The University Record, January 28, 1997
Two artists display unusual works in Rackham Building
Ann Savageau displays a portion of her creation titled ‘Books/Memories/Reflections,’ on display in the Rackham Building.
Photo by Bob Kalmbach
In his early drawings, Theodore Ramsay depicted himself and his parents as the ideal “bear” family, advanced to candy-making to pay college expenses and learned the basics of mold-making while making Mickey Mouse suckers for the confectioner.
Moving on to build his own studio, having never constructed any building before, Ramsay designed the roof after the walls were up. The Washtenaw County inspector referred to the structure as a hunting lodge, a lodge that now serves as house and studio for the artist recognized for his work in making and creating with paper.
A professor of art at the School of Art and Design, Ramsay is currently serving as Artist-in-Residence at the Institute for the Humanities where examples of his paper reliefs are displayed in the Osterman Common Room, 1524 Rackham Building.
“Like landscape that has been layered with parking lots and structures, my classical paper images have undergone a surface transformation and sport a veneer of manmade materials, such as tar, porch paint, glitter, and plastic fragments,” Ramsay says.
Also on display at Rackham are the works of Ann Savageau, a multi-media sculptor from the Residential College who has created an installation titled “Books/Memories/Reflections” which she describes as “a meditation on books, the knowledge within them, and their place in our lives.”
Having rescued books discarded by libraries, Savageau transformed the covers to tell a new story. One cover is made of objects found in an old family Bible, a pressed flower, a news clipping, a photo. Another features a paintbrush and half-used tubes of paint, and another is part book, part computer keyboard. Emerging from each of the 22 books are strips of pages trailing to the floor—contents, words and information tumbling out.
Ramsay’s exhibit, “Fate of Nature,” can be viewed through Feb. 28; Savageau’s exhibit through Feb. 10. The Institute is open during weekday business hours.
