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University Daily Kansan, September 11, 1981
Spare time
Schapiro succeeds in art and feminism
By DAVID HENRY Staff Reporter
The 19th century German chancellor and politician, Otto von Bismarck, once observed, "If you're to keep your respect for sausages or cheese, you should always eat it rather." Surely the same can be said about art.
And after viewing the current exhibition,
"Miriam Schapiro: A Retrospective, 1953-1980",
showing at the Spencer Museum through Sept.
30. I'm more convinced than ever. Artists can be
the worst enemies when they set out to
explain to the public everything that goes into
their work.
Beginning in the early 70s in New York and California, women artists began transforming traditional dance forms.
"Where were women artists in art history books?" they asked. "Surely we have made significant contributions. What about Mary Cassat, Berthe Morrist and Georgia O'Keeffe?"
Not satisfied with simply rewriting the past, they also envisioned transforming art (at that time mostly big, brash and abstract) to include the aesthetic concerns and the traditional crafts of women: needlework, quilting and other related decorative arts.
SOMEWHERE ALONG THE LINE, however,
the movement picked up more radical baggage.
Many feminist artists became more concerned
with the way art-making with than with
creating high quality art.
This trend is perhaps typified in the work of
Judy Chicago, a long-time friend of Schapiro and a vocalist. Chicago spent the past ten years glorifying the memories of obscure (and not so obscene) works of art in an art project entitled "The Dinner Party."
The end result was a nice book, a wonderful movie documenting the project and a very homely collection of 50 ceramic plates set on embroidered placemats—each dedicated to a diffe- rence Chicago spent so much time carrying the feminist flag that the real parade passed by her.
Review
Schapiro, too, was snugly it up for feminist art in the '70s. In 1971, with Chicago, she founded Womanhouse, a cooperative women's artist colony that combined traditional women's arts, crafts, painting, collage, wage and performance in a run-down Hollywood mansion. Schapiro, in looking back on the Womanhouse experience, said that the work showed that the traditional activities which she had always used were untouched reservoir of new ideas and techniques.
vigorous brushstrokes in putting paint on very large canvases.
THE SPENCER EXHIBIT began not in 1971, however, but with her early works of the '50s. These paintings reflect the tendency of most young artists to look over their shoulders as they paint. Schapiro was no different. "Beast Land and Plenty," 1967, and "Fanfare," 1968, reflect the influence of abstract expressionist artists such as Dekooning and Motherwell who used
In fact, much of Schapir's work until her '70s transformation is largely derived from other trends in art. For example, the shift to large, colorful installations can be found in "Sixteen Windows", '88.
The pivotal work in the show is undoubtedly "The Dolllouse," completed in 1972. Here, for the first time, Schapiro incorporates bits of used fabric, small knick-knacks and personal mementos collected by women but selum exhibited. The result is a fascinating assemblage of six miniature rooms: parlor, kitchen, nursery, bedroom, harem and artist's studio. "The Dolllouse" celebrates a woman's traditional world, the house, and at the same time, makes us question our preconceptions about the woman's role.
By 1972, Schapira had found her niche, combining fabric pieces and acrylic paints in colors such as purple, red, blue, green.
THE MIDDLE "70S include some of her most satisfying paintings. Four paintings done as a series, "A Cabinet for Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter," combine elements of her older style the grid and abstraction in a new fashion. The bowers are overlaid in free-form patterns atop brightly colored backgrounds. Schapiro's work has come delicate, pretty and unabashedly feminine.
"Barcelona Fan," 1979, is nothing short of superb Schapira takes her $56 love for color and puts it in a more tightly controlled decorative format. The 12-foot long half circle cries out for
"Doll House," is one of the works by Miriam Schapiro currently on display in the Spencer Museum of Art.
BOB GREENSPAN/Kansan Staff
an entire wall; instead it's crowded next to three other paintings. (In fact, the "clothesline" installation at the Spencer is dispointing, too.) In contrast, the other groupings of posters on dorm room walls."
Schapiro is successful because, while intensely interested in the feminist issues that go into her work, she also cares deeply about the work itself. "Barcelona Fan" or "The Dollhouse" are good
art independent of Schapiro's explanations to us about their evolution. The final products, beautifully crafted decorative paintings embody the unique charm and culture, are worthy of a visit to the Spencer Museum.
The Miriam Schapiro retrospective is on display through Sept. 30 on the four floor Kress Gallery of the Spencer Museum of Art. The gallery features works by Stephen Gould, 4:30, Sundays; 1:30-4:30, and is closed Mondays.
East German author to teach class, prose seminars through September
By LISA BOLTON Staff Reporter
A circle of KU students of German listened and occasionally laughed or smiled last night as visiting professor Max Walter Schutz读 text from his novel "Wir Sing NICM Staub Im Wind."
Schultz, vice president of the German Democratic Republic Writers Union, is conducting a class in contemporary Eastern German literature each Wednesday evening during September, as a KU Writer-in-Residence.
The class is also taught by Joan Holmes, assistant professor of German.
"Oh, I am surprised from the heavens and the sun," he said, gesturing upward.
Before class, a graduate student of German stood by to interpret as Schultz described his first impressions of this country.
Translated, the title of Schultz' novel is, "We are Not Dust in the Wind." The story covers the last days of World War II and the first few weeks of the post-war war, he said. It is based on his memories of five years of fighting on the eastern front.
