Alex Ito, Western Verbiage III (belated gratitude, for Ashland and Jacksonville, Oregon), 2024 Enamel paint on resin, foam, oxidized iron powder, wood, moss, artificial plants, historical items from the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter Site 35JA737, 2024, courtesy of Southern Oregon University Anthropology Lab and the artist
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Artifacts
In the 1860s, Jacksonville, Oregon was a hot spot for Chinese miners during the Gold Rush. Due to The Chinese Exclusion Act and other discriminatory practices, Chinese immigrants were forced into the outskirts of white society for safety, creating small pockets that would become known as “Chinatowns.” In 1888, a fire swept through the Jacksonville Chinatown. In 2013, the Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology did an excavation of a burned-down home, retrieving a plethora of artifacts from the direct fire site and surrounding areas. These artifacts range from porcelain dishes to combs and other personal objects. Because of the ash from the fire, organic materials like animal bones were also preserved, giving an idea of husbandry practices and daily life in town. Artist Alex Ito incorporated some of these artifacts into his piece Western Verbiage III. Learn more about the artifacts and their historical context with the link below, and find Western Verbiage III in the Main Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art.
https://oregon-chinese-diaspora-project-sou.hub.arcgis.com/pages/jacksonville
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Frida Kahlo, El Aborto (Frida and the Miscarriage), 1932, lithograph, courtesy of private collection
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Frida Kahlo
Known as one of the most recognizable Mexican artists, Frida Kahlo was a major force in the surrealism and magical realism art movements. Her work was a bold display of psychological suffering, existentialism, and grappling with grief. She was the first woman artist to break into this genre of emotional and representational work, opening the door for other women to explore intellectual concepts reserved for men in art history. She is mostly known for her paintings, but she had dabbled in other mediums. She briefly worked with lithographs. Her time with them was short because of her poor physical health and how intensive the process was. She also started around the time of one of her miscarriages, a theme that appears in many of her pieces. Because of the emotionally intense nature of these works, Kahlo ended up burning all but three of them. El Aborto (Frida and the Miscarriage) is her only surviving lithograph and can be found in the Entry Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art. Learn more about Frida Kahlo and her work with the link below, and see her work in person before March 15th.
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Diane Arbus, Identical Twins, (Cathleen and Colleen), Roselle, New Jersey, 1966, gelatin silver print, courtesy of private collection
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Diane Arbus
American photographer Diane Arbus is known for her sharp black-and-white photography with gelatin silver prints. She is known for capturing subjects that lived in the margins: mothers, people with dwarfism, strippers, nudists, elderly couples, carnival performers, etc.. Her fascination with carnival performers specifically came out of a love for the traditionally bizarre and outcasted. These outlandish figures photographed against domestic backgrounds in emotionally honest moments are what made her work stand out. Her work was an inspiration to many other photographers and artists. Director Stanley Kubrick used Arbus’s photo Identical Twins, (Cathleen and Colleen), Roselle, New Jersey as inspiration for his movie “The Shining”. The iconic scene of the two twins next to each other mirrors Arbus’s piece. Learn more about Diane Arbus with the link below, and find Identical Twins, (Cathleen and Colleen), Roselle, New Jersey in the Main Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art.
"A photograph is a secret of a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." -Diane Arbus
https://www.moma.org/artists/208-diane-arbus
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From the Archive
(VIDEO) Creative Industries Discussion: Louise Mandumbwa
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