn from their darkest memories and brightest dreams. Their fictional character’s journey is interwoven with poetic and observational documentary scenes to create a genre-defying celebration of collective storytelling.

Aaron Kopp is an award-winning filmmaker and national Emmy-nominated cinematographer who grew up in the Kingdom of Swaziland. He shot and co-produced the Academy Award-winning documentary about acid attacks in Pakistan, Saving Face. He was cinematographer for the Sundance Audience Award winning The Hunting Ground about sexual assault on college campuses.

Amanda Kopp is an award-winning photographer and artist. She was producer and cinematographer for the short film, Likhaya, which won Golden Palm, People’s Choice, and Best Documentary awards at international festivals. Her photographic work has been published in the UK, US, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Pakistan and Italy.

Touring with the film is director/ cinematographer, Jonathan Olshefski, and the subject of the film, Christopher “Quest” Rainey.

Filmed with vérité intimacy for almost a decade, QUEST is a moving portrait of an African-American family in North Philadelphia. Beginning at the dawn of the Obama presidency, Christopher “Quest” Rainey, and his wife Christine’s “Ma Quest” Rainey, navigate the strife that sometimes grips their neighborhood as they raise a family and cultivate a creative sanctuary for the community in their home music studio. Epic in scope, QUEST is a vivid illumination of race and class in America, and an inspirational testament to love, healing and hope.

Jonathan Olshefski is a documentary filmmaker and artist based in Philadelphia. He strives to tell intimate and nuanced stories that honor his subjects’ complexity by employing a production process that emphasizes collaboration, dialogue and relationship to amplify their voices and reflect their points of view in an artful way.

Olshefski has a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and is currently an Associate Professor of Radio, TV and Film at Rowan University.

Touring with the film is director Alexandre Phillipe.

Alfred Hitchcock created the single most extraordinary and mysterious scene in the history of cinema—the iconic shower scene in Psycho.

78/52, which refers to the number of set-ups (78) and cuts (52) in the scene, delves into the genius and experimental process of its creation and its indelible impact on filmmaking.

Born and raised in Geneva, Switzerland, Alexandre Phillipe holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has directed several narrative and documentary films including The People vs George Lucas, Doc of the Dead, and The Life and Times of Paul the Psychic Octopus.

He is the creative director and co-owner of Denver-based Cinema Vertige.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of South Arts.

Southern Circuit screenings are funded in part by a grant from South Arts, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

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PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Family Studios We have exciting programming for families this spring! Make sure to note the date and time for each event. Family Studio is recommended for children in kindergarten through sixth grade and their families, but older and younger children are always welcome.

Parents and guardians are asked to participate with their child during the program. Visit the online calendar for the latest information as topics may change slightly.

Family Programs are supported in part by a City of Auburn K–12 Arts Education Outreach Grant. A five-dollar suggested donation to the museum is appreciated in continued support of our programs.

lcome e w s e g a t! all h g i N y t i n u for Comm THURSDAY, APR. 26, 5–8 P.M.

Spring Community Night Join us for our first Spring Community Night! Artist Laura Murray will share her work as an illustrator and talk about her coloring book Amazing Alabama which is available for purchase in the Museum Shop. Expect to run into some critters you will find pictures of in the Audubon exhibition, enjoy tasty treats, and more!

SATURDAY, FEB. 3, 10:30 A.M–12 P.M. THINKING OUT OF THE BOX: MEET STACEY RATHERT This year’s Out of the Box first-place winner Stacey Rathert will join us for a special Family Studio. Come listen to Stacey talk about her work and create your own artwork to take home.

SUNDAY, MAR. 18, 1:30–3 P.M. EXPLORING AUDUBON QUADRUPEDS WITH THE LIZARD LADY Dr. Nicole F. Angeli joins us to read her book The Lizard Lady and answer questions about taking care of animals and the work she does as a scientist. After listening to Dr. Angeli, we will create our own scientific illustrations inspired by Audubon’s Last Wilderness Journey: The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America.

SATURDAY, MAY 19, 1:30–3 P.M. THE DRAMATIC MUSEUM Our friends from Auburn Area Community Theater are helping us bring the art to life. Learn about how we can connect to art through movement, sound, and acting.

SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 1:30–3 P.M. VISITING ARTIST FLORENCE NEAL Florence Neal will be at JCSM the week of June 11–16 as a visiting artist.

Come see her exhibition, view her temporary studio in JCSM to see her work, and create your own graphite rubbing print.

SUNDAY, JULY 8, 1:30–3 P.M. SUMMERTIME SPLASH Beat the heat and come create watercolor paintings with us inspired by the 77th Annual National Watercolor Society Exhibition.

