TMA exhibition explores race, gender, and the human body
Mirror, Mirror: The Prints of Alison Saar runs April 4 through July 5.
By Roberta Gedert / The Blade
Thu, 05 Dec 2019 15:00:00 GMT
link -- with images
The Toledo Museum of Art will offer a new exhibition of work this spring by a contemporary artist who addresses the issues of race, gender, and the vulnerability of the human body.
Mirror, Mirror: The Prints of Alison Saar opens on April 4 and runs through July 5 in the museum’s New Media Gallery.
The show will feature more than 30 prints and six sculptures by the artist, and is curated by the museum’s Robin Reisenfeld, senior curator of works on paper.
Saar’s work includes the use of African art and ritual, Greek mythology, and German Expressionism. The pieces come from the collections of the museum and private collector Jordan Schnitzer and his non-profit Family Foundation.
For more information, go to toledomuseum.org.
■ A Michigan artist and an Ohio artist have teamed up to present an exhibition of sculptural and print work at the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts in Findlay.
The Still Point of a Turning World, featuring the work of Travis Erxleben and Ian Welch, runs through the end of this month at the center, 200 W. Main Cross St., Findlay.
The two artists use mixed media, including ceramics, found objects, handmade paper, and intaglio printmaking, to showcase complexities found in family history, nostalgia, and domesticity. Erxleben is a professor of art and building technician at Adrian College in Michigan. Welch is an art instructor at several Ohio universities and is also the gallery manager and curator at Gathered Glassblowing Studio in downtown Toledo.
For more information, go to mcpa.org or call 419-423-2787.
■ The Red Bird Arts District holiday-themed art walk is from 5 to 8 p.m., Friday, in downtown Sylvania.
The monthly event includes live music, art exhibitions and food and shopping. This month’s event also includes a tree lighting event, and extends into the weekend with a visit from Santa, a parade, and art events such as Cool Yule, a gallery of handcrafted items at Hudson Gallery.
For more information, go to sylvaniaarts.org or hudsongallery.net.
■ The Schmidt Messenger Studios are hosting an open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday at its glassblowing and sculptural studio, 340 Morris St.
The event will include murrini cane glassblowing techniques and other glassblowing demonstrations.
For more information, go to Schmidt Messenger Studios Facebook page, or call 419-242-8049.
■ The Toledo Museum of Art’s interim director, John Stanley, will give a free talk at 7 p.m., Thursday, in TMA’s Little Theater.
The lecture topic will be an insider’s look at the decades-long effort to expand the Whitney Museum of American Art’s building on New York City’s upper east side, which ended in the relocation of the building in the city’s Meat Packing District.
Stanley is the former chief operating officer for the Whitney. He came to TMA last year to serve as director of special projects but then stepped into the temporary role of director when former director Brian Kennedy departed.
Stanley is from the area and began his museum career at TMA before serving in roles at the Whitney, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He has been behind the completion of many construction and renovation building projects during his career.
For more information, go to toledomuseum.org.
■ A dedication ceremony to dedicate the memorial headstone of 19th-century, African-American landscape artist Robert Duncanson starts at 1 p.m. Thursday, at the Monroe County Museum, 126 S Monroe St., Monroe.
Local artist Dora Kelley, the museum, and the Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club began a project last year to bring recognition to the artist after it was discovered that he was buried with other family members in an unmarked grave in Monroe’s historic Woodland Cemetery.
During his career as a painter, Duncanson garnered the support of white abolitionists in the 19th century and was considered the best landscape painter in the West at a time when many black Americans were still enslaved. When he died in 1872, he was buried with a dozen family members at Woodland in an unmarked grave, a common occurrence for the black population at the time.
One of his pieces installed at the Detroit Institute for the Arts, “Ellen’s Isle: Loch Katrine (1871),” a painting considered to be Duncanson’s masterpiece, is imprinted on the marker, which was created by Leo LeClair of LeClair Monuments in Lambertville, Mich.
Guests of the free event are encouraged to view the new marker at the cemetery after the memorial dedication.
For more information, go to monroecountymuseum.com or to the museum’s Facebook page.