EUGENE–The University of Oregon Museum of Art will offer a semimonthly series of programs beginning this winter about the art of collecting for the serious and not-so-serious collector.

Beginning Jan. 11 and continuing twice a month through March 22, "Art á la Carte!" will feature guest presenters who will share their experience and expertise with audiences of beginning to expert collectors. The series will draw upon curators, gallery operators, auction house professionals and private collectors to provide a number of different perspectives about the art of collecting.

Each presentation will include a brief talk or panel discussion followed by a hands-on session in which audience members will be able to see up-close, and perhaps handle, examples of various art objects from the Museum of Art collection or the collections of the presenters.

"For years, the museum’s curatorial staff has fielded questions from people seeking advice about collecting art," says Lawrence Fong, Museum of Art executive associate director. "They want to know how to start a collection, what are the signs of quality, how to authenticate an object, where to get good advice and information, what sorts of things people collect and where to hunt for pieces to add to a collection."

Taking a cue from the popularity of the public television program "Antiques Roadshow" and the success of the eBay internet auction website, Fong says the museum’s "Art á la Carte!" program drives home the point that anyone can be a collector.

Tickets for "Art á la Carte!" are available by term subscription or by individual session. By term, the cost is $45 for the general public or $35 for UO Museum of Art members. Admission to individual sessions is $10 general or $7 for art museum members.

Those who join the art museum at the time of ticket purchase to take advantage of member rates will be extended a special 2-for-1 membership offer enabling new members to give the gift of a free membership to their favorite art lover.

Reservations are recommended.

Opening the series will be "A Golden Moment: Contemporary Jewelry Design" from
7—9 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11, in the auditorium at Sacred Heart Medical Center, 1255 Hilyard St. Hosts will be world-renowned goldsmith Mary Lee Hu, 1999 recipient of the Smithsonian Institution’s Renwick Gallery Master of the Year Award, and master metalsmith Kate Wagle, associate professor and head of the UO Department of Art.

These two artists will discuss their work and contemporary fine jewelry as a collectible art form. Their talk will be followed by up-close sessions with Hu, Wagle and members of the Metalsmiths’ Guild of Lane County.

Other "Art á la Carte!" sessions and presenters during Winter 2000, all set from 7—9 p.m. on Thursdays in the Sacred Heart Medical Center auditorium, include:

• Jan. 25: "Japanese Prints," by Sarah Thompson, UO assistant professor of art history. This will reprise a program Thompson delivered last year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

• Feb. 8: "Art, Antiques & Auctions," by W. Brooke Sivo from the furniture and decorative arts department of the Butterfield & Butterfield auction house, San Francisco, Calif. During this UO Museum of Art version of "Antiques Roadshow," Sivo will give verbal assessments of antiques brought by the audience for one hour prior to his presentation about how to authenticate antique furniture.

• Feb. 22: "Glass as an Art Form," by Patrick Maveety of Palo Alto, Calif., a contemporary glass collector and former curator of Asian art at the Stanford Art Museum, and Ted Sawyer of Portland, director of education for Bullseye Glass Works.

• March 8: "Musical Instruments as Art Objects, Part I," by Marc Vanscheewijck, UO assistant professor of musicology.

• March 22: "Photography," by Jonathan Brand, Portland collector and raconteur, and Barry Singer, Petaluma, Calif., gallery operator and collector.

The art museum building is closed to prepare for a $12 million major construction project that will renovate and modernize the museum’s public spaces, galleries and support areas and more than double the size of the existing 68-year-old building. The building will re-open in the spring of 2003.

The University of Oregon Museum of Art is a nonprofit state institution supported by the generosity of its membership and in part by grants from the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Operating funds also are provided in part by the Horton, Museum of Art, Culp, Krause, McCosh and Autzen endowments.

For information, browse <http://uoma.uoregon.edu/> or call (541) 346-0942.

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