Music Meets Painting and Art at Oberlin

WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS AND PIANO COMBINE IN CONCERT 

Watercolor artist Chuck Clevenger will present a free “concert-tableau,” or pictorial concert, on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 12-noon in the Dixon Ministry Center Recital Hall. Clevenger, also a concert pianist and a senior professor of music at Cedarville University, will perform five pieces of classical music that connect with five watercolor paintings created for the occasion.

Clevenger has painted for more than 50 years but said this is the first time he has combined painting and music. For this concert, Clevenger selected pieces by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy and Villa-Lobos, then created paintings that express the stories and emotions of the music. “I’ve gone into the music and painted something that means the same thing,” Clevenger said. “They’re all sending the same set of tensions to the audience.”

Outside the Recital Hall, 25 of Clevenger’s paintings will be displayed Feb. 20–28 in a free exhibit titled “Fleeting Visions.” Clevenger said watercolor paintings have a special ability to meld music and art because of their vague, impressionistic quality. The exhibit title is borrowed from Prokofiev, who connected “Fleeting Visions” with a set of piano music in the early 1900s.

Clevenger will also hold “meet the artist” hours to discuss his paintings. Guests may meet Clevenger in the music and worship office at 11 a.m. Feb. 21 or 4 p.m. Feb. 27 for a 45-minute tour of the exhibit and a time to ask questions.

Guests are invited to bring lunch to the concert, which is part of the department of music and worship’s Bach’s Lunch series. Water is the only liquid permitted in the Recital Hall. Guests may also purchase CDs, prints and cards of Clevenger’s work before and after the concert.

Oberlin's Spring Art Calendar  

First Thursday Lecture, March 6, 5:30 p.m., “What is Art For?”—Special guest Philip Yenawine is co-founder of the non-profit organization Visual Understanding in Education (VUE). His presentation will range from philosophical (what is art for?) to theoretical (what does research into aesthetic thought tell us about viewing art?) and practical (how do we empower viewers?). Yenawine will lead a discussion using the VUE curriculum, known as Visual Thinking Strategies, to illuminate these topics and offer visitors a chance to exercise their brains. This interactive curriculum is widely used in schools, as well as by the AMAM.

Tuesday Tea Talk, March 11, 2:30 p.m.—Art Professor Johnny Coleman talks about the life and career of self-taught Cleveland artist Rev. Albert Wagner, as well as outsider art in general.

First Thursday Lecture, April 3, 5:30 p.m.—Fred (OC 1974) and Laura Ruth Bidwell will discuss their joint passion for collecting art and their creation of the Transformer Station, a platform for emerging and mid-career artists located in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. The venue hosts contemporary art exhibitions, events, and music. Mr. Bidwell is interim director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Mrs. Bidwell was the founding curator of Akron’s Summit ArtSpace Gallery and is an established mixed-media artist, photographer, and videographer.

Tuesday Tea Talk, April 8, 2:30 p.m.—Classics Professor Thomas Van Nortwick discusses the myth of Achilles as seen in two AMAM paintings, Thetis and Achilles at the Oracle and Allegory of the Education of Louis XV.

Lecture, April 17, 5 p.m., Allen Art Building, Classroom 1, “Voice Amplified/Voice Interrupted: The Use of Punctuation Signs in Soviet Posters”—Coinciding with the exhibition The Legacy of Socialist Realism, Masha Kowell of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif., traces the syntactic, semantic, and graphic evolution of punctuation marks in Soviet propaganda posters. The talk is co-sponsored by Oberlin College’s Department of Russian and the Clowes Lecture Fund, and the history and sociology departments.

First Thursday Lecture—May 1, 5:30 p.m., At the Weltzheimer-Johnson House, Morgan Street (between house numbers 524 and 518)—In her talk titled “Growing with the Times,” Pradnya Martz discusses the largely unrealized landscape plan that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for Oberlin’s Usonian house. Martz has served as consulting curator for the house since 1998 and is an architect/project manager at Oberlin College. At the conclusion of her talk, Martz will lead a tour of the surrounding landscape and grounds.  NOTE: AMAM galleries close at 5 p.m. on May 1.

Tuesday Tea Talk, May 13, 2:30 p.m.—Annual tea with a presentation by an Oberlin College senior on a work in the AMAM collection.

Sunday Object Talks, 2 p.m.—Talks will be given February 9 through May 4 (except March 23 and 30, and April 20). Each student-led talk focuses on a work on view and lasts about 15 minutes, followed by time for questions.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT HOUSE

Beginning April 6, the Weltzheimer/Johnson House will hold open houses on the first and third Sundays of the month, from noon until 5:00 pm. Presentations begin on the hour. Admission is $5 per person. The house will not be open on Easter Sunday, April 20.

Admission is $5 per person. For information call 440-775-8671 or e-mail jtrimmer@oberlin.edu.

N E W   E X H I B I T I O N S

Between Fact and Fantasy: The Artistic Imagination in Print, through June 22

Prior to the widespread use of abstraction and photography, artists exercised their imaginations to depict miracles, mythological figures and creatures, visions, concepts, and places and historical events. As a counterpoint to the AMAM’s yearlong theme of realism, more than 140 prints from the permanent collection shed light on the question: How did artists depict things they did not directly observe?

The Legacy of Socialist Realism, through June 22

Select works reveal the influence of official styles behind the Iron Curtain on such artists as Christo and Gerhard Richter. Both artists rose to world fame, in part due to their rigorous training in Socialist Realist methods.

Prints and Printmaking, through June 22

This small exhibition focuses on the versatility of printmaking as a medium and illustrates five different techniques—from woodblock impressions to lithography—used by artists to produce different visual effects.

O N G O I N G   E X H I B I T I O N S

Regarding Realism—through June 22

Rejecting classical tradition, realists depicted the world around them, from landscapes and rural scenes to the grittiness of urban life. Their open-air paintings and sketches—a landscape study by Théodore Rousseau, for example—set the stage for the later works of Impressionist and post-Impressionist artists, including Claude Monet, whose Wisteria (1919-20) is featured.

Modern and Contemporary Realisms—through June 22

Works range from colorful expressionist paintings of the early 20th century to highly detailed photorealist works by Chuck Close and Audrey Flack. Highlights include Picasso’s 1911 canvas, Glass of Absinthe, and Red Grooms’ near-life-size Token Booth with Nude Commuters (1975).

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MUSEUM HOURS: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.; closed Mondays and major holidays. Free educational or group guided tours may be arranged by calling 440-775-8671.