ARTiculate June/July 2017

M E M O R I A L A RT G A L L E RY O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F R O C H E S T E R

HERE SHE IS!

CHARLES ATLAS' PORTRAIT OF LADY BUNNY AND MEDIA ARTS WATCH

THE POWER OF THE FEMALE GAZE C E L E B R AT I N G N E W YO R K WO M E N ’ S S U F F R AG E C E N T E N N I A L

J U N E / J U LY 2 0 1 7

THE GALLERY COUNCIL of the MEMORIAL ART GALLERY PRESENTS

ART

TREASURES

ROCHESTER’S MOST PRESTIGIOUS GARAGE SALE

JUNE 8−11, 2017 EARLY BIRD NIGHT ($10 at the door)

THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 6–8 PM: Shop ahead of the crowd!

FREE SALE DAYS

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JUNE 9 & 10, 10 AM–4 PM SUNDAY, JUNE 11 (BARGAIN DAY), 11 AM–2 PM

This annual event features the best in gently used antiques, artwork, jewelry, china, porcelain, silver, crystal, fine linens, and small furniture items.

DONATIONS MAY BE DROPPED OFF JUNE 6 & 7, 10AM–4PM

Champion Moving & Storage Support MAG • Connect Friends • Celebrate Art

V o i c e s Nearly ten years ago, after a long career in market research, I decided to retire and had to answer the question: what now?

As a teenager I had a love affair with art.

I painted, sculpted and even won a few awards along the way. But the realities of life, family and career soon intervened and art was put on the back burner. I still loved art, but there was no time to pursue it. Retirement, however, brought new opportunities. I knew I wanted to spend more time around art and what better place than at MAG. I volunteered and before I knew it I was a member of the Gallery Council and working at the Art & Treasures sale. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Some of you may remember this event started in 1994 as Tuesday’s Treasures, a one-day sale. It morphed into Art & Treasures somewhere along the way and now spans four days and takes nearly four days to set up. My favorite part is setup. There is nothing to compare with unpacking boxes of donated stuff to see what special treasures they hold. And when we’re finally done, what a sight it is to see the vast array of merchandise all organized by category. I don’t have enough space to tell you about all the exciting things we have to offer at this year’s sale, so you’ll have to come see for yourself.

So why am I telling you all this? It’s because you can help. Art & Treasures is the top fundraiser for the Gallery Council. The money we raise from this and other events helps underwrite incredible exhibitions like M.C. Escher: Reality and Illusion, and scholarships for deserving students in the Creative Workshop. The Gallery Council provides financial support for MAG every year. I urge you to donate objects and come to the sale, bring your friends and family, show your support (volunteer, maybe?) and take home a bargain!

Lois Sumberg President, Gallery Council of the Memorial Art Gallery 500 UNIVERSITY AVE., ROCHESTER 14607 MAG.ROCHESTER.EDU | 585.276.8910

Cover: Charles Atlas, Here she is…v1 (detail), 2015. © Charles Atlas; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

CALENDAR Sunday, June 4

Thursdays 5:00–9:00 PM 1/2 Price Admission

2:00 PM Minimalism: Spare and Shocking Developments in Abstraction A public lecture with Dr. Cathleen Chaffee on the impact of minimal art in our lives.

Free with museum admission.

• Docent led tours - 6:00 PM Except June 15 and July 20 • MAG DeTOUR - 6:00 PM June 15: Musically MAG DeTOUR July 20: Harry Potter and the MAGsocial DeTOUR

Wednesday, June 7 11:00 AM Art & Story Stroll: A Sunny Day to Meet My Shadow Featuring My Shadow, by Robert Louis Stevenson. (Adults $5, Kids free)

Thursday, June 8 5:00 PM Art & Treasures: Early Bird Night - $10 Rochester’s most prestigious garage sale!

This popular annual fundraiser presented by the Gallery Council is the place to find gently used antiques, fine art, jewelry, china, pottery, and so much more!

