Association of Academic Museums and Galleries

The Reef, 2014

The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation is seeking venues for the traveling exhibition – John Buck: Prints and Sculpture from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation.  Available dates starting May 2021. The project includes 31 prints and 8 sculptures. A full checklist is available upon request. No exhibition fees and prorated shipping.

John Buck: Prints and Sculptures from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation

OVERVIEW

John Buck (American, born 1946) is a nationally recognized Montana artist who has created a large and powerful body of woodblock prints and wood sculptures over the past four decades. Drawn from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, this major exhibition features 30 prints and 8 sculptures that span a forty-year period.

Born in Ames, Iowa in 1948, John Buck earned his BFA degree from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1968 and his MFA degree at the University of California, Davis in 1972, where he studied with artists Robert Arneson, Roy DeForest, Manuel Neri, and William T. Wiley. A virtuoso draftsman and imaginative sculptor, Buck explores national and global issues in sophisticated works that are imbued with complex iconography and often layered with multiple meanings.

Buck’s work demonstrates an exceptional insight and perspective on the social and political realities of the day. It often explores the enormity and complexity of conflict, yet his figures are whimsical and resilient. Buck manages to make provocative “issues” art, treating the conflict seriously, while his combination of symbols and figures display a sense of humor, and therefore an optimistic balance.

Over the years, Buck has become fascinated with the cultural imagery surrounding his homes in Montana and Hawaii, current events, popular culture, and the irony and humor found in world history and this collected visual vocabulary is woven throughout his printed and sculptural work.

ITINERARY

Jan 26 – March 15, 2020        Hallie Ford Museum, Willamette University, Salem, OR

Feb 10 – April 10, 2021           Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN

Considering dates from May 2021

As with all JSFF exhibitions there are no fees. The host institution is responsible for prorated shipping and insurance. 

SPECIFICATIONS

Presentation period: flexible with minimum 12wks

Space Requirements: Approximately 2,600 square feet and 300 linear feet

PUBLICATION

Potential for a full-color brochure with curator essay at no cost for traveling exhibitions.

The exhibition includes section panels and didactics.

Teachers Guide available: https://willamette.edu/arts/hfma/pdf/john_buck.pdf

Iconography, a full color catalogue available for purchase. Iconography published by the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation on the occasion of the artist’s 2007 retrospective exhibition, John Buck: Iconography.  The hardcover book contains 150+ pages of expertly written and printed images of John Buck’s most iconic works. Essays by Eleanor Heartney, John Yau, and Bud Shark.

CURATOR

John Olbrantz, The Maribeth Collins Director at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon. 

CREDIT

This exhibition is organized by the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation and the Hallie Ford Art Museum. 

CONTACT

William Morrow

Director of Exhibitions, Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation 503.973.0219 or 502.664.6982  • williamm@jordanschnitzer.org

A complete image checklist and installation images available upon request.

This print poses the question will there be a rebirth of peace as in the myth of the phoenix or will we go the way of the dodo bird to extinction. –John Buck

 “My sculpture is inspired by contemporary issues as well as indigenous and folk art of many cultures. Wood carving and assemblage are found in practically all cultures and I find the connection inspiring. My approach to sculpture is a combination of figurative and abstract compositions which represent the imagination as physical forms and that combine the properties of balance and tension.”

— John Buck

ABOUT JORDAN D. SCHNITZER FOUNDATION

At age 14, Jordan D. Schnitzer bought his first work of art from his mother’s Portland, Oregon contemporary art gallery, evolving into a lifelong avocation as collector. He began collecting contemporary prints and multiples in earnest in 1988. Today, the collection exceeds 14,000 works and includes many of today’s most important contemporary artists. It has grown to be one of the country’s largest private print collections. He generously lends work from his collection to qualified institutions. The Foundation has organized over 110 exhibitions and has had art exhibited at over 150 museums. Mr. Schnitzer is also President of Harsch Investment Properties, a privately owned real estate investment company based in Portland, Oregon, owning and managing office, multi-tenant industrial, multi-family and retail properties in six western states.

The Foundation was established in 1997 as a non-profit organization to manage the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, provide supplemental funding for education and outreach in conjunction with related exhibitions, and publish scholarly texts.

GRANTS

Qualified museums have the opportunity to request grants for Foundation exhibitions to help underwrite educational and outreach activities, such as:

The Foundation encourages venues to use the exhibitions as the basis for interdisciplinary activities and engage constituents that might not otherwise have an association with the museum in order to prompt critical commentary on the works and the medium of printmaking.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT http://www.jordanschnitzer.org/