In the News
Exhibition focuses on humans’ response to a changing climate
Floating bookshelves, furniture made from wooden pallets and rows of small bottles of sand lined up on a wall. This is no carnival funhouse, but a new exhibition at the CU Art Museum.
Two classes of undergraduate students in the Program in Environmental Design (ENVD) worked with Mary Mattingly, the CU Art Museum’s 2020 artist-in-residence, to design models for an ecotopian library of the future for the exhibition.
Students used materials such as artifacts and specimens collected from the College of Engineering and Applied Science; the departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Geological Sciences; the Museum of Natural History; University Libraries and private lenders to build the pieces of artwork.
Read the full article here: https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2020/02/04/exhibition-focuses-humans-response-changing-climate
Persuasion is focus of wide-ranging art exhibition
Fifteenth-century woodcuts, Catholic Church plenary indulgences, a 3D characterization of a New York City subway. These prints, while vastly different in time and topic, all have one thing in common: The unifying theme of persuasion.
In the Persuasive Prints exhibition at the CU Art Museum, prints gathered from the museum’s collection, augmented with loans from CU University Library’s Special Collections, show how artists and printmakers have combined images, text and artistic techniques to persuade viewers.
Curated by graduate students in the museum’s practicum seminar, the diverse Persuasive Prints exhibition brings together 35 engravings, etchings, lithographs and woodcuts created from the 1500s to today.
Read the full article here: https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2020/02/05/persuasion-focus-wide-ranging-art-exhibition
Current Exhibitions
Mary Mattingly: Last Library
Mary Mattingly is the CU Art Museum’s 2020 artist-in-residence. In her artwork, Mattingly combines Earth sciences, ecology and utopian ideas to communicate information about the Earth’s changing climate and human response to our physical environment. Her installation, Last Library: Reading Rooms, Bridges and Tools for Integrating Ecological Ethics into Practice, stems from her belief that art and ecotopian thought can cultivate social change. Architects, artists, ecologists, farmers, indigenous knowledge holders, museum visitors and philosophers contribute their knowledge and stories to the toolkit to enhance our understanding of a shared ecology.
On view February 6–July 18, 2020.
Persuasive Prints - CLOSING SOON!
Prints from the CU Art Museum’s collection demonstrate how artists and printmakers combine image, text and technique to persuade viewers. Curated by graduate students in CU’s museum practicum seminar, this exhibition brings together engravings, etchings, lithographs and woodcuts created from the 1500s to today. While some of the works are designed to sway public opinion by expressing official or institutional views, others are more subtle in their approach, expressing personal opinion or perspective. In this cross section of images, the curators ask how do prints communicate with viewers? How has printmaking contributed overtime to a public dialogue?
On view February 6–March 21, 2020.
Body Language: Picturing People
July 18, 2019 —June 2020
This exhibition considers how the pose, the gesture and the body in motion are used by artists to convey meaning.
Upcoming Programs
CU Art Museum Flash Talks
Tuesday, March 17, 5 p.m.
Come hear from students who are investigating the intersections between the arts and other disciplines such as engineering, humanities, law, the natural and social sciences, among many others. This curated event creates an opportunity for graduate students from arts-focused programs to share their research and creative work alongside students from other disciplines. Talks are inspired by themes and concepts explored in CU Art Museum artist-in-residence Mary Mattingly’s installation Last Library, including social activism and ecology.
Audio Intersectionality & Recovecos Performance, Shawn Trenell O'Neal, PhD Comparative Ethnic Studies with an emphasis on Africana Studies PhD, 2022; Laura Malaver, PhD student in Comparative Ethnic Studies with an emphasis on LatinX queer performance studies, 2022
Engaging Cognition of the Whole Body, Samara Johnson, Art and Art History, MFA in Painting and Drawing, Spring 2020
Invisible Disruptions: The Cultural Politics of Hydraulic Fracturing in Weld County, Colorado, Denise Fernandes, PhD Environmental Studies, 2022; Shelby McAuliffe, Art and Art History, MFA in Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices, 2021
North Gate, Sarah McCormick, Art and Art History, MFA Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice, 2020
CU Art Museum Chamber Music Series
The inaugural CU Art Museum Chamber Music Series presents three short concerts featuring students from the College of Music Honors Chamber Ensembles performing in the museum. Students work with museum staff to craft programs that highlight a central thematic relationship between music and the art on view. Reception hosted by the CU Art Museum following each concert. These concerts are organized in collaboration with the CU College of Music.
Saturday, April 4, 2:30 p.m. “Utopia” featuring Ikigai Duo playing Piazzolla “Histoire du Tango” and George Lynn songs
Ikigai Duo:
Erika Gossett, flute, and Isabella Fincher, guitar
Feel Good Fridays - Fridays during the fall and spring semesters
Fridays during the semester, 12:15—12:45 p.m.
CU Art Museum
This drop-in group is an opportunity to be led through a powerful guided meditation to undo stress and soothe the nervous system. Please arrive on time; no late admittance.
Free for CU students, staff, faculty and museum members.
Presented by CU Counseling and Psychiatric Services: https://www.colorado.edu/health/counseling
Please note our new hours:
we're open until 7:00 p.m. on Tuesdays during the semester.
we're open until 7:00 p.m. on Tuesdays during the semester.
Upcoming Department of Art and Art History Programs
Kathryn Maxwell - Visiting Artist Lecture
Tuesday, March 10th, 6:30 p.m.
Visual Arts Complex Auditorium, 1B20
Sarah Rara - Visiting Artist Lecture
Tuesday, March 17th, 6:30 p.m.
Visual Arts Complex Auditorium, 1B20
Become a Member
Our members take pride in knowing that their gift helps to sustain a dynamic learning environment rich in artistic inquiry. Your membership supports acquisitions, curatorial research, conservation and digitization of the collection, and the range of free programs offered to students, faculty and the public.
Invest in Our Mission
We develop individualized giving plans for donors who wish to invest in the CU Art Museum and its impact on the campus and community. In addition to discretionary support, annual giving can be directed to support exhibitions, acquisitions, educational programs and collection conservation.