Student Art Graces University Way Storefronts
Catch the Best at the UW Summer Arts Festival
Collaboration Leads to Center for Spanish Studies
Philanthropy as a Family Tradition
Exploring Genomics--Through Art
Chemistry Course Gets Intellectual
Czech, Please
On the Web: September 11 Archive

Student Art Graces University Way Storefronts

When Aaron Hoard met with University Way merchants on the Business Improvement Area Board, they complained about the unsightliness of the vacant storefronts in their area. Meanwhile, Hoard was hearing from the School of Art that they’d like to have a student art gallery on the Ave.

	Pedestrians strolling University Way can view artwork by UW art students, thanks to a new agreement between the University and Ave merchants. Photo by Mary Levin.

So Hoard, special projects manager in the UW Office of Regional Affairs, put two and two together. Now students are displaying art in the windows of some vacant stores—a win-win situation.

“The school has only one small gallery, and it’s devoted to student work only three times a year,” says Judith Clark, advisor in the School of Art. “This program gives students another way to show their work.” The first storefront “gallery” site was the old Wizards of the Coast property, half a block north of 45th Street on University Way (“the Ave”). “I approached the Limantzakis family, which owns the property, and they agreed to let us use it,” Hoard said.

Art advisers Clark and Matthew Campbell are using the resources of the School’s Art on Loan Program to create the sidewalk galleries. The program accepts artwork from students and loans it out for exhibit in various places on campus—most visibly, Mary Gates Hall and the HUB.

Six artists were represented in the first Ave exhibit. Clark says the school is looking at the space for future display of three-dimensional work—work that is difficult to place in University space because of security issues. Other storefront displays being planned include a photography exhibit, a possible show of chocolate art, and performance art.

Hoard, meanwhile, has received positive feedback from merchants about this approach and continues to talk with other storeowners about the possibility of using their space. It’s not quite the permanent gallery that students would like to have, he says, but it’s “a good first step.”

Catch the Beat at the UW Summer Arts Festival

The Summer Arts Festival returns to the University for its third year in July, with new faces and familiar favorites among its offerings. The 2002 festival’s theme is Beat, with performances and exhibits exploring Beat “as a driving force in life, art, and history, and as the descriptor of a generation.” The festival will be held July 16-20.

Acts to watch for include guitarist Bill Frisell, known for his fearless dedication to experimentation, and the Dave Douglas New Quintet. Douglas has been named trumpeter, composer, and jazz artist of the year by such organizations as the New York Jazz Awards, Down Beat, and Jazz Times.

UW philosophy professor Ron Moore will present his popular morning lecture series, this time exploring the “beatnik aesthetic.” Midday and evening lecture series—the latter featuring Seattle Opera’s Perry Lorenzo—will also be offered. All lectures are free.

To learn more about the 2002 Summer Arts Festival, visit the festival’s website. Or call 206-685-6696 to receive a brochure.

Collaboration Leads to Center for Spanish Studies

When Olga Blanco arrived at the UW as a graduate student last September, she went right to work. A native of Cordoba, Spain, Blanco was hired to staff the Center for Spanish Studies, based in Spanish and Portuguese Studies. Her position is the result of a fruitful collaboration between the University, the Spanish government, and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

The three groups have come together to support the Center for Spanish Studies, established in 2000 as a resource for teachers of Spanish language and culture. The University has provided a tuition waiver plus room and board in student housing for Blanco, enabling her to study at the UW and staff the Center 20 hours per week, while the Spanish government provides her a stipend. OSPI provides funding to help with office expenses.

The Center grew out of conversations between UW senior lecturer Paloma Borreguero and Spanish government official Eduardo Tobar, who was assigned to Olympia as a Spanish language consultant. In less than two years, it has sponsored more than two dozen lectures, performances, and workshops.

“Some activities are geared to students at the UW,” says Borreguero, “but many are intended for K-12 teachers. We’re trying to bring together the academic world and high school and middle school teachers.”

The Center has offered weekend workshops for teachers on such topics as the Spanish Civil War and Sephardic Communities in the Americas. Often it taps faculty experts from departments across campus. “We usually provide materials that the teachers can take back to their classrooms—basically a ready-made module on a specific topic,” says Borreguero. The Center also offers shorter evening workshops that focus on language teaching methodology.

“We’ve gotten wonderful feedback from teachers about what we’re doing,” says Borreguero, who is heartened by the increased communication between the University and Spanish teachers across the state. “But they frequently comment that they want more. And we’d love to give them more. I’m hoping the Center can continue to grow.”

Philanthropy as a Family Tradition

Hugh and Ellen Ferguson. Photo courtesy of University of Puget Sound.

