Johnson Museum to hold reception for new exhibits

A wedding dress made from underwear, a straitjacket built for two, bears made of mud and birds of trash and a Matisse print are just some of the works of art now on view at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell.

Michiko Kons' "Shrimp and Boot" (gelatin silver print) is part of the "Uncommon Threads" exhibition.

"There is an amazing range of art from the 20th century for people to see in the museum now," said Frank Robinson, the Richard J. Schwartz Director of the museum. "There is something to please everyone, something to make us laugh and something to move us. It is very exciting."

A free public reception to celebrate these new exhibitions will be held Saturday, March 31, from 5 to 7 p.m. A shuttle bus from Cornell's "A" parking lot to the museum

will run from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Limited parking also is available in the lots next to the museum.

The new exhibitions include:

• "Uncommon Threads: Contemporary Artists and Clothing" assembles work by 40 artists who use clothing in one form or another to express concerns about the body, about issues of race and gender, about history, memory and craft.

• "Common Threads: Art, Identity and Fashion in the 20th Century," an exhibition held in honor of the centennial of Cornell's College of Human Ecology, pairs dresses from Cornell's Costume and Textile Collection with art from the museum's collection to illustrate the cultural connections. (See story.)

• "Kathryn Spence: Leavings" displays the works of the San Francisco artist who makes art from discarded and devalued materials, such as trash, mud, string and fabric scraps.

• "War and Peace," organized by a group of Cornell undergraduate art history students, is a collection of prints and photographs from the museum's collection reflecting these intertwined and connected themes.

• "Something Old/Something New: Print Acquisitions from the Class of 1951" is a collection of mostly 20th century prints and photographs generously given to Cornell by members of this class, assembled in honor of their 50th reunion in June.

For more information, call 255-6464.