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 | Touch Fire: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics by Women Artists
October 9 - February 28, 2010
Touch Fire is composed of over 90 vibrant and dynamic ceramic sculptures by leading contemporary Japanese women artists working within and transforming a medium traditionally associated with men. Although women have played a central role in ceramic production in Japan for centuries, they have worked as studio ceramic artists only since the 1950s. Rather than training in the traditionally male-dominated apprentice system, most attended art school, where they were exposed to and influenced by a wide range of contemporary artistic movements in both Japan and the West. Works in the exhibition are lent by an alumna of Smith College who is one of the pioneer collectors of contemporary Japanese ceramics in the West. The accompanying catalogue, with an essay by ceramics specialist Todate Kazuko, Chief Curator at the Tsukuba Art Museum (Ibaraki, Japan) and artists’ biographies by Wahei Aoyama, provides the first in-depth study of the phenomenal rise of women ceramic artists in Japan. The exhibition is generously supported by the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, the Freeman Foundation, and the Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston. Additional support is provided, in part, by the Tryon Associates and the Maxine Weil Kunstadter, class of 1924, Fund.
Image: Katsumata Chieko. Japanese, 1950-. Untitled (Blue Vase with Yellow Flowers), 2006. Stoneware, dyes. Gift of a member of the class of 1965. Photograph by Keitaro Yoshioka, Boston
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| The Birth of RMB City
January 15 - May 30, 2010
The Birth of RMB City (2009), by the young Beijing-based artist Cao Fei, is an animated video of the “construction” of a virtual city named after the Chinese unit of currency (RMB/Renminbi). The video is a cutting edge example of art associated with the internet, where RMB City currently exists as a virtual and interactive community on the Second Life platform. Working with Vitamin Creative Space, Cao Fei constructed her city as an amalgamation of old and new Asian architectural landmarks, including the People’s Palace (Beijing), Rem Koolhaas’ CCTV building (Beijing), the “Bird’s Nest” stadium from the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, and Jiang Huan Cheng’s Oriental Pearl Tower (Shanghai), among others. The Birth of RMB City is the first purchase of the Museum’s newly established Contemporary Associates group, whose membership dues will be used annually to acquire a work of contemporary art for SCMA’s collection, primarily in the area of new media and photography. It is being shown at the Museum for the first time since it was acquired.
Image: Cao Fei. Chinese, 1978-. The Birth of RMB City, 2009. Single channel color video, with sound; duration: 10:30 minutes. Purchased with funds given by the Contemporary Associates. Image courtesy of the artist and Lombard- Freid Projects
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| Kin and Kindred: Reflections on Childhood
January 29 - April 11, 2010
While we all have been children, and some of us are parents, the perception of what childhood is and how it was conceived historically has changed throughout the ages. These changes have led to many questions: how has our notion of this pivotal part of life evolved over time? Have the lessons of the past led us to be better parents or happier children? Has the information age contributed to our understanding and knowledge of child rearing or has it led to more confusion? Has it placed undue pressures on children and parents or have these pressures always been there? By juxtaposing images from different eras and in a variety of media the exhibition seeks to examine historically-defined assumptions and judgments of childhood and child rearing. Kin and Kindred is supported by the Louise Blaney, class of 1939, Fund for Exhibitions.
Image: Charles D. Melini. French, 1740-1795 (after François Hubert Drouais. French, 1727-1775). The Sons of Prince de Turenne in Savoyard Costume (detail). n.d. Engraving printed in black with inscriptions. Purchased. Photograph by Petegorsky/Gipe
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| Susan Hiller: What Every Gardener Knows
January 29 - March 31, 2010
What Every Gardener Knows is an audio installation by the internationally renowned artist Susan Hiller (Smith College class of 1961). Originally commissioned for the exhibition Genius Locii in Stadtpark Lahr, Schwarzwald, Germany in 2003, the piece is an electronically-timed carillon that plays music composed by the artist and based on Gregor Mendel’s theory of inherited traits in plants. Hiller’s musical version of Mendel’s code reiterates and celebrates the variety and richness of the genetic patterns that characterize all living things, including weeds. What Every Gardner Knows is installed in the Palm House of the Lyman Conservatory of the Smith College Botanic Garden, one of Hiller’s favorite parts of campus while she was a student. This installation is made possible, in part, by a gift from the Selma P. Seltzer, class of 1919, estate, and marks the occasion of the artist’s return to campus to deliver the keynote address for The Real Lives of Women Artists Symposium (February 26 and 27, 2010; see http://www.smith.edu/artmuseum for program details).
Image: Palm House of the Lyman Conservatory, The Botanic Garden of Smith College. Photograph by Madelaine Zadik
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| A Room of Their Own: The Bloomsbury Artists in American Collections
April 3 - June 15, 2010
A Room of Their Own exemplifies the breadth and strength of the complex artistic output of the visual artists associated with the Bloomsbury Group, focusing particularly on the work of Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Roger Fry, and Dora Carrington. The exhibition features over 100 works —prints, paintings, watercolors, drawings, books from the Hogarth Press, and decorative works from the Omega Workshop (1910-1950s)—drawn from public and private collections in the U.S. The exhibition and its catalogue were organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, in conjunction with the Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, NC. Presentation of the exhibition at SCMA was made possible by the Museum of Art Program Fund.
Image: Vanessa Bell. British, 1879-1961. Virginia Woolf, c. 1912. Oil on paperboard. Gift of Ann Safford Mandel, class of 1953. © Estate of Vanessa Bell, courtesy Henrietta Garnet. Photograph by Petegorsky/Gipe
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| Framed
April 17 - July 25, 2010
Framed highlights SCMA’s renowned collection through a series of seemingly disparate pairs of artworks in a variety of media, including works by Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Whitfield Lovell, and Charles Sheeler, among others. The exhibition focuses on the relationship between curatorial intent and viewer interpretation. Nine comparisons are shown without wall text or labeling. Postcards available in the exhibition explain the curatorial agenda behind each pair, but visitors are invited to draw their own conclusions. Framed was curated by SCMA Cunningham Center Curatorial Intern Lauren Kaelin ‘ 10, and represents the culmination of her four years of studying, making, and talking about art. The exhibition was supported by the Charlotte Frank Raab, class of 1935, Fund. The On-Campus Internship Program at Smith College funded Lauren Kaelin’s year-long internship at SCMA.
Images: left, Garry Winogrand. American, 1928-1984. Sunbathing in the Park, from Women are Beautiful, 1975 (printed in 1981). Gelatin silver print . Gift of Ralph and Nancy Segall. Right, Nan Goldin. American, 1953. CZ and Max on the Beach, Truro, Mass, 1976 (printed in 1996). Cibachrome. Purchased with the Josephine A. Stein, class of 1927, Fund, in honor of the class of 1927 Photographs by Petegorsky/Gipe
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