ONGOING

FAMILY FUN DAY

• Gallery store shopping

Celebrating Inclusion and Love with our partners in the LGBTQ Community

June 15: Alternative Music Film Series (free with museum admission) June 22: Cocktails with Creatives 5:30-8:30 pm | 21+ event | $15 presale | $17 day of July 20: Alternative Music Film Series (free with museum admission)

Sunday, July 16 12 − 5 PM

Recommended $5 Donation per family

Friday, June 9 - Saturday, June 10 10:00 AM−4:00 PM Art & Treasures - Free and open to the public

Sunday, June 11 11:00 AM−2:00 PM Art & Treasures - Bargain Day! - Free and open to the public

• Special Events

• Art Social - 6:15 PM/$15 June 1: Fine Sunshine June 8: Vibrant Color June 15: Watercolor Wonders June 22: Summer Solstice Celebration June 29: Drawings Grown from MAG’s Gardens July 6: Collages Inspired by Families July 13: Zentangled for Calm Creativity July 20: Watercolor Resists July 27: Jell-o Printing

• Food & drink available for purchase from Brown Hound Downtown

Sunday, June 18

Reflections on Place and Culture: Downey, Gower, Kluge Last day on view

Sarah C. Rutherford. Image courtesy of the Cambridge Arts Council, Cambridge, VT. 2016

Thursday, June 29 6:30 PM Flip of the Switch and Fast Forward Films Join us on the MAG front lawn for the first “Flip of the Switch” on our latest installation, Jim Sanborn’s Argentum: Double Positive. For the unveiling of this work, we’ll offer music and dancing, ice cream and concessions for purchase, and an exclusive viewing of the 2017 awardwinning Fast Forward Films. Bring a blanket or some lawn chairs and get ready to experience (and share) the inaugural lighting of the Neighborhood of the Arts' newest public artwork. Come out and light up the night!

Saturdays 12:00 PM–2:00 PM Kids Create Dates - $10/Child Fun hands-on projects for kids from 4−14 in MAG’s Front Entrance.

Friday, June 30

Charles Atlas: Here she is…v1 opens This single-channel video installation features Lady Bunny, an iconic drag performer. She speaks on politics and current events, dances and lip-syncs. She is a vivid presence, especially considering the wall-size scale of the video.

Sunday, July 16 12:00−5:00 PM Pride Family Fun Day

Sundays 1:00 PM & 3:00 PM Going For Baroque Organ Concert Free with museum admission

MEDIAEXPERIENCE A LOOK AT THE NEW "MEDIA ARTS WATCH" EXHIBITION, AND WHAT'S TO COME LATER THIS MONTH. W R I T T E N

B Y

L A U R A

B R I L L ,

C U R ATO R I A L

A S S I S TA N T

"Media Arts Watch" is a three-year initiative to introduce the art of the moving image into the curatorial program and permanent collection of MAG. Leading the museum in this new venture is John G. Hanhardt, consulting senior curator of media art, arguably the most renowned expert on the subject. Hanhardt steered the effort to create Media Art departments and programs at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Guggenheim Museum internationally, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC. He is best known as a scholar of the father of video art, artist Nam June Paik, Andy Warhol’s films—did you know that Warhol made over 900 films?—and the contemporary artist Bill Viola. Hanhardt is doing for MAG what he’s done for major institutions throughout his career: expanding our curatorial and exhibition programs, helping us appeal to new audiences, and demonstrating the preeminent role of the moving image in 20th century art, as well as its continuing influence on the art of our time.

Through June 18th, the Media Arts Watch gallery is featuring a group exhibition around the theme of geography and history.

Reflections on Place & Culture: Downey, Gower, Kluge includes the work of three artists who work within and against the conventions of documentary film and video, pointing to the genre’s limitations while also positing new ways for using the moving image to represent history and culture.

Opening on June 30th is Here she is...v1, a recent work by the influential video artist and film director, Charles Atlas. Atlas began his career in the world of dance, collaborating with the pioneering choreographer Merce Cunningham to create performances designed specifically for the video camera. With Here she is...v1, Atlas continues his focus on dance and performance through a video portrait of the renowned drag queen, Lady Bunny. It’s an absolutely magnetic visual experience that highlights Lady Bunny’s rich and nuanced understanding of history and contemporary society, as well as her ability to entertain. This rather serious and complex exploration of geopolitics and power relations ends with a music video that’s sure to enthrall.

MEDIA ART

is art that explores the

technologies and aesthetics of film and video as well as the emerging tools and practices of computers, virtual reality,

the internet, software, and mobile devices.

