Columns:: UGA Guide

Columns::January 13, 2003

UGA Guide

Three new exhibitions open at Georgia Museum of Art

Three new exhibitions open at the Georgia Museum of Art this week: a collection of images of the American South between

Alain Desvergnes’s “Yoknapatawpha,” The World of Faulkner is part of the Visualizing the Blues: Images of the American South on display at the Georgia Museum of Art from January 18 through March 23.

1862 and 1999, photographs by John Cohen and sculptures by Howard Rittenberry.
Visualizing the Blues: Images of the American South, 1862-1999 is an explosive celebration of the life and culture of the American South and the Mississippi delta region in particular. The Georgia Museum of Art is part of a national tour of nine U.S. and four European cities.
This evocative exhibition illustrates the history, culture, people and landscape of the American South through photography. The image at left offers an example: Alain Desvergnes’s “Yoknapatawpha,” The World Of Faulkner. The images were created by some of the nation’s most renowned photographic artists, including Clarence John Laughlin, Edward Weston, Walker Evans, Sally Mann and Athens resident Mark Steinmetz. The Civil War photographs of Matthew Brady and George Barnard, the stunning work of Eudora Welty, Dorothea Lange and Margaret Bourke-White, as well as contemporary artists like William Eggelston, Huger Foote, Birney Imes and Andres Serrano also are included.
All of the images illustrate the world that gave birth to blues--the distinct cultural heritage of the South. The photographs address many themes, among them the Civil War, the land, cities and towns, civil rights and the law, interiors, people, music, religion, spirituality and the occult.
There Is No Eye: Photographs by John Cohen offers another photographic world. After studying at Yale University with Josef Albers and Herbert Matter, Cohen moved to New York, where he mixed with a community that included abstract expressionists, beatniks and a wide array of other artists and musicians.
Cohen was a founding member of the music group the New Lost City Ramblers in the late 1950s and had a crucial impact on the folk music revival of the 1960s. He also wrote for and edited Sing Out magazine, and his interviews with such cultural icons and musicians as Harry Smith, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan remain influential documents of American counterculture. Also a highly acknowledged filmmaker, Cohen coined the phrase “high lonesome sound” in reference to country music; his film of that title is legendary.
This retrospective exhibition of approximately 120 photographs covers many areas of Cohen’s work, including New York City in the 1950s, American traditional music, the Beats, his travels in Peru, and his documentation of rural life in the American South.
The collection of welded metal sculptures by Harold Rittenberry Jr., entitled Spirit Yard, will be on view on the grounds of the museum. The exhibition will include works such as Totem Pole, a 1992 work over six feet tall, and Moonchaser, 2000, a bench embellished with a mermaid, fish, birds and a full moon. Included in this exhibition will be 15 large works dating from 1990 to the present.

--Michele Power

Ongoing
Art exhibitions.
Alfred Stieglitz’s America. Through June 15. Georgia Museum of Art. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday; and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. 542-4662.

Exhibit.
Georgia Writers in the Hall of Fame 2002. Through Jan. 31. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, third floor, main library. Sponsored by Georgia Writers Hall of Fame Program. 583-0582.
The exhibit includes limited editions, manuscripts, correspondence and other rare materials from the Hargrett Library’s Georgiana, rare books and manuscripts divisions, featuring 2001 Hall of Fame inductees Conrad Aiken and Harry Crews and 16 other Georgia authors. The full list of writers is posted on the program’s Web site (www.libs.uga.edu/gawriters/map/honorees.html).

Monday, January 13
Community, Ethnicity, and Identity in Context Seminar.
“Schooling Experiences: Are Boys or Girls Advantaged?” Linda Grant, sociology. Noon. 106 Barrow Hall. Sponsored by Institute for Behavioral Research. 542-1806.

Research Methods and Models Seminar.
1:15-2:30 p.m. 111 Barrow Hall. Sponsored by Institute for Behavioral Research. 542-1806.

Tuesday, January 14
Visiting Artist Lecture.
Walton Ford. 5:30 p.m. Griffith Auditorium, Georgia Museum of Art. Sponsored by School of Art. 542-4662.
Walton Ford’s vivid and fantastical watercolors explore the conundrums of human nature through the imagery of the animal kingdom. He infuses life-size Asian tigers, Indian kingfishers, European starlings, Chilean condors and African okapi with political and cultural meaning. He says, “All the layers of meaning that are in there are what make the images arresting--but not necessarily decipherable.”
Ford, who lives and works in Hillsdale, N.Y., was the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts in 1991 and the Guggenheim Foundation in 1992.

