Regional public artist’s retrospective exhibition opens at Iowa State | |
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AMES, IOWA — JANUARY 23, 2023 — The Christian Petersen Art Museum at Iowa State University, located at Morrill Hall, 603 Morrill Rd, will showcase the works of Minnesota-based artist Harriet Bart from January 25 to July 21, 2023.
Bart is known for her sculptures and installations that explore the materiality of objects. The exhibition Material Alchemy is curated by Sydney Marshall of University Museums and features works from across the decades of Bart’s career. Bart uses objects to tell a story; for example, Autobiography (2011) includes 70 test tubes, each representing a year of her life and containing something significant to the artist.
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Bart was born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1941. She earned a degree in textiles from the University of Minnesota in 1976. Much of her early work involved textiles and fiber arts: forms of expression that were traditionally women’s work and considered “craft” rather than art. Strong Silent Type I and II (2016), Concrete Poem (1985), and the earliest piece in the Material Alchemy collection, Ascension (1976), utilize fabrics and yarns to convey Bart’s feminist ethos. Bart would begin to use other types of objects in her work and eventually explore new mediums such as sculptures and books. | |
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One of Bart’s installations can be found in the Art on Campus Collection at Iowa State, just outside the south entrance to Morrill Hall near the Hub. Epilogue (2011) is a collection of sculptures that includes an owl, a bench, three metal columns and the inscription “Pay Attention to What They Told You to Forget.”
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Bart will attend the Opening Reception of her exhibit on January 25 and will give a talk discussing the evolution of her practice. The talk will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Morrill Hall Auditorium and will be followed by the reception from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Campbell Gallery of the Christian Petersen Art Museum in Morrill Hall.
University Museums curator Sydney Marshall will lead a tour of Material Alchemy on February 1 at 4:30 p.m. at the Christian Petersen Art Museum in Morrill Hall. This tour is free and open to the public.
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In collaboration with the Ames Writer’s Collective, University Museums will host a two-part event called Words Meet Art. “Words Meet Art is a literary arts event demonstrating through words how art, used as a writing prompt, can invoke feelings, trigger memories, and inspire conversations across divides and demographics,” said Ana McCracken, executive director of the Ames Writer’s Collective. “For inspiration, writers will interact with the Harriet Bart exhibition at the Christian Petersen Art Museum to compose and publicly read poems, flash fiction or creative nonfiction, and/or perform monologues or music. Words Meet Art is a community outreach program of the Ames Writers Collective.” | |
The first part this program requires registration and is a guided tour followed by a writing workshop that will be held on both Thursday, March 30 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 1 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The second part is a public reading of the writings produced in the workshop by the participants. This will be held on Sunday, April 2 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Visitors do not have to participate in the program to attend the reading. Both parts of the program are free and will be held at the Christian Petersen Art Museum in Morrill Hall.
Harriet Bart: Material Alchemy will be on exhibition in the Campbell Gallery and the Reiman Gallery of the Christian Petersen Art Museum at Morrill Hall (rooms 1017 and 0003), January 25 through July 21, 2023. Admission is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
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This exhibition is generously supported by the J.W. Fisher Endowed Arts Outreach Fund, Dana Schumacher, Marcia & Jim Borel, Phyllis & Larry Lepke, and University Museums membership. Educational support provided by the Kathy and John Howell Art Enrichment Program. | |
Find full descriptions of programs on the University Museums Calendar. All programs are free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged but not required. Events listed below will be at the Christian Petersen Art Museum unless otherwise noted. Programs are subject to change. Check the University Museums Calendar and Facebook page for the latest events information. | |
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Artist Talk & Opening Reception
Wednesday January 25, 2023, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Artist Talk at 5:30 p.m. at Morrill Hall Auditorium (2019 Morrill Hall)
Reception 6:30-7:30 p.m. (1017 Morrill Hall)
Join Minnesota-based artist Harriet Bart for the opening of her solo exhibition Harriet Bart: Material Alchemy in the Christian Petersen Art Museum.
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Words Meet Art | Part 1: Guided Tour & Writing Session
Option A: Thursday, Mar. 30, 6:00–8:30 p.m.
Option B: Saturday, Apr. 1, 10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Registration required, limited spots
For Part 1 of Words Meet Art, an outreach program of the Ames Writers Collective, participants will receive a guided tour of Harriet Bart: Material Alchemy to educate and inspire creativity. An introduction to “writing to writing prompts” will follow with writing sessions to connect writers to the exhibition. Session will be led by Ana McCracken, founder of the Ames Writers Collective, Iowa State University Creative Writing and Environment Program MFA candidate.
