After 35 years of collecting, the University Museum of Contemporary Art will open its permanent collection to the public, by appointment, starting on October 26, 2009.

The collection, which was started by professor emeritus Walter Kamys as a teaching collection for art students, has grown to over 2500 works on paper. It is the most extensive compilation of contemporary photographs, drawings, and prints to be housed in a Massachusetts public institution outside of Boston. By opening a collection study-storage room, we will renew our commitment to serve UMass students and faculty, the Five College community, and the public at large.

We will arrange for requested artworks to be available at a particular time for a class of up to 10 students, or individual faculty or student visits. The collection study room will be open to the public by appointment. To view artworks online, please follow instructions here.

To make an appointment to view specific artworks in our collection study room, please visit our website.

For further questions, please call the Collection Registrar, Justin Griswold at 545-1986, or email him at justgris@admin.umass.edu.

The Fine Arts Center partnered with the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies to bring the acclaimed American Shakespeare Center to western Massachusetts on November 3. In addition to a presenting a student matinee for junior high and high school students and an evening performance of Romeo and Juliet, the company conducted several workshops and residency activities for community and campus partners including Holyoke Care Center, Greenfield Community College, University of Massachusetts Theater Department and Holyoke Community College.

CAMBODIA Remembered is a showcase event of a people’s tradition and culture as a testament to the resilience of the Cambodian people in re-settling of their lives and re-invigorating their art and culture in the aftermath of horrific acts of genocide. Please join us to welcome the artists and the local Cambodian community on Sunday, November 15 at 3 PM in Bowker Auditorium to enjoy a performance by the Angkor Dance troupe and the screening of Monkey Dance, a documentary by filmmaker Julie Mallozzi.

Driven by the need to preserve their tradition, the Angkor Dance Troupe was formed in 1986, in Lowell, MA, by Mr. Tim Chan Thou, Angkor's Program Director, along with a small group of dancers who learned traditional Cambodian dance in refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodian border. The young Cambodians dancers, most born in the U.S., increasingly asked for information about their cultural roots and the history of Cambodia. In response to a clear need for a meaningful education, Angkor's Artistic Director, Phousita Huy, developed workshops on Cambodian culture as part of her ongoing instruction. To encourage attendance and participation by the Cambodian community, these workshops take place at sites within Lowell’s Cambodian-American community. They are publicized via Khmer-language materials and media as well as through traditional forms of promotion.

Dance and its associated rituals and beliefs have become a way for Cambodian people to reconstruct a sense of community and culture, particularly for refugees who have resettled in other countries. Between 1975 and 1979, when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge controlled Cambodia, more than 90% of the country's artists perished or fled. Today as Cambodia struggles to emerge from decades of war and poverty, the people look to the rebirth and recreation of the dance as testimony to the endurance of their culture. Classical or court dance is considered by many to be a treasured and universal symbol of Cambodian culture. It is a source of national pride for Cambodians, representing the beauty and spirituality of Cambodian people. The dance form is particularly meaningful for postwar Cambodians as they work to reclaim and rebuild a treasured heritage. Many first practiced or saw the art form in the refugee camps. For children born and raised in the camps or in other countries, it has become a connection to the past and a way to experience revered ancient traditions. From folk dances, young Cambodian-Americans learn about geography and a daily life in Cambodia that they have never experienced.

Other partnership events sponsored by the Office of Jewish Affairs include an art exhibit, Never Again: Genocide from Cambodia to Darfur and Beyond, Nov 2 – 13 at the Student Union Gallery.

Feedback: A Critique Group Revealed
Curated by Benjamin J. Ostiguy
Artists: Jackie Boudreau-Kinsey, Candace Bradbury-Carlin, Jim Doubleday, Benjamin J. Ostiguy, Bill Rock, Tess Rock, Marcia R. Wise
Image: wave of clarity, by Candace Bradbury-Carlin

Hampden Gallery
Exhibition Dates: November 17 – December 6, 2009
Opening Reception: November 17, 5 – 7 PM

This group of Valley artists have been meeting once a month for over a year at Hampden Gallery to critique each other's work, discuss ideas, processes, and materials. Together they have forged a strong artistic bond. The work on exhibit includes sculpture, painting, assemblage, and drawing.

Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Time: 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Location: University Museum of Contemporary Art

Rob Pruitt has re-conceived his lecture as a performance-based artwork for this discussion of his iPruitt exhibition in the University Museum of Contemporary Art .

Pruitt, whose conceptual practice is rooted in a pop sensibility and a playful critique of art world structures, has come to be viewed by many critics as one of the most relevant artists of our time. His most recent work, iPruitt (2008), is currently on display in the University Museum of Contemporary Art 's "Connecting the Dots.... The Warhol Legacy: Tom Friedman, Ellen Gallagher, Vik Muniz, Rob Pruitt" exhibition through December 13th.

iPruitt is a stream-of-consciousness photo diary created with an iPhone that captures Rob Pruitt's lifestyle, his travels, his moments of intimacy and moments of voyeurism. Most of all, iPruitt captures the artist's sense of humor and ability to extract details from his surroundings and transform them into statements. Rob Pruitt is represented by the gallery Gavin Brown Enterprises in New York.

Photo by Paul Bloomfield.

Call and Response

November 14 – December 10
Opening Reception: November 14, 3 – 5 PM

Artists: Josiah Cuneo, Marcus DeMaio, Noah Eli Gordon, Stephen Lindow, Amanda Nadelberg-Turfle, Sara Veglahn, Joshua Vrysen, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Angela Zammarelli, Rachel Ouillette, Lauren Pakradooni, Alex Phillips, Daniel Presnell, Jason Daniel Schwartz, Victore Signore, Harry Swartz-Turfle

The purpose of this project is to facilitate an exchange between art and writing based on the same fundamental idea of call and response. In this project, artists respond to writing and writers respond to art. Each participant contributes two works for the exhibition: the first being for the Call component and the second being for the Response. Over a dozen talented painters, poets, printmakers, fiction writers, sculptors, installation, and video artists are participating.