UMCA

  The Circle will also have the unique opportunity to access the famous Flat Files which will be open to the public on the following day at Zea Mays annual Open Portfolios sale.

  If you wish to attend, please sign up for your membership to the Contemporary Collector’s Circle by Friday, June 6th. As a reminder, the cost of our annual membership is $30 for an individual, or $50 for you and a guest.

  Not a member yet? No problem!

Membership sign up:   https://fac.umass.edu/UMCA/Online/CCC

The University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has received a gift of six original never-before-exhibited Andy Warhol prints from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

The new prints, which will be exhibited in a future exhibition at the UMCA, include:

Hammer and Sickle, 1977, Screenprint on Strathmore Bristol paper, 30-1/8 x 40 inches

Shoes, 1980, Screenprint and diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle (Cold Pressed) paper, 40¼ x 59½ inches

Karen Kain, 1980, Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board, 40-1/8 x 32 inches

Joseph Beuys, 1980/83, Screenprint and rayon flock on Lenox Museum Board, 40 x 32 inches

Alexander the Great, 1982, Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board, 39½ x 39½ inches

A picture from our First ever Collector’s Circle event on May 14th!

Save the Dates: September 27 - December 8, 2014

All of us here at the UMCA would like to welcome students, faculty, and the public back to the Valley after a quick but appreciated Thanksgiving break. With a hefty two weeks that separate us from the end of the semester, we hope that you will all take a chance to diverge from busy schedules to visit our newest exhibition, Recent Acquisitions, which opened on November 14th to an eager crowd of faculty, students, artists, and the public. A combination of prints, photographs, and multi-media works recently donated and acquired by the UMCA over the past year provides an enticing peek into our permanent collection. One of the most exciting and generous gifts has been a donation of 8 print portfolios from Exit Art, a non-profit organization based in N.Y that recently closed in 2011. Represented Artists include David Byrne, Richard Tuttle, and Marina Abramovic. If name-dropping doesn't do the trick, maybe a bit of elaboration of others on view will. We have Robert Mapplethorpe, a pioneering photographer of controversial sexual images; Hermann Nitsch, an Austrian founder of the Viennese "Aktionism", dedicated to real and violent art; and David Teeple, our loveable local artist whose Bridge Project still puts a smile on every face entering Northampton after hours spent on Rt. 9. 

Please come to check out Recent Acquisitions! If you can't make it before winter break, do not fear, it will be on view until March 15th.

On a melancholic ending note, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot's exhibition will be packed away in a week's time. To anyone who has not made the effort to come out and experience in person this bizarre take on musical production and trippy visuals, do try and make an effort before it closes on December 2nd and is transported to different corners of the globe.

Stay warm and well!

A selection of prints by Avery Preesman photographed during the Recent Acquisitions Opening

Avery Preesman, Untitled, 1968

Help us celebrate the UMCA's outstanding permanent collection of master contemporary works of art on paper by adopting one of the works in the Recent Acquisitions exhibition. When you adopt an artwork, you will receive a color reproduction of the artwork. In recognition, your name will appear on a label alongside the artwork you adopt, informing the public of your generous contribution.Your adoption will support the UMCA's conservation and curatorial work to keep the museum's entire collection of 2,800 prints, drawings, and photographs dazzling and fresh for many future generations. Adoption fees are $100 per artwork. Adopt one for yourself or give one to friends or family this holiday season! To adopt an artwork, view artworks on our website fac.umass.edu/umca and download a form to mail the address at the bottom with payment and an indication of which works you wish to adopt. Call 413‐545‐3670 for further details. Orders with payment must be received by December 15, 2012, to ensure proper time for delivery of your "artwork" reproduction by December 24.

Adopt an Artwork!: Fundraising Event

Woman in a Burkha by Elizabeth Stone

We are very excited to introduce our current roster of students working at the University Museum of Contemporary Art. Laura, Zoe, Channing, Katherine, and Monissa bring a variety of skills and expertise to the permanent museum staff.

