The Week Ahead @ the Henry

Here’s what’s happening this week at the Henry!

Wednesday, May 22th
12-12:30 - Student-Led Tour: Join a Henry Student Exhibition Guide for a 30-minute tour. All tours meet in the museum lobby.

Thursday, May 23rd
7-8:30 – Collection in Focus: Off with the Corset. Join Kimberly Hereford, UW Art History PhD candidate, for a discussion about the key characteristics of Aesthetic attire while examining a selection of garments from the Henry’s extensive costume collection. Please RSVP by Tuesday, May 21 to contact-collections@henryart.org.

Friday, May 24th
7-9 pm - May Openings: Sanctum & the 2013 UW School of Art MFA + MDes Exhibiton. Join the artists, their friends, and families for a reception at the Henry to celebrate the opening of Sanctum and the 2013 UW School of Art Master of Fine Arts and Master of Design exhibition. Please note: The preview (5-7 pm) is limited to students, faculty, and their guests. At 7 pm, the reception opens to the public.

Out [o] Fashion Photography: Embracing Beauty is open through Sept 1 (Photo credit: R.J. Sanchez)

Aesthetic Dress: The Scandal!

Gertrude Käsebier. The Picture Book. 1903. Photogravure. Henry Art Gallery, Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen and The Boeing Company, 97.249.

 

Today’s post is written by Kimberly Hereford, a PhD candidate in art history at the UW.

Just what is Aesthetic fashion and how was it different than everyday Victorian dress? In the day, Aesthetic dress was daring and existed outside the framework of etiquette and correct Victorian society. Though deemed scandalous and unfashionable by the public at large, initially a small group of avant-garde women dared to wear these gowns in public. 

On Thursday, May 23 I hope you will join me in the museum’s Reed Collection Study Center for “Off with the Corset!” to view a select group of objects from the Henry’s permanent collection and to discuss how Aesthetic dress differed from more conventional and acceptable woman fashion.

By looking at objects from the Henry Art Gallery’s permanent collection, we will explore what constituted “unfashionable” versus “ideal” Victorian standard of beauty, themes evident in the museum’s current exhibition Out [o] Fashion Photography: Embracing Beauty.

The Aesthetic dress movement grew out of the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelite art movement, which also influenced the Arts and Craft movement in England. “Truth to nature and beauty in all things,” was the guiding principle of Aestheticism, a Victorian art movement designed to counter the Industrial Revolution by rejecting conformity and materialism. The adherents to Aesthetic fashion believed that clothing should not distort the natural form of the female body, but rather should be in harmony with natural and individual characteristics with the wearer, and above all, allow ease of movement. The greatest outrage for the adherents to the Aesthetic movement was the tight lacing of the corset and the bulges caused with stiff bustles.

There are two excellent examples of Aesthetic dresses in the Henry’s collection, a hand-sewn blouse and a light blue silk dress from Liberty & Co. Each piece contains detailed smocking, a hallmark of Aesthetic fashion.  Rather than harsh aniline dyes, these dresses were often made using “natural” dyes and would have been worn without a petticoat or bustle. The total effect, would have seemed droopy, limp, and even “sloppy” – the antithesis of everyday fashionable attire

By 1884, a shift occurred and Aesthetic dresses could be procured by the everyday Victorian woman from Liberty & Co. in London, which was deemed the “chosen resort” for the followers of this movement. The Liberty silks and its distinctive floral motif became associated and trademarks of the Aesthetic dress and instantly recognizable.  

My talk on the 23^rd will also focus on these daring and fashion-forward women who were the first to cause a stir with their unusual style. Although Aesthetic dresses such as those in the Henry’s collection, would have been initially perceived as eccentric and “out of fashion,” we will also consider how, as the century progressed, this style not only became acceptable, but eventually influenced dress designers and continues to linger even today.

