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

January 13, 2004

February 2004 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. 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 WINTER AND SPRING EXHIBITIONS

“Lorna Simpson: 31,” Jan. 17 through March 28, Alsdorf Gallery. A grid of 31 small video screens tracks a month in the life of an unknown woman as she moves through her apartment, the street, the office and various recreational spaces. Despite being circumscribed by her daily routine, Simpson’s unknown woman is not always where we expect her to be. Simpson has been challenging gender and racial stereotypes in her artwork since the 1980s and this installation exposes the regulated structures of social space by which all our lives are governed. This detailed study of a woman’s daily life evokes both Jean-Luc Godard’s film “Two or Three Things I Know About Her” and Chantal Akerman’s “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.”

“American Expressionism: Art and Social Change, 1920s-1950s,” Jan. 30 through May 9, Main Gallery. This exhibition critically re-examines artists of early 20th century America and represents the blending of European and American sensibilities in an art that used the innovations of modernism to support those whose fortunes were crushed by circumstance, backbreaking labor or brutality of war. Including more than 70 paintings, “American Expressionism” was organized by the Columbus Museum of Art and includes the work of Ivan Albright, Elaine de Kooning, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, Franz Klein, Jacob Lawrence, Archibald Motley, Jr. and Georgia O’Keeffe.

“Working Conditions: Depression-Era American Prints,” Jan. 30 through May 9, Print, Drawing and Photography Study Center. This exhibition explores the conditions of urban industrial labor during the Great Depression. Drawn from the Block Museum’s collection of American prints from the 1930s, it will address some of the critical issues facing the working class, ranging from work hazards to the devastating impact of unemployment. Curated by Northwestern art history graduate student Meredith TeGrotenhuis, it will explore “how artists used stylistic and compositional devices to heighten the emotive effect of their subject matter, to elicit viewers’ empathy, and to raise awareness of the relentless struggles of the working classes.”

“American Diorama: A Video Installation by Charles Woodman,” Jan. 30 to May 9, Ellen Philips Katz and Howard C. Katz Gallery/Classroom. Charles Woodman’s five-channel video installation, “American Diorama,” follows a long tradition of representing the American landscape, from large-scale painting to panoramic photography. Shot on location across the United States, Woodman’s video is both a document of and a poetic response to the natural landscape, exercising the medium’s capacity to portray time, movement and space. Woodman has been working in the field of video art for more than 20 years.

ONGOING EXHIBITION

“Theo Leffmann: Weaving a Life into Art,” ongoing exhibition re-opens Jan. 17, 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, Jan. 31 through May 9, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art. Docent-led tours of the winter exhibitions will be held at 2 p.m. weekends from Jan. 31 through May 9. Reservations are not required. To schedule a private or group tour for your organization or school, call the education department at (847) 491-4852.

PRINT ROOM TALK

Print Room Talk, 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, Print, Drawing and Photography Study Center. In celebration of Black History Month, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art Senior Curator Debora Wood will select early 20th century prints by African American artists in the Block Museum collection and discuss them in the intimate setting of the museum’s Print, Drawing and Photography Study Center. Space is limited. To make a reservation, call (847) 491-4852. Admission is free.

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 Block 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. 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 e-mail dittmargallery@northwestern.eduor go to the Norris Center Web site at www.northwestern.edu/norris/dittmar.html.

FEBRUARY 2004 EXHIBITIONS

“Pandemic: Imaging AIDS,” Jan. 8 to Feb. 10, Dittmar Memorial Gallery. This provocative exhibition by award-winning international photographers and artists is aimed at raising the awareness of the global AIDS crisis. It includes essays by Rory Kennedy, Kofi Annan, Nadine Gordimer and Nan Richardson and explores the experiences of five people living with AIDS in different parts of the world. Rory Kennedy’s book, “Pandemic: Facing AIDS,” is available for purchase in the Norris Center Bookstore. The exhibition is made possible through the generous sponsorship of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Home Box Office, The Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation and Doctors of the World USA. For more information go to www.pandemicfacingaids.org. The opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, is open to the public. Admission is free.

“Views of the American Food Chain” exhibition, Feb. 12 through March 17, Dittmar Memorial Gallery. Chicago food and restaurant photographer Eric Futran will present a series of black and white photographs documenting scenes and people involved in the business of bringing America’s food to the table. The pictures were taken in such diverse venues as a tortilla factory in San Antonio, a fishing boat on Long Island Sound and a cornfield in southwestern Wisconsin. Chicago locations include Gladys’ Restaurant on West Madison Street, the Taste of Chicago and Maxwell Street’s last surviving hot dog stand. An opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, is free and open to the public.