Wait…There’s a Museum on Campus?
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Who actually goes into the Katzen museum? I’ve always said that I wanted to, but the sculptures outside are enough to give me some art fulfillment for a while. Any art student who spends any time at all in Katzen must pass by the museum. I mean hello, the Katzen café is right next door. We always have the excuse that there is no time, or no interest, because who wants to walk around a campus museum? Personally, I have always loved going to museums, like the Guggenheim in NYC. And who doesn’t love the Newseum? Am I right? So I was reading Today@AU, like the minority of students who do, and I checked the ‘upcoming events’ section only to find out that the exhibit is changing!
Starting January 25th, six new artists have been on display. As I walked by the museum this evening, I saw a crazy, yet beautiful, looking lady who took up the entire back wall of the gallery. The museum itself is actually pretty big. We’ve all heard that Katzen is as long as the Washington Monument is tall, or something. Well that tidbit is certainly confirmed after I spent about an hour admiring the wall art of different incredible, and mostly young, professional artists.
Dafna Kaffeman’s art is definitely my favorite on display. Her 3-D statues and sculptures are made of all glass and replicate anything found in nature, like leaves or fur. It so cool how glass can look so, well, soft and comforting. If you were to look at her sculpture with the naked eye, you would never in a million years guess that it was glass…but indeed it is! She has a variety of sizes of her artwork; however, her smaller, delicate pieces, as well as her large-scale installations deal with issues raised by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (She is an Israeli artist.)
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Along with the rest of the art hanging in Katzen made by students, the building is truly beautiful. The only difference is that the art in the rotunda and by the stairs in interactive. Does anyone remember that awesome rope-ish, wheel thing that was attached to wall all the way to the left side of the building last semester? No? Not a good enough description? The interactive display had a rope which you could pull and wheels would turn, and it was really really cool. Anyway, I’m just saying that maybe one day our students’ artwork will be on display in the Katzen museum.
Oh – and go check it out before the exhibit closes, you’ve got until March 13th. Free admission 11-4 Tuesday through Sunday.
Posted in City Life
February 18th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Student work will be on display in the museum April 2 – May 15, 2011.
February 21st, 2011 at 11:15 am
I was pleased to see your piece about the Katzen; it is not as much appreciated here in DC (and, I suspect, even among AU students generally — my niece’s daughter has yet to visit!) as it deserves.
Our newspaper, The InTowner, has covered its special exhibitions for a number of years. As our art writer prefaced his review of last spring’s review of the “New Art from Lebanon” show, he referred to the museum’s “stellar and continuing efforts to mount exhibitions of strong contemporary art from around the world. . . .” That review can be read in the May 2010 issue PDF’s At the Museums column), found in our Current & Back Issues Archive (www.intowner.com).
Likewise, we published three other exhibition reviews in 2010 alone and a reading of those will surely provide a window into the depth and quality that museum director Jack Rasmussen has brought to the Katzen these past years.
So, also, in the At the Museums column, see the the review of the four Norwegian artists show in the August issue PDF; the review of B.G. Muhn’s “Love Affair of the Empress” in the Sep. PDF; and in the Dec. PDF the review of the Washington Project for the Arts 35th anniversary show.
When you read just these four reviews (not to mention ones from prior years that are to be found in back issue PDFs on our website), you will understand why we feel so strongly that you have at your AU doorstep a great treasure to enjoy and be inspired by.
February 21st, 2011 at 12:08 pm
The American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center actually exhibits student work annually. As Jack mentioned previously, we’ll host student exhibitions April 2 – May 15. First year MFA student work will be on view April 2 – 11 and MFA Thesis work will be on view April 23 – May 15. In the past, we have also exhibited undergraduate work. Our opening reception will be held on April 2, from 6 – 9 p.m. And, we really love seeing students in the museum!