www.stetsonreporter.com
Thursday, September 17, 2009
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by Maria Wrabel
The Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center and Duncan Art Gallery exhibits opened on
Friday, September 11, 2009. The exhibits include two collections: pieces from Oscar
Bluemncr, and selections from the works of our very own Dr. Gary Bolding, chair of the
Art department. The Hand Art Center was finished in the spring of 2009. Though it was
open briefly at the end of last semester for a few private showings, this is the first time it
has been open to the general public.
Oscar Bluemner was a famous artist in the early twentieth century. Born in Germany
in 1867, he was trained in architecture. When he moved to the United States in 1892,
he gradually moved from architecture to painting. Upon his death in 1938, he left his
paintings to his daughter, Vera Bluemner Kouba. His works reflect this progression from
German to American, and his exploration of everything from romantic art to Modernist
art. Curator Dr. Roberta Favis, an art history professor here at Stetson, noted that he was
a rather modest character. The thirty-five black and white pieces in the collection were
found in a portfolio beneath his sofa. He had no reason to be: some of Bluemner's works
were shown in the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City.
The Bluemner collection consists of works donated to Stetson by his daughter. Though
Please See "Bluemner," P. 3
by Stephen Atkinson i
On this September 11th, I did not witness a national atrocity, but rather quite a delight-;
ful art show. As the first show to debut in the Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center, I feel as
though this grand opening was indeed grand. The main exhibit was featuring the art of
Oscar Bluemner and was named "The Making of a Modem American Painter. The second ;
of these exhibits, as well as the most extensive, (expanding over into the rooms cf The
Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center) was of the art of Stetson's very own Gary Bolding,:;
whose exhibit was labeled "Itching and Scratching."
I arrived a few minutes early with some others, but soon gained early entry into the
show by unknowingly helping Gary Bolding bring in a few bags of ice for the free wine
offered from behind the ordurves table. Although I got to see the art show before any
other patron, I soon went back outside when the feeling of uninvolved awkwardness
overwhelmed me.
Once I re-entered the exhibits and began to actually scan the paintings I saw, I was able
to notice the two distinct styles between Bolding and Bluemner, which also caused me
to wonder why these two artists were actually paired together in this opening in die first
place. To this 1 can assign no real answer, but only can assume that those who planned :
Pleas© See MB©k!taiJ3s P. 3;
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