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News | Krannert Art Museum

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  • KAM Publications Win Prestigious Design Awards

    The catalogue for KAM's 2010 exhibition, The Strange Life of Objects: The Art of Annette Lemieux, was one of five publications to win Awards of Distinction from the Society of Typographic Arts (STA), as well as the Judge's Choice. 

  • Fifty Years: Contemporary American Glass from Illinois Collections (January 27–April 29, 2012)

    Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion is honored to present Fifty Years: Contemporary American Glass from Illinois Collections...

  • KAM Opens Renovated, "Reimagined" African Gallery

    Krannert Art Museum opens its newly designed gallery devoted to the arts of Africa. Encounters: The Ats of Africa is a thematically organized installation inspired by the idea that art objects can "tell multiple stories."

  • Kathleen Harleman Wins 2013 Ace Award for Arts Advocacy

    The Champaign County Arts Council 40 North/88 West awarded Krannert Art Museum Director Kathleen Harleman an ACE award for her arts advocacy work in Champaign-Urbana and the state of Illinois.

  • Krannert Art Museum Wins AAMC Award for Excellence

    Krannert Art Museum (KAM, http://kam.illinois.edu) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was the recipient of a 2013 Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC, http://www.artcurators.org) Award for Excellence for its permanent collection installation, Encounters: The Arts of Africa, curated by Allyson Purpura. The installation was awarded co-First Prize in the annual AAMC Awards of Excellence for exhibitions organized by museums with operating budgets of under $4 million. The AAMC Awards of Excellence were formally announced on May 5, 2014 at the AAMC annual conference at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

  • Conservation | Yves Klein

    Conservator Jackie Wilson of Wilson Conservation, Brooklyn, NY, was recently onsite at KAM to conserve an Yves Klein sculpture in the permanent collection...

  • Studio Blue/KAM Awarded for Design Excellence

    The University and College Designers Association has honored Krannert Art Museum publications, designed by Studio Blue, Chicago, with three prestigious awards, including a gold award for the Blind Field exhibition catalogue (2013).

  • 2014 Fall Newsletter Available Online

    Krannert Art Museum's Fall 2014 newsletter is now available in print and online.

  • KAM Curator Allyson Purpura and Asst. Professor Prita Meier Awarded NEH Planning Grant

    Krannert Art Museum curator of African Art Allyson Purpura and Prita Meier, Assistant Professor of Art History, have received a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) planning grant for the museum exhibition World on the Horizon: Swahili Arts Across the Indian Ocean.

  • Amy L. Powell Joins Krannert Art Museum as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

    Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is pleased to welcome Amy L. Powell as the museum’s curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

  • Japanese Printmaking Explored at Krannert Art Museum | "The Creative Print Movement in Japan" to Feature Illinois Faculty

    Visitors to Krannert Art Museum (KAM, http://kam.illinois.edu) are invited to explore Japanese printmaking by participating in a Gallery Conversation entitled “The Creative Print Movement in Japan,” Oct. 2 at 5:30 p.m. in the museum’s Asian Gallery. 

  • "What Does Black Masculinity Look Like?" Blackness, Gender & Contemporary African Dance

    Krannert Art Museum (KAM, http://kam.illinois.edu) will host its second Global Africa Community Forum on Thurs., Oct. 9 at 5:30 p.m. The event, titled What Does Black Masculinity Look Like? Blackness, Gender and Contemporary African Dance, will be a dynamic and participatory public forum for engaging issues relating to the arts, cultures and communities of Africa and the African diaspora. This year’s forum explores experiences of blackness, gender and coming of age.

  • International video exhibition and Japanese vampire film coming to Krannert Art Museum

    Starting Oct. 17, Krannert Art Museum will celebrate video art’s early beginnings and its first major practitioner, Nam June Paik (1932–2006), with the opening of “Global Groove 1973/2012.” Later in the month, the museum will host a free screening of Japanese silent film "Sanguivorous" as part of the Sudden Sound Concert Series.