Opposite, Top: Juan Downey, Hard Times and Culture: Part One, Vienna fin-de-siecle, 1990. Maurice R. and Maxine B. Forman Fund.

The Power Of

The Female Gaze

W R I T T E N B Y J E S S I C A M A R T E N | C U R AT O R I N C H A R G E Did you know that the Memorial Art Gallery is located on the original University of Rochester campus where Susan B. Anthony fought for equality in education? In the 1890s, University trustees voted to allow women admission if $50,000 in pledges were raised. In a last-minute effort to meet the deadline, Anthony put up the cash value of her life insurance policy. Thanks to her persistence, the University began admitting women in 1900. In 1917, women gained the right to vote in New York State.

The Power of the Female Gaze is organized in honor of New York Women’s Suffrage Centennial in 2017. By their profound will to engage in creative lives, women artists subvert society’s expectations in powerful and thrilling ways. For centuries, the male gaze has dominated the history of art: the active, heroic male artist paints the passive, beautiful female model. This exhibition examines an alternative question: What does it look like when women artists depict women? MAG explores the power of the female gaze in creating potent and complex images of women as thinkers, warriors, vixens, heroes, mothers, creators, and agitators.

The images selected from our permanent collection probe the intersections of gender, race, and social roles in bold and revelatory ways. Major figures from the history of art are featured, including Mary Cassatt, Elizabeth Catlett, Marisol Escobar, Käthe Kollwitz, Georgia O’Keeffe, Faith Ringgold, Lorna Simpson, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Kara Walker.

Special thanks to co-curator Ortensia de Loren.

JOIN US THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 7PM, FOR A CURATORS TALK OF THE POWER OF THE FEMALE GAZE WITH CURATORS JESSICA MARTEN AND ORTENSIA DE LOREN. Above: Kathleen McEnery Cunningham, Miriam McEnery (detail), 1915. Courtesy of Peter Cunningham and Joan Williams families.

Socially Speaking..

AN EXPLORATION INTO THE MAG SOCIAL PROGRAM A N D T H E I M PA C T O N T H E C O M M U N I T Y AT L A R G E WRITTEN BY JESSICA GASBARRE | ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST MAG is an enchanting oasis where all people are welcome to explore, learn and laugh together, and partake in some much-needed shenanigans inspired by the history of world art spanning 5,000 years. The goal of MAGsocial is to change people's perceptions about art and give them the chance to make personal connections to our collection. Through our awesome programming, events, and the way we engage the Rochester community and beyond, we tap into the nostalgia people have for their elementary school field trips and rekindle those nascent feelings of excitement and love for the arts.

Our monthly MAGsocial DeTOURs highlight the idiosyncratic personal lives of our artists, inspiration and method behind their unique cultural contributions, and lesser-known facts about some of the works in our collection. Each DeTOUR includes activities, mind-blowing facts, friendship, and fun. Our “Hidden Passions” series celebrates the private hobbies and creative lives of Rochesterians and puts them center stage at MAG, offering guests the chance to be inspired by the rigor and dedication of people in our community to extraordinary pastimes.

Late-night MAGsocial events, such as Museum of the Dead and Valentine Schmalentine, offer up alternative ways to experience art and celebrate our city’s museum. Cocktails with Creatives provides guests the opportunity to enjoy craft cocktails and mingle with the museum staff, director Jonathan Binstock, and our MAG ROCstars—extraordinary creative types living in our midst.

No matter what we’re up to, we aim to engage new and different audiences and instill in them an appreciation for the arts, our permanent collection, and special exhibitions. Consider this your open invitation to join us on our adventures in art, get to know our gem of an art museum, meet new people, make new friends, and have fun.

Above Right: MAG DeTOUR guests re-enact The Triumph of Judith, 1704–08 by Francesco Solimena. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. James V. Aquavella.

