8A
Arts/Entertainment
Monday February 2,1998
Faculty to digest four courses of art
Alison Hiltner, Wichita senior, studies the artwork created by Maria Velasco, assistant professor of art. The Art Department Faculty Show opening was held Sunday in the Art and Design Building gallery. Photo by Lizz Weber/KANSAN
Class to study museums' future
By Marcelo Vilela
mvilela@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
University of Kansas faculty will have the opportunity to explore the importance of contemporary art museums during a four-session minicourse, sponsored by the Hall Center for Humanities.
Andrea Norris, director of the art museum, conceived the course. As the millennium approaches, the perspectives on contemporary art and art museums are changing, Norris said.
The fourth session will address issues discussed in the previous three sessions.
The weekly course will begin tomorrow in the Spencer Museum of Art auditorium. The first three sessions will concentrate on printed and electronically transmitted contemporary art, notions in contemporary art installations and the architecture of contemporary art museums.
"I was trying to think about something that could be useful to faculty and timely about art." Norris said.
Although the course is open to faculty only, it is possible that the course will be open to the public in the future. Norris said.
"If it goes well, it's something the Spencer Museum is going to do for the public," she said.
About 40 faculty members from different departments such as engineering, journalism, design and history have enrolled in the course.
Lee Mann, a professor of design who enrolled in the course, said art museums had seen dramatic changes in recent years.
"They are becoming more interactive and educational," she said.
"There are new, innovative changes in the museum world, and I'm interested in learning more about it."
Many people today are geared toward the end of the century, and it's important to be aware of the developments of contemporary art, Norris said.
Arnold Weiss, associate professor emeritus of Spanish and Portuguese; has other reasons for attending the course.
"I'm not big on the Internet and art in the computer age, so I want to learn more about it," he said.
John Pultz, assistant curator at the art museum, will speak about how museums are not just containers for art but are live agents that affect art and viewers.
Pultz said that the art museum
had been investing time and money in the acquisition of art that questioned the traditional relationship between it and art museums.
He said that works of contemporary art commented on the museum itself, exploring the boundaries between the museum and the world.
Norris said two recently opened museums, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Getty Art Museum in Los Angeles, would be discussed because they were two of the most important art museums in the contemporary world.
"They are the expression of architecture at the end of the century." Norris said. "The Getty costed $1 billion to build, and the Guggenheim changed the way people think about contemporary art and architecture."
Show allows students to canvass faculty art
By Emily C. Forsyth eforsyth@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
University of Kansas students reversed roles with their professors yesterday.
Students such as Justin Bowles, Wichita senior, scrutinized the faculty's latest artistic creations at the opening of the Art Department Faculty Show yesterday in the gallery of the Art and Design Building. The show runs through Feb. 13.
This year's show features work submitted by 21faculty members, with pieces from a variety of media, such as drawing, painting, sculpture and mixed-media.
In addition to traditional types of art, such as painting or drawing, some faculty members are exploring a new path with cutting-edge creations.
Bowles said she enjoyed looking at her professors' work. She said she was inspired to take classes from other professors whose work was on display.
Jane Asbury, associate professor of art, exhibited a sand and acrylic piece titled "Rhythms." Asbury said the vividly colored piece was inspired by rhythms found in nature and ethnic art. She said that she was the only person working with sand and acrylic, and that she taught this new medium to students who expressed an interest.
"I think it's nice to see professors' work," Bowles said. "Sometimes you don't get the chance to see what your professors are working on. I think that helps you learn more from them."
ART SHOW
What: Art Department Faculty Show
When: Today through Feb. 13
Where: Art and Design Building
gallery
Gallery Hours: Sunday 1 to 4:30 p.m., Monday and Wednesday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Thursday 8:30 a.m. - 9 p.m., Friday 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Maria Velasco, assistant professor of art, also is introducing students' to unfamiliar forms of art. Installation, which Velasco teaches, is a multimedia, site-specific form of expression that is designed specifically for a certain space.
"It's always very hard for me to explain it, because it can take so many forms," Velasco said. "It really escapes definition, and that's what I like about it."
A scale model of Velasco's installation work titled "Remember Lot's Wife..." is on display for the show. The original piece included nine-by 12-foot photographs, glass, salt and the sound of cicadas, which was triggered when the viewer approached the work.
In her artist's statement for "Remember Lot's Wife ..." Velasco said she tried to examine the traditional roles of women in society and challenge existing structures of power, dominance, difference and tolerance.
"This art form possesses the power to transform consciousness and human experience by bringing together aesthetic and intellectual concerns in unique ways," Velasco said.
Where's the fire?
A fire truck drives up to Malott Hall in response to a fire that occurred in a freight elevator. Students were forced to leave their classrooms during the fire Friday, which caused less than $100 in damages. Photo by Augustus Anthony Piazza/KANSAN
BOX OFFICE WINNERS
The estimated grosses for the top 10 movies at North American theaters for Friday through Sunday:
1. Titanic, $26 million.
1. Manic, $20 million.
2. Great Expectations, $9.9 million
3. Good Will Hunting, $8.5 million
4. Spice World, $7 million
5. As Good As It Gets, $6.6 million
6. Desperate Measures, $5.8 million
7. Wag the Dog, $5 million.
8. Deep Rising, $4.6 million.
9. Fellen, $2 million.
10. Hard Rain, $2.7 million
Titanic keeps movie top spot seven weeks after release
Romance stays afloat earning $308.2 million
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Titanic, which toppet the box office for a seventh weekend, toppled one alien and closed in on another as it elbowed its way up the ranks of all-time top-grossing films, according to industry Estimates Sunday.
The sinking-ship romance had about $26 million in ticket sales, up 2 percent from last week. It now has earned $308.2 million domestically, beating out Independence Day for the No. 7 slot on the list of North American box office bestsellers, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.
Some analysts said it could threaten heavyweights such as the No.2 film, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, which earned $399.8 million, and all-time winner Star Wars, which earned $461 million.
International grosses could add another $300 million, Paramount spokesman Blaise Noto said.
It took James Cameron's *Titanic* only 42 days to break the $300 million mark, compared to 67 days for Steven Spielberg's *Jurassic Park*.
Noto attributed continuing interest in the film to repeat business, mostly from women, and to new viewers brought in by good word-ofmouth.
"Someone was telling me this is an effects movie with a story." Noto said. "I said no. The story is driving the effects rather than the other way around."
At No.2 was Great Expectations,
starring Ethan Hawke and
Gwyneth Paltrow in a loose
retelling of the Charles Dickens
story. It earned $9.9 million.
www.kansan.com
Two other new films also made the top 10. *Desperate Measures*, a poorly reviewed thriller about a serial killer played by Michael Keaton, had $5.8 million for the No. 6 slot, while *Deep Rising*, a grisly sci-fi drama about a cruise ship terrorized by a monster, was eighth with $4.6 million.
Good Will Hunting earned $8.5 million for the No. 3 spot, edging out Spice World, which earned $7 million.
Jack Nicholson's As Good As It Gets earned an additional $6.6 million for fifth place.
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