MEDIA CONTACT: Judy Moore at (847) 491-4819 or jkm229@northwestern.edu

October 28, 2003

December 2003 Visual Arts Calendar

Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art: 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston campus. The museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The museum is closed on Monday. (Note: The Block Museum also will be closed to the public Thursday, Nov. 27, and Friday, Nov. 28, for the Thanksgiving holiday and from Monday, Dec. 15, through Friday, Jan. 16, 2004, for winter break). Admission is free. For information regarding Block Museum exhibitions, programs or location, phone (847) 491-4000. Or go to the Block Museum Web site at www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu.

The Block Museum has five gallery spaces for patrons to view multiple exhibitions. In addition to the Main Gallery and the Alsdorf Gallery, the building can accommodate a broad range of educational opportunities by means of the 150-seat James B. Pick and Rosalyn M. Laudati Auditorium, the Ellen Philips Katz and Howard C. Katz Gallery/Classroom, the Print, Drawing and Photography Study Center, and the Theo Leffmann Gallery.

BLOCK FALL EXHIBITIONS

“Up To and Including Her Limits,” Sept. 26 through Dec. 14, Ellen Philips Katz and Howard C. Katz Gallery/Classroom. Carolee Schneemann is a pioneering, taboo-breaking multidisciplinary artist who transformed the discourse on the body, sexuality and gender. This site-specific installation is based on her performances from 1973 to 1976 in which Schneemann, suspended naked from a tree surgeon’s harness, created a dense web of markings akin to Jackson Pollock’s action painting.

“Honoré Daumier: Public and Private Domains,” Oct. 4 through Dec. 14, Alsdorf Gallery. Honoré Daumier’s work straddles the spheres of journalism, fine art, caricature and satire to make critical, incisive and humorous commentary that attacked government officials, the bourgeoisie, and everyone in between. The exhibition draws upon the recent gift of more than 350 Daumier lithographs donated by Sidney and Vivian Kaplan.

ONGOING EXHIBITION

“Theo Leffmann: Weaving a Life into Art,” ongoing exhibition that re-opened Sept. 26, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Theo Leffmann Gallery.Theo Leffmann is recognized as a rich contributor to the American fiber art movement in the late 20th century. For more than 30 years, she liberated textiles from practical and decorative applications by using them as a means of personal expression. The Theo Leffmann Gallery is dedicated to Leffmann’s work and highlights selections from the more than 75 fiber constructions by Leffmann in the Block Museum’s permanent collection.

EXHIBITION TOURS

Exhibition Tours, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Oct. 4 through Dec. 14. Docent-led tours of the fall exhibitions will be held at 2 p.m. weekends through Dec. 13 and 14. Reservations are not required. To schedule a private or group tour for your organization or school, call the educational department at (847) 491-4852.

BLOCK SCULPTURE GARDEN

The sculpture collection of the Block Museum of Art constitutes one of the most significant groupings of modern sculpture in the region. In 1987, Leigh Block, one of the museum’s inaugural donors and a preeminent collector of modern art, bequested a large group of outdoor bronze sculptures to the museum. These pieces formed the core of the collection, which now features monumental sculptures by some of the 20th century’s most renowned European and American sculptors. They include Jean (Hans) Arp, Barbara Hepworth, Jacques Lipchitz, Joan Miró and Henry Moore.

In 1989, the museum opened its Sculpture Garden with nine of the monumental bronzes donated by Block. The Sculpture Garden was designed by Chicago architect John Vinci and has grown to 22 pieces through donations and acquisitions. Profiles of the artists and their works, and a brochure detailing the sculpture collection, are available online on the Block Museum Web site at www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/exhibitions/sculpture.html. The Sculpture Garden is open year-round.

To arrange a free, docent-guided tour of the Sculpture Garden, call the educational department at (847) 491-4852.

DITTMAR MEMORIAL GALLERY

Dittmar Memorial Gallery: Norris University Center, 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston campus. The gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. (Note: Norris University Center will be closed from Nov. 27 through Nov. 29 for the Thanksgiving holiday and from Dec. 24 through Jan. 3, 2004, for winter break.) Admission is free.

The Dittmar Memorial Gallery places emphasis on ethnic cultural art, art by emerging artists, art by or about women, artwork by Northwestern undergraduate and graduate art students and traveling art shows.

For information, call the Dittmar Gallery at (847) 491-2348 or Norris University Center at (847) 491-2300, or go to the Norris Center Web site at www.northwestern.edu/norris/dittmar.html.

“de-familiarization,” an exhibition by Sung Jae Bang, Oct. 24 through Dec. 7, Dittmar Memorial Gallery. Artist Sung Jae Bang, who creates works of mixed media, takes familiar things and transforms them into bizarre circumstances in order to trigger associations between those images and the viewer’s experiences. Through the concept of de-familiarization, viewers will find pleasure between the real and twisted elements of the image-flooded world we live in.