Board of Trustees Aesthetics Committee

Biographical notes:

Biography / Administrative History

The Graduate Theological Union library was envisioned as a public use facility that would regularly display art, sculpture, rare books and historical material.

When the library building first opened in 1981, only the first level was available for display. The exhibits tended to be small and usually featured paintings and prints that were for sale. With the completion of the rest of the building in 1987, which added the second floor wall space and a rotunda of exhibit cases, more extensive displays could be shown.

Over the years the exhibits showcased a number of artists and topics, ranging from local and unknown artists to famous figures in the art world, such as Christo and Richard Meier. While usually featuring a single artist, occasionally exhibits were based on a Bay Area collector or a religious theme (such as Evil). Besides Western artists, several rxhibits featured the work of Japanese artists, for example Keiko Nelson and Kazuaki Tanahashi.

The Trustees Aesthetics Committee oversaw selection of the artist or theme for display. Among the members were professors in art and religion at the GTU: Jane Dillenberger, Doug Adams and Michael Morris. Often, the exhibit would coincide with a specific class. In addition, Peter Selz, founder of the University Art Museum, later joined the committee. Terrence Dempsey, a GTU graduate and director of the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art in St Louis, was also involved in determining (and curating) some of the exhibits.

Primarily a venue for exhibiting art, the library has also displayed rare and special books, faculty publications, staff collections, architectural displays, and GTU-focused exhibits.

