Learn about the Role of the Visual Arts in Education

The Figge Art Museum presents the program "Why Art History Matters" in conjunction with the new exhibition Celebrating Ideas: Bridging Communities with Augustana's Liberal Arts through the AGES from 4-5:30 pm Tuesday, March 29. The program will be presented by Dr. Catherine Goebel, Paul A. Anderson Chair for the Arts and Chair of the Art History Department at Augustana College. She is also co-curator of the exhibition, which runs through May 29. Dr. Goebel will explain how the visual arts are a resource for teaching critical thinking, comparative analysis, and chronological developments while highlighting several works in the exhibition. The program is also open to the public. Light refreshments will be served from 3:30-4:00 pm. Reservations are appreciated; please call 563.326.7804 x2045.

Admission to the museum and program is $5. Admission is free to Figge members, college professors and students.  

Talk on Rendering Volcanoes in Art and Literature

The Figge Art Museum presents the third talk in the series Artists and Writers at 7 pm Thursday, March 24. Dr. Beatrice Jacobson, who teaches early American literature and creative nonfiction as well as courses in women's studies at St. Ambrose University, will present the lecture "Rendering Volcanoes." Professor Jacobson's focus on Emily Dickinson and her ongoing research in Ecuador have led to her interest in volcanoes and she will connect her research to the Figge painting The Bay of Naples by William Stanley Haseltine, which is on display in the American Gallery. The Artists and Writers series explores how writers and artists inspire each other as well as how writers and artists treat similar themes, and is part of the Figge's weekly Thursdays at the Figge programming. The final talk in the series is scheduled for March 31.

Admission to the museum and lecture is $7. Admission is free to Figge members and Institutional members. The Figge Arts Café and Bar will be open before and after the lecture.

WHAT: View the first works of art from the Augustana College collection to be installed at the Figge Art Museum.

WHEN: 9 a.m. Friday, March 18, 2011 at the Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second St., Davenport, IA, 52801

WHO: Dr. Cathy Goebel, professor of art history at Augustana will be available to answer questions about the exhibition and AGES program.

OTHER INFORMATION:

Media will enter the Figge through the loading dock entrance just east of the main entrance, where they will be met by staff who will guide them to the installation. Dr. Goebel will be available to provide information on the works of art on display.

The installation features some of the most celebrated works in the Augustana collection, including pieces by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Mary Cassatt, and others.

Opportunity to learn about Baroque Art

The Figge Art Museum is offering a five-week art history course on Baroque art at 2:00-3:30 pm on Sundays, March 13-April 10. This course is an introduction to Baroque art of the 17th and early 18th centuries in Europe. Artists discussed in this course include Caravaggio and Bernini in Italy, Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck in Flanders, Diego Velázquez and Francisco de Zurbarán in Spain, Rembrandt and Vermeer in the Dutch Republic, and Georges de la Tour and Claude Lorrain in France. The works of art will be discussed in relation to the historical context in which they were produced, with particular emphasis placed on contemporary art theory, systems and patterns of patronage, and religious ideologies. The course will be taught by Dr. Anne Muraoko, an independent art historian specializing in Renaissance and Baroque art.

The course is free to Figge members. For information about membership, visit www.figgeartmuseum.org or contact the membership office at 563.326.7804 x2007.

NOW ON EXHIBITION:

Tracks: Photography and the Railroad from the George Eastman House Collection | Through April 23, 2011

Crossing the Mississippi: The Quad Cities, the Railroad and Art | Through April 24, 2011

University of Iowa School of Art Faculty Exhibition | Through March 6, 2011

The John Deere Collection | Through May 2011

Legacy for Iowa: Pollock's Mural and Modern Masterworks from the University of Iowa Museum of Art | Ongoing

Portraits: Photography from the Brent Sikkema Collection | Ongoing

Frank Lloyd Wright: The Art Living | Ongoing

 

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS: 

Celebrating Ideas: Bridging Communities with Augustana's Liberal Arts through the Ages | Mar 19 through May 29, 2011

Waterviews from the Figge Collection | May 7 through Aug 21, 2011


Thursdays at the Figge returns to the Figge on Thursday, February 17, 2011 with the special lecture "The World's Most Perfect Servant: The Pullman Porter Company and the African-American Experience," presented by Peter A. Hansen in conjunction with the current exhibition "Tracks: The Railroad in Photographs from the George Eastman House Collection" and Black History Month.  Mr. Hansen is the editor of the scholarly journal Railroad History and will travel from his home in Kansas City to Davenport by train for this lecture.  This lecture will be held at 7:00 PM in the Figge Auditorium.

The porters of the Pullman Company served as bellmen, concierges, housekeepers and more in the railroads' sleeping cars, yet their role in the American consciousness is even harder to define.  Were porters "the world's most perfect servants," as Pullman's advertising boasted, or a symbol of racial oppression? Icons of gracious travel or underpaid victims? More than 40 years after the Pullman Company went out of business attitudes about its frontline employees reflect our continued ambivalence.  This lecture will offer insights on the Pullman porters, their work, and their role in the modern civil rights movement.

Thursdays at the Figge on February 24th will feature a performance of Railroad Songs and Stories by Roald Tweet, professor emeritus of English at Augustana College and host of WVIK's Rock Island Lines, and musician Chris Dunn.

Thursdays at the Figge in March will feature "Artists and Writers," a series of talks by English professors from area colleges and universities on the unique relationship between literature and art.

Thursdays at the Figge programming in February also include a guided gallery tour at 6 PM and live music by Buddy Olson. The café and bar open at 5 PM for dinner and drinks and the museum is open until 9 PM. All programs are included with admission to the museum and all college students and faculty receive free admission after 5 PM every Thursday night.

Tracks and its educational programming are funded in part by the Riverboat Development Authority, Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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