Jane Aebersold on thu 8 may 97
Hi all,
I saw (and enjoyed) both these shows a few weeks back. The Renwick was
visually exciting and it was a pleasure to revisit different ways of
thinking and making--not a large show, but well chosen and presented, I
thought. (I also had a look at Victorian paintings and the Picasso)
The neatest part of that trip to DC was the number of young people in all
the museums--field trips at the end of school. While standing and looking
at Ah Leon's bridge a group of teenagers breezed/bounced/barged in and had
any number of comments about what/why/how. The best comment was, after some
looking and talking, one of them saying "I think this is the best thing
we've seen today" and some enthusiastic agreement by his peers. Isn't it
nice when there's a real connect to art/craft/whatever, and someone's mind
and experience is expanded.
Regards, Jane
Jane Aebersold
jaeberso@gettysburg.edu
Box 399
Gettysburg College, Gettysburg PA 17325
phone 717-337-6588
fax 717-337-6906
Mark Richard Leach on fri 9 may 97
Jane...thanks for passing along your observations on the Renwick show and
Ah Leon's Sackler Gallery exhibition. I too saw both exhibitions and
enjoyed them. I think its particularly compelling that you should report
on young folks' observations of Ah's bridge, et.al. I have also seen the
show and daily enjoy two of his pieces in our collection in Charlotte.
They're among the most admired of the pieces on display. Their peerless
technique and their allegorical narratives pertaining to various aspects
of nature are commanding to say the least. Kids don't have a clue about
who's who, but they do respond in a particularly visceral way to their
environment. That Ah's pieces happened to move them says alot about
grass-roots observations and calls into question some dischordant noises
in the choir while ratifying others who also send along thoughts simliar
to those expressed by the young students.
Regards...
Mark Richard Leach
Director
Craft and Design
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte
Hluch - Kevin A. on sat 10 may 97
Mark,
By Jove , I think you've got it! You've hit upon a sure fire way
to eliminate the "gate keepers" in the fine art culture. Get a gagle of
pre-teen agers and have THEM judge the art work produced....However, you
might get some surprising results when they view a lot of what passes for
"collectable" ceramics today (not mentioning any of the names of those
whose destiny has been to "break down the barriers between art and
craft".)
Anecdotally speaking, my children while impressed with the
prodigious nature of the "Bridge", were nonetheless compelled to
ask, "but why would he want to spend 3 years doing THAT?" Perhaps you
would not want THEM to serve on your selection committee. They're minds,
obviously, have already been warped by living with art that greets them
at the table every day.
By the way, this suggestion would save a STUPENDOUS amount of money on
curation costs too. In this day of declining budgets and financial
constraints for arts organizations this idea seems like it could
really help solve a lot of fiscal problems....
I'm with you on this one buddy!
Kevin A. Hluch
102 E. 8th St.
Frederick, MD 21701
USA
e-mail: kahluch@umd5.umd.edu
On Fri, 9 May 1997, Mark Richard Leach wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Jane...thanks for passing along your observations on the Renwick show and
> Ah Leon's Sackler Gallery exhibition. I too saw both exhibitions and
> enjoyed them. I think its particularly compelling that you should report
> on young folks' observations of Ah's bridge, et.al. I have also seen the
> show and daily enjoy two of his pieces in our collection in Charlotte.
> They're among the most admired of the pieces on display. Their peerless
> technique and their allegorical narratives pertaining to various aspects
> of nature are commanding to say the least. Kids don't have a clue about
> who's who, but they do respond in a particularly visceral way to their
> environment. That Ah's pieces happened to move them says alot about
> grass-roots observations and calls into question some dischordant noises
> in the choir while ratifying others who also send along thoughts simliar
> to those expressed by the young students.
>
> Regards...
>
> Mark Richard Leach
> Director
> Craft and Design
> Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte
>
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