Bruce Hasenkamp Donates Art to U of M Museum

Bruce Hasenkamp Donates Korean Ceramics and Art to U of M Museum

In a note from Peter Hasenkamp:

As most of you know, my father (past Sig Ep grand president Bruce Hasenkamp) has donated his collection of Korean ceramics and art to the University of Michigan Museum. The museum has been building a major extension to its building for the last year and a half and the reopening is scheduled for next week. On Saturday, March 28, the museum will be open to the public and tours of the new wing will be available. I'd like to invite all of you to see the new wing and, of course, visit the Korean art collection.

Also, the museum is currently running an on-line "what's your favorite piece of art" feature. In a totally self-serving request, I'd ask you to take a quick look at this: "UMMA Artpick".

I'm sure you will all agree that item 30 (which coincidentally happens to be a Korean pot from my father's collection) is by far the best work of the group. I trust all of you will vote accordingly. To quote the guiding principle of the Illinois state government - "vote early, vote often".

From the Ann Arbor Museum notes:

Acquisitions
Hasenkamp-Nam Collection of Korean Art
Thanks to the generosity of two families of donors—Bruce and Inta Hasenkamp of Hillsdale, California, and Elder and Mrs. Sang-Yong Nam of Ann Arbor—UMMA has acquired a major collection of Korean art, consisting of nearly 250 works of Korean ceramics, metalwork, paintings, and other decorative arts. With this single extraordinary collection, the Museum will be known for the excellence of its holdings in Korean art.
The collection—henceforward known as the Hasenkamp-Nam collection—is particularly rich in Korean ceramics, with examples from over 2,000 years of Korean history. No other art form captures the breadth of Korean history, or the genius of its craftsmen, so well as ceramics, seen as the defining art form for Korea and the area in which its artists have made their greatest contribution. Accordingly, the collection was sought after by museums across the United States.

The Hasenkamp-Nam collection includes fine examples of the characteristic shapes and techniques used in each of the key periods of Korean history and creates an inclusive survey of this superb art form, known for its richly delicate glazing and surface decorations, which have themselves evolved over time. The collection features a magnificent selection of thin-bodied gray stoneware pieces made for the elite and for funerary rituals, such as the sculpted equestrian oil lamp seen here. The collection makes its public debut at UMMA in an exhibition that runs from December 2004 through July 2005.

The Hasenkamps, who collected these extraordinary objects over many years, recognized that their collection of Korean art would have a transformative impact on UMMA and offered it to the Museum in a gift/purchase arrangement. Recognizing the immense significance of the collection to the future of Korean studies at UM, the director of the Korean Studies Program, Professor Meredith Woo-Cumings, helped the Museum secure essential financial support from Sang-Yong Nam, a UM alumnus and prominent leader in the local Korean-American community. Sang-Yong Nam and his wife, Moon-Sook, readily agreed to underwrite the purchase portion of the collection.

This partnership with the Korean Studies Program exemplifies a new and effective level of fundraising collaboration between the Museum and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, to which the Nams have been deeply committed. Thanks to the collective efforts of all, Korean art can finally take its rightful place among the superb collections of Asian art at UMMA.

It's the little things...

That make me happy. Yesterday Will Hull, a reader and frequent commenter, sent me a couple of small graphics.

I made a new button for the SigEp Feds blog (http://sigepfeds-dc.blogspot.com) right after I made one for the blog I run at work (http://ucpeople.blogspot.com) and I thought I would share it with you to possibly incorporate into your blog. I know you use the "Read More" link often with longer posts and I thought this could jazz it up a bit. I personally think it looks great.

The files are attached if you want to use them.

In Phi,
Will Hull
NV Alpha '03

Click to see both flavors
I think they look great, too.

Thanks, Will.

Winter Carnival 2007 - the winner is...

Sig Ep, of course! Even though they lost out in the individual event (month-long statue competition) the Sig Eps were able to prevail in other contests to secure the overall fraternity trophy.

“Nice, cold but nice,” is how Tom Beard of Marquette assessed the 2007 Carnival experience.

His granddaughter, Isabella Ruesing, 7, was enjoying the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity’s Babylon-themed statue contest entry. Delta Sigma Phi took first place in the fraternity division of the month-long statue competition.

With its multi-tiered tower, bridge, multiple pillars and shimmering ice embellishments, Delta Sigma Phi’s creation had become a veritable playground by 2 p.m. Saturday. It was a favorite among children, including Nicole Kivela, 9, of Marshfield, Wis., who referred to it simply as “the big one” while she warmed up in the Memorial Union Building.
[...]
Trophies were given Saturday afternoon to the winners of the statue competitions and various other Winter Carnival contests. Trophies were also given to the overall winners based on their performance in all of the competitions.

Sigma Phi Epsilon overcame an off-the-podium finish in the month-long statue competition to take first place overall in the fraternities division. In the women’s group, Delta Zeta took top overall honors.

More info and a link to the carnival website. Lots o' pics

Winter Carnival 2007

All-nighter delighter

Michigan Tech kept on with the Winter Carnival tradition. Plenty of snow and cold weather means the snow and ice sculptures will be spectacular.

“We were originally doing Easter Island but about three other halls are doing that,” Jay Meldrum said, explaining his team’s last-minute subject change.

Meldrum’s team, a group from Wadsworth Hall called “Incognito,” eventually settled on an evolution theme, crafting a series of figures from monkey to human. The Trojan Horse was another popular statue subject, rendered most imposingly by the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. Fraternity member Thomas Knuth was careful to point out the figure, centrally-located next to the Electrical Energy Resources Center, was “not a Scottish terrier.”

Sigma Phi Epsilon statue chair Paul Mayer said the Trojan Horse had the most potential to pose a striking figure among the statue subjects the fraternity discussed.

“We thought it was the coolest one, it had the most action of the ideas we thought of,” he said.

Mayer said the fraternity began work on their statue at 12 a.m., Jan. 15.

That was the first day work was allowed on the month-long entries. In this year’s carnival, there are 65 statues, including the over-nighter and the month-long entries.

The Carnival web site has all the pictures. (The Trojan Horse pic is really Big! click it!)

All-nighter delighter

Theeeey're Off! - Time for The Derby

(Thanks to the HQ feed for this item)
Donovan Sears, from KY Beta, is the designer of this year's Kentucky Derby Festival official poster.

Those of us from that part of the country have hazy memories of road trips, mint julips in the infield, and oh, yes, - there were some horses running around somewhere too.

The Kentucky Derby Festival's official poster image, also used for its 100-plus retail products from note cards to ball caps, was unveiled in festivities yesterday at the Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center. The image is an energetic burst of computer-designed horses racing while Festival events flow over their heads. The work is by graphic designer Donovan Sears of Louisville.

Just one more reason, as if you needed one, to have a grand time on Derby Day!

Check the link for more information and how to purchase a poster. (You can forget the seats in the clubhouse. They are taken until the second coming.)

Festival posters out of the gate