Browse Exhibits (74 total)
Everett Spruce (1908-2002) ~ Works on Paper
October 27, 2008 - January 9, 2009
This exhibition displayed prints, drawings, and archival materials documenting the career of Everett Spruce, a member of the loosely affiliated group of artists known in the 1930s and 1940s as the “Dallas Nine.” The exhibition was drawn from Spruce’s papers, which comprise part of the holdings of the Hamon’s Jerry Bywaters Special Collections Wing, along with those of fellow “Dallas Nine” artists Jerry Bywaters, Otis Dozier, and William Lester.
Printing in Color
October 1, 2007 - December 16, 2007
In the fall of 2007, Hawn gallery visitors were treated to a special exhibit designed to support the Meadows Art History Curriculum. The gallery was set up to display original color prints from the Bywaters Special Collection along side the original carved blocks or matrices used to create them. The students of ARHS 3364: History and Theory of Prints had assignments coordinated to the exhibit which highlighted some of the techniques and developments of this art form. The featured prints were selected by Dr. Lisa Pon with the assistance of Sam Ratcliffe and Ellen Niewyk, curators of the Bywaters collection.
The Art of the Caricature: Prints from Vanity Fair, 1869 – 1900
February 13 - April 26, 2007
Vanity Fair was first published by its founding editor, Thomas Gibson Bowles, on November 7, 1868. Bowles took its title at the suggestion of a friend, Colonel Fred Burnaby, from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and perhaps from William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel of the same name. He was a privileged, well-connected man, and his ambition for Vanity Fair was the desire to establish a periodical defining the social and cultural life of London in Victorian England. The caricatures came about within a few months of the initial publication and, as a particularly popular feature of the magazine, they were reprinted annually as albums.
Lorraine Tady: Paintings and Drawings
August 21 - September 24, 2006
Professor Tady describes the paintings selected for this exhibition as “intimate investigations into the language of painting, including topography (thick vs. thin), ‘drawing into’ vs. ‘drawing onto,’ wet into wet, wet over dry, transparency vs. opacity, tonality, structure, edge, form and space; adhesion and friction. She further explains that “the process employs diagramming, mapping, plan/elevation, cross-section, translation/re-translation inquiry (or subverting the clarity these systematic intentions may imply) allowing the images to be intuitively found, extracted, analyzed, shifted, and represented in various arrays.” Professor Tady has shown regionally and nationally since 1991, and was represented by Barry Whistler Gallery, Dallas, TX.
Evans Pond, A long term study of a single place by Deborah Garwood
October 2-November 19, 2006
Deborah Garwood is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York. Her work explores the interdependence of nature and culture. Garwood has exhibited sculpture, installation, photography, video, drawing, intaglio prints, and artist’s books in New York and internationally since 1980. In 1997, Garwood initiated a project entitled “Evans Pond: A Long-Term Study of a Single Place.” Bringing a variety of cameras and films to the same site in New Jersey, she has been documenting and interpreting the forest, pond, and an adjacent abandoned orchard for almost 10 years. The archive is a personal reflection on the duration of this forest at the edge of suburbia, and it is also a study of changing photographic tastes and technologies - from early 20th-century box cameras to digital imagery.
Evans Pond reflects the artist’s fascination with the natural world and a desire to befriend this site almost as if it were a person. At the same time, the project synthesizes her research on photography and sculpture. Garwood’s influences range from the eclectic photographs of August Rodin’s sculpture, which she studied in 1993 at the Rodin Museum in Paris, to Minimalist-era sculptors’ use of photography in relation to their presence in the landscape. Her observation of seasonal change at Evans Pond gradually led to an interest in astronomy. Recently, she earned a certificate in astronomy from the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and gained permission to pursue independent research at The Paris Observatory.
“On Location: Sketches of the film Giant by Ed Bearden”
January 27-April 28, 2006
The fiftieth anniversary of the release of what has been termed “the national film of Texas” is the occasion for this exhibition of a selection of these works. All but four of the sketches, as well as photographs documenting the Beardens’ and Rosenfields’ visit, have been loaned by Fran Bearden; Dallas collector Forest Felvey has loaned the remaining sketches. One of the sketches is a study for a landscape painting owned by Dallas collectors Don and Dian Malouf, which also is included in the exhibition. In addition, the exhibition includes items from SMU’s DeGolyer Library, such as transcripts of interviews with members of the film’s cast, Rock Hudson, Jane Withers, and Earl Holliman. These interviews were conducted by SMU history professor Dr. Ron Davis for DeGolyer Library’s Oral History Collection on the Performing Arts, now named in Davis’ honor.