     

  • KAM Chamber Music Series Blends Music and Visual Arts

    Produced in partnership with the University of Illinois School of Music, the KAM Chamber Music Series will feature three free, hour-long concerts from School of Music faculty, students, and artists-in-residence in the museum's Gelvin Noel Gallery. Fall 2014 performers include the Jupiter String Quartet, the Obsidian Saxophone Quartet, and Lyric Theatre @ Illinois performers Sarah Wigley Johnson and Michael Tilley.

  • Nov 2014 Construction, Parking, and Access

    Beginning in November 2014, there will be road construction along Peabody Drive at Fourth Street near the museum. The project is expected to extend into January 2015.

  • Lorado Taft: The Sculptor's Legacy

    Lorado Taft: The Sculptor’s Legacy 

    Lorado Taft is known to University of Illinois students and alumni worldwide for creating the revered Alma Mater statue.  Learn about his American art legacy in presentations from experts Robert La France, co-editor of the new book Lorado Taft: The Chicago Years, and Wayne Pitard, Director of the Spurlock Museum. 

    December 4, 2014, 4:00-5:00pm

  • "MetaModern" and Art of William Wegman Headline Spring Season at KAM

    With its emphasis on function and utility, use of modern materials and manufacturing methods, and embrace of abstraction, modernist design was on the cutting edge of mid-20th century style, influencing architecture, art, the design of furniture and household objects, typography and graphic design. 

    Modernism has ignited a new passion among designers and collectors, who value the movement’s objects as historical icons. It also has inspired artists who are using modernist design objects in their own work to comment on the movement’s cultural significance. That artwork forms the exhibition “MetaModern,” opening at Krannert Art Museum on Jan. 29. It is one of five temporary exhibitions at the museum. The opening night reception is 6 p.m. Jan. 29, with comments by “MetaModern” co-curators Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox. 

     

  • Interview | Glen Davies on "The Hairy Who"

    KAM recently sat down with artist and adjunct Assistant Professor Glen Davies for a talk about Imagism and the upcoming film and talkback discussion of "Hairy Who and the Chicago Imagists" (2014) at the Art Theatre Co-op at 7:30 pm February 23.

  • Thanks to the Friends of Krannert Art Museum!

    I love being a part of the Krannert Art Museum team. It is amazing to see all that goes on “behind the scenes” to create the thought provoking temporary exhibitions, the installations of works throughout the museum from the permanent collection, and the intense research, planning, coordination, and programming that goes into making KAM what it is. Our teamwork extends to all who support this great work at KAM, especially the Friends of Krannert Art Museum

     

  • MetaModern Draws Attention

    Select Press Coverage of the KAM exhibition MetaModern 

  • William Wegman (MFA '67) Returns to Campus and Krannert Art Museum

    Krannert Art Museum and the School of Art and Design hosted a visit by University of Illinois alumnus William Wegman this week. During his time on campus, Wegman spoke with MFA students, including studio visits and critiques, and had creative time with local elementary school students in the Krannert Art Museum–Week at the Museum (KAM–WAM) program. Wegman's visit, sponsored in part by the Art + Design Ed Zagorski Visitors Fund, culminated with an artist talk attended by more than 400 visitors, including U of I Chancellor Phyllis Wise and Dean Edward Feser from the College of Fine and Applied Arts

  • New Terrains: The Landscape Reviewed

    On Friday, March 13th and Saturday, March 14th, the Society for Art History and Archaeology (SAHA) hosted New Terrains: The Landscape Reviewed, an IPRH-funded interdisciplinary symposium and exhibition aimed at re-considering the landscape in visual practice, co-sponsored by the Krannert Art Museum, the departments of Art History and Art Education, and the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies.

  • On the Road | Spring is MFA Season!

    Spring is MFA season for university art museums. Shortly after we finished installing our annual Master of Fine Arts Exhibition at KAM, I traveled to the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University to serve a a guest juror their MFA exhibition and prize.