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Community Programming DIY@JCSM SELECT THURSDAYS, 5–6 P.M. Looking for a fun weeknight activity or great date night idea? Drop in and make art with our 901 Collective, a university student group, and then stay for our evening program during late night hours. These workshops are open to visitors of all ages.

THURSDAY, FEB. 15, 5–6 P.M.

THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 5–6 P.M.

IMAGE TRANSFERS Learn different methods of transferring images onto surfaces. While all supplies will be available, participants who register on Eventbrite will receive information about how to prepare your own image to bring with you.

Register at diyatjcsm18.eventbrite.com

CANDLE MAKING Make your own candle!

THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 5–6 P.M. WIRE SCULPTURES Use wire to create your own art creation.

Engage, Discuss, Create Come add your voice to JCSM and participate using our new resources.

GALLERY GUIDE Our new participatory Gallery Guide, suggested for families with children ages six and up, can now be found in the museum lobby. Collect Gallery Cards as you explore our new exhibitions and get your guide stamped with the date of your visit to keep your booklet as a memento from your trip to JCSM. OOTB INSTAGRAM

Teen TBD

Our Out of the Box exhibition has some questions for you! Visit our special exhibition Instagram account, jcsm_outofthebox, to answer prompts about the artwork, and like or share the images with friends.

FEB. 22, 5–8 P.M. Teen TBD elebrates teen art advocates in Auburn, Opelika, and surrounding communities!

Why TBD? We are leaving the name and design up to the teens! Check out our website or Facebook page to learn about how teens can submit their designs to our design competition. The winner’s design will be used for a cool screenprinting activity the night of the event.

Winners of the Auburn Arts Association photography competition will be announced, Auburn Area Community Theater teens will present mini-Aesop Fable-inspired tales, and Out of the Box second place winner Fumi Amano will join us for an activity.

JCSM DOCENTS Anyone interested in joining our team of volunteer docents should contact JCSM’s tour coordinator, Debbie Frojo, by phone at 334-844-3486 or email at jcsmtours@auburn.edu.

Please register your teen on Eventbrite. Questions? xoefiss@auburn.edu

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2

The Auburn Early Education Center

nd Graders Interview

JEAN SH N

On October 4th, 2017, Jean Shin visited the 2nd grade at AEEC. Here is what they wanted to know: “How long did it take you to create MAiZE?” When I work with museums, they invite me to have the show and say “what do you want to make?” The museum gives me a space and we talk about a timeline for the project. It was probably about a year and a half since the Figge Art Museum invited me to create an exhibition. I went to do a visit—I like to go and see the museum first and see if there is an inspiration there­and this project did come from inspiration from that visit. Then, six months before the opening, they had set-up all of the plans to make the maze, we found all of the materials­­—the educators really helped with that—and for six months they invited the public to make the cornstalks for the installation.

“What other places in the world have you shown your artwork?”

I started in New York, but I have traveled all over the country, this is my first time in Alabama! I have seen many different parts of this country through my exhibitions. In the world, I have shown work in Asia, which includes Korea and China, and then in Europe. It has been really wonderful to be able to travel and see the world because of the artwork.

“How did you get the opportunity to create art in parks and schools?”

The United States has created a program called 1 percent for art.

When a building goes up, or there is new construction, they say “can we keep just 1% of that budget?” That 1% is used for making art in that new building. A school in NYC chose me to make an artwork with their 1%. With this program, you have to apply and compete to be selected to spend a year or many years working on an artwork.

“Did you practice a lot to become such a great artist?”

I love that question of practice, because, YES! Being an artist is really, really tough work. I did art since I was a little kid so it has been a lifetime making art. The other thing is that it is not just the practice of art, but it is thinking about art all the time. I realize, though, that even if I tried to do art every single waking moment I wouldn’t be able to finish my projects. So that is why I started inviting people to help me make my art, so that I am not the only one making my artwork. With MAiZE, lots of students, many around your age, around Davenport, Iowa, near the museum, all helped make the sculptures. So, I shared my love for making this piece with others.

“Which piece of art is your favorite and why?”

That is the tough question. Do you have brothers and sisters? Do you ever ask your mom and dad which is your favorite? (the second graders laughed and loved this!) That is a hard question­—each artwork is so unique, so I love them all. They map my experience and my time making the piece and being in a certain place. For me, each one is really special, but the ones that I remember the most are the ones that were the most difficult. There are artworks that I have never done before in this way and there was something I really needed to learn and thought I might not succeed, and that is when I know when it works you feel so proud that, despite the difficulty, you could still make it happen.

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“How did you get MAiZE to Auburn?”

The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art asked me to jury their outdoor sculpture exhibition…so I had a very wonderful invitation to come to Auburn and have an exhibition at the museum. It was just after I had an exhibition at the Figge Art Museum in Iowa where the cornstalks were originally made, and I thought wouldn’t it be amazing to move the cornstalks to Alabama and have it in the museum?