Laura McNulty Collection Coordinator Intern Laura works as a Collection Coordinator at the UMCA. She has been trained on the collection database to assist the registrar with the annual inventory and conservation assessment, and adding new fields of information to each object.

Zoe Allison Collection Coordinator Intern Zoe is a junior, Art History and STPEC (Social thought and political economy) double major at UMass Amherst. She contributes to the UMCA blog and has been working as a Collection Coordinator since Fall 2011. She started as a volunteer, then interned for course credits and now she is a paid intern. She is interested in social and political aspects of contemporary art, music, and travel.  Zoe has being trained on the collection database to assist the registrar with the annual inventory and conservation assessment, and adding new fields of information to each object. She is also working with Eva to organize student run forums that will aim to discuss current exhibits and their social and political relevance to generate youth interest.

                Channing Davisson Social Media Coordinator Channing is a senior at UMass Amherst majoring in Communication and pursuing the Film Studies Certificate. She blogs and maintains various social media platforms for the UMCA. She has previously interned for the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City. Channing  hopes to go on to study Cinema Studies at the graduate level and to work for a film production company or online magazine. Her interests include blogging, design, theater, film, fashion, and cooking.

Katherine Marcinowski Undergraduate Intern Katherine is a senior at UMass Amherst majoring in Art History. She is currently researching recent acquisitions from the Exit Art gallery in New York that will be part of an exhibition later this semester at the UMCA. She likes coffee, British comedy and visiting new places.

The Opening of Céleste Boursier-Mougenot's exhibit last Wednesday was great fun and an interesting combination of audio and visual components inspired by a foreign perspective. The exhibit will be up until December 2nd, don't miss it!

Cross-Cultural discussion between Céleste and David Teeple on what it means to be an artist

Layers: Piano reflections, grouped gallery-goers and "solidvideos" on the far wall

Mirror pic of "mandalavirus"

Only two weeks into the season, UMCA is busting at the seams with movement and a variety of events that have been made possible by a collaboration of ideas, teams and artists. Our first "Dialogue with a Collection" took place on September 5th with artist Elizabeth Stone to the delight of many visitors interested in hearing what she had to say about the exhibition "Embodied/Disembodied" on view through October 14. While Stone selected works of art from our permanent collection to complement her own creations, a profound and consistent theme of relationships between internal and external natures in her subjects quite literally shines through the totality of the exhibition. Daniel DeNicola of The Daily Hampshire Gazette calls this collaborative quality a "...resonance from which a sort of higher art might emerge." To explore the exhibit and its many meanings, please come visit the UMCA and be sure to check out the banners designed by artist Carolyn Webb that adorn the entryway to the Fine Arts Center while the weather still permits a moment of outdoor reflection!

After a brief hiatus, we are back with a piece by John Cage entitled "Changes and Disappearances" to reference all of the transitions taking place personally and professionally within the museum, as well as the beautiful outside progression into spring. Upon first glance, the different layers and jolted lines of this etching seemed to encompass a variety of disarrayed thoughts; something very indicative of the university atmosphere and of various personal transitions that take place throughout our lives. The variety of lengths, colors, shapes, and sizes of marks in this piece lend themselves to the artist's interest and preoccupation with the idea of chance. We invite you to ponder the importance of chance and transition within our society and to make an appearance at upcoming events whose information is available on our facebook page. 

After a spring break that (a few of) the UMCA staff had the privilege to experience, we are back and running with a bit of an unconventional post. One of our interns, Zoe, visited her grandma in Florida over break and was enthralled with the idea of exposing the intimate ideas and reflections of an artist born in the height of the Great Depression whose works span almost half a century. Mary Francis was born into great poverty in Tennessee circa 1930 and upon meeting her husband, Lou Balint, moved around the country to finally settle in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts with her three children. At age 36, after commenting on how simple a sculpture at her daughter's daycare seemed to be, a woman present sarcastically proposed she do it herself. This joust prompted Mary to enroll in art classes here at UMass Amherst where she planned to major in sculpture and minor in psychology. Here she gained experience but ultimately left after the director of the department responded to her hesitance to enroll in additional classes with "Oh, so you're a housewife". In 1966. At the height of the second wave of the feminist movement. 

