The Arizona State University Art Museum Presents "Words of Art"

Written by Conrad Herzog Saturday, 18 June 2011 22:52

Tempe, AZ.- The Arizona State University Art Museum is pleased to present its 12th Annual Summer Family Exhibition, "Words of Art: Selections from the ASU Art Museum Collection". "Words of Art" will show how the written word is teamed up with a variety of visual arts. Hands-on activities throughout the exhibition inspire children through reading, writing and, of course, art. "Words of Art: Selections from the ASU Art Museum Collection" is on view through September 3rd.

As part of the exhibition, the ASU Art Museum will also be hosting a Family Fun Day on Saturday, July 9th from 10 am to 2 pm. The Family Fun Day brings the summer exhibition even more to life, and features art making projects, performances, and a visit from a PBS character from Eight/KAET. Support for this family exhibition and event is provided by the Windgate Charitable Foundation, ASU Art Museum Advisory Board, Friends of the ASU Art Museum, the Scottsdale League for the Arts, Valley Metro, Eight/KAET and Changing Hands Bookstore. Amongst the art in the exhibition are works by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Alfredo Manzo Cedeño, Roy Lichtenstein, Albrecht Durer and many more.


The ASU Art Museum was founded in 1950 with a significant gift of American and Mexican artworks purchased by Oliver B. James, a prominent local lawyer. James donated 149 works of art over a five-year span. The art collection originally was installed among the stacks of books in the Matthews Library. When the Hayden Library was completed in 1965, the books were removed and the art remained. From this humble single-gallery beginning, by 1978 the museum occupied the entire second floor of the Matthews Center with 10,000 square feet of exhibition space. The museum continued to expand in prints and a significant American craft collection; the ceramic collection increased dramatically in 1977 when a National Endowment for the Arts matching grant was awarded to the museum for the purchase of contemporary American ceramics. Ongoing gifts by collectors and supporters have significantly enhanced the collection, and the ASU Art Museum now boasts one of the largest contemporary American and British ceramic collections in the United States.

In April 1989, the ASU Art Museum opened additional space within the newly constructed Nelson Fine Arts Center. This museum facility now includes five expansive galleries, storage and processing areas and administrative offices. The staff nearly doubled with the addition of a curator of education, a print collection manager and more administrative and security personnel. In 1992 a commitment to fresh new approaches in exhibitions and collections was launched with the arrival of the museum's new director, Marilyn A. Zeitlin. Traditional art forms are not precluded but opportunities are sought to address the theoretical issues of more traditional work while promoting the investigation of new viewpoints. The craft and print areas remain an important part of the ASU Art Museum's holdings. More emphasis has been given to contemporary artists, both regional and international, and to Latin American art. The museum continues to be housed in two facilities: the Nelson Fine Arts Center and the new Ceramics Research Center, which opened to the public in March 2002.

Visit the museum's website at ... http://asuartmuseum.asu.edu

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