  • Sudden Sound Season 10 | Gerald Cleaver's Black Host to Perform April 23

    Jason Finkelman, organizer of the Sudden Sound Concert Series at Krannert Art Museum, reflects on the tenth anniversary of the series and the upcoming April 23 appearance of Gerald Cleaver's Black Host.

  • Ephemeral wall drawing by Victor Ekpuk at Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. April 2015. Photo by Allyson Purpura.

    On the Road | Dartmouth's Hood Museum Hosts KAM's "Auto-Graphics: Recent Drawings of Victor Ekpuk"

    KAM Curator of African Art, Allyson Purpura, on the opening of "Auto-Graphics" at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH

  • Students from the School of Music perform with Lyric Theatre's "Singing in the Spring", April 30, 2015.

    Lyric Theatre "Singing in the Spring" at Krannert Art Museum

    Lyric Studio provides an introduction to stagecraft and ensemble and scene work through focused study of specific periods in the history of sung theater. This semester, Professors Sarah Wigley Johnson and Michael Tilley chose baroque opera and Tin Pan Alley as the areas of specialization.

  • KAM-WAM students from Robeson and Thomas Paine Elementary schools sing "Everything Is Awesome!" from the LEGO' Movie on the lawn in front of Krannert Art Museum

    Education | C-U Creativity with KAM-WAM

    Kamila Glowacki and Heather Harris, members of the Krannert Art Museum Education team, give a fun inside look at the latest session Krannert Art Museum—Week at the Museum (KAM—WAM) with students from Robeson Elementary School in Champaign and Thomas Paine Elementary School in Urbana.

  • A variety of items from the Giertz Education Center displayed as part of the first annual Danville High School International Festival

    Education | Giertz Ed Center Readies for Summer

    As the academic year winds down, educators are returning items to the Giertz Education Center that they borrowed earlier this semester. We love seeing and hearing the great ways teachers use the art objects and education materials they receive from the Center. 

  • Volunteer | KAM to Offer New Class for Docents

    Krannert Art Museum (KAM) volunteer docents lead tours of the museum’s permanent collection and special exhibitions to pre K­–12 student and adult groups. They receive training on art history and teaching techniques. A new training class will begin in Fall 2015 to begin giving tours in January 2016. Applications are being accepted until June 15, 2015.

  • Road Work graphic | Krannert Art Museum project update

    News | Peabody Drive Construction (May 2015)

    Krannert Art Museum visitor information, including details of construction along East Peabody Drive from May 21 through June 6, 2015.

  • The Rosann Gelvin Noel Gallery will be newly renovated space to display works of art from the permanent collection at KAM.

    Major Gifts from Local Donors Support KAM Initiative

    Long time supporters of the arts at Illinois, Dick and Rosann Noel and Peter and Joan Hood, have made major gifts to support KAM's renovation efforts. As a result of their generosity, visitors will enjoy works of art from KAM's permanent collection in the "Rosann Gelvin Noel Gallery". In addition, hundreds of Champaign and Urbana elementary school students  and their teachers will participate in our groundbreaking education program, "Krannert Art Museum–Week at the Museum" (KAM–WAM) in the "Joan and Peter Hood Classroom". 

  • Gabriele Munter, The Blue Gable, 1911. Gift of Albert L. Arenberg 1956-13-1 (Post-conservation image courtesy of Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

    Conservation | "The Blue Gable" by Gabriele Münter

    In 2015, KAM contracted with Rimer Fine Art Conservation, a firm based in Chicago, for conservation work on Gabriele Münter’s oil painting The Blue Gable (1911). Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Amy L. Powell describes the project.

  • Maureen Warren, incoming Curator of European and American Art at Krannert Art Museum (Photo by Yvonne Carns)

    KAM Welcomes Maureen Warren as Curator of European and American Art

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill., August 1, 2015 —Krannert Art Museum (KAM, http://kam.illinois.edu), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is pleased to announce that Maureen Warren will become the museum’s curator of European and American Art.

