AUBURN – The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University has installed "Sound Mapping Alabama: A Journey through Alabama Navigated by Ear." This compilation of recordings collected in Alabama by Rich Curtis will be embedded in the museum's south garden through April 30.

The more than 30 recordings in Rich's outdoor sound piece include the sounds of swamp crickets chirping in Wind Creek, a gut-string banjo being played in Anniston, cars passing over the Edmond Pettis Bridge in Selma, Sacred Harp singing in Montgomery, hydraulics in a sock factory in Fort Payne, a rattlesnake sighting in Waverly, prayer in church in Camden and a Civil War funeral for an unknown Confederate soldier in Mobile.

Read the rest of this entry »

AUBURN – The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University will host its fourth annual "Art in Bloom" exhibition from Thursday, April 2, through Saturday, April 4, in a three-day event featuring art-inspired floral designs. "Art in Bloom" will be open to the public during regular museum hours beginning April 2 at 10 a.m.

The exhibition will showcase floral designers and garden club representatives from the community and across the Southeast with their interpretations of the museum's permanent collection. Lectures and demonstrations from experts on floral design will enhance the exhibition of paired floral arrangements and artwork.

Read the rest of this entry »

AUBURN – The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University will display selections of modern Mexican art from its permanent collection from March 7-May 30. On view in the Noel and Kathryn Dickinson Wadsworth Gallery, "El Alma Mexicana/The Mexican Soul," will feature paintings, prints, photographs and decorative arts. Bilingual exhibition labels will be provided.

"El Alma Mexicana" borrows a theme from the 1940 groundbreaking exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, "Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art," described as conveying in graphic form the essence of Mexican art and the soul of its people.

Read the rest of this entry »

AUBURN – In conjunction with an exhibition of 19th century photographs, Roger Hargreaves will give a talk on "The Social Context of 19th Century Portrait Photography," Thursday, Feb. 19, at 5 p.m., in the auditorium of Auburn University's Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art.

The museum galleries will be open until 8 p.m. as part of the museum's Third Thursday Free Night. A reception and a wine tasting by Gus's Fine Wine and Beer will follow the program.

Read the rest of this entry »

AUBURN – The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University is offering an opportunity, through membership in the 1072 Society, for patrons to help shape the future of the museum's permanent collection.

With their contributions of $1,072, members of the 1072 Society will do more than promote the growth of the collection. They will also build on efforts begun 60 years ago, with the purchase of thirty-six works of original art at a price of $1,072, to establish an art museum in the Auburn community. Those works, the "Advancing American Art" collection, were installed in the Jule Collins Smith Museum when it opened in 2003 as part of the museum's permanent collection.

Read the rest of this entry »

AUBURN – As one of only ten venues in five states to host the 2008-09 Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers, Auburn University's Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art will screen "Member of the Club" on Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. After the screening, the film's director, Phoebe Ferguson, will lead an audience discussion about the film and her work as a filmmaker.

"Member of the Club" tells the story of a debutante, Marisa Arianne Mitchell, who has been groomed from infancy to be a New Orleans Mardi Gras queen. With an observational, cinema verité approach, the film follows the Mitchell family through the 2003-04 debutante season as the debutante experiences a flurry of interviews, dress fittings, rehearsals, academic challenges and ball practices. The film explores black social clubs in the South, as well as issues of race, class and the powerful desire of an American family to belong.

Read the rest of this entry »

AUBURN –The first museum exhibition to highlight Victorian-era American and European photographs from the collection of Auburn University alumnus William Wiese is on view now through April 4 at The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University.   “Uniform Proof: 19th Century Photography in the Collection of William Wiese” features photographic images of women and children dressed in military regalia. The exhibition provides insight not only into 19th century European culture with its passion for investigation, collection, categorization and aestheticism but also into the art of early photography.

The children, shown dressed in the uniform of countries in the former British Empire, are dressed as military leaders of the era. The women subjects were primarily actresses dressed as soldiers and pirates with elaborate costumes and props. The portraits are 19th and 20th century originals and include royal figures such as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Read the rest of this entry »

AUBURN - The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University will present the Southern Arts Federation's second annual Short Circuit Traveling Film Festival on Tuesday, Jan. 27, beginning at 6 p.m. This public event is free, with complimentary snacks served at a 7 p.m. break in the three-hour program.

The Short Circuit Traveling Film Festival is the only program that spotlights short films created by filmmakers living and working in the Southeastern United States. It is comprised of 12 short films selected for their artistic merit by a panel of media arts professionals. This year's films range from fiction and animation to experimental and documentary by filmmakers from Georgia, Louisiana and Florida.

Read the rest of this entry »

AUBURN – In conjunction with an exhibition of his works on display at Auburn University’s Jule Collins Smith Museum, noted painter, printmaker and illustrator Rafal Olbinski will be at the museum Thursday, Jan. 15, at 5 p.m. to talk about his work. The exhibition, “New Dreams of Old Values,” will be at the museum through Feb. 28. This event is part of the museum’s Third Thursday Free Nights and is open to the public.

“New Dreams of Old Values” is a collection of recent paintings by the artist that build on a series of his works commissioned by the German periodical “Der Stern” to address issues of ethics and morality in the modern world. The works on display at the Jule Collins Smith Museum feature the artist’s recent musings on the subject, redeveloped as finished easel paintings. The exhibition is augmented by selected study drawings and a collection of Olbinski's printed posters.

Read the rest of this entry »

AUBURN - "Dark Harmony," a large-scale fabricated steel sculpture by award-winning artist Dorothy Dehner, is on exhibition in the Grand Gallery of Auburn University's Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art.

"Although the sculpture is abstract in composition, its jagged shapes and totemic structure reflect natural forms, such as a dancer's gestures or the silhouette of a tree," said museum director Marilyn Laufer. "‘Dark Harmony' displays a lyrical quality not found in the work of many of Dehner's first-generation abstract expressionist colleagues."

Read the rest of this entry »