In the Hearst and Brother Cornelius/Walker Foundation Galleries

THE VEIL: VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE SPACES

The documentary exhibition is a visual response to the themes and issues presented in curator Jennifer Heath’s new edited volume, The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics, University of California Press.

Works by thirty contemporary international women artists are divided into three categories: The Sacred Veil, The Sensuous Veil, and The Sociopolitical Veil.  The broad range of media includes paintings, sculpture, video, textiles, installations, photography, tableaus and new media.

Accompanying the exhibition is a book form of the artists’ portfolios, Re-Interpreting the Middle East: Beyond Historical Stereotypes, curated by May Hariri Aboutaam. An interactive piece, “What Does the Veil Mean to Me,” invites viewers to write responses to the exhibition on silk headscarves displayed on laundry lines.

Jennifer Heath is an independent scholar, award-winning cultural journalist, critic, curator, and activist. Her work focuses primarily on social and environmental justice. She is the author/editor of nine books of fiction and non-fiction, including, The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics, and, most recently, Land of the Unconquerable: The Lives of Contemporary Afghan Women, co-edited with Ashraf Zahedi.

Heath will give a poer point presentation on opening day, Sunday, February 12, at 2 p.m, in the Soda Activity Center, "(Dis)Covering the Veil: History, Lore, and Politics."                                                                

In the Keith Gallery

WILLIAM KEITH AND THE CALIFORNIA OAK

William Keith (b. Scotland 1838 – d. Berkeley 1911) remains one of California’s major painters more than100 years after his death. From the carefully rendered realism of grand mountain vistas to more sublime, somber and subjective paintings in his later years, Keith’s work reflects his moods, travels and other influences: art market forces, European painting from the Dutch Masters to the French Barbizon School, and friends of different art persuasions. Over time, Keith became convinced that a painter could not recreate the grandeur of nature, and was content to capture a fleeting moment in time that suggested a reality beyond the surface.

Both American and European nineteenth century landscape painters glamorized the romance of nature, with oaks as a popular and iconic subject. The tree symbolized strength and timelessness for many romantic painters.  Keith emboldened his oak portraits with warm colors and distant light to further emphasize a spiritual glory beyond the present scene.

In the Studio Gallery

MASKS AND COSTUMES FROM THE ETHNOGRAPHIC COLLECTION

Gregory Ghent, guest curator

Most ethnic cultures from around the world created masks and costumes for ceremonies and rituals to bring gods and ancestors to life on earth.  For this exhibition guest curator Gregory Ghent has selected extraordinary masks and body adornments from the permanent collection of Saint Mary's College Museum of Art.  Nearly 100 years ago, similar masks were the inspiration for the changes in Western art forms, influencing the works of Picasso, Matisse, Vlaminck, Klee and other key European artists, which revolutionized our way of looking at art and therefore the world.  Many of the textiles and personal adornments in the exhibition are purely abstract compositions with vibrant visual rhythms, intriguing textures and amazing colors.

In the John and Julia Armistead Gallery

REFLECTIONS IN TIME: STANLEY TRUMAN PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION

Scott McCue, guest curator

Stanley Truman (1903-1993) first turned to photography in the 1920s to illustrate his
medical school research articles. Today, the man once affectionately called the Marcus
Welby of Oakland, is known as a virtuoso of black and white fine art photography.

His photographs chronicle the history, landscape and flora of California. From the
coastal missions to the deserts to the Gold Country to the arrested decay of ghost
towns, Truman's technical mastery, coupled with his fresh and unconventional eye, has
produced original, dramatic and sumptuous reflections.

During his lifetime Truman had 30 one-person shows, including exhibitions at the Hearst
Art Gallery, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Museum, the San Jose
Museum of Art and the California Historical Society, which also published his two
volumes of photographs.

The San Francisco native was a U C Medical School graduate who practiced in Oakland
for 43 years. His entire body of work, including negatives, is housed in the Saint Mary's
College permanent collection.

 *All programming subject to change

The Saint Mary's College Museum of Art is accredited by the American Association of Museums

Public Hours: Wed. – Sun., 11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Admission: $5 adults; K-12 graders free; SMC Museum of Art Members free.
Main Telephone: (925) 631-4379

Website: www.stmarys-ca.edu/museum
Media Contact: Heidi Donner, hdonner@stmarys-ca.edu,
(925) 631-4069