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r e m m u S

Written by Christine Garland, Assistant Director of Advancement When the exhibition Wendell Castle Remastered opens at MAG in October, visitors will see the artist’s work literally in a new light thanks to a major refurbishment of the Grand Gallery. The special exhibition space will be under construction over the summer as crews replace obsolete lighting fixtures with energy-efficient and adjustable LED lights—and we will double the lighting! Behind-the-scenes technology upgrades, including expanded Wi-Fi service as well as access to Ethernet cable and electrical power sources throughout, will permit flexible exhibition configurations and mediasavvy educational interfaces, and will give visitors faster access to information about the artworks via their smartphones or tablets. The project increases the gallery’s footprint by almost 20%, and even includes a most welcome facelift, with new walls and refinished floors.

The space will reopen in the fall as the Docent Gallery, named in honor of MAG’s extraordinarily dedicated volunteers who last year led tours for more than 15,000 children and adults. This ambitious renovation project is funded by a generous commitment, the largest in our history, from a longstanding and dedicated patron. A former docent, the donor wanted to honor her colleagues in this very special and meaningful way. The improvements are also supported by a major New York State grant awarded through the Regional Economic Development Council process.

The creation of the Docent Gallery will usher in a new era for special exhibitions at MAG, just in time for the unveiling of our major media arts commissions next winter. First up on January 27, 2018 is Soul Trains, a multichannel visual and sound commissions by the legendary and pioneering artist Dara Birnbaum that will make use of the Docent Gallery’s new state-of-the-art technical capabilities.

It will be an experience you won’t want to miss!

Above: Construction of the 1968 Building at MAG, circa 1968.

Show

THURSDAY, JUNE 22 | 6-9PM

ENJOY SOME OF THE FINEST ARTWORK FROM SOME OF ROCHESTER'S FAVORITE ARTISTS

FEATURING ARTWORK FROM:

CAT CLAY (CERAMICS)

DANIELLE SARA ZATKOWSKY (GLASS AND JEWELRY)

INTERSTELLAR LOVECRAFT (JEWELRY)

LOUISE'S DAUGHTER (WOODEN FIGURES)

500 UNIVERSITY AVENUE | ROCHESTER | 585.276.9010

Sculpture Park

Tour

Create

(585.276.8959)

Creative Workshop

Picture yourself at MAG on your special day! (585.276.8950)

Thursday: 6:00 pm Friday–Sunday: 1:00 pm DeTOURS: 6/15, 7/20 6 pm

Host

Perks

Always Open | Always Free

Play

Your support means the world to us! Email us at memberperks@mag. rochester.edu or call (585.276.8939)

Wednesday–Sunday 11:00 am–5:00 pm Thursday 11:00 am–9:00 pm First Fridays 11:00 am-9:00 pm

Shop

General: $15* Senior Citizens: $12 Children 6–18: $6 College Students: $6 FREE: UofR + members

Wednesday–Sunday 11:00 am–5:00 pm Thursday* 11:00 am–9:00 pm First Fridays 11:00 am-9:00 pm

*Pricing increases effective 7/1/17*

Pay

Hours

Text GIVEMAG to 24587

Give Joe Carney a call (585.276.8941)

Give

Park FREE on any MAG lot.

Park

Reservations requested for Saturday and Sunday Brunch

(585.506.9725)

Brown Hound Downtown

Eat

Wednesday–Friday 1:00–5:00 pm

Charlotte Whitney Allen Library

Read

CHERYL DINOLFO COUNTY EXECUTIVE

Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester 500 University Avenue Rochester, NY 14607 585.276.8900 | mag.rochester.edu

Underwritten by Helen H. Berkeley, with additional support from the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation. The Memorial Art Gallery is supported primarily by its members, the University of Rochester and public funds from Monroe County. Memorial Art Gallery is also supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. *Half-price Thursday admission after 5 pm is made possible in part by Monroe County.

Thank you to our Sponsors

Wheelchairs are available in the Vanden Brul pavilion coatroom. The auditorium is equipped with an assistive listening system made possible by the Mark and Bobbie Hargrave hard of hearing fund of Rochester Area Community Foundation, the MAG community access endowment fund, and an anonymous donor. To schedule a sign language interpreter or touch tour for the blind, or to request a braille or text calendar, contact cander35@mag.rochester.edu (585.276.8971). People who are deaf or hard of hearing may call via relay service. We also offer a special cell phone tour for the visually impaired.

Accessibility

For more information about programming, events, tours, and all things MAG, visit our website at mag.rochester.edu, or follow us on social media!

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