UGA Amnesty International Meeting.
8 p.m. 143 Tate Student Center. 372-3185.

Wednesday, January 15
Science for Humanists Lecture.
“Did Viruses Make Us Human?” John F. McDonald, genetics. 4 p.m. 265 Park Hall. Sponsored by Center for Humanities and Arts. 542-3966.

ArtBeat.
Paul Manoguerra, Georgia Museum of Art. 5:30 p.m. Griffith Auditorium. Sponsored by Georgia Museum of Art. 542-4662.

Open Studio: Life Drawing. $3.
Live models; no instruction; participants must provide their own supplies. 5:30 p.m. Forio Studio Classroom. Sponsored by Georgia Museum of Art. 542-4662.

Thursday, January 16
Blood Drive.
11 a.m.-5 p.m. Veterinary medicine student lounge. Conducted by American Red Cross; sponsored by University Health Service. 546-0681, extension 225.

CHA Lecture.
“The Slippery Slope of Nonfiction.” Melissa Faye Greene. 4 p.m. 265 Park Hall. Sponsored by Center for Humanities and Arts. 542-3966.

Women’s Basketball.
vs. Mississippi. 7 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum. 542-1231.

Friday, January 17
Institute of Biological Engineering Annual Meeting.
“Cultivating a Bio-Inspired Engineering.” Through Jan. 19. Georgia Center for Continuing Education. bverma@engr.uga.edu.

Saturday, January 18
Collectors Salon.
“Silver.” Dawn Evers. $65. 9 a.m.-noon. Georgia Museum of Art. 542-0830.

Gymnastics.
vs. Alabama. 7:30 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum. 542-1231.

Art exhibitions.
Visualizing the Blues: Images of the American South, 1862-1999 • There Is No Eye: Photographs by John Cohen • Spirit Yard: Sculptures by Harold Rittenberry. Through March 23. Georgia Museum of Art, open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday; and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. 542-4662. See story above.

Monday, January 20
Holiday.
Martin Luther King Day. No classes; UGA offices closed.
MLK Day of Service: “Putting the Dream into Action.” Projects assigned at Tate Student Center at 9 a.m.; volunteers on site until 2 p.m. Transportation provided. March and rally follow. www.uga.edu/mlk. 542-6395.

Tuesday, January 21
MLK Week Film.
Arnold Michaelis Interviews Martin Luther King Jr. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Main library. Sponsored by UGA Libraries. 583-0212.
Each day this week a different program from the Peabody Awards collection will be shown continuously in the lobby outside the first-floor student lounge in the main library. In today’s film, made in 1964, King explains why he believes dissent may be more patriotic than blind agreement and suggests that peace cannot be won through war.

Holmes-Hunter Lecture.
Judge Horace Ward. 2 p.m. Chapel. Sponsored by Academic Affairs.
Public reception follows at 4 p.m. in the African-American Cultural Center, fourth floor, Memorial Hall.

MLK Week: An Evening of Poetry with Reggie Gibson.
7 p.m. Georgia Hall, Tate Student Center. Sponsored by Minority Services and Programs. 542-5773.

Coming up
Dance Concert.
Forte: Ailey II. $18-$22 ($8-$12 students); tickets available at Tate Student Center cashier’s window, 542-8074, open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 22, 8 p.m. Classic Center, downtown Athens. Sponsored by University Union. 542-6396.

King Week Gospelfest.
Jan 23, 7 p.m. Hodgson Hall. 542-5773.

Dance Concert.
Ballroom Magic 2003: UGA Ballroom Performance Group. $10 ($6 students), available in advance at the Tate Student Center cashier’s desk (542-8074). 8 p.m. Jan. 23-25; 2 p.m. Jan. 25. New Dance Theatre, dance building. Sponsored by dance department. 542-4415.

Franklin College Chamber Music Concert.
American Chamber Players. Jan. 24, 8 p.m. Hodgson Hall. Sponsored by Performing Arts Center. 542-4400.