 

 

Guest Blog from Rebecca Migdal, Summer Intern

Throughout the year, the Henry offers a variety of student internships in different departments. Find current opportunities here. This past summer, Rebecca Migdal, a Lois F. McNeil Fellow and  graduate student in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture at the University of Delaware, interned in the collections department under our Curator of Collections, Judy Sourakli. She recently blogged a reflection of her internship at the Henry on the University of Delaware’s Museum Studies in Motion blog. Here is an excerpt:

“Hands-on access also developed my visual vocabulary for late 19th and early 20th century clothing, the various issues with their conditions, their storage requirements, and other special needs. Throughout the internship, I contributed to other collections management functions, too. I helped research selections from the historic dress collection so we could more precisely date costume pieces. I also learned about the Mimsy XG database and the preparation and organization of digital images for both internal and external use. Learning a little about the Henry’s methods for condition reporting, storing flat textiles, and its accession process was also a focus during the summer.”

Read the rest of the post here!

The Henry receives NEA grant

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman announced today that the Henry is one of 832 non-profit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. The Henry was awarded a $20,000 grant to support the upcoming exhibition Out [o] Fashion Photography: Embracing Beauty to be presented March 2 – July 7, 2013. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Deborah Willis, Chair and Professor of Photography and Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Out [o] Fashion will present over 90 photographs that examine historic and contemporary representations of beauty. The exhibition will include works by renowned artists Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, E. J. Bellocq, Marsha Burns, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Curtis, Bruce Davidson, Fred Miller, Hope Sandrow, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Andy Warhol, Weegee, Carrie Mae Weems, and Garry Winogrand.

“I’m proud to announce these 832 grants to the American public including the Henry Art Gallery,” said Chairman Landesman. “These projects offer extraordinary examples of creativity in our country, including the creation of new work, innovative ways of engaging audiences, and exemplary education programs.”

In March 2012, the NEA received 1,509 eligible applications for Art Works requesting more than $74 million in funding. The 832 recommended NEA grants total $22.3 million, span 13 artistic disciplines and fields, and focus primarily on the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing works for the benefit of American audiences. Applications were reviewed by panels of outside experts convened by NEA staff and each project was judged on its artistic excellence and artistic merit.

A complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support may be found at the NEA website at arts.gov.

Open House TOMORROW

The Henry Open House is teeming with fun, excitement, and art! Not only are we opening two new exhibitions, Like a Valentine: The Art of Jeffry Mitchell and Now Here is also Nowhere: Part I, but we are also throwing a museum-wide party! Come dressed in your conceptual best for the Student Henry Advisory Group’s Conceptual Costume Contest. Enjoy the sweet music of the UW Mariachi Band, Fainting Goats, and FBDC ~ ФБДЦ; Check out the FAN CLUB in the Study Center; eat some delicious babycakes courtesy of Cupcake Royale and enjoy libations from Pyramid Breweries. All of that PLUS installations of Public Health Poems by Rachel Kessler!

Rachel Kessler will premier her new poem cycle on public health posters installed in The Henry’s restrooms by sinks and in bathroom stalls.  Kessler will lead groups in hand-washing poetry usage, demonstrate hand washing technique, recite bathroom stall limericks, and sing sea shantys.  Each poem lasts approximately 30 seconds, the amount of time the department of health recommends lathering hands for.

 

PUBLIC HEALTH POEMS
About the project:

Remember how your preschool teacher instructed you to rub your soapy hands together for the entirety of the Happy Birthday song?  Now there is a poem for that.  While scrubbing in like surgeons, our minds and mouths deserve something more than that same old dreary song.

Rachel Kessler, a poet of the everyday, has composed a new poem cycle that will appear on bathroom stall doors, above urinals, and next to sinks in public restrooms. Posing as Employees Must Wash Hands Before Returning to Work signs and stall door advertisements, these poster poems will provide entertainment while imparting a useful earworm of knowledge.