Chronology

1981 May An Exhibit of Manuscripts, Incunabula and Early Printed Works in Theology at the Dedication of the GTU Library 1981 May Chagall Old Testament Lithography 1981 Sept-Oct Art in the Apocalypse 1981 Nov 1981 Dec An Exhibit of Prints and Paintings on Paper by Evonne Kludas English 1982 Feb 1982 Mar Glimpses of the Orient: An Exhibit of Color Photographs from the 70's by Daniel J. O'Hanlon 1982 May 1982 Jun Set-design exhibit by Lauren Friesen 1982 Nov 1982 Dec Karen Rasco, An exhibit of her paintings 1983 Jan 1983 Feb Water Stone Light Spirit 1983 Feb 1983 Mar Mason Hill Press display materials by James A. Dignon and Mark C. Livingston 1983 Feb 1983 Mar BASIC: Bay Area Sacred Image Creators 1983 Mar 1983 Apr World Council of Churches Display 1983 Apr 1983 May Paintings by David Jones 1983 Sum Paintings by Marian Nishi 1983 Sep 1983 Oct Treasures from the Sage Collection: The Dutch in Two Worlds 1983 Oct 1983 Nov Watercolors by David Gregory 1983 Dec 1984 Feb Photopaintings, Phil Donahue 1984 Feb 1984 Mar Male Medussas, Water Gods, and Cosmic Goddesses: 20 Drawings and a Painting by Eleanor Cleveland Anderson 1984 Spr Drypoints by David Gregory 1984 Apr 1984 Jun Moved by the Spirit, drawings and paintings by William Mockus 1984 Jun 1984 Jul Familiar Places-Changed Spaces, Monotypes with mixed media by Margaret Pearce Frank 1984 Sep 1984 Oct Meditations: Mga Pagninlay, Art Meditations by Fr. Rey V. Culaba CSSR 1984 Oct Advanced Management Program for Senior Executives in Religious Management 1984 Oct 1984 Nov Memories of My Ancestors: Intaglio Prints and Monotypes by Lila Wahrhaftig 1984 Nov 1985 Feb Moments in Light, A Flatlands Realist Encounters Holy Hill, oils and watercolors by David Gregory 1985 Mar 1985 May Spring is on the Wall: Paintings by Nancy Chin 1985 Sum Creation Suite by Lila Wahrhaftig 1986 Feb 1986 Mar Seeing the Face of Central America: Serigraphs and photographs by Brett Greider 1986 Mar 1986 May A Shift of Power: Icons and Images by Liza Bancel 1986 Mar Life is not black and white: quilting as a thological medium: A MA thesis show by Barbara Dee Baumgarten 1986 Phyllis Magal, Creation: The Seven Days 1987 Jan 1987 Feb An Exhibition of the Works of John August Swanson 1987 Idea and Manifestation: Louis I. Kahn and the Library 1987 Nov 1988 Jan Eleanor Cleveland Anderson: The Seven Against thebes 1988 Jan 1988 Mar James Rosen: The Isenheim Altarpiece and the Ferrara Paintings 1988 Apr 1988 May Christo and Peter Selz: The Running Fence Project Revisited 1988 Nov 1989 Jan Unity and Diversity: Bronze Cast Sculptures by Ann Homig Nadel 1989 Jan In Memorium, Jay DeFeo, A Selection of Paintings, 1986-1989 1989 Feb 1989 Mar Miserere Series by George Roualt 1989 Mar 1989 May Frederick J, Brown Paintings 1989 Jun 1989 Aug Antique Maps of the Holy Land 1989 Sep 1989 Oct A Selection of Prints and Drawings: Including five engravings from the Book of Job by William Blake and Andy Warhol's Annunciation 1990 Jan A Prayer for El Salvador: Michael Tracy: Cruz de Sangre 1990 Feb 1990 Mar Enwind: Sculpture to Encompass the World: Paintings, Drawings and Models by Nancy and Alain Gerbault 1990 Apr 1990 May Artists of the GTU 1990 Jun 1990 Aug Blaine Ellis, Soundings: An Archeology of the Spirit, An Exhibition of Photographs 1990 Aug 1990 Nov Louis Kahn, Light and the Library 1990 Nov 1991 Jan Paintings and Drawings by Richard Overstreet 1991 Jan 1991 Feb Domesticated Deities: Gods of the Chinese Peasant Family, Part One 1991 Jan 1991 Mar Eleanor Dickinson: Crucifixions and Other Recent Works 1991 Mar 1991 Jun Stephen De Staebler: Sculptures, Drawings and Paintings 1991 Jul 1991 Sep Conrad Fenwick: A Selection of Recent Paintings 1991 Oct 1992 Jan Philip Morsberger: Large Oils on Canvas 1992 Jan 1992 Apr James Rosen, Across the Image Fields: Paintings 1992 Jan Under the Scuds 1992 Apr 1992 Jul Nancy Genn Paper Constructs 1992 Jul 1992 Sept Art, Crisis, and Vision: Paintings by One-Stroke Brushwork Artist Kazuaki Tanahashi 1992 Oct 1993 Jan Sacrifices of Abraham 1993 Jan 1993 Apr Hans Burkhardt: Desert Storms 1993 Apr 1993 Jul Oakland Mornings: Paintings and Drawings by Anthony Dubovsky 1993 Jul 1993 Aug The Art of Laurie Gross: From Linen Threads to Community 1993 Sep 1993 Nov Pursuit of the Spirit: A Group Exhibition Honoring the Birth of the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art 1993 Dec 1994 Feb Watchers and Seekers: works by Seven African American Artists 1994 Mar 1994 Apr Haggadot 1994 Mar 1994 Jun Rene Di Rosa, Works from a California Collection 1994 Jun 1994 Sep Katherine Sherwood: Secret of the Golden Flower Paintings 1994 Oct 1994 Dec