Mary transferred to Berkshire Community College and opened a gallery by the name of "The Artist's Collective" on the first floor of her house in Hinsdale, MA. Here the likes of 10 artists were modestly represented on a "seasonal" basis, because as Mary says, the summer would bring parents from New York dropping their kids off at camp and looking for ways to busy themselves. With time her kids grew up and moved on steering Mary + Lou towards a new life in Florida. A former engineer for G.E., Lou thoroughly enjoyed helping Mary maneuver and install her copper sculptures with their heavy platforms, one of which, "The Nest", was installed in the County Courthouse in Punta Gorda, Florida, and another, "Flight", in a private home of a Sarasota, Florida resident. 

To wrap up a perhaps over-extended yet endearing biographical account of the artist and grandmother to move on to the piece under analysis, we present a contemporary work "Global Warming" done in 2009. During her chats with Mary, Zoe became quite aware of and surprised at the fact that after 20 years of residence in an exceptionally conservative county, her grandma has maintained one of the most liberal and experimental attitudes Zoe has experienced (and the latter is constantly surrounded by college students!). This piece constitutes a thorough salute to Mary's interests in expressing absurdities and controversies of the times. What gives the work such an intense, almost violent air? The color. Mary is drawn to primary colors, which she layers to then create a "free roll" across the canvas. It is through the "heat" of the white space that she expresses her outrage at the fact that serious environmental problems do not garner more attention; it shows her fear that political systems will not compromise and work together to solve these problems before it is too late, let alone in her lifetime.  

It has been a true honor for Zoe to discover in depth and on a personal level the inner workings of her grandmother's history, mind and modes of expression. Let it be a lesson to all of us interested in contemporary art that unknown artists at times merit as much respect, interest, and contemplation as world renowned ones. They are as important an aspect of the art world in that people like Mary exercise discipline, pride and freedom of expression in the face of inner emotions and societal changes, regardless of production level and profit. They show us the true meaning of art by depicting the foundation, dedication, and creativity needed to succeed personally and at times professionally. Mary's passion and intensity characterize her establishment as a contemporary artist and content with her 82 years of life. We hope this has provoked all of you as it has us, and invite you to share feedback and ideas/works of artists close to you on our facebook page. 

Mary by a sculpture that has managed to stay in her hands, nestled between the pool and the bougainvilleas at her home in Venice, Florida

In honor of the recently beautiful weather and David Teeple's Thinking Water: Poetry, Systems and Politics, closing this Friday, March 16, the piece of the week taps into natural elements and the importance of remaining aware and critical of issues on a community and societal level. Artists portray their interpretations of natural elements through a variety of mediums and modes; this week we will look at a surrealist perspective in the form of Mario Avati's "Nature Morte a la Danseuse". In this mezzotint print, Avati juxtaposes ethereal and incongruous forms in order to show the relationship between still life objects and the movement of a dancer in the background pinned against a dart board. Although this piece does not obviously raise awareness about a specific issue, it perhaps takes into consideration the more abstract concept of  the success of objects and issues in drawing the attention of viewers. It is interesting to think that depending on upbringing, education, genetics and a variety of other factors, our personal fascinations and perspectives are formed in a way that makes us partial to certain stimuli and issues. The question of how to raise awareness and provide a platform of mixed perspectives and analyses in order to benefit our society is definitely one of importance to David Teeple and is keenly shown in his exhibition. Make sure to take a final view of Thinking Water: Poetry, Systems and Politics before this Friday, and enjoy the weather!