ANNUAL REPORT 2006/2007 Mission Statement The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art promotes the power of the arts to inspire and educate people and enrich their lives. To this purpose the museum builds and maintains exemplary art collections and produces a wide variety of challenging, innovative exhibitions and stimulating educational programs. As an integral part of the University of Florida, the museum advances teaching and research and serves as a catalyst for creative engagement between the university and diverse local, state, national and Director’s Message international audiences. After closing all museum galleries, with the exception of the Mary Ann Harn Cofrin Pavilion, for renovation during summer 2006, the museum reopened fall semester with beautifully refinished stone and hardwood floors, new carpet and freshly painted walls. The museum was able for the first time to dedicate a gallery to the permanent collection of photography alongside other galleries for the African, Asian, modern and contemporary art collections. During fiscal year 2006-2007 the Harn originated several exhibitions with accompanying catalogues, beginning with Spinach Green and Mutton-fat White: Chinese Jades of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) organized by Curator of Asian Art Charles Mason, and Resonance and Inspiration: New Works by Magdalene Odundo organized by Curator of African Art Susan Cooksey, which opened at the Harn and traveled to the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. Jointly curated by Professor Achamyeleh Debela of North Carolina Central University and I, Continuity and Change: Three Generations of Ethiopian Artists traveled from the Harn to the Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University. Finally, Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Farber Collection, organized by Curator of Contemporary Art Kerry Oliver-Smith, opened here and continued to the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, the first in a series of venues for this exhibition. The Harn Museum of Art AFRICAN ASIAN MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEMPORARY joined other University of 2 6 8 10 12 Florida and community museums to host the Florida Association of Museums annual meeting in September 2006, welcoming colleagues from across the state to Gainesville. During spring semester 2007 the Harn joined UF’s College of Fine Arts, School of Art and Art History and Center for African Studies in hosting the Triennial Symposium of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association, an international conference with more than 300 participants. COLLECTIONS 2 We are delighted to share the collections and exhibitions of the Harn Museum of Art by welcoming visitors from near and far to our facility UF PARTNERSHIPS 15 on the University of Florida campus, by traveling our exhibitions to museums across the country and by producing publications that FACTS & FIGURES 16 contribute to the international exchange of research and ideas. SUPPORT 17 Rebecca M. Nagy, Ph.D. Director, Harn Museum of Art ACQUISITIONS 21 PEOPLE AT THE HARN CONTENTS 31 Exhibitions Organized by the Harn Museum of Art AN Highlights from the Continuity and African Collection Change: Three C September 5, 2006 – Ongoing Generations of Richardson Gallery Ethiopian Artists RI January 23 – April 29, 2007 CURATOR: Curator of African Art Susan Gladys Gracy Harn Exhibition Hall Cooksey F This exhibition represents the CURATORS: Harn Museum Director A historical and aesthetic scope of the Rebecca Martin Nagy and North Harn’s growing collection of sub-Saharan African art. The technical mastery, conceptual depth Carolina Central University Professor Achamyeleh and diversity of African art is demonstrated in a range of objects, types and mediums, including Debela sculpture, textiles, metalwork, ceramics and architectural elements, many with artist attributions. This exhibition told the story of modern and TRAVEL ITINERARY: Diggs Gallery, Winston-Salem State PROGRAMS: Gallery Talk, Harn Curator of African Art Susan Cooksey, September 17 contemporary art in Ethiopia from the 1940s to University, Winston-Salem, NC the present and explored the role of government May 26 – December 8, 2007 support of artists as part of a purposeful strategy for Resonance and Inspiration: the modernization of Ethiopia. The exhibition also PROGRAMS: Lecture, North Carolina Central examined the influence of the School of Fine Arts in University Professor and Director of the Computing New Works by Magdalene Odundo Addis Ababa, one of Africa’s leading art academies, Center for the Arts Achamyeleh Debela, January 25; September 5 – December 31, 2006 and focused on those artists active in Addis Ababa Gallery Talk, Director Rebecca Nagy, February 4; S.F.I. Rotunda within the context of the political and social