Thursday
August 3,2000
Volume 102, Issue 13
Emerald
5R
/
eqionai expressions
McCosh, Davii
The University of Oregon Art Museum
features two running Northwest exhibits
through September
By Rebecca Newell
Oregon Daily Emerald
Although August is a
great month to spend
time outdoors, the Uni
versity of Oregon Mu
seum of Art is giving
the community a reason to take in
an pleasant indoor activity.
The “Summer Celebration of
Northwest Art” exhibit is
halfway through its viewing peri
od, so now is the time to enjoy
the rich culture the UOMA has to
offer in its last summer before
renovation.
The “Summer Celebration” is
comprised of two exhibits: “Her
itage of Northwest Art: The Virginia
Haseltine Collection” and “Com
munity Favorites from the David
McCosh Collection.” The exhibit
opened on June 30 and will run
Anderson, Guy
through Sept
3.
“North
west art is a
very exciting
part of mod
ern art,” Di
ane Lang Bris
senden said.
Lang Bris
senden has
served as a
docent at the
museum for
the last two
years, where
she has been
learning
about the
Haseltine Col
lection. “The
Northwest
side is a very
good example
of the most fa
mous and tal
ented North
west artists.”
The “Her
itage of North
west Art” col
lection is a
selection of
works representing 20 years of ef
fort by Haseltine collecting paint
ings,
prints,
photo
graphs
and
sculp
tures
from
North
west
artists. The collection also fea
tures functional, sculptural and
experimental works of ceramists,
as well as portraits of the artists
to offer further insight for the
community.
“It’s a collection that’s not of
ten seen,” said Lawrence Fong,
the UOMA curator for Northwest
art. “It represents American
artists through the 20th century
and. some of those are very
prominent artists.”
A program to assemble a col
lection of Northwest art was de
veloped in the early 1960s by
Haseltine and Dr. Baldinger, the
UOMA’s director at the time.
While consulting with museum
directors and curators from the
Seattle Art Museum, the Portland
Art Museum and the University
T util
McCosh, David
of Washington’s Henry Art
Gallery, Haseltine traveled exten
sively to meet with artists and
gallery dealers.
Haseltine’s primary donation
of artworks for the collection in
cluded 63 works and was first ex
hibited in 1963. Since then, the
collection has grown to more
than 350 pieces. Along with do
nating the collection to the
UOMA, Haseltine established an
endowment that would allow the
museum to care for the artwork
and to acquire new work to sup
plement the present collection.
“Haseltine thought it was im
portant for universities to be able
to study works by artists of a na
tional stature and to support the
livelihood of artists in Oregon,”
Fong said. “ I thought it was im
portant to show this collection ...
and to remind people how art
museums develop collections
through the generosity of patrons.
l nere are some text
book artists in this
exhibit.”
The second ex
hibit is the “Com
munity Favorites
from the David Mc
Cosh Collection.”
McCosh came to the
University in 1934
as a professor of
painting and print
making at the
School of Architec
ture and Allied
Arts.
His early career
encompassed ex
hibits at the Art In
stitute of Chicago,
the Portland Art
Museum, the Seat
tle Art Museum and
the Whitney Muse
um of American
Art. McCosh was also commis
sioned to paint murals by the De
partment for the Interior in
Washington, D.C.
McCosh passed away in 1981
and his wife, Anne Kutka Mc
Cosh established the David J. Mc
Cosh Memorial Collection in
1990. The collection of more
than 1,700 pieces includes
sketchbooks, watercolors, lec
tures, notes and correspondence.
“McCosh has this huge body of
work at the museum,” said Mark
Clarke, a Eugene-based painter
who has had numerous exhibits
throughout Oregon and the Mid
west. “He produced an enormous
amount of work and taught what
he was experiencing in that
painting.”
The
collec
tion is
c o m -
prised of
29 paint
ings from
the Mc
C o s h
Memori
al Collec
tion, and each individual paint
ing was selected for display by a
member of the community. It is
the first of a series of four selec
tions of work from the Memorial
Collection.
“The director asked me if I’d
care to serve as commentator [on
the selection of artwork] and
based on my long acquaintance
with David McCosh, I thought it
was a nice opportunity,” Mark
Sponenburgh said.
Sponenburgh, a resident of
Seal Rock, is one of the most
prominent sculptors in Oregon.
He served with McCosh during
his 10-year tenure at the Univer
sity as a professor of art history
and fine arts.
“David was my best source for
inspiration and information,”
said Sponenburgh. “That appren
ticeship lasted till long after I left
the UO.”
When making the selections
for the exhibit, Sponenburgh said
he was “interested in the
chronology [of McCosh’s work]
and 1 knew McCosh well enough
to know how he developed. I se
lected the ones that struck me as
representing nuances of his cre
ative repertory.”
One of Sponenburgh’s selec
Turn to Expressions, page 9
Morris, Graves
Workshop teaches hands-on art tricks
■The University Bookstore’s Stop-In Studios offers
novice craftspeople the opportunity to try new
projects such as bookbinding and sketching
By Sarah Cohen
for the Emerald
Going to a mall and buy
ing presents for friends and
family can be expensive, so
instead, go to the University
Bookstore and attend the
Stop-In Studios and learn to
make a variety of handmade
gifts.
The free Stop-In Studios
are held on Saturdays in the
basement of the bookstore
and are open to anyone.
Some of the Studio’s are
hands-on activities while
others are just demonstra
tions. Crafts range from pas
tels and watercolors to
sketching. Attendance num
bers vary depending on the
Studio.
The bookstore held a
Stop-In Studio Saturday
where bookmaking and
bookbinding were the sub
jects at hand. This studio
was led by Robin Seloover, a
34-year-old Masters of Fine
Arts student at the Universi
ty
Erica Schlicting, the
(( There is some
thing about book
ma king that is em
powering.
Robin Seloover
Master of Fine Arts
University of Oregon//
store’s art supply buyer or
ganizes the events using
mostly MFA students. The
students usually approach
the bookstore themselves
and if their Studio's are suc
cessful, then the bookstore
often asks them to return.
The students, who lead the
two or more hour-long Stu
dio’s, do not get paid and
they do not get school cred
it, instead receiving a gift
certificate to the store.
But a paycheck or credit is
not what draws students to
lead a Stop-In Studio — it is
the love of a particular art
form that they wish to share
with others.
Seloover came back to the
University to get her master’s
because she was “really
looking for a focus.” She
said the reason she was
drawn to fibers and book
making as her area of study
was because fibers give her
Turn to Workshop, page 9
A FREE, all-ages concert series will take place
every Wednesday and Friday during August on the
Broadway Plaza located at the comer of Broadway
and Willamette. On Wednesdays, live music will
play from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m, and on Fridays, from
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and again from 4:30 to 6:30
p .m. Beer Garden during the evening shows.
Schedule o^Soeuti
Fri 8/4 11:30 a.m. Fiona McAuliffe
4:30 p,m. Fiddlin’ Sue
Wed 8/9 , 4:30 p.m. Irene Farrem
Fri 8/11 11:30 a.m. Murton Smurl
4:30 p.m. Los Mex Pistols
Wed 8/16 4:30 p.m. Mare Wakefield /
Fri 8/18 11:30 a.m. U-Gene Band *
4:30 p.m. Jim Wallace T*
Wed 8/23 4:30 p.m. BluelXirtleS
Fri 8/25 11:30 a.m. Daniel Heila
Wed 8/30 4:30 p.m. Miesa w/Sushi-Geisha