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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 11, 2008

PRESS CONTACT:   
Andrea Potochniak
607 254-4563
arp37@cornell.edu

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Announces
Its Fall 2008 Schedule

Including contemporary art, Japanese poetry prints,
and images from Saturn

Ithaca, NY—The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University announces its exhibition schedule for Fall 2008.

All are welcome at this semester’s two free opening receptions: Friday, September 5 and Saturday, November 8. Both receptions will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and include refreshments and live music.

EXHIBITION AND PROGRAM SCHEDULE
Programs/participants are subject to change. All events are free of charge unless noted.

Shared Experience: The Steven Barbash Collection 
Through September 14
Well-known artist and local resident Steven Barbash has collected American works on paper and paintings from the 1950s to the present, many of which came to the collector as exchanges with fellow artists.

Related event:

Thursday, September 11, 5:15 p.m.

ARTIST’S TALK
Artist Robert Birmelin will speak in conjunction with the exhibition.

Mary Ellen Mark: The Prom Series
Through October 26
Mary Ellen Mark photographed high school proms over the past three years at locations around the country. In June she documented her twelfth and final one, in Ithaca. This exhibition offers a sampling of her mesmerizing black-and-white Polaroids from previous shoots with special highlights from our local event.

Related events:

Thursday, September 4, 5:15 p.m.

ARTIST’S TALK
Mary Ellen Mark will speak in conjunction with the exhibition.

Thursday, September 11, 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.
ART FOR LUNCH
Curator Nancy Green will discuss the exhibition.

Hurry on Sundown: The Multimedia Work of Marc Swanson 
August 23–October 19
Romanticism, mythical narratives, and musical influences are but a few of the ongoing themes in Swanson’s multimedia works, which render them at once mysterious and alluring while exploring forms of male identity. The exhibition will include work from the last ten years, including mirror paintings, sparkling encrusted sculptures, drawings, and two dioramic installations. In these pieces Swanson has used a variety of materials—ranging from crystals and glitter to lumber and deerskin—to examine personal history, mortality, rites of passage, and masculinity.
This exhibition was funded in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts.

Related events:

Friday, September 5, 4:30 p.m.

GALLERY TALK
Marc Swanson will discuss his work prior to the opening reception.

Thursday, October 9, 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.
ART FOR LUNCH
Curator Andrea Inselmann will discuss the exhibition.

Thursday, November 16, 5:15 p.m.

ARTIST’S TALK
Marc Swanson will discuss the exhibition.

An-My Lê: Small Wars 
September 6–October 26
An-My Lê’s photographic series explore the conflicts of the war in Vietnam and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Small Wars (1999–2002) depicts men who reenact battles from the war in Vietnam in the forests of Virginia on weekends. Her current and ongoing series, 29 Palms (2003–present), documents a military base in the California desert where soldiers train before being deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
This exhibition has been organized by the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. The Johnson Museum’s presentation was funded in part by a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts.

Spectacular Saturn: Images from the Cassini-Huygens Mission 
September 20–January 4
This exhibit displays nearly sixty images of the planet Saturn, its rings, and its satellites, selected by Cornell members of the Cassini project from almost 200,000 images that have been transmitted since 2004. It also includes a few images taken by Huygens, a companion lander that parachuted through the dense atmosphere to the surface of Saturn’s intriguing moon, Titan. The stunningly beautiful images were chosen to emphasize the dynamic nature of the system and the interactions of moons and rings, as well as to explore Titan and Enceladus, two satellites with environments that might be hospitable to life. A spacecraft model will also be on view.

A façade projection of images from Saturn will be seen on the east side of the Museum from sunset until 11:00 p.m. between October 2 to 26.

Related events:

Thursday, September 25, 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.

ART FOR LUNCH
Guest curator Joe Burns, the Irving Porter Church Professor of Engineering and professor of astronomy at Cornell, will discuss the exhibition.

Saturday, October 11, 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

ASK AN ASTRONOMER
Talk to astronomers in the galleries and create some interplanetary art at this family event. Held in conjunction with the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences National Conference in Ithaca (October 11–14).

Thursday, November 6, 5:15 p.m.

LECTURE
Guest curator Joe Burns, the Irving Porter Church Professor of Engineering and professor of astronomy at Cornell, will discuss the exhibition.

Contemporary Prints and Drawings 
November 1–January 4
The exhibition will focus on recent acquisitions in contemporary prints and drawings. Among many other drawings and prints acquired with funds from the Contemporary Art Fund, the exhibition will include a recent ink drawing by Buffalo native Laylah Ali, part of her ongoing Typology series, in which she examines the many ways identity is manifested while referencing issues of race, class, gender, and power. Also included will be four large-scale etchings by Amy Sillman.

Art of the Written Word: Calligraphy in Asia
November 8–January 4
Many Asian cultures, from the Islamic world to China and Japan, regard calligraphy as the highest form of art. Selections from the Museum’s collection explore diverse calligraphic traditions in religious and secular contexts, ranging from ancient times to the present. A variety of works will be featured, including oracle bones, Qur’an pages, and works of Persian, Indian and Japanese literature, as well as contemporary interpretations by artists such as Wenda Gu.

Related event:

Thursday, December 4, 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.

ART FOR LUNCH
Curator Ellen Avril will discuss the exhibition.

Colored in the Year’s New Light: Japanese Surimono from the Becker Collection
November 8–January 4
Surimono, privately published woodblock prints, comprise one of the most elegant and literary genres of Japanese printmaking traditions. Many surimono were commissioned by poetry groups in celebration of the New Year and printed using the most advanced techniques. Cleverly designed combinations of poems and accompanying images expressed the literary wit and sophistication of the commissioners, while challenging the recipient to decipher allusions that would reveal disguised messages. This exhibition comprises prints from an outstanding private collection, representing the peak of surimono production in the early nineteenth century.

Related event:

Thursday, November 20, 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.

ART FOR LUNCH
Guest curator Dan McKee will discuss the exhibition.

Silent but Not Quiet: The Message in Documentary Photographs
from the Collection of Martin Margulies
November 8-January 4

The Johnson Museum has a permanent collection of over 30,000 works of art from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. The museum building was designed by I. M. Pei. Funds for the building were donated by Cornell alumnus Herbert F. Johnson, late president and chairman of S C Johnson. The building opened in 1973.

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The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, located on the campus of Cornell University, is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. The Museum is completely accessible for mobility-impaired visitors, and a wheelchair is available in the lobby. Metered parking is available in the lot next to the Museum. For more information, please call 607 255-6464. Visit the Museum’s website at  www.museum.cornell.edu. The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is a proud member of Ithaca’s Discovery Trail: www.DiscoveryTrail.com.

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