upheavals Lecture and Film Screening, Ethiopian-born filmmaker of 20th-century Ethiopia. Made possible by Northern Haile Gerima, February 8, Adwa: An African Victory; CURATOR: Curator of African Art Susan Cooksey Trust Bank. Lecture, Florida State University Associate Professor Peter Garretson, February 23, Glimpses of Addis This exhibition included 18 recent works—11 vessels and 7 PUBLICATIONS: Family Gallery Guide and 120-page Ababa from Contemporary Diaries: Artistic Life in the drawings—by Magdalene Odundo, one of the most celebrated catalogue with essays by Harn Museum Director Capital from the 1930s to the 1970s; MUSE Interactive contemporary ceramic artists. Odundo’s elegant handbuilt vessels Rebecca Martin Nagy; North Carolina Central Experience, Contemporary Traditions, March 22; recall multiple ceramic traditions, both ancient and modern, that University Professor Achamyeleh Debela; Academic Performances by Agbedidi Africa and a UF Step group; are inspired by her African heritage and diverse cross-cultural Director of the School for International Training’s Family Day, A New View: Contemporary African Art, influences. Study Abroad Program Heran Sereke-Brhan; Addis March 24; Teacher Workshop, Co-sponsored with UF Ababa University Associate History Professor Shiferaw Center for African Studies, March 28; Spotlight Tour, PUBLICATION: 16-page catalogue with essays by Curator of African Bekele; Addis Ababa Artist Geta Mekonnen; Visiting March 29 and May 6 Art Susan Cooksey; UF School of Art and Art History Professor Scholar at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies of Addis Linda Arbuckle; Institute of International Visual Arts Director Ababa University Leah Niederstadt Augustus Casely-Hayford Magdalene Odundo, TRAVEL ITINERARY Vessel Series I, no.1 : Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2004, museum purchase, Hanover, NH, June 7, 2007 – January 20, 2008 funds provided by friends of the Harn Museum, 2006.36 PROGRAMS Photo credit: David : Lecture, Magdalene Odundo, September 6; Westwood Photography Family Day, Inspiration from Simplicity, September 16 left to right (below): C. Frederick and Aase Thompson, Achamyeleh Debela, Lulseged Retta, Rebecca Nagy Ceramic Reflections: Selected Ceramic Vessels from the Harn Museum Collection September 5 – December 31, 2006 Langley Foyer CURATOR: Curator of African Art Susan Cooksey This complementary exhibition to Resonance and Inspiration: New Works by Magdalene Odundo highlighted ceramic works from the Harn’s collections of Asian, African, Ancient American and Mediterranean art. The 12 works in this exhibition illuminated the connections in form, content and meaning between ancient ceramic traditions of various cultures and Odundo’s works. 2 3 Outgoing Loans OBJECTS: 28 Ethiopian and Somali objects BORROWING INSTITUTION: Grinter Gallery, University of Florida Gallery DATES: February 26 – August 27, 2007 EXHIBITION: In the House: Domestic Arts from the Horn of Africa ACASA Triennial Art of the Ethiopian Highlands IMAGinING TOBIA January 23 – May 6, 2007 January 23 – May 6, 2007 Conference S.F.I. Rotunda Langley Foyer The Harn Museum co-sponsored the 14th CURATOR: Director Rebecca Martin Nagy CURATOR: Director Rebecca Martin Nagy Triennial Symposium on African Art of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association This installation showcased the museum’s collection of The triptych video installation by artist Salem (ACASA) from March 28 to April 1, 2007, along mural paintings, icons, illustrated manuscripts, bronze Mekuria accompanied Art of the Ethiopian Highlands with the College of Fine Arts, School of Art and processional crosses and wooden hand crosses used from the Harn Museum Collection. IMAGinING Art History and Center for African Studies. in Christian churches in the Ethiopian highlands. A TOBIA is an exploration of the lush southern as While some Triennial sessions were open only highlight of the exhibition was the rare 25-foot-long well as the forbiddingly rugged but starkly beautiful to conference registrants, others were free mural painting portraying the war of King Takla northern landscapes of Ethiopia. Mekuria uses the OBJECT: Yoruba people, Nigeria, Divination Tray and open to the public, including the keynote Haymanot with the Dervishes, on which clothing, triptych, a reference to Ethiopia’s ancient religious (opon ifa), wood with pigment and patina address by Okwui Enwezor, an internationally royal regalia, armor, weaponry and horse trappings art form and ubiquitous in Ethiopian everyday life, 1 1/8 x 16 5/8 x 16 1/2 in. (2.9 x 42.2 x 41.9 cm) recognized scholar and curator of contemporary are rendered in great detail, providing insight into to juxtapose, layer and contrast glimpses of this Gift of Rodney D. McGalliard, 1995.28.9 art, on March 29 at the University Auditorium. customs of an earlier