May 28, 1997 Museum of Art Contact Heather Brown (541) 346-0942 or John R. Crosiar 346-3135 EUGENE--The remarkable life of the woman who founded the University of Oregon Museum of Art's permanent collection will be illustrated in the museum's special 65th anniversary exhibition opening Saturday, June 14. "Precious Cargo: The Legacy of Gertrude Bass Warner" will debut during a public open house, with tours and refreshments, slated from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. June 14 in conjunction with the university's spring commencement festivities. The exhibition, which will fill three main-floor galleries at the Museum of Art, 1430 Johnson Lane, will continue through Sept. 28. "I want this exhibition to give visitors a chance to understand a woman who courageously overcame the difficulties of travel in Asia during the first part of the 20th century in hopes of bridging cultural differences and building cultural understanding," says Lawrence Fong, the museum's associate director and curator of the exhibition. Warner's legacy, he emphasizes, "is more than just a collection of art. It is the hope for peace through the shared experience in viewing the beauty of art." In 1922, Warner gave an incredible Asian art collection, named for her late husband Murray Warner, to the University of Oregon to form the core collection for the then-fledgling Museum of Art. The "Precious Cargo" exhibition will explore Warner's life experiences as a traveler throughout Asia and as a collector of Asian art. It is organized according to four themes--Imperial art in China, Edo Japan, the campaign for building the Museum of Art and the Bass-Warner family history. Within these themes, museum visitors will gain an understanding of Warner's personal life through her diaries, travel logs, photographs and correspondence, all taken from archive material. They also will view some of the incredible artworks she collected between 1910-1930. Fong explains that the exhibition is not intended to reconstitute the original installation of the Murray Warner Collection, which at one time filled the entire museum. In addition to the Commencement Weekend opening, the Museum of Art will host a number of events related to the "Precious Cargo" exhibition throughout the summer. They include: * Wednesday, June 25--The free weekly MusEvening! program, extending museum hours from 5-8 p.m. to view current exhibitions, will feature the 6 p.m. performance of "An Evening with Mrs. Warner" by actress and museum docent Jean Nelson. * Saturday, July 19--As a museum benefit, Friends of the Museum Gourmet Groups I and II will sponsor from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. the third annual "Art and the Garden" tour of seven unique private gardens in the Eugene area. Tickets are $10 per person and will be sold at the museum's gift shop. * Wednesday, Aug. 6--Kathleen Metzger, an art history graduate student and assistant researcher for the "Precious Cargo" show, gives a free gallery talk, "Travels in Asia," at 6 p.m. during the weekly MusEvening! program. * Saturday, Aug. 23--From 1-4 p.m., Museum Family Day will offer people of all ages a free, fun-filled afternoon of hands-on activities and performances about the arts of China and Japan in the "Passport to Asia" Discovery Room and throughout the museum. * Saturday, Sept. 27--From 9 a.m.-4 p.m., six renowned scholars and art experts will present historical and contemporary perspectives on the collecting of Asian art during the symposium, "The Legacy of Mrs. Warner: Collecting and Connoisseurship of Asian Art." The "Precious Cargo" exhibition is sponsored by Lee World Travel and the Ballinger Family in memory of Court Ballinger. The media sponsor is KMTR-TV/NBC 16. Also partially supporting the UO Museum of Art's 1996-97 exhibition program are grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Oregon Community Foundation and the Institute of Museum Services, a federal agency supporting the nation's museums. Accessible to people with disabilities, the Museum of Art is open free to the public from noon-8 p.m. Wednesday and from noon-5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. For information about the "Precious Cargo" exhibition and related summer activities, call (541) 346-3027. A taped message about current museum exhibitions and events also is available 24 hours a day by calling GuardLine from a Touch-Tone phone at 485-2000, ext. 5665. -30- #P-2269/A&E,Special