When Hugh Ferguson and his daughter Ellen Ferguson were honored at the National Philanthropy Day ceremonies in November as the state’s outstanding philanthropic family, the staff of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture were thrilled. And for good reason: the Fergusons have been crucial to the Burke’s success for more than 20 years.

Hugh and his late wife Jane (‘39) were always fascinated by natural history. Hugh recalls frequent childhood camping trips in the Olympics and Cascades and serving as a naturalist at Mt. Rainier one summer.“Being born out here in the west, you couldn’t grow up without being involved with nature,” he says. Jane, a UW anthropology major, was greatly influenced by the natural history courses she took from Erma Gunther, who served as director of the Burke for 30 years.

The Fergusons’ connection to the Burke strengthened when their daughter Ellen joined the museum staff in 1980 as its first director of development. With Ellen’s encouragement, they established the Avery-Ferguson Endowment for Excellence with a $500,000 gift, to provide operating support for the museum. Hugh has continued to add to the endowment and fund other Burke projects, with gifts totalling more than $2 million and an additional planned gift of $2.5 million.

Giving to the Burke was “a natural” for her parents, says Ellen. “People say my parents got involved in the Burke because of me, but in fact, I ended up at the Burke because of all they had shown me about the natural world and its wonders when I was a child.”

Ellen recalls many weekend excursions and fishing trips during her childhood—plus a few more exotic adventures. The family travelled the world, visiting archaeological sites in such far flung places as China and Egypt. Her father has also travelled to Antarctica, crossed the Sahara, and visited Siberia. And of course he’s signed up for Burke Museum field trips—everything from searching for plant fossils in Republic, Washington to visiting the site of Lewis and Clark’s outhouse at Fort Clapsop with anthropology professor and divisional dean Julie Stein, a former Burke curator. Ellen has joined him on many of his adventures.

Ellen inherited not only her parents’ fascination with the natural world but their philanthropic tendencies as well. In 1994, after 14 years as the Burke’s development director, she retired from that post. But she has continued to play an active role at the museum, spending upwards of 20 hours each week working on community relations projects and serving as president of the Burke’s board. She also has been a generous benefactor to the museum.

With all that they’ve done for the Burke—and dozens of other worthy organizations in the region—Hugh and Ellen still blush at being recognized as one of the region’s top philanthropic families.

“The award was a big surprise,” admits Hugh. Adds Ellen, “We do what we do because we love to do it, not seeking recognition. But it is sweet to be recognized by friends and colleagues for doing what you love.”

Exploring Genomics— Through Art

Genetic research. To some, it represents exciting possibilities for treating disease. Others are troubled by potential ethical issues raised by genetic manipulation. The Henry Art Gallery, in affiliation with the Berkeley Art Museum, has organized a major traveling exhibition—Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics—that explores the as-yet-uncharted ethical and cultural possibilities of genomics.

The exhibition, on view at the Henry from April 6 through August 25, seeks to bridge art and science while showcasing powerful new artwork created in direct response to the Human Genome Project.

Robin Held, assistant curator at the Henry, spent more than three years developing the exhibition through on-going dialogue with artists, scientists—including senior scientists working on the Human Genome Project, educators, historians, and other museum professionals.

"Mirror," by Margi Geerlinks is among the works in the Gene(sis) exhibition. Courtesy Steohan Stux Gallery, NY.

The exhibition features more than 50 works by renowned and emerging artists, from digitally altered photographs of “manimals” to DNA portraits and abstract “gene-mapping” paintings. The Henry also commissioned three works created specifically for the exhibition by artists in collaboration with consultants from the field of genomics.

An impressive slate of public programs will be offered in connection with Gene(sis), to encourage public discourse and cultivate a deeper understanding of genomics and its relationship to contemporary culture and life. These include a weekend symposium, a film series, a meeting and dialogue at Town Hall with geneticist and Nobel Laureate Lee Hartwell, two cross-disciplinary courses at the UW, poetry readings, gallery discussions, and more. (Visit the exhibition website for details.)

The programs were developed through the Gene(sis) Community Advisory Committee, made up of members from the artistic, scientific, medical, and educational communities, and through collaborative partnerships with the UW’s Simpson Center for the Humanities, the Seattle Public Library’s Center for the Book, Washington State Board of Health, and the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, among others.

“Museums frequently serve as playing fields upon which the major social, political, and moral issues of the day are contested,” said Tamara Moats, curator of education at the Henry Art Gallery. “Gene(sis) presents an excellent opportunity for this type of exploration and dialogue, which is particularly unusual for its focus on the relationship between art and science.”

Various perspectives are also presented on the web site—and in print and CD-ROM materials—through essays by participating artists, scientists, historians, the curator, and other cultural commentators. The website will also serve as a venue for museum visitors. On-site or at home, visitors may interact with several of the multi-media installations, changing the structure of the pieces themselves.

