Arts and Entertainment

'Forging Alliances' opens Jan. 7 at the Palmer Museum of Art

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Palmer Museum of Art will present "Forging Alliances" from Jan. 7 through May 11.

In the years following World War II, one of the ways Japan attempted to reshape its world image was by presenting an idea of modern Japanese culture rooted in tradition. This effort took place both in Japan, where individual artists were encouraged to develop new approaches to long-established forms of Japanese art, and in the West, where art audiences were encouraged to value new Japanese artistic expressions as part of a global culture of modernism associated with creative individuality. "Forging Alliances" draws on the Palmer Museum’s collection of postwar mingei ceramics, many of which were acquired for the University by the late professor of art Ken Beittel during his historic 1967 sabbatical in Arita to study with Manji Inoue, and mid-twentieth-century woodblock prints from the “Creative Print Movement,” a western-influenced trend that emphasized a more individualized approach to Japanese printmaking.

The works featured in "Forging Alliances" were selected by Christopher Reed, professor of English and visual culture, and Jonathan Abel, assistant professor of comparative literature and Asian studies. The exhibition served as the subject for their fall 2013 seminar, "Mapping Identity, Difference, and Place," in which students researched and provided didactic information for each of the pots and prints on view.

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State is located on Curtin Road and admission is free. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays and some holidays. It will be closed Saturday, Dec. 21, through Wednesday, Jan. 1. Reduced hours over winter break are noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 2, through Sunday, Jan. 12. The museum will be closed Monday, Jan. 6.

The Palmer Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Also on view at the Palmer Museum of Art this spring are "British Watercolors from the Permanent Collection," Jan. 7 through May 4; and "Surveying Judy Chicago: Five Decades," Jan. 21 through May 11. "Surveying Judy Chicago: Five Decades" was organized by the museum in partnership with A.R.T. Corp.

For more information or to request images, contact Jennifer Feehan, coordinator of membership and public relations, at 814-863-9182 or jenfeehan@psu.edu.

Last Updated December 17, 2013

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