Valparaiso University’s Brauer Museum of Art Features New Exhibitions
Opening Reception is Jan. 10
The Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University will premiere its winter exhibitions, which run from Jan. 7 through April 6, 2014, with an opening reception on Friday, Jan. 10, 2014, at 7 p.m. The new exhibitions are “Trucks: Recent Work by John Himmelfarb,” “Mr. Imagination: Chicago Self-Taught Artist,” and “Modern Vision: Japanese Prints from the Ruth A. Ruege Collection.” In addition, works from the Brauer Museum’s permanent collection will be on display in various galleries throughout the Museum.
“With recent acquisitions by the Brauer Museum, we are able to provide a more substantive overview of major movements in American art than ever before,” said Gregg Hertzlieb, Director and Curator of the Brauer Museum of Art.
“Trucks: Recent Work by John Himmelfarb” in the Brauer’s Wehling and McGill Galleries features whimsical representations of trucks by the prolific Chicago-based artist. Himmelfarb’s works are executed in a wide variety of media including sculpture, painting, and printmaking. An outdoor sculpture made out of an actual truck accompanies the exhibition.
Visitors will also delight in “Mr. Imagination: Chicago Self-Taught Artist,” which presents in Gallery 1212 eclectic multimedia creations by the self-taught visionary artist Mr. Imagination (Gregory Warmack, 1948-2012). The exhibition includes selections from the extensive collection of Robert Alter and Sherry Siegel and was curated by Hertzlieb and Nina Corazzo, Walter E. Bauer Professor of Art.
In the Museum’s Education Room, “Modern Vision: Japanese Prints from the Ruth A. Ruege Collection” showcases modern works that reflect an experimental approach. Collector Ruege has enhanced the Brauer Museum’s collection throughout the years with fine donations and loans from her remarkable and varied personal collection of Japanese prints and ephemera.
The 2013-2014 exhibition season continues in the spring, April 16 through May 11, with art by Valparaiso University art students and art faculty members. Each year, art faculty members select outstanding works by students in their studio art classes to display in the Wehling and McGill Galleries of the Museum. Valpo studio art professors, who create art in addition to teaching, will also display their recent pieces in the Brauer’s West Gallery, with media such as ceramics, drawing, painting, and photography represented in the exhibition.
Along with the student and faculty art, “Classical and Popular School Japanese Paintings from the Walter and Dörte Simmons Collection” in the Museum’s Gallery 1212 will showcase Japanese ink paintings on paper from the 19th century. In addition, paintings from the Museum’s permanent collection by the noted realist artist Jeanette Pasin Sloan will be on display in the Ferguson Gallery in an exhibition curated by Corazzo and selected art history students.
The Museum’s summer exhibitions will be on display from May 16 through Aug. 10. “Parallel Pursuits: Tom Brand — Finding Form, Carole Stodder — Shaping Space” in the Museum’s Wehling and McGill Galleries offers an opportunity to compare and contrast the abstract works of two Michigan City, Ind. artists. Brand’s art features carefully composed shapes with an expressive or painterly surface, while Stodder’s paintings feature geometrical patterns with hard edges.
Rounding out the exhibitions will be ink drawings in the Museum’s Ferguson Gallery by Fred Frey, a retired Valpo sculpture professor; paintings by Valparaiso artist and educator Eleanor Lewis in the Brauer’s Gallery 1212; and new acquisitions to the Brauer Museum’s permanent collection in the Museum’s West Gallery. Featured pieces in the New Acquisitions exhibition include Greek and Roman carvings, a work by the New York artist Romare Bearden, and modern prints by the acclaimed printmaker Letterio Calapai.
Throughout the season, the Brauer Museum hosts coffee hours and gallery talks with artists, curators, and collectors. Visit valpo.edu/artmuseum for more information about all exhibitions and upcoming events.
