Art on the First Floor
Pick-STAIGER COMPOSITION 2
Carol Kim, 2011
Kim’s work was purchased to be a part of the Norris permanent art collection from Northwestern’s 2011 Senior Undergraduate Art Majors Exhibition. This large-scale work acts as a special x-ray, exposing the bones of an interior space while erasing its insides. It’s disorienting rethinking of decor allows a particular appreciation of minimalism and linear grace that acts as a refreshing addition to Norris’ collection.
Open House
Walter Parke, 1973
Parke studied at the Palette and Chisel Art Academy in Chicago in the 1970s, where they mastered their craft in etching, and found their interest in the realistic depiction of nature’s objects. In Open House, Parke plays with the welcoming gaps of a dead tree trunk. While the tree is no longer with us, its body is asking us in. This focus points to the ever-giving nature of the natural world, even after death, a tree wants to offer us shelter, shade, and wood.
Walway to Tech
Gregory Johnson, Date Unknown
A slice of the student life, Johnson’s Walkway to Tech honors the mundane stroll we’ve all taken many times, to and from different buildings on campus, to and from the grocery store, the trash behind the garage, the stairs to the door.
Giving this glimpse into our daily life onto a large-scale canvas with vibrant color and mood, Johnson elevates our daily experience into something that ought to be celebrated, not merely tolerated.
Norris Center
Thomas James, 1981
James’s playful depiction of Norris is heartwarming, and reminds us of the playful attitude we often take when studying here with friends. This is not just a spot of labor, but of connection, joy, and memory. The surreal and mythic landscape in James’ drawing adds childish elements into a space that is often overwhelmed with academic discussion. It lets us know we can still be kids, even here. And it makes Norris feel a bit more like home.
Tikas
Margaret Roche, 2003
Tikas, as a noun, can mean various forms of traditional marks or ornaments worn on the forehead. Roche’s Etching places a Tikka on the forehead of many different types of characters. The relaxed old woman, the worried bearded man, the child, the mother. Every figure in this piece is connected through the marking on their forehead. Roche is demonstrating the universal spirit that runs through all different types of bodies. The mismatched use of shape and color enhance this sense of universality. In all ways, there is one.
Spirit of Nelson Mandela
Father Austin Collins, Date Unknown
Austin I. Collins, C.S.C., is a professor of sculpture in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design at the University of Notre Dame. Collins studied art at the University of California at Berkeley and received an M.F.A. in sculpture from Claremont Graduate University. Collins’s area of practice includes public art, large outdoor sculpture, installation art, and liturgical art. The theme of his creative work often deals with political and social issues. Collins has had over 130 exhibitions, including exhibitions at Northwestern University, University of Tennessee, University of Alabama, University of California, and the University of Virginia. His work is in 40 private and public collections.
Untitled
Mazarowitz, Date Unkown
Mazarowitz’s work on the first floor of Norris invites the viewer to indulge in the disorienting shapes, colors, and figures of Indigenous art. A style that not only encompasses, but celebrates, aesthetic practices outside the Eurocentric traditions of artistic creation and categorization. The inclusion of this work within Norris’ permanent collection speaks to our commitment to broadening Norris’ collection beyond the often Eurocentric academic and artistic ways of seeing in which we take on.
