Tony Rodrigues talks about his work included in the exhibition “Invisible Thread” at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, on view from January 24 – May 7, 2023:
DJ Jihaari mixtape for the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, December 2022
Walk though the museum and listen to this mix, it is designed to go alongside the exhibitions on view in December, 2022 at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University.
Start in the Radical Naturalism exhibition with Donny Hathaway “Someday We’ll All Be Free” – D’Angelo “Real Love” – Ramp “I Just Love you” …
Then start listening to the Kinsey Collection with Eugene McDaniels “Freedom Death Dance” through to the track by Sly and the Family Stone “You can Make it if You Try” …
Then listen to the RaMell Ross exhibition starting with J Dilla “Glazed/Give Peace a Chance” alongside the sculpture “Propinquiry; Horizon of the Thing Witnessed” and work your way to the large sculpture “Return to Origin” for the last song by Earth Wind And Fire.
Through a major gift to Auburn University, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University has established the Martin Moss Freeman ’77 Fund for Excellence in memory of Shirley and Dr. Alfred Freeman.
IMAGE: Diane Arbus (1923-1971), “Triplets in their bedroom, N.J.”, 1963, Gelatin/Silver on Paper, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, The William Dunlop Collection, 2003.10.
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A trip to Auburn’s art museum is the perfect game day tradition.
The Jule is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, including home football game weekends. In addition to engaging exhibitions, shop for unique Auburn-themed gifts in The Museum Store, and stop in for treats by the grazer co + coffee in The Museum Cafe.
Admission is free, but donations are welcome. Your gift supports Auburn University!
WAR EAGLE!
Things to Know Before You Go
On home-game Saturdays, enter the museum lot from Woodfield Drive off South College.
Tell the parking attendants you are visiting the museum.
Take pictures and tag @thejulemuseum as a part of your trip to Auburn!
Questions? Our visitor service associates are happy to help. Call 334.844.1484. Find other ways to make the most of your trip with our visitor’s guide.
Thank you for your interest. Our event is at maximum capacity. For early registration, access be sure to opt-in for communications and follow @thejulemuseum.
On Thursday nights this summer, venture to The Jule for experimental and creative films, free of charge and open to everyone. Each selection is programmed with “Radical Naturalism.” Award-winning filmmakers explore new relationships with nature, image-making techniques, interview subjects and cultural investigations.
What is “Radical Naturalism?”
Guest curators and contemporary artists inspired by nature consider the environment and conservation by creating new work and researching Auburn’s collection of Audubon etchings and other natural history collections.
Free Admission | Open Auditorium Seating | Donations Welcome and Appreciated
Radical Naturalism – Tommy Coleman “A New Nature & my problem with the vessel” is on view at The Jule through July 26, 2022.
Two Years at Sea (2011)
June 2 at 6 p.m.
Directed by Ben Rivers
With special musical guests Lefty Bey and Sleepy Sword
Treading a line between documentary and fiction, artist Ben Rivers documents the lives of those who elect to live outside cultural norms, sharing stories from the edge. His award-winning feature debut follows Jake, a man who lives in the middle of the forest. Jake is seen in all seasons, surviving frugally, passing the time with strange projects and living the radical dream he had as a younger man.
Plantarians (2017-2020)
June 16 at 6 p.m.
Featuring a conversation with Ellie Kyungran Heo
Korean artist Ellie Kyungran Heo’s work considers the ethics of coexistence, attending to the underlying environmental conflicts in everyday lives. Her series Plantarians (2017-2020) is a rumination on entangled relationships between humans and plants in urban spaces. Divided into episodes, each follows individuals who cultivate, eat and accompany plants in celebration and grief.
El Mar La Mar (2017)
June 23 at 6 p.m.
Directed by Joshua Bonnetta and J.P. Sniadecki
An enthralling journey through the Sonoran Desert on the U.S.-Mexico border, El Mar La Mar is an experience unlike anything you’ve seen, heard or felt before. The filmmakers weave together sublime 16mm shots of nature and weather phenomena, animals, people and tracks left behind with a polyphonic soundtrack, creating a cinematographic exploration of the desert habitat—a multi-faceted panorama of a highly politicized stretch of land.
Medium Earth (2013) and INFINITY minus infinity (2019)
July 14 at 6 p.m.
Directed by the Otolith Group
Founded by Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun in 2002, the Otolith Group produces films that explore “temporal anomalies, anthropic inversions, and synthetic alienation of the posthuman, the inhuman, the non-human, and the complexity of the environmental conditions of life we all face.” Medium Earth is an audiovisual essay on the millennial time of geology and the infrastructural unconscious of Southern California. INFINITY minus Infinity confronts the compounded timelines of the afterlife of slavery enacted by British colonialism with “the forces and the fictions of 21st Century black feminist digital cosmology.”
Rock Bottom Riser (2021)
July 28 at 6 p.m.
Directed by Fern Silva
Artist and filmmaker Fern Silva’s debut feature film examines myriad encounters with an island world at sea. Drawing from subjects as seemingly disparate as the arrival of Christian missionaries and the controversial casting of Dwayne Johnson as King Kamehameha, the film weaves a vital tapestry of post-colonialism and pop culture with cinematic brio and wry wit. Rock Bottom Riser is an essential document and an exhilarating tour-de-force, a palimpsest that traverses geology, ethnography and astronomy.
Special Musical Guests on June 2
Lefty Bey
Musical collaborator with artist Tommy Coleman
Austin ‘Lefty’ Bey is a multi-instrumentalist & singer from Baltimore, Maryland. While growing up in West Baltimore, Hip-Hop culture, along with his family influenced Bey to express himself musically. From a relatively early age, Bey spent his time learning to curate sound, producing for acts in Baltimore. Mainly his uncle, Rickie Jacobs; then for himself.
Photo by Nick Hughes
Sleepy Sword
Photo by Michael Crowe
Produced Exclusively for The Jule
Cinephiles, deck your walls with the film series poster by artist Jason Sturgill. This limited edition screenprint measures 18×24 and is only available in The Museum Store. Your purchases support programs like the Independent Film Series.
Your child can become a “Museum Maker” this summer with The Jule!
The Museum Maker Summer Camp series offers an interactive artistic growth experience for children ages 8 to