Land Grant Landscapes: Pre-1950 American Landscapes from the Benton Collection
A land-grant college or university is an institution that was designated by its state legislature or Congress to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. The original mission of these institutions was to teach agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanic arts as well as classical studies so members of the working classes could obtain a liberal, practical education. As the official state art museum located on the University of Connecticut campus at Storrs, The Benton is pleased to present Land Grant Landscapes, a selection of paintings, drawings, and prints by American artists working before 1950, all of the works from the museum’s permanent collection.
(Image: Maurice Brazil Prendergast (American, 1859–1924), Sunday Afternoon, c. 1910–1913. Oil on panel. Gift of Mrs. Eugenie Prendergast.)
On view from October 23–December 14, 2014 Location: The William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Tara Donovan MOIRÉ
Artist Tara Donovan applies one rule, one process, and choice of one mundane material—from plastic cups, to toothpicks, straight pins, and straws— to create her installations. Multiplying single units into sometimes vast accumulations, her works evoke constellations, clouds, natural systems, and abstract topographies. Moiré, an installation composed of adding tape paper spread in gentle plateaus across the floor, is presented at SCMA for the first time since it was received as a gift from a private donor. A selection of minimalist, post-minimalist, and process art from the collection will also be shown.
(Image: Courtesy of ACE Gallery)
On view through January 4, 2015 Location: Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
A Glimmer on the Polar Sea: The Crocker Land Expedition, 1913-1917
In the summer of 1913, Donald B. MacMillan and six other men set off on an expedition to conduct research and exploration in the far north. Marking the 100th anniversary of this major expedition, this exhibit will highlight the results of their extensive fieldwork, and look at the field studies being conducted by contemporary researchers in the same region. Follow the museum's progress as it develops this exhibit on its blog.
(Image: Borup Lodge in winter. Donald B. MacMillan, Etah, Greenland, 1914-1917)
Opening November 1, 2014 Location: Peary MacMillan Arctic Museum & Arctic Studies Center Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
Natural Beauties: Jewelry from Art Nouveau to Now
From time immemorial, mankind has found the beauty and complexity of nature to be a fertile source for personal adornment. This exhibition explores the concept of nature in jewelry design as a reflection of our culture’s evolving relationship with our biological surroundings, from the fetishization of the Art Nouveau movement to the current politicization of environmental activism.
Curated by Shelburne Museum’s curator of design arts Kory Rogers, this sensational show will be organized into three thematic sections based on specific materials and techniques. Section one, title “Rare Specimens,” will focus on precious gems and metals and will feature jewelry made by the world’s premiere artists including Harry Winston, Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, Bulgari, Vendura, and Tiffany & Co.
The second section, “Second Nature,” will feature the work of artisans who use semi-precious stones and other organic materials such as shells, bone, and ivory. The third section, “Biomimicry,” will focus on nature-inspired costume jewelry that highlights the paradox of constructing organic designs from synthetic materials.
On view form November 15, 2014 to March 8, 2015 Location: Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT
The Jenks Society for Lost Museums
The Jenks Society for Lost Museums has given a second life to Brown’s nineteenth-century Museum of Natural History and Anthropology. Working with artist Mark Dion, the society has re-collected scattered relics and remnants, transformed words into spaces, and fragments of curatorial description into spectral art. A three-part installation re-imagines the office of the museum’s founder, showcases the remaining fragments of the collection, and conjures the ghosts of artifacts once found in the museum back into existence – as reimagined by over 80 artists.
(A display of the re-collected remnants of the Jenks Museum. Photo by Jodie Goodnough.)
On view through May 2015. Location: Brown University, Rhode Island Hall, 60 George St., Providence, RI