  • Carol Lynn Comparetto (Central HS), Jill Lagerstam (Urbana HS), Shannon Percoco (Centennial HS) and Susan Gleason (Urbana HS) are acknoledged by CUSF Executive Director Molly Delaney during the opening day ceremony at Urbana Middle School, Urbana, Ill.

    Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation Announces Grant to Extend KAM-WAM Experience to Area High Schools

    Local teachers from Urbana, Centennial, and Central high schools were awarded a $2700 grant from the Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation "It's My I/D.E.A. Collaborative Grant". They will use the funds to create a shared arts education experience for their students at Krannert Art Museum that will reach 100 local high schoolers.

  • Luca Bonetti and Beth Nunan work to conserve Frank Stella's "Kosangrodek III" in the East Gallery at Krannert Art Museum (June 2015)

    Conservation | "Kozangrodek III" (1973) by Frank Stella

    This summer, Krannert Art Museum partnered with conservators Luca Bonetti and Beth Nunan to conserve the museum's large sculptural collage by American artist Frank Stella. Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Amy L. Powell, outlines the work completed and briefly discusses Stella's career.

  • Student Member Profile | Melody Chua

    Meet Melody Chua, a senior majoring in music who solved the KAM Newsletter Challenge and won a year-long student membership.

  • Nkata: An Installation by Nnenna Okore at Krannert Art Museum, Aug. 28 through Dec. 23, 2015

    Student Review | Makayla May Looks at Nkata

    A Senior majoring in Art History, Makayla May reviews the contemporary gallery exhibition Nkata: An Installation by Nnenna Okore, impressed by the installation she calls both "kinetic" and "haunting".

  • Kara Walker. Freedom, A Fable (1997). Courtesy of the University of Illinois Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Photo by Julia Nucci Kelly

    Student Review | Memory and "Attachment"

    Art History Senior at the University of Illinois Makayla May reviews the Attachment exhibition at Krannert Art Museum, using the concepts of memory and shared history as a way to connect artists, viewers, and objects on display. 

  • Student Profile of Kelsie Kahl (Industrial Design, '16)

    Student Profile | Kelsie Kahl

    Student profile of Industrial Design senior Kelsie Kahl, whose interest in design led her to explore a wide range of artwork at Krannert Art Museum. Recent travel to France also led Kelsie to a deeper connection with a painting by Camille Pissarro on view in the Bow Gallery.

  • Arts Exchange, Fall 2015 | College of Fine and Applied Arts

    First Ever Arts Exchange Workshops

    The College of Fine and Applied Arts is sponsoring two days of hands-on workshops throughout the college, including several workshops at Krannert Art Museum. 

  • Charli Brissey. Bodies and Attachment, November 2015.

    Dance at Illinois | Bodies and Attachment

    Dance at Illinois is investigating the concept of attachment and engaging with the Attachment exhibition at Krannert Art Museum through a research seminar led by Professor and MFA Program co-director Cynthia Oliver. One member of this seminar group, graduate student in dance Charli Brissey, reflects on the "appendages/love objects" theme and how it her continuing work as a dancer speaks to this form of attachment.

  • Documenting Dress Code Inequality

    Riley Corboy is an undergraduate student in the first year seminar Documenting Inequality, taught by Terri Weissman. He and his classmates are creating documentary films that explore student experiences of social and economic inequality. In the KAM Blog, Riley focuses on sexism and high school dress codes. | Documenting Inequality opens at 5pm December 3 at Krannert Art Museum.

  • Anne Galle Churin, a student at the cole du Louvre in Paris, spent the fall semester 2015 studying at the University of Illinois and held an Art History internship at Krannert Art Museum

    "Breaking Books": The Beauty and Dismantling of Medieval Manuscripts

    Anne Gaëlle Churin, a student at the École du Louvre in Paris, spent the fall semester 2015 studying at the University of Illinois and held an Art History internship at Krannert Art Museum under the supervision of KAM's Curator of European and American Art Maureen Warren. In this blog post, she outlines the practice of breaking ancient and medieval manuscripts into pieces for distribution to and study at academic institutions. While on campus, Churin studied manuscripts housed at the museum and at the University of Illinois Rare Book and Manuscript Library

  • tango

    Tango at KAM Celebrates Love

    Melih Sener describes Tango at KAM through a piece entitled Tango Is and invites all to a very special Valentine weekend version of Tango. 