Shaped by Water: Landscape Photographs by Carol and David Farmer
September 30 - November 17, 2005
This exhibition of large format black & white landscape photographs ranges from grand views in the American West to quiet, intimate scenes along streams in the Texas Hill Country, all of the images are of landscapes carved and scoured by water. They remind us that in the west water, our most critical natural resource, has profoundly shaped our environment for millions of years.
Carol studied photography with Charlie DeBus at SMU after retiring from a career in international consulting, while David turned to large format black & white images after retiring as director of DeGolyer Library at SMU and taking 35mm. photographs most of his life. The Farmers have also studied with John Sexton.
“Large format photography has opened a new way life for us, a life imbued with passion for a process that repeatedly leads us back to the real world we love,” the Farmers said. “We walk quietly into landscapes that inspire us to make photographs and allow us to experience the natural world more deeply and intensely than ever before. We wait for the gift of light, and when it comes, we make images. In sharing our work we hope to communicate the beauty of a land too often judged insufficiently ‘useful’ by those who champion its ‘development.”
Michael O'Keefe
June 17 - July 31, 2005
On view in the Mildred Hawn Gallery at Southern Methodist University were 29 individual works by sculptor Michael O’Keefe. These works included 22 small-scale drawings and seven sculptures, each about three feet in height. All were recent works, made within the previous six months. Having recently moved from Brooklyn N.Y., O’Keefe was working toward his MFA at SMU.
Within this exhibition O’Keefe worked exclusively with the figure- the isolated head and the full figure. These works revealed an interest in a historical tradition of drawing and sculpture, a decidedly non-mainstream aesthetic, and a seriousness of craft and content. This exhibition demanded more than casual perusal. The viewer was asked to draw connections between one drawing and another, between one sculpture and the next, and between the drawings and the sculpture as a whole. Some works echo artists of the past such as Rodin, Michelangelo, El Greco, and various modernist masters.
For the artist, this body of work is part of a larger exploration that began by asking the questions: Who is Abraham?, how does the figure of Abraham function for religious practitioners of today?, does Abraham have a face and what about those artists of the past who did personify Abraham?, and can a body or form be given to the figure of Abraham? According to O’Keefe this exploration (and the way he now views these works) opened back up onto larger, more general concerns of his regarding contemporary religious struggles, contemporary social and geo-political struggles, and the many other internal collisions within the individual psyche.
“Dis-Reality of the Southwest: Photographs by Jeffrey Junkin”
January 28 - April 28, 2005
January 28 through April 28, 2005 the Mildred Hawn Gallery exhibitied six photographic collages by Jeffrey Junkin, MFA candidate in photography.
THE SKETCHBOOKS OF OTIS DOZIER: A CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
October 15–December 5, 2004
From October 15 through December 5, the Mildred Hawn Gallery in SMU’s Hamon Arts Library exhibited thirty of Dozier’s sketchbooks, on loan from the Dallas Museum of Art. This sampling furnished insights into the research and execution of his depictions of landscapes, flora, and fauna of the American West as well as sketches resulting from the couple’s international travels. In addition to the sketchbooks displayed, a computer kiosk enabled visitors to “leaf through” a virtual representation of one of the sketchbooks, as well as selections from three others.
The Hawn Gallery exhibition was a companion show to one at Dallas’s McKinney Avenue Contemporary, November 6-December 10. This exhibition included several dozen of Dozier’s paintings, along with works on paper, photographs, and selected archival materials from the Otis and Velma Davis Dozier Collection. The curator for both exhibitions was Sam Ratcliffe, Head of the Jerry Bywaters Special Collections Wing in the Hamon Arts Library, the repository for the Dozier Collection.
Philip Van Keuren Early Collages, 1970-1974
March 15 - May 15, 2004
This exhibit brought together for the first time a selection of the early art works of Philip Van Keuren. Then an Associate Professor of Art in the Division of Art at Southern Methodist University, Van Keuren made many of these works prior to any formal university study. Self-taught to a large degree, the artist collected discarded blotters from his night job at the City of Dallas print shop to create small scale studies influenced by poetry, direct observations of the world, and folk art – specifically 19th century and early 20th Century American quiltwork. Painstakingly pieced together, the earliest works (on the wall to the right) not only reflect his patient and careful nature but perhaps more importantly a young artist's first artistic thoughts as he responds to his immediate world. Later works shown here (along the back and right-hand walls) served as studies for large-scale paintings done during his BFA studies at SMU between 1972 and 1974 before departing in January 1975 for New York City to attend the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. Van Keuren returned to SMU at the conclusion of his Whitney studies earning his MFA in 1977. Acceptance to the prestigious McDowell Artist Colony and a lack of studio/storage space in 1978 necessitated the destruction of all the large paintings from that 72-74 period. While Van Keuren has worked in many media over his thirty-five year long artistic career, the early works remain important, (even critical,) to him and are central to understanding his work to date.