She began writing her first anonymous protest poems on the bathroom stall walls in seventh grade, and has long been fascinated by graffiti art. Inspired by a collaboration several years ago with poet Pete Miller and their collective LOCCAL: League of Citizens Concerned About Literature, her work with homeless adults, and as a preschool teacher and parent, began trying her hand at School House Rock style poems for her kids to recite while scrubbing their hands at the sink.

Determined to put poetry in unlikely and non-traditional venues, her work explores the function and origin of poetry, not only as a mnemonic device, but as a way to reflect on the mundane, daily activities that comprise the majority of our hours. After a short residency in Rome researching ancient public health works, she collaborated with graffiti, nursery rhyme, fairy tales, health department propaganda to compose poems for hand-washing, poems for toilet use, poems for dental hygiene, poems for bathroom stall decisions.  Like the “Talking Fountains” of Rome, defaced statues where poets post anonymous political commentary, bathroom stalls are the original online comments.  Public restrooms, like phone booths, are one of the few public-private spaces where a citizen can find respite in a public place.

This project was funded by a City Artists award from the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

 

About the Henry event:
Several Public Health Poems will be installed in the Henry restrooms by sinks and in bathroom stalls. Rachel Kessler will lead individuals and groups in handwashing-poetry usage in the restrooms via demonstrations, in impromptu bathroom stall limerick recitations, and in other public health poetic concerns.  Sea shantys will be sung in bathroom stalls.

 

BIO:

Rachel Kessler, co-founder of poetry-performance collaborations Typing Explosion and the Vis-à-Vis Society, is a writer and performer from Seattle.  Passionate about presenting poetry in non-traditional venues, she has performed interactive poetry in parks, on buses, in phonebooths, hair salons, and abandoned motels. She is visiting faculty and writer-in-residence at Centrum, a Whiteley Center Fellow with the University of Washington, a Jack Straw Writer, and senior writer-in-residence with Seattle Arts & Lectures.  She has performed at multiple times at the Seattle Art Museum, Bumbershoot, Night School at the Sorrento, Galapagos Art Space and Bowery Poetry Club in New York City.  Her poems have appeared in Tin House and the Monarch Review, and her text-based visual art is featured in The Open Daybook and Sea-Cat.

In summary, she’s a pretty rad lady. Make sure to spend some time in the loo at the Open House!

Henry Exhibition Media!

ArtDaily.org, the first art newspaper on the net, features an article on Pipilotti Rist: A la bell étoile, now open at the Henry! Read the feature HERE!

UW Today’s weekly “Arts Roundup” features En plein air which is currently on view in the Henry’s North Galleries. Check out the write up and the rest of the roundup HERE!

Come check out both exhibitions today! We’re open until 9!

Wolfgang Laib- Last Chance

Have you guys seen this time-lapse of the Laib install that our wonderful art handler Webster Crowell made back in February? It is super neat.

Come see the piece before it closes! Sunday will be the last day for it – we’re open 11am-4pm.

I volunteer at the apiary on the UW campus farm and everyone over there is super stoked about this Laib work (of course, Laib’s pollen is collected from plants, not bees.)  No matter- we’re headed over in a little group Sunday afternoon to talk about pollen. See. You. There.

Buzzzbuzzz:

P.S. I like to think that as Laib’s pollen grains go back into their glass jars and away into collections storage, spring is going to turn and the flowers, pollen and pollinators from RL are going to come out in full force.  Good timing? On this rainy afternoon maybe just wishful thinking.

P.P.S. Write this in your planner:

Upcoming Henry event!  Collections in Focus: Installation Art

Join Henry Head Preparator and Exhibition Designer Jim Rittimann, Henry Lead Preparator Dan Gurney, and Eric Fredericksen, Director of Western Bridge, for a discussion about select works in the museum’s collection that have challenged museum staff to rethink how art is stored, cared for, and installed. Artworks highlighted in the discussion will include James Turell’s Skyspace Light Reign and Wolfgang Laib’s Pollen from Hazelnut.