Blaine Ellis, The Architecture of Light: Sacred Architecture in Istanbul, Cappadocia and the Mediterranean Coast 1995 Jan 1995 Jun Haitian Paintings: Works from the Collection of Albert Albrecht 1995 Jun 1995 Jul GTU Staff on Display 1995 Jul 1995 Oct New Perceptions of the Spirit 1995 Oct 1996 Jan Consecrations: The Spiritual in Art in the Time of AIDS [Selections from national exhibit] 1996 Jan 1996 Mar Keiko Nelson: Inner Diary, Installation and Paper Constructs 1996 May The Etchings of Ernst Fuchs: The Samson Suite 1960-64 1996 Aug 1996 Oct Mary Kellogg Rice : Fabric and Paper, A Retrospective 1997 Apr 1997 Jun Ingrid Arneberg, Inspirations from the East 1997 Jul 1997 Aug Made with Passion: The Vision and Calling of Self-Taught Artists 1997 Sep 1997 Oct Receptivity: Mixed Media 1997 Oct 1997 Nov The Symbol at the Center: Crosses from the Henry Rahn Collection 1997 Oct 1998 Jan Stephen De Staebler: Sculptures, Drawings and Monotypes 1998 Jan 1998 Apr Durer to Delacroix: Old Master Prints from the collection of Harry and Herta Weinstein 1998 Mar 1998 Apr A Spiritual Journey: Jan Eldridge Ceramic Sculpture, Prints and Collages 1998 Aug Signing a Life: Saul, David and the Wild West 1998 Aug 1998 Nov Nathan Oliveira: Windhover Paintings 1998 Oct 1998 Dec Cloak the Earth: Prayer Shawls for the Millenium 1998 Dec 1999 Feb Revelations: Selections from the Berkeley Art Museum 1999 Jan Keys to Worship 1998 Apr 1998 Jul The Visible Word: An Exhibit of Ancient and Contemporary Byzantine Art 1999 Jan 1999 Mar Anne Siberell 1999 Mar 1999 May Tobi Kahn: Metamorphoses 1999 Apr 1999 May Places Within, Places Without 1999 Jun 1999 Sept Real Artifice: Works on Paper and for Theater 1999 Oct 1999 Dec Resilient Psyche: Representations of Women in German Expressionist Prints from the Collection of David and Eva Bradford 2000 Jan 2000 Mar The Human Image on Paper: Works from the Selz Collection 2000 Apr 2000 Jun Finding the Sacred Mountain: Sumi-e abnd Watercolors by Robert Kostka 2000 Sep 2000 Oct Faces of Mary: Icons by Stephanos 2000 Sep 2000 Oct Visions: Art Exhibit 2000 Sep 2000 Dec Crucifixion and Resurrection 2001 Mar 2001 Aug Bernard Maisner: Entrance to the Scriptorium, Contemporary Illuminated Manuscripts and Paintings 2001 Aug 2001 Oct Meditations on Remembering: works of Mixed Media by Judith Nilsson Spiegel 2001 Oct 2002 Jan Cleve Gray: Holocaust Series 2002 Feb 2002 May The Image of Evil in Art 2002 Jun 2002 Oct Jan Wurm: Paintings and Drawings 2002 Oct 2003 Jan Jim Morphesis Paintings 2003 Feb 2003 May The Sorrows of War: Kathe Kollwitz with German Expressionists Otto Dix, George Grosz and Erich Heckel 2003 Jul 2003 Sep Protracted Meditations: Graphite Drawings by Linda Fleming 2003 Sep 2004 Feb Requiem for an Executed Bird, Junko Chodos 2004 Mar 2004 Jun Richard Meier: Jubilee Church, Photographs, Drawings and Plans 2004 Jul 2004 Oct Outside Insight: Select Works from the Studios of Creativity Explored and Creative Growth 2004 Oct 2005 Feb A.G. Rizzoli's "Transfigurations" 2005 Mar 2005 May Atheism and Faith: The Art of Leonard Baskin 2005 Oct 2006 Feb Rouault's Miserere Et Guerre 2006 Mar 2006 May De Staebler: The Winged Figure 2006 Sep 2006 Dec Moving Pictures: The Bible and Beyond 2007 Feb 2007 May The Swedenborgian Archives of the GTU 2007 Oct 2008 Jan James Rosen: Homage 2008 Apr 2008 Sep Sr. Coriat Kent Serigraphs 2008 Mar 2008 Sep GTU Faculty Publications (since 2007) Celebration 2008 Jun 2008 Sep Mari Marks: Variations : Marks in Time 2008 Oct 2009 Jan Joel Isaacson: Walls 2009 Mar 2009 Jun Eva Bovenzi: Messenger 2009 Jul 2009 Sep Distilled Spirits: Works of Cherie Raciti and Susan Matthews 2009 Oct 2010 Jan Building on our Heritage: Graduate Theological Union Library 1969 - 2009. 40 Years of Member School Contributions to the Intellectual Life of the GTU; Graduate Theological Union Archives: 20th Anniversary, 1989 - 2009. Highlights from the Collection. 2009 Dec 2010 Feb Book Art: Ido Agassi and Even Hoshen Press of Ra'anana, Israel, 2009 Oct 2010 Jan The C.A.R.E. Collection: An Exhibition and Lecture Celebrating the Memory of Prof. Doug Adams 2009 Dec 2010 Feb Book Art: Ido Agassi and Even Hoshen Press of Ra'anana, Israel 2010 Spr-Sum Al Pounder's Umbria - The Pulse of Place 2010 Mar 2010 May Crucifixion Meditations: Drawings by John Steczynski and Aileen Callahan 2010 Oct 2011 Jan Robert McAfee Brown: Glimpses of What Life is Meant to Be 2011 Feb 2011 Jun Imaginarium: Drawings by Bernard Maybeck,

From the guide to the Board of Trustees: Art Exhibit records, 1981-2011, (The Graduate Theological Union. Library.)

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