“Do you create the sculptures by yourself or do you get help?”

That’s a great question, because filling a whole room with these sculptures to make that installation, we had 1,200 cornstalks in the original museum, which takes a lot of work.

The museum collaborated and invited visitors, students, and the public to make them with me and it would be impossible for me to do that on my own. In the end, I think 800 people came together to make this installation.

“What’s the largest sculpture you’ve ever built?”

MAiZE is up there I have to say because it is almost a 3,000-square-foot gallery space.

And I went in and said, “oh my goodness this gallery is big! It is almost like a field!” I have done a lot of pieces outdoors as well, which are site specific, so they are up not only through an exhibition but in a subway, the train station, or in a park. You see works that are like landscapes themselves and take multiple walls and multiple spaces so it is not just one area—I have done some very, very large public pieces!

“How old were you when you made your first piece of art?”

I have a story that my parents told me –this is when I lived in Korea. I left for the United States when I was six, so it must have been before six, maybe when I was four or five. They were visiting a Buddhist temple and were going inside, and I stayed outside—and they said, “just stay here and wait for us!” Instead, I wandered off to a sand pad—it was a sort of garden, with beautiful sand—and I started drawing with my fingers, it was like if you were on a beach. And I was drawing circles, and things that I wanted to express myself with, and I wasn’t anxious for them to come back because I was so happy in the sand garden. My parents walked out of the temple with the monk and they said “get out of there!” but instead, the monk said, let her be, she is doing just what she needs to be doing.”

He recognized what I was doing was making art, that I wasn’t messing up the garden, I wasn’t doing something bad, in some way he gave me permission at a very young age and told the adults “shh, let her be, she is doing just what she is meant to do.”

Interview with Jean Shin

| SPRING 2018

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MEMBERSHIP Advocate

FOR THE ARTS!

Our Art Enthusiast group is open to any individual with an interest in being part of the Auburn art community. The $150 one-year membership is good for two people and includes access to exclusive special events and exhibition previews.

JCSM held a kick-off event this fall and looks forward to more exciting, transformational programs and events in the upcoming year.

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RENTALS "Our wedding day was a dream from start to finish at JCSM. From the ambiance to the incredibly talented and kind staff, my husband and I could not have been happier about choosing JCSM as the venue for our ceremony and reception" â&#x20AC;&#x201D; JCSM BRIDE

Say "I do" at AU!

TO RESERVE YOUR DATE , CONTACT LAUREN HORTON AT 334-844-3488 OR LAURENHORTON@AUBURN.EDU Amanda Berube Photography RENTALS | SPRING 2018

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| Panel discussion at Immanuel: A Symposium.

| Dr. Leo Twiggs meets with art history and COSAM students.

| Performance by Dr. Rosephanye Powell, accompanied by Dr. William Powell on piano.

| Director Marilyn Laufer and Dr. Leo Twiggs tour Requiem for Mother Emanuel with a small group. | Curator of education and university liaison Scott Bishop discusses the exhibition with a Bible study group.

| Dr. Leo Twiggs poses in his exhibition.

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| Dr. Twiggs speaks with performers in Mosaic Theatre Company.

GALLERY

| Docent Jackie Weaver discusses MAiZE with a school tour group.

| Dr. Becky Hendrix leads a group in a drama exercise inspired by Amber Luster Chandelier.

| Docent Debbie Flick discusses sculpture with a school group tour.

| A Family Studio participant.

| International Women for Peace and Understanding and JCSM co-sponsored a film screening and coffee discussion.

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GALLERY

| A student group meets with Frida Kahlo before her "Making Trouble" one-girl gig.

| Dean Bonnie MacEwan of the Auburn University Libraries gets a book inscribed by Frida Kahlo.

| Staff of the Birmingham Museum of Art get a picture with Frida Kahlo.

| Frida Kahlo speaks to the audience at Telfair Peet Theatre.

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ART CHANGES LIVES

GUERRILLA GIRLS "We love to [visit universities] because students are the future. They are telling us what will happen. Over the years we’ve gone from confronting audiences who didn’t believe us at all.

We used to have question-and-answer periods where all people did was question what we were doing, and they didn’t believe that there was any prejudice or discrimination in the art world and slowly...we’ve gone from disbelief to enthusiasm. We love to come to schools to see how students want to change the world." —Frida Kahlo, Guerrilla Girls

Gallery | SPRING 2018

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901 S. COLLEGE ST. | AUBURN, AL 36849 JCSM.AUBURN.EDU | 334-844-1484

ADMISSION Admission is free. A $5 donation is greatly appreciated.

MUSEUM HOURS Monday: Closed, tours by appointment only.

Tuesday–Saturday: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Extended Hours: Thursday until 8 p.m. & Sunday 1–4 p.m.

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