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Flaten Museum to feature "Science, Art and the Imagination"

By David Gonnerman '90
September 8, 2008

A new art exhibit called "Science, Art and the Imagination" will open Friday, Sept. 12, 5-7 p.m. in the Flaten Art Museum at St. Olaf College.

KelmBookArt1
"Water" by book artist Daniel Kelm.
The exhibit, which is tied to this year's academic theme of "Science and the Liberal Arts" and the dedication of the new Regents Hall of Natural and Mathematical Sciences building in October, will run through Oct. 26. The show will feature book art by Daniel Kelm, photography by Amanda Means, painting by Merrill Steiger, and video, painting and performance by S.B. Woods.

"This exhibit brings art and science together, with an emphasis on the role of the imagination in the creation of art and the pursuit of science," says Flaten Art Museum Director Jill Ewald. The exhibit is supported in part by the departments of Art and Art History, Biology and the Fine Arts.

Special events for the exhibit include an illustrated presentation by Means on Thursday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m. in Dittmann 305; a gallery talk by Steiger Friday, Sept. 12, at 5 p.m.; a talk by Kelm Monday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. in Dittmann 305; and a performance by Woods Thursday, Oct. 16, at 8 p.m. in Dittmann Studio 1.

The Artists
After graduating from the University of Minnesota as a philosophy major, Kelm began exploring bookbinding at the University of Minnesota Library Bindery in 1978. He worked in a variety of apprenticeships until opening his own studio, The Wide Awake Garage, in 1983. He also opened the Garage Annex School of Book Arts in 1990.

Steiger studied at the Arts Students League in New York and graduated from Lehman College in 1973. Her travels and studies brought her in contact with the art of Aboriginal Australians and the indigenous traditions of Africa and Asia. Her work is part of the permanent collection of Rutgers University.

Means is a master black and white printer who has created prints for such clients as Robert Mapplethorpe and the Smithsonian Institution. Her work has been collected by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She currently is showing a major exhibit at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Woods' work has been seen at various New York venues, including St. Mark's Church, The Kitchen, P.S. 1 Contemporary Arts Center, Performance Space 122 and the Whitney Museum. Her work also has been shown in Switzerland.

The Museum
Flaten Art Museum, located in Dittmann Center at St. Olaf College, exhibits shows of regional, national and international significance. The extensive permanent collection includes traditional and contemporary textiles, paintings, sculpture, ceramics and works on paper from around the world -- most notably the United States and Europe.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.