USD Magazine Spring 2011

AROUND  THE PARK

A LIVING LABORATORY Gallery and studio room dedicated to print sets the university apart [ a r t f u l ]

by Trisha J. Ratledge

J

by Trisha J. Ratledge

Just having a gallery and study room on campus dedicat- ed to prints sets USD apart in the regional art world. While nearby museums hold print exhibitions — the J. Paul Getty Museum, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art — none have permanent space dedicated to prints. Sancho Lobis says that in San Diego, the Hoehn Print Study Room is the only publicly accessible print room available. Exhibitions in the Hoehn Family Galleries feature prints from USD’s permanent col- lection or prints on loan from other institutions in exhibi- tions curated by USD or by an outside institution. The current exhibition, “Dreams

and Diversions: 250 Years of Japanese Woodblock Prints,” is a concurrent exhibition organized by the San Diego Museum of Art. This four-part presentation, running through June 5, 2011, offers two rota- tions of masterworks at each institution, featuring pieces by some of the most important artists in the Japanese wood- block print tradition. The exhibit is being incorpo- rated into classes on printmak- ing, art history and Asian studies. “If we have these exhibi- tions on campus, we can take the entire class into the gal- lery and teach it on the spot,” says Jessica Patterson, assistant professor of art history. “We try to convey to the students that

they need to spend a sustained amount of time looking at the art to process what they see. Having it in the campus gallery allows them to spend that time.” Faculty also encourage stu- dents to use exhibitions as a source of inspiration and invites them to create art in response to the works on dis- play. Nathan Vaughan, a senior visual arts major, developed a photography project in response to a Georges Rouault exhibit, “Miserere,” at USD. His own work was then exhibited with Rouault’s. “It was quite spectacular,” Vaughan says of the experi- ence. “It allows the work to be active, not static.” On another level, students

ust inside the front entrance of Founders Hall is an innovative laboratory, one equipped with Rembrandts and Goyas rather than Bunsen burners and beakers. Here, in the Robert and Karen Hoehn Family Galleries and the Hoehn Print Study Room, art students have invaluable access to origi- nal print works as they don the mantle of curators, artists and marketers. “The idea is to create oppor- tunities for students to gain experience and also to gain focus in terms of their profes- sional aspirations,” says Victoria Sancho Lobis, the inaugural curator of USD’s print collection and fine arts galleries.

10 USD MAGAZINE