Art Collector Jordan D. Schnitzer to Discuss Exhibition at UW Art Museum

Internationally known art collector Jordan D. Schnitzer will lead a gallery walk-through at the University of Wyoming Art Museum Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 3:30 p.m. He then will join UW faculty members for a panel discussion at 5 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

Schnitzer will discuss the featured exhibition, “Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker’s Tales of Slavery and Power,” on view Jan. 30-May 14. The exhibition explores Walker’s transformation of historical materials through a range of different projects including Walker’s works on paper, a video, wall painting and sculpture. Walker is a contemporary African-American artist known for engaging with issues of race, gender, sexuality, media and power.

“Kara Walker is the pre-eminent artist of our time who forces us to deal with issues that many people would rather not deal with,” Schnitzer says. “Her art needs to be seen, and the themes need to be examined. When I first saw her work, I was grabbed by the power, the passion and the pain of both the themes that were presented and the depth of the artist bearing her soul.”

The panel discussion is in conjunction with UW’s Martin Luther King Jr. Days of Dialogue events. UW faculty members Kerry Pimblott, assistant professor of African American and Diaspora Studies; Colleen Denney, professor of gender and women’s studies; and Peter Fine, assistant professor of art, will share their reflections on the artist and their strategies for integrating artwork into the classroom. Schnitzer will comment on his collection of more than 9,000 contemporary prints and the power of the arts in challenging times.

The panel will be a starting point for student and audience dialogues about the historical experience of enslavement, emancipation and reconstruction, and broader themes of race and historical representation as they relate to black women.

For more information, call the Art Museum at (307) 766-6622, visit the website at www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum, or follow the museum on Facebook and Instagram.

Through its “Museum as Classroom” approach, the UW Art Museum places art at the center of learning for all ages. Located in the Centennial Complex at 2111 Willett Drive in Laramie, the museum is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday hours are extended to 7 p.m. February through April and September through November. Admission is free.

About the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

At age 14, Schnitzer bought his first work of art from his mother’s Portland, Ore., contemporary art gallery, evolving into his lifelong avocation as collector. He began collecting contemporary prints and multiples in earnest in 1988.

The collection, which includes many of today’s most important contemporary artists, has grown to be one of the country’s largest private print collections. Schnitzer lends work from his collection to qualified institutions and has organized over 90 exhibitions at more than 72 museums. For more information about the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, visit www.jordanschnitzer.org.