Art Exhibit to Feature a Variety of Media

NEWS RELEASE

News Bureau • Schofield Hall 201 • Eau Claire, WI 54702
phone: (715) 836-4741
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UW-Eau Claire Art Exhibition To Feature a Variety of Media

MAILED: Sept. 26, 2002

EAU CLAIRE — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s art department will offer the campus and Eau Claire communities a glimpse into the changing world of art exhibits when it sponsors “Plat and Form: The Portable Hermetic Gallery Exhibition,” Oct. 10-31.
     Unlike more traditional art exhibits, experienced primarily in galleries or museums, “Plat and Form” is a showcase for various “platforms for expression” that will take place in different locations through a variety of media, including television, radio, video, the art department Web site and live performances. The exhibition will feature artists Nicholas      Frank, Galen Gerber, Paul Druecke, Kirsten Stoltmann, Brett Bloom, Pedro Velez and Milwaukee’s Milhaus Collaborative.
Frank, who until recently directed the Hermetic Gallery in Milwaukee, now closed after seven years, is part of a group of younger artists who are approaching art in new ways after becoming frustrated with the limited opportunities provided by traditional museums and galleries. In the May issue of “Art in America,” Susan Snodgrass wrote, “Frank is now creating forums for ideas rather than objects.”
     According to UW-Eau Claire art professor Steve Katrosits, who is helping coordinate plans for the show along with student art intern Kristine Mac Callum and Foster Gallery director Tom Wagener, those forums have come to make up the Hermetic universe of this now traveling, ever-changing exhibition.
     The show will include the Hermetic Lecture Series; the “Hermetic Radio Hour”; a symposium moderated by Frank, featuring other guests; the Tingle Showcase variety show (for which anyone can audition); a performance by The Paragraphs textual music group with UW-Eau Claire alumnus Steve Wetzel; a number of different television broadcasts, including the “Hermetic News TV Show” with Xavier Leplae; and an art exhibition in the Foster Gallery.
     “I saw Nicholas Frank’s videos a few years ago at the Wisconsin Triennial in Madison,” said Katrosits. “They struck me as humorous, quirky and sort of stupid. But I never forgot them; something I can’t say about much of the other work in the exhibition. On subsequent visits to Milwaukee, Frank’s name would constantly come up, so I figured this just might be something that we need to have here in Eau Claire.”
     A calendar with brief descriptions of scheduled events follows, but like the show itself, it is somewhat spontaneous and subject to change. For up-to-date information on times and locations, call (715) 836-2328 or check the UW-Eau Claire art department Web site.

Oct. 10: Broadcast on WUEC-FM 89.7, the “Best of Hermetic Radio Hour”; and broadcast on CTV Channel 11, “Teaspoon Broadcasts” and the sitcom “Milwaukee’s Zero TV.” Shows will run throughout October.

Oct. 12: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Gallery Reception, Foster Gallery, Haas Fine Arts Center. 8:30-11 p.m., Symposium: “Homebumming: Itinerant Galleries, Fly-By Nights, and Independent Curators. The Death of the Lease,” with Nicholas Frank at The Cabin, Davies Center. This open conversation invites comment on this or any other related topic. Everyone welcome.

Oct. 13: 5-6 p.m. and 7-8 p.m., broadcast on WUEC-FM 89.7 of the “Hermetic Radio Hour” with Frank. The Hermetic Radio Hour, first heard on Wisconsin Public Radio, grew out of the Hermetic Lecture Series, invented by Frank and filmmaker Jennifer Montgomery to encourage non-experts to speak on topics of general interest.

Oct. 19: 3 p.m., auditions for the Tingle Showcase in the Riverside Theatre, Haas Fine Arts Center, conducted by Theresa Columbus and UW-Eau Claire alumna Janine Ross. Everyone welcome.
7:30-9:30 p.m., Tingle Showcase with Frank, Riverside Theatre. Milwaukee performance artists Columbus and Xavier Leplae founded The Tingle Showcase to create a new venue for people with talents of almost any kind looking for a stage and an open-minded audience.
10 p.m.-midnight, The Paragraphs Band with UW-Eau Claire alumnus Steve Wetzel at the Mousetrap, downtown Eau Claire. The Paragraphs present popular music and popular ideas through music and live monologues.
Midnight, disc jockey Josh Loeb will feature dance music and spin odd records at the Mousetrap.

Oct. 20: 6-7 p.m., Broadcast on CTV-11 of “Hermetic News TV Show” with Leplae.

Oct. 26: 7-8 p.m., Hermetic Happy Hour with Frank at The Joynt on Water Street. 8-9 p.m., Hermetic Lecture with Frank on the topic “Perfection,” Phillips Recital Hall, Haas Fine Arts Center.
9 p.m., Closing Ceremonies.

     Throughout the exhibition, CTV-11 will broadcast segments of all the television programs associated with the exhibit.
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NW/JB

News Bureau
Judy Berthiaume
UW-Eau Claire News Bureau
Schofield 201
(715) 836-4741
newsbur@uwec.edu

Updated: February 4, 2003