Some good shows at the Katzen

I'm going to be visiting the Katzen later today to see RE-VISION: American University Alumni, which was one of the exhibitions opening the 2010-2011 fall season of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center last Tuesday, August 31.

The exhibition, which closes with the end of AU’s family and alumni weekend on Sunday, October 24, showcases alumni across several generations—from those who graduated this year to those who studied under Luciano Penay (also opening an exhibition at the museum), Robert Gates, Helene Herzbrun, Ben L. Summerford, Robert D’Arista, and others in the AU Art Department’s first wave of faculty.

The exhibition includes more than 97 works of by 60 artists, each of whom is an AU alum. Jack Rasmussen, curator and director of the Museum, was one of the individuals tasked with jurying the show. To be considered, the work had to have been created no earlier than the year 2000.

"We were impressed by the 120 alums who submitted work," said Rasmussen, himself an AU alumnus. "Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough space to include them all, but the enthusiastic response by our alumni tells me this is a project to be revisited in the not-too-distant future."

In addition to RE-VISION: American University Alumni, three other exhibitions opened at the American University Museum on August 31: Luciano Penay: Time, News, Paintings, and Natural Forms, BG Muhn: Love Affair of the Empress and Alan Binstock: Way-Stations. Binstock is a former NASA architect who has been showing around the East Coast for the last two decades.

Norse Soul: the legacy of Edvard Munch, social democracy, old myths, anarchy, and death longings, which opened earlier this summer, is also be on display.