NORA ECCLES HARRISON MUSEUM OF ART’S BIG STEP INTO SCHOLARSHIP

LOGAN—The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art has taken a big step toward contributing to scholarship, at the national level, by arranging a face-to-face encounter for Deborah Remington and Dr. Susan Ehrlich. Though neither is a household name, both are well-known in the American art scene.

Remington is an acclaimed abstract painter, who associated with other Beat generation artists, writers and musicians; and, Dr. Ehrlich is an independent art historian and curator who also serves as western region director for the Archives of American Art (AAA), a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution.

After speaking publicly to an audience of close to 1,000, and conducting a critique session with upper level painting students, Remington concluded her three-day visit to the art museum, located Utah State University’s campus, with a three-hour, closed-door, videotaped interview conducted by Dr. Ehrlich. The backdrop, in the Marie Eccles Caine Gallery, is Remington’s own “Balaton” (1976) included in the exhibition “In the Spirit of the Times.”

The staff of the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art hopes the AAA might accept the videotaped interview into its collection. As Dr. Ehrlich described, “Since its founding in 1954, it [the AAA] has pursued its mission of collecting, preserving and making available for research the personal and professional papers – such as letters, sketchbooks, notebooks, journals, business correspondence and records, photographs, videos, and exhibition catalogues—of those who have made significant contributions to American art.”

Deborah Remington describes, from an educator’s perspective (as she is Professor of Advanced Painting at the National Academy of Design in New York), the value of the Archives of American Art. “Without the Archives of American Art, we would not have such an accurate, insightful, and well documented picture of our culture. Through the interviews, we gain a more intimate and truthful view of the artist, as told in the artist's own words.” And from an artist’s perspective: “For the artist, the Archives offers a forum in which to tell our stories for posterity, with the knowledge that the facts will be correct.”

The exhibition “In the Spirit of the Times” will remain on public view through July 31. For more information contact the Museum at 797-0163 or Jay Heuman, Curator of Education, at 797-0165.

Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, 650 North 1100 East, Logan, UT, 84322, (435) 797-0163, Fax (435) 797-3423, www.artmuseum.usu.edu. Hours: Tues., Thurs. & Fri.: 10:30 am - 4:30 pm; Wed.: 10:30 am - 8:00 pm; Sat.: noon - 5 pm; Closed Sundays, Mondays and major holidays. Admission is free; Parking $4 (free after 3:45 pm). For more information or to schedule a tour of the Museum, please call (435) 797-0165. The Museum is accessible to persons with disabilities.