Please RSVP by May 15 to Rachael Faust, Assistant Curator of Collections and Academic Programs, at RachaelF@henryart.org

Event is Friday May 18

7-8.30pm, Reed Collection Study Center

Members’ Choice

What could make the Henry’s OPEN HOUSE even better? Members’ Choice!

On April 20, during the members’ preview at the Spring Open House, Henry members have the opportunity to choose permanent collection objects for display in the Reed Collection Study Center.

Members are encouraged to search the Henry’s collection online for artwork and submit a request. To help focus your search through the Henry’s vast collections, we are asking members to choose objects related to the Henry’s current exhibitions, including Gary Hill, Andrew Dadson, and Ceramics.

Explore the museum’s collection through the online database.

Or explore collection objects through our Digital Galleries.

Once you’ve found your object, please fill out this form.

If you have questions about searching the collection, contact Assistant Curator of Collections & Academic Programs Rachael Faust at rachaelf@henryart.org.

On April 20th, during the members’ preview portion of the Open House, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m., drop by the Study Center to see your choice on display alongside works chosen by your fellow members.

Have fun exploring the collection!

Deadline for submissions: Wednesday, April 18th

Fashion and the Henry

Did you know that the Henry has over 18,000 pieces in our Textiles and Costumes collection? Our extensive collection includes objects that range in date from 1500 BCE to the present. In particular, the collection affords historic overviews of early Coptic and pre-Columbian textiles; rugs; European fabrics; lace; and fashion from the late 18th century to the present. The holdings include significant sub-collections from India, China, Japan, Central Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Central America.

Collections in Focus: On Fashion:
Friday, March 16th, 7-8:30 pm
Reed Collections Study Center
RSVP to Rachael Faust, Assistant Curator of Collections & Academic Programs, rachaelf@henryart.org

This Friday, as part of our Collections in Focus series, we will host a talk on fashion. Sarah Nash Gates, Costume Designer and Executive Director of the School of Drama at UW, and Rebecca Kaufman, co-owner of the Seattle-based costume company Period Corsets will give presentations highlighted by the Henry’s collection. Nash Gates will examine tailoring, construction details, and silhouettes of historic costumes; Kaufman will address the role of corsets in body shape modification.

Eternity in a Ruffle:
Thursday, March 15th,  7pm
Henry Auditorium

The Henry Art Gallery in partnership with Seattle Arts and Lectures will present a class Eternity in a Ruffle: Fashion in Art, Art in Fashion. The last lecture will take place tomorrow at the Henry Art Gallery Auditorium. The class will be led by our Curator of Collections, Judy Sourakli, and Sandra Kroupa,  Book Arts and Rare Book Curator in Special Collections at Suzzallo/Allen Library. Both will share and discuss objects from the Henry Art Gallery and Special Collections relevant to the course.

In the meantime, check out the Henry’s Costume and textile collection in our Digital Interactive Gallery HERE.

POLLEN: An Artist Talk with Sarah Bergmann

March 9th, 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Henry Auditorium

TONIGHT, Sarah Bergmann will give an artist talk about nature in the human age, through the lens of pollen, the media used in Laib’s Pollen From Hazelnut. The above video shows the installation of Laib’s work at the Hirshhorn, but the Henry is currently editing their video of the installation, so check back for updates!

Bergmann’s Pollinator Pathway project is a plan to create a mile-long corridor of pollinator-friendly gardens in planting strips on Seattle’s Columbia Street between 12th and 29th avenues. Spanning one third of the city’s width, the project draws a line of plant life between two larger public green spaces, integrating ecological support into the urban grid. Part renegade park and part educational platform, the Pollinator Pathway bridges science, art, systems-thinking, urban planning and landscape design. Bergmann will share the project’s trajectory from her interest in the collapse of the honeybee to reimagining cities as conduits between farms and wilderness.

Buy tickets for tonight’s talk HERE.

Read Jen Graves’ post about Bergmann’s talk here.