"It was bad," he said, closing his eyes and shaking his head.
After the war, Schultz, 60, studied at the Institute for Literature in Leipzig, East Germany. He earned the title of professor in 1969 and now teaches German literature and prowriting to the German equivalent of American high school students.
"They are the same young people as 'otherwhere,'" he said, comparing his German adolescent students to the KU students he has met so far.
Besides teaching a class, Schultz will give a series of public seminars on pro writing (and the writing process).
"I hope I will have time enough to write something for myself," he said.
08 25 2016 KERNAN KENNESSEY Max Schultz, vice president of the Writer's Union of East Germany, conducts a class on East German literature. Schultz will be at KU through September.
Spencer Museum loses 'bowling alley' look
By CYNTHIA HRENCHIR Staff Reporter
Spencer Art Museum's fourth floor had problems.
The museum's director Charles Eldredge, said it looked like a "bowling alley." The exhibitions designer, Mark Roeyer, decided more space was added to show the museum's growing collection.
So one afternoon, armed with papers and drawings, they got with it,' Reoer said.
The museum renovation, the first in four years, cost less than $2,000, Eldredge said. The renovation was done during the summer and the gallery is now ready for the npublic.
Reoyer said that the renovation simply consisted of connective movable walls to the permanent walls in the museum. Spur walls are the most common form of connection corner effect. This can break up wall space,
Royer explained, and allow more space for placement of art objects.
"We use this device we invented to move the walls. It lifts an inch on the floor," Roeyer says of the device.
"We had this unbroken wall space. The plan was to slow down traffic by placing these movable walls a certain way," Royer said. "I found that the smaller area will make people feel better."
Baffle walls, temporary partitions placed in the center of a room, were also used. Display cases which had been pushed against the wall were moved to the center of the room to allow more viewing angles. The floors were stripped and waxed.
The main reason for changing the fourth floor was to make it more appealing to visitors,
"I wanted to create a gallery visa," he said, pointing to the visiting artists section. "I want to be a guide."
of discovery when he turns a corner and sees that hallway."
Aside from making the museum more appealing, Eldredge and the other museum curators gathered works of art from the same period and placed them together.
"We wanted to add new insight," Eldridge said. "After four years in a building and new objects being added, the order that was originally there became disordered. Nineteenth-century American artists were being shown with impressionists."
Working with the other curators, Roeyer designed the arrangement of pictures, statuary and sculptures at the Palm Beach Museum.
"People know what they want; they have an idea and they ask me how best to do it," Roeyer said.
New ideas with lighting were also devised, he said.
"We are just trying to improve," Eldredge said.
On Campus
TODAY
THE BIOLOGY CLUB will meet at 4:30 p.m. in the Sunflower Room. Union.
TOMORROW
THE KU FRISBEE CLUB will sponsor a Frisbee party at 6 p.m. at the Potter Lake Pavilion.
THE AFRICAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION will meet at p.m. in the Council Room, Union
SUNDAY
A BEGINNERS'S SQUARE DANCE CLASS, sponsored by the KU Hill Twirlers and the Ecumenical Christian Ministries, will begin at 8am on the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center.
THE SUNDAY EVENING SUPPER will feature a discussion directed by LeeAnn Johnson on "A New Christian Movement on Campus," at the Eucalyptus Center, the Eucalyptus Christian Ministries Center.
Music
THE STUDENT CREATIVE ANACHRONISTS will hold a demonstration of Renaissance dance, calligraphy, martial arts and archery from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. outside Wadson Library. There will be a potpuck feast at Potter Lake Pavilion after the demonstration.
Arts Calendar
Leon Fleisher, pianist, will conduct master classes in piano at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. today, tomorrow and Sunday in Swartouth where he will perform at the symphony Hall. The classes are open to the public.
Fools Face, a rock band, will perform today and tomorrow at 9 p.m. at the Lawrence Opera House, 2.E. Seventh St. Admission is $2 for members and $2.50 general admission.
Elaine Millet de San Miguel, pianist and KU graduate, will perform a piano recital at 9 p.m. today in the Lawrence Arts Center, where the commissioning award is $3 for adults and $1.90 for children.
The Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Neville Marriner, will open the University Concert Series at 6 p.m. tomorrow in Hochstetten and $2 for $3 for students and $8 and $9 for non-students.
Art
Two films, "Junction City 1890-1915" and "The Magic City," will be shown at 2 and 2:30
p. sunday and 1 and 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Helen Spencer Museum Auditorium. The films are being shown in conjunction with the Joseph Pennell display of photographs depicting life in Junction City from 1894 to 1952. The images are displayed through Sept. 20 in the White Gallery of the Spencer Museum. There is no admission charge for the films or display.
A collection of paintings by Andrea Brookhart and drawings by Jane Lackey will be on display at the Kellas Gallery, 7. E. 7th, through Sept. 26. No admission charge.
Dance
The Tau Sigma Student Dance Ensemble
of the University of Miami. Tuesday in Room 242,
Robinson Center.
Miscellaneous
The Renaissance Festival opens this
Saturday and will run every weekend through
October 18 at the Agricultural Hall of Fame in
Boston. The festival is $3.95 for adults
and $2 for children.
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