Note: Option A and Option B are both the same program at different days and times. Only register for one. Participants will have the opportunity to sign up for the public reading during Part 1.
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Words Meet Art | Part 2: Public Reading
Sunday April 2, 2023, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Writers who participated in Words Meet Art Part 1 will present their flash fiction, poems, creative nonfiction, a monologue, and/or perform music in response to the exhibition Harriet Bart: Material Alchemy in the Christian Petersen Art Museum. Words Meet Art is an outreach program of the Ames Writers Collective.
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Open House Weekend
Saturday & Sunday, Apr. 15–16, 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Having trouble getting to the museum during the week? Enjoy the University Museums’ central campus locations and spring exhibitions during an open house weekend, Saturday & Sunday, April 15 & 16 from 1:00-4:00p.m.
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Harriet Bart creates evocative content through the narrative power of objects, the theater of installation, and the intimacy of artists books. She has a deep and abiding interest in the personal and cultural expression of memory; it is at the core of her work. Using bronze and stone, wood and paper, books and words, everyday and found objects, Bart’s work signifies a site, marks an event, and draws attention to imprints of the past as they live in the present.
Bart’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Germany, and she has completed more than a dozen public art commissions in the United States, Japan, and Israel. She has been the recipient of fellowships from the Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, NEA Arts Midwest, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Since 2000, Bart has published numerous fine-press books and mixed media bookworks. She has won three Minnesota Book Awards, most recently in 2015 for Ghost Maps. Her work is included in many museum, university, and private collections. In 2020, the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis will present Harriet Bart: Abracadabra and Other Forms of Protection. Curated by Laura Wertheim Joseph, Abracadabra… will be the first retrospective and monograph of her work. Bart is a guest lecturer, curator, and founding member W.A.R.M. and the Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art in Minneapolis, MN.
harrietbart.com
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About the Christian Petersen Art Museum | |
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The Christian Petersen Art Museum was opened in a renovated Morrill Hall in 2007. The museum is named after the nation’s first permanent campus artist-in-residence, Christian Petersen, who sculpted and taught at Iowa State University from 1934 through 1955, and is considered the founder of the Art on Campus Collection. University Museums strives to preserve his legacy and continue his tradition of art on the Iowa State University campus through exhibitions and educational programs. The Christian Petersen Art Museum exhibits works of art by Christian Petersen in addition to a rotating schedule of exhibitions that includes contemporary art, public art, and exhibitions that engage a diverse group of departments across campus.
The Christian Petersen Art Museum is the home of the Christian Petersen Art Collection, the Art on Campus Program, the University Museums’ Visual Literacy and Learning Program, and contemporary changing art exhibitions. The art galleries are the Lyle and Nancy Campbell Art Gallery on the main floor, the Roy and Bobbi Reiman Public Art Studio Gallery on the lower level, and the Neva M. Petersen Gallery in the lower level hallway of Morrill Hall.
Christian Petersen Art Museum
1017, 0003, and 0003 hallway Morrill Hall
603 Morrill Road
Ames, Iowa
Museum hours:
Monday-Friday, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Closed weekends and University holidays & breaks
Admission:
Free (with a suggested donation of $8)
museums.iastate.edu
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University Museums is a distinctive organization that encompasses two art museums, a National Historic Landmark historic home museum, a sculpture garden, and one of the largest campus public art collections in the nation. University Museums brings world-class exhibitions with educational programming to Iowa State University, actively acquires works of art to add to the more than 30,000 permanent collection objects, conserves and preserves collections, conducts and publishes curatorial scholarship, and fosters student engagement.
museums.iastate.edu
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To schedule interviews, photograph events, or request high-resolution images, please contact Alisha Abner at 515.294.3342 or aabner@iastate.edu. | |
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Header: detail of Autobiography, 2011
Harriet Bart
Mixed media, test tubes, anodized aluminum, unique artist’s book
On loan from the artist
Photo: Rik Sferra
Autobiography, 2011
Harriet Bart
Mixed media, test tubes, anodized aluminum, unique artist’s book
On loan from the artist
Photo: Rik SferraAutobiography
Detail of Epilogue, 2011
Harriet Bart
Engraved limestone, bronze
Commissioned by University Museums. Pilasters originally located at Catt Hall, reinstalled in the Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden in 2011 as Epilogue; installation and additional sculptural elements funded by Arthur Klein. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
Detail of Autobiography, 2011
Harriet Bart
Mixed media, test tubes, anodized aluminum, unique artist’s book
On loan from the artist
Photo: Rik Sferra
Detail of Reckoning
Ames Writers Collective logo
Headshot of Harriet Bart, courtesy of the artist
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