April 18, 2006

'Turning Point' offers rich display of art in wood at ASU Art Museum

The ASU Art Museum presents a varied collection of contemporary art in wood with "Turning Point: Inspired by the Edward Jacobson Collection of Turned Wood Bowls," running April 22 - Aug. 12. An opening reception for members and invited guests will take place from 6 - 8 p.m., April 21.

Noted Phoenix collector, arts supporter and attorney Edward "Bud" Jacobson, who died in 2005, assembled one of the first comprehensive collections of turned wood bowls by contemporary American artists. In 1989, he gave that collection to the ASU Art Museum, influencing the museum's collecting and exhibiting of art made from wood for the next 16 years.

The "Turning Point" exhibition of 60 works from the museum's permanent collection is visually dominated by newer work that represents a variety of forms and scale, along with selections from the Jacobson collection.

Artists in the exhibition include Abel Barroso, David Ellsworth, Giles Gilson, Stephen Hogbin, Robyn Horn, Todd Hoyer, Mel Kendrick, Ronald Kent, Mark Lindquist, Ed Moulthrop, Merryll Saylan, Claudette Schreuders, Tommy Simpson, Bob Stocksdale, Del Stubbs, Howard Werner and others.

The Jacobson collection was the subject of one of the first books in the field, traveled nationally and internationally, and was reviewed in the New York Times. It continues to be recognized as a benchmark in the recent history of the field.

"Bud Jacobson's passing last year was deeply felt at the ASU Art Museum, in our community and in the national community of wood turners," says curator Heather Sealy Lineberry. "The museum will create a permanent display to salute Bud Jacobson's contribution to the woodturning field, his support of the artists and the emerging art form."