Super Bowls: The Art of Turned Wood

DG-332 PMoulthrop31FF MARCH 10 – JULY 7, 2013

On view on the Museum's third floor.

The 33 exquisitely turned bowls and other objects in this exhibition combine the beauty of wood with designs that accentuate wood's unique properties. Wood turning, like other craft media such as glass and clay, came into its own in the 1960s and 1970s as a rich form of creative expression. Using a lathe to carve these one-of-a-kind pieces, the turners showcased here seek to capture the splendor and richness of their medium, while also striking an aesthetic balance of color, form, and texture. More so, the artists seek to communicate through each work—and honor the tree it came from. Matt Moulthrop, whose legendary wood-turning family is well represented in this exhibition, explains, "Worm holes convey past life, rings communicate growth, and certain colors tell the story of death by lightening or blight. My job is to tell the story ... lengthening the life of the tree rather than ending it."

Philip Moulthrop, Spalted Red Oak, n.d. Red Oak, 3 ½ x 15 (diam.) in. Crocker Art Museum, gift of Susan Steinhauser and Daniel Greenberg.

Revolution: Bowl of Fruit

OPENED SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

On view on the Museum’s first floor.

Ben Whitehouse, Revolution: Bowl of Fruit, 2007. High definition digital video shown in real time, 24 hours. Loan from the artist.

The world’s first 24-hour streaming video is now on view at the Crocker. Ben Whitehouse’s video installation Revolution: Bowl of Fruit is from his series of video artworks Revolutions, which capture continuous 24-hour periods in a seamless record of a single revolution of the planet. Whitehouse’s tabletop still lifes are traditionally arranged, clearly deriving their compositions from 19th-century conventions.

This piece was shot from the window of a Chicago boathouse overlooking Lake Michigan. The composition is a re-working of the Impressionist strategy of placing fruits near a window to examine light effects. Here the composition evolves in response to the changing light conditions of the daylight and street light cycle they were exposed to on August 5, 2006. Moment-to-moment interplays of light and object range from the subtle to the dramatic. This piece connects art-historical tradition with new media.