View this email in your browser
by Rowan Johnson
SOU Class of 2025, Creative Writing

Deborah Oropallo and Michael Goldin, Haveahart, 2020, Have-a-heart traps, costumes, wig, taxidermy bird, concrete stilettos, artificial apple, deer hides, masks, wood, plastic, glass, and acrylic paint. Courtesy of the artists and Catharine Clark Gallery

Taxidermy


The practice of preserving animals after their death goes back to the ancient Egyptians. They would place stuffed animal skins into tombs along with pharaohs and nobility to ensure they made it to the afterlife safely. Taxidermy as we know it today emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries as a curiosity of the natural world entered public consciousness. It became a common way for European scientists to study and examine animals they otherwise wouldn’t have had access to. Education through seeing different animals led to the bison range in Yellowstone Park being federally protected. Artists Deborah Oropallo and Michael Goldin use a taxidermy bird in their piece Haveahart to watch over the traps. It’s perched on the Snow White trap, alluding to her connection with nature in a darker way. Learn more about taxidermy with the link below, and find Haveahart in the Main Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art until May 25th.

https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/taxidermy-in-art/

Deborah Oropallo and Michael Goldin, 86 Porcelain Boots, 2023, rawhide, ceramic, thread, and plastic. Courtesy of the artists and Catharine Clark Gallery

Rawhide

 
From weaving material to instruments, rawhide has been used for a variety of things throughout history. It’s more stiff and brittle than other types of leather, but the tautness is good for drumheads and furniture that doesn’t need to flex. In fact, leather-bound books that used rawhide still survive to this day. Many different cultures used different forms of rawhide. From pre-colonial America to Medieval Europe, tools made from rawhide could be found in everyday households. Artists Deborah Oropallo and Michael Goldin connect to this lasting tradition with their piece 86 Porcelain Boots, which features a stool made from rawhide. Learn more about the historic and current uses of rawhide with the link below, and find 86 Porcelain Boots in the Main Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art.

https://leatherunltd.com/blogs/news/rawhide-101-how-rawhide-is-made-its-uses-and-the-history-behind-it 

Deborah Oropallo, Disarm, 2020, letterpress print from an engraved woodblock and polymer plate, with wood type and hand-painted Japanese watercolor. Courtesy of the artist and Catharine Clark Galleries.

Japanese Watercolor

Gansai paints, or Japanese watercolors, are paint pigments traditionally made with animal glue binders. They’re more opaque than western watercolors because of the ratios of pigment to binder and adhesive. Gansai is buildable, with effects ranging from slightly translucent to almost full color. It also tends to be easier to lift off of paper since the paint reactivates with water easier than Western watercolors. Since multiple pigments are used to make one color, it is recommended to not mix Gansai paints. The variety of colors means there’s little need to create new ones, though. Artist Deborah Oropallo plays with the intricacies of Gansai paint in her piece Disarm, which can be found in the Suzanne Homes Building located up the hill behind the museum. See examples of Gansai watercolor with the link below, and see how Oropallo uses it in Disarm while it’s still on view.

https://www.jcccw.org/nikkei-news/2022/7/27/gansai-an-exploration-into-japanese-watercolors 

Discover More!


Tuesday Tours

Join us on Tuesdays at 12:30pm for a FREE Docent Led Tour of our current exhibition. Registration is not required but recommended. Register Now


Inside the Museum Archive

Visit the Inside the Museum Archive to read past editions.

 Subscribe to our YouTube Channels
The Schneider Museum of Art and the Oregon Center for the Arts now have YouTube channels. Subscribe today to stay up to date on all the art happenings at SOU.
From the Archive
(VIDEO) Creative Industries Discussion: Wesley Hicks 2024 VAST Resident
Schneider Museum of Art Schneider Museum of Art
Oregon Center for the Art Oregon Center for the Art

Thank you to our sponsors!

James M. Collier

Jeannie Taylor
Twitter
Facebook
Website
Email
Instagram
YouTube
The Schneider Museum of Art is located within the ancestral homelands of the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawa peoples who lived here since time immemorial. These Tribes were displaced during rapid Euro-American colonization, the Gold Rush, and armed conflict between 1851 and 1856. In the 1850s, discovery of gold and settlement brought thousands of Euro-Americans to their lands, leading to warfare, epidemics, starvation, and villages being burned. In 1853 the first of several treaties were signed, confederating these Tribes and others together – who would then be referred to as the Rogue River Tribe. These treaties ceded most of their homelands to the United States, and in return they were guaranteed a permanent homeland reserved for them. At the end of the Rogue River Wars in 1856, these Tribes and many other Tribes from western Oregon were removed to the Siletz Reservation and the Grand Ronde Reservation. Today, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (https://www.grandronde.org) and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (http://www.ctsi.nsn.us/) are living descendants of the Takelma, Shasta, and Latgawa peoples of this area. We encourage you to learn about the land you reside on, and to join us in advocating for the inherent sovereignty of Indigenous people.
Copyright © 2018 Schneider Museum of Art, All rights reserved.

Our address is:
555 Indiana Street
Ashland, OR 97520

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.