“Collective Wisdom” On Exhibit At New Gordon Galleries

By Lane Dare

The new Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries at Old Dominion University opened Sept. 8 to rave reviews. The galleries comprise the Baron and Ellin Gordon Self-Taught Art Collection, whose inaugural exhibit, “Collective Wisdom,” features a portion of the Gordons’ collection, and the University Gallery, which displayed works by members of the ODU art department faculty through Oct. 21.

“Collective Wisdom” will continue through the summer of 2008.

Located at 4509 Monarch Way in the University Village, the Gordon Galleries are situated between the Stables Theatre and the ODU bookstore, which is expected to open by year’s end.

Pioneering folk art collectors Baron and Ellin Gordon, of Williamsburg, announced last year their plans to donate a significant portion of their collection of 20th- and 21st-century American folk art to Old Dominion. Their private collection is counted among the handful of top collections in the world of recent American art by self-trained artists. The Gordons have previously donated pieces to the Museum of American Folk Art in New York and other prestigious institutions, including the Visionary Museum in Baltimore and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in Colonial Williamsburg, and have loaned pieces for many groundbreaking exhibitions.

The largest art donation ever received by the university, the Gordon collection consists of more than 300 pieces by over 70 artists, including paintings, sculptures, jugs, canes and carvings. Among these are works by artists Howard Finster, Geneva Beavers, Mose Tolliver, Leroy Archuleta, Thornton Dial, Inez Nathaniel Walker, Miles Carpenter and Israel Litwak.

“Thanks to the generosity and vision of Ellin and Baron Gordon, Old Dominion and the Hampton Roads community will have the opportunity to learn from and enjoy this unique and diverse genre of art,” said ODU President Roseann Runte.

Old Dominion is one of very few academic institutions to feature and focus the identity of its permanent collection on this avidly debated style of self-taught American folk art. The collection invites scholarly investigation from many perspectives: sociology, anthropology, psychology, African American studies, American history, Southern studies, religion, folklore and women’s studies, to name just a few.

According to essayist and gallery owner Randall Morris of Cavin-Morris Gallery in New York City, who has focused on self-taught artists for more than 20 years, the works in the Gordon collection “provide us with profound insights on the human condition. Each of these works conveys to us the essence of the culture in which they were produced and the substance of the shared human experience.”

The Gordons’ gift is complemented by an equally generous donation of $500,000 from long-time arts advocates and enthusiasts Susan and David Goode of Norfolk. Their gift was matched by funds from a university endowment from Landmark Communications founder Frank Batten. Together these resources will be used to develop academic programming, community outreach and exhibitions.

Barry Moss of Tymoff+Moss Architects designed the Gordon Galleries. For more information about the galleries, visit www.odu.edu/al/art/gallery/calendar.htm or call 757-683-2355.