The Art of Conserving a Legacy: Greer Garson's "Auntie Mame" Scrapbook
January 23 - March 7, 2004
From January 23 through March 7, the Mildred Hawn Gallery in SMU's Jake and Nancy Hamon Arts Library was the venue for "The Art of Conserving a Legacy: Greer Garson's 'Auntie Mame' Scrapbook." This Exhibit highlights the efforts to conserve and protect over 120 scrapbooks donated to the Hamon Arts Library by Ms. Greer Garson in 1992. Nominated seven times for an Academy Award, Greer Garson received the Best Actress award in 1942 for her role in "Mrs. Miniver." Treatment of the scrapbook included making a complete microfilm and photographic record of the contents, dismantling it, de-acidifying the contents, and re-housing them in an acid-free environment. The scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, and other papers in the Greer Garson Collection are housed in Bywaters Special Collections.
A Passion for Flowers, An Eye for Detail
July 5 - August 24, 2001
The work in this exhibit was produced by students in the beginning and intermediate Botanical Art courses presented in the spring by SMU’s Informal Courses for Adults. Cynthia Padilla, professional artist and illustrator, was the instructor for the courses. Ms. Padilla offered Botanical Drawing again during the Informal Courses fall term.
"Mexican Dances"
March 12 - May 25, 2001
From March 12 through May 25, 2001, the Hawn Gallery exhibited selections from Mexican Dances, a portfolio of illustrations depicting dances and indigenous dance costumes from the regions of Mexico; the portfolio also contains examples of musical accompaniments for the dances.
The portfolio was published by Mexico City's Riveroll's Art Gallery in 1947. This exhibition was one of the events of SMU's "Spanish academic year," held in conjunction with the opening of the university's new facility for the Meadows Museum in March 2001.
Willard Clark - Santa Fe Printer and Printmaker
January 16 - March 2, 2001
"Called an artist my many, he said he was simply a craftsman. Living the majority of his life in modest anonymity, Willard Clark left scant evidence of how he conducted his printing business. Not only was there little traditional documentation useful to a biographer, Clark refused to grant any recorded interviews. He left a few albums of his commercial printing work, some scattered notes, and job tickets for no more than six months in the middle of a business that ran for thirteen years. In addition, we have recollections of a coworker from the 1930s, David Allen, and Clark's grandson, Kevin Ryan, to whom he taught the techniques of wood engraving and fine printing."
–Dr. David Farmer, Director of DeGolyer Library
LINDA FINNELL [1948-1999]: Diaries, Handmade Books, and Other Ephemera
October 27 - December 8, 2000
The material presented in this exhibition, and the exhibition in the Pollock Gallery is but a very small portion of the artwork Linda Finnell produced during her lifetime of making. Finnell’s creative nature emerged at age ten in the form of complex diaries and stories. Remarkable for their content and form, many of these early works were made public here for the first time.
Governments at War: The Art of Persuasion
September 11 - October 20, 2000
To commemorate Southern Methodist University’s 75 year commitment to the U.S. Federal Depository Library Program, staff in the Central University Libraries highlighted portions of the depository collection in an exhibit of vintage World War II posters, booklets, pamphlets, and ephemera.
On display were several posters produced by the British, Canadian, and United States governments. In addition, posters issued by the National Association of Manufacturers and the Czech resistance were displayed. Pamphlets are official government publications issued through the U.S. Depository program.
Charles DeBus: New Work
April 27 - September 4, 2000
"These prints are made with alternatie photographic processes using found objects and photographic negatives with the addition of drawing color. Technically, I am attempting to create new realities. Sometimes there is an ambiguity of space or perspective but I am always trying to make feathers float or sway, the moon to shine and plants to glow with life. It is my hope that these images bring to the viewer myths and folk tales asleep in the hearts of all."
– Charles DeBus
Selections From Pueblo Indian Pottery
March 13 - April 19, 2000
The 25 lithoraphs included in the show were selected from the portfolio: Pueblo Indian Pottery, 100 Reproductions in Color from Specimens in the famous Collection of the Indian Arts Fund (Volumes I & II). Introduction and notes by Kenneth M. Chapman, Curator of Indian Arts Fund and the Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe (New Mexico). Published by C. Szwedzicki, Nice (France), 1933 & 1936 respectively. Fine Arts Collection, Hamon Arts Library.
The Legacy of Lucy Shoe Meritt: Texas Contributions to Etruscan Archaeology
November 22, 1999 - February 4, 2000
In this exhibition, we saw just a few examples of Etruscan research with ties to scholars and students in Texas, all of whom acknowledge their great debt to Lucy Shoe Meritt's guidance and friendship.