Challenge VI—Roots: Insights & Inspirations in Contemporary Turned Objects
Contemporary Silver Servers: The Rabinovitch Collection
September 26-December 13, 2003

The Schneider Museum of Art at Southern Oregon University opens their fall exhibition season with an outstanding, exceptionally beautiful, exhibition of turned objects and a unique collection of contemporary silver servers. Organized by the Wood Turning Center of Philadelphia, the Challenge series was developed to stimulate and encourage lathe artists to push the boundaries of their creativity and to create a public awareness of the lathe turning field. The exhibition features established and emerging international artists who seek to redefine function, decoration and sculptural forms. For this particular exhibition the artists were asked what inspired them to create the work they submitted for the show. The result, illustrated in the accompanying catalog, documents the source of inspiration and provides further insight and understanding into how each artist works. Objects range in size from a 2 ¼” nesting “egg” by Barry MacDonald to the 7’ sculpture Chartres Revisited by Steve Loar. The exhibition promises to be a feast for the eyes as well as the soul.

Contemporary Silver Servers, on loan from the collection of B. Seymour Rabinovitch of Seattle, Washington, compliment the turned objects with the exquisite craftsmanship of silver artisans from the UK and the United States. Dr. Rabinovitch’s first interest was collecting and researching antique fish and cake servers. In the 1980’s he began commissioning contemporary silver artists to design slices pieces with two purposes in mind: first to support independent silversmiths and their craft, and second to provide a comparative study of contemporary styles in metalsmithing relating to one type of object: the broad-blade server. As stated in the book Contemporary Silver Servers by Seymour Rabinovitch and Helen Clifford “The narrow focus of the present collection has the advantage of making easier the comparisons between the styles current among silversmiths and also makes possible a survey—a snapshot—of the techniques in vogue today.” The silversmiths were given full artistic freedom in their design with the only constraint being that the object be a slice. Artistic and aesthetic considerations were to take precedence over function. The outcome is an exquisite array of unique, impeccably crafted, fish and cake servers.

The Schneider Museum of Art is located on the Southern Oregon University campus on the corner of Siskiyou Boulevard and Indiana Street in Ashland, Oregon. Museum Hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday, and First Fridays from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. There is a $2 suggested donation. For more information call 541-552-6245 or visit our website at www.sou.edu/sma.

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