  • Fletcher Benton's "China Moon" and Mirko's "Initiation" stand at the Peabody Street Entrance to Krannert Art Museum. Photo by Julia Nucci Kelly, 2014.

    Krannert Art Museum Named Top Historical Spot in Illinois

    The travel and tourism website TripAdvisor, in partnership with FlipKey, has named Krannert Art Museum at Illinois' top "Historical Spot Worth Traveling For" in its 50 State Series.

  • Design and Installation Specialist Walter Wilson, Collections Manager Kim Sissions, and Graduate Assistant C.J. McCarrick discuss the placement of "Ophelia" by Gerald Brockhurst in the Trees Gallery at Krannert Art Museum.

    'Ophelia' by Gerald Brockhurst now on view in the Trees Gallery

    Maureen Warren, Curator of European and American Art, describes a new addition to Trees Gallery, an etching by Gerald Brockhurst titled "Ophelia" (1942)

  • douard Manet. Berthe Morisot, 1872. Lithograph. Gift of James Russell Vaky 2002-1-1 (University of Illinois Board of Trustees on behalf of its Krannert Art Museum)

    Not Just a Pretty Face: Printed Portraits and the Legacy of Anthony van Dyck

    For most of us, portraits are a commonplace. We have grown accustomed to seeing yearbook photos, family portraits on holiday cards, and all those ‘selfies.’ But in the early seventeenth century, when Anthony van Dyck began his ambitious series called the “Iconography,” only the most powerful members of society—nobles, aristocrats, diplomats, and other VIPs—had their portraits distributed on a wide scale. Van Dyck had a novel idea; his print series included a self-portrait, portraits of other artists, art dealers, and collectors in addition to monarchs and statesmen. The idea of an artist depicting him or herself in print—in a reproducible, transportable, and comparatively inexpensive medium—had an enduring legacy in European and American art.

    Maureen Warren, Curator of European and American Art, on her recent collaboration with Victoria Sancho Lobis for the exhibition "Van Dyck, Rembrandt, and the Portrait Print" (Art Institute of Chicago; March 5, 2016–August 7, 2016), an upcoming lecture at the Krannert Art Museum Council Spring Luncheon titled "Not Just a Pretty Face: Printed Portraits and the Legacy of Anthony van Dyck," and the associated exhibition of portrait prints from the the Krannert Art Museum collection April 25–May 15, 2016.

  • Family Walk and Talk at Krannert Art Museum | February 2016 (Photo by Makayla May)

    Student Review | Family Walk & Talk

    Family Walk and Talk is designed to get families talking and engaging with art in the museum with the freedom of moving at their own pace. Family programs interns Aimee Schneider and Makayla May talk about the first event in February and invite families to the upcoming Family Walk & Talk on April 2.

  • Krannert Art Museum exhibition | Attachment , Installation view, 2015.

    Experience KAM Art Exhibitions through U of I Library Guides

    University of Illinois library staff at Ricker Library has created guides to recent art exhibitions at KAM. These tools will provide information on the artwork and artists featured in the museum's temporary exhibitions, including images, links to artist websites, and bibliographical suggestions for further investigation.

  • Architectural rendering of renovated Rosann Gelvin Noel Gallery at Krannert Art Museum, Courtesy Rice Lipka Architects

    Krannert Art Museum Renovation Plan Becomes Reality

    NEWS RELEASE: Champaign, Ill., April 13, 2016 - Krannert Art Museum (KAM) will act on its multi-year commitment to transform galleries and other public spaces by renovating four main floor galleries this summer. As a result, the museum will close to the public after the final day of its spring semester exhibition calendar, May 15, 2016. The Rosann Gelvin Noel Gallery and Annex, the Light Court Gallery and the Asian Gallery will be renovated during the summer and early fall.