For two years after its run at the Henry, the exhibition will travel to university museums in cities such as Berkeley, Minneapolis, and Honolulu.

For Henry Art Gallery hours and admission prices, visit the Henry’s website.

Chemistry Course Gets Intellectual

He enjoyed chemistry in high school. He earned a B.S. and M.S. in chemistry at the UW in the 1980s. Now Karl Hermanns is back on campus teaching a course in the Department of Chemistry. It’s a pro-bono project for the alumnus, who is now an attorney with SEED Intellectual Property Group in Seattle.

Hermanns teaches a course about his specialty—intellectual property—which encompasses patents, copyrights, and trademarks. It’s a subject of growing importance in the sciences, as difficult questions arise about what can be patented.

“In the 1980s, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door to what is patentable subject matter,” explains Hermanns. “They were deciding a case about microbes that were developed to eat the oil at oil spills. The question was whether such a living organism could be patentable. They decided it could, stating that ‘anything under the sun made by man’ was patentable.”

Most of Hermanns’ own cases involve biotechnology firms. Recognizing that scientists at these firms often lack familiarity with intellectual property issues, he began offering seminars to his clients. Then he thought, “Why not offer the same information to future scientists?” He approached the UW Department of Chemistry, which invited him to teach a one-credit course.

“I enjoy teaching the class,” says Hermanns. “I feel it’s important for students to get some practical, real-world education about this subject. Then, when they join a company, they can be a little bit ahead of the game.”

Since approaching the Chemistry Department, Hermanns has taught Chem 599 three times, with the enrollment growing from 40 students to more than 100 students.

“I’m teaching about something I wish I knew when I was in school,” Hermanns says. “It’s a way that I can give back. I’m glad students are interested.”

Czech, Please

	UW students, alumni, and friends gather at the weekly Czech table. Photo by Jaroslava Soldanova.

Visit the European Restaurant & Pastry Shop on University Way any Tuesday afternoon and you’re likely to hear some diners chatting in an unfamiliar language. The group is speaking Czech as part of a weekly Czech Table. The UW’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures has organized the table for the past five years.

“It affords students opportunities to practice speaking Czech outside the classroom—with native speakers—and learn about the culture,” says Jaroslava Soldanova, Czech lecturer in the department and Czech Table organizer.

Beginning language students attend to hear conversational Czech spoken, and more advanced students enjoy practicing their Czech. Native speakers welcome the opportunity to discuss their culture. “It’s become a social event for them,” says Soldanova.

The department also organizes a Russian Table, held in the Husky Union Building (HUB) on campus. For information on either table, call the department at 206-543-6848.

On the Web: September 11 Archive

On September 11, 2001, while most Americans were glued to their televisions, Kirsten Foot was surfing the web. She wasn’t ignoring the day’s tragic events; she was watching them unfold online.

Foot, a UW assistant professor of communications, believes the web is a rich source of information about our society. But unlike the printed word, web content is ephemeral—it can disappear at any time. To preserve online coverage of September 11 and its aftermath as a permanent record, Foot and Steve Schneider of State University of New York Institute of Technology helped create a September 11 web archive, at http://september11.archive.org. The archive has garnered international attention and was named “Site of the Year” for 2001 by Yahoo! Internet Life magazine. The Scout Report, which Foot describes as “a quality recognition program for the web,” also lauded the site.

The archive includes all known online references to the events of September 11 through December 1, 2001. One could spend hours—or days—exploring the archive and barely scratch the surface. To provide a glimpse of what’s available, the archive highlights one site, selected at random, each time a user visits the home page.

For this ambitious project, Foot and Schneider joined with the Library of Congress, The Internet Archive, and the Pew Internet and American Life Project. This “team” had been discussing possible collaboration prior to September 11, because all sought opportunities to capture and preserve web content for future use. Then September 11 happened.

“We were all immediately on the web, understanding that this was an important moment in web history as well as world history,” recalls Foot. “Within 24 hours, we had contacted each other to say, ‘Let’s collaborate now to establish a resurfable and analyzable web archive.’” The Library of Congress commissioned the collection and is handling copyright issues; the Internet Archive did the archiving; and the Pew Project is funding Foot’s and Schneider’s analysis of the material.

A significant aspect of the archive—one which Foot says is “probably a first”—is the use of a tool that allows any web user to add URLs to the archive. “It means that this is a publicly constructed archive with participation from people anywhere in the world,” says Foot.

Since the collection of material ended on December 1, Foot has been analyzing what’s there and what it all means. “What changed on the web after September 11? What was expanded? Removed? Were entirely new kinds of content being added? There are many questions that need to be asked,” says Foot.

[Winter/Spring 2002 - Table of Contents]