Exhibitions Archive
Merging Concepts IX: Then and Again
April 6, 2023
Merging Concepts IX: Then and Again
April 14 — September 11, 2023
The ninth annual exhibition of the Kennedy’s Merging Concepts Series is inspired by two primary objects on loan from the Ohio University Libraries. The exhibition explores the big idea “Illuminate the realities of the past to connect to the present” and is supported by additional objects and documents from the collections of the program’s partners.
In Tribute
January 23, 2023
In Tribute
Opening January 23, 2023
In Tribute honors the lives of three notable artists who passed in 2022 by featuring a selection of their work from KMA’s collections: Jennifer Bartlett, Sam Gilliam, and Claes Oldenburg. Bartlett defied categorization by combining the aesthetics of conceptual art with the painterly approach of Neo-Expressionism. Gilliam, an innovator of color field painting and a lyrical abstractionist, is also included in the Centering Black Artists exhibition. Oldenburg was a Pop artist whose monumental sculptures of everyday objects are installed in public spaces worldwide.
Gesture of the Still Image
January 17, 2023
Gesture of the Still Image
January 17 - March 26, 2023
Gesture of the Still Image is a selection of photographs and related mediums from KMA’s collections chosen for their portrayal of the human body in a moment of movement and emotion stilled by an artist’s lens. Within this exhibition one can witness the way an image tells a story in a single frame and allows the viewer a glimpse into the human condition. Work chosen by KMA graduate assistant Ashley Kouri, an MFA candidate in Photography and Integrated Media, spans over a century of the history of photography from the pictorialism of Clarence White to contemporary imagery recently purchased by the Museum. The addition of photographs by Lissa Rivera and Lalla Essaydi expands the ratio of female-identifying to male-identifying artists both in the exhibition and KMA collections.
Yellow Dirt
September 23, 2022
John Feodorov is a Seattle-based artist, musician and educator of mixed Navajo (Diné) and Euro-American heritage. His work questions and explores assumptions about identity, place, and spirituality within the contexts of consumerism, colonization and environmental degradation.The Yellow Dirt series responds to the ongoing health and environmental crises on and near the Navajo reservation from over 500 abandoned uranium mines.
Homesteading Women
September 23, 2022
Homesteading Women, curated by Elizabeth Thompson, juxtaposes archival material illustrating the lives of women homesteaders of the 19th century with interviews and photographs of contemporary women homesteaders in and around Athens County. Historical women homesteaders often have been regarded as reluctant helpmeets to men, yet the records they left tell a different story, one that highlights the important role they played as well as their resourcefulness, creative problem-solving, and community-building. Contemporary women homesteaders and farmers demonstrate similar traits, skills, and values.
Merging Concepts VIII: Connections, Rememb...
April 21, 2022
APRIL 22 - SEPTEMBER 4, 2022
Students enrolled in the 2021-22 Museum Studies Certificate Program are pleased to present an exhibition titled Connections, Remembered, which will be featured at Kennedy Museum of Art from April 22 through September 4, 2022. This is the eighth annual exhibition of the Kennedy’s Merging Concepts Series. Inspired by primary objects and documents on loan from the Ohio University Libraries, the exhibition explores the big idea “The very vehicles through which we strengthen intimate bonds leave marks that shape the future.” The big idea or concept is supported by additional objects and documents from the collections of the program’s partners
Recent Acquisitions
February 15, 2022
MARCH 25 - DECEMBER 4, 2022
The Kennedy Museum of Art (KMA) collections committee accepted over 50 new works into the permanent collection in 2022. A sampling of these artworks, including photography by Christopher Payne and retired professor Laura Larson, prints by Burhan Dogançay, a sculpture by Anne Culbert, and numerous ceramic works donated by Professor Emeritus Joe Bova and the International Academy of Ceramics, are featured in the Recent Acquisitions exhibition.
Night Skies: Navajo Textiles Depicting San...
February 14, 2022
MARCH 25 - DECEMBER 4, 2022
Night Skies features twelve weavings from Kennedy Museum of Art’s (KMA) Edwin L. and Ruth E. Kennedy Southwest Native American Collection (SWNA). The weavings replicate imagery similar to that of sandpaintings created during traditional ceremonial practices of the Navajo (Diné) people. Called “chants,” “sings,” or “ways,” ceremonies are held for a variety of reasons, including restoration of harmony and balance. It is important to note that the sandpainting weavings are not ceremonial objects and carry neither the meaning nor the healing power that ceremonial drypaintings hold.
Representation of Women in KMA Collections
February 14, 2022
MARCH 25 - DECEMBER 4, 2022
Representation of Women in KMA Collections is a student generated exhibition developed by Kennedy Museum of Art education interns. This project began in spring 2021 as an online curatorial initiative for the Museum Experiences Blog called “KMA Picks.” The main theme of the exhibition emerged as student interns Madeline Kramer and Tristen Luken combed through thousands of images of art in the Museum’s collections and were drawn to a range of works representing women and the female form.
The Van Gogh Affect
September 8, 2021
Sept. 24, 2021 - March 27, 2022
The Van Gogh Affect is an exhibition of work by award-winning photographers Lynn Johnson and Patricia Lanza, addressing the artist Vincent Van Gogh’s profound and ever-present influence on contemporary perceptions of the world. Simultaneously contemplating and reaffirming Van Gogh’s resounding posthumous influence over art and culture of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, Johnson and Lanza offer evocative insight into the artist’s uniquely sensitive lived experience of place and light.
LACUNA
August 20, 2021
August 20, 2021 - March 6, 2022
LACUNA is an intermedia collaboration between Mateo Galvano, a multimedia conceptual artist, and C. David Russell, whose practice includes performing objects as well as scenic and costume design for theater. The installation features sculptures, moving images, and an audio soundscape. At the heart of the exhibition is a film featuring a stop-motion animated Bramble Puppet made of sticks. A language of formal abstraction is used to tell a story about the creative process.
Pattern and Disruption: Diné Lifeways and ...
June 27, 2021
Feb. 1 - July 18, 2021, by appointment.
Sally Fowler, Bob Klein and Henry Fowler
Drawing from the Edwin L. and Ruth E. Kennedy Southwest Native American Collection, this exhibition explores Diné (Navajo) weaving design from the perspective of their traditions and beliefs, and how fundamental mathematical ideas are also embedded in the designs.
Perceive with Caution: Merging Concepts VI...
April 1, 2021
April 16 – September 5, 2021
This exhibition was developed, curated, designed, and installed by students in the Museum Studies Certificate Program. Viewers are offered the opportunity to reflect on their own understanding about what it means to be human, as they interact with objects carefully crafted by the hands of artists or collected and preserved from the natural world that offer us a varied perspective on our own lives. The collection demonstrates that the ways in which we interpret and portray the world reflect our understanding of the human condition.
Legacy: Don Adleta and Karen Nulf, 60 yea...
February 1, 2021
Feb. 1 - March 28, 2021, by appointment.
Legacy chronicles the contributions of graphic design professors Don Adleta and Karen Nulf’s 60 years of combined teaching and creative ventures at Ohio University.
– Janus – There's More To What You See
April 23, 2020
This is the sixth in the series of annual Museum Studies Certificate exhibitions known as Merging Concepts. The program is trans-disciplinary as students represent a wide range of disciplines across the Ohio University Athens campus. Unlike in previous years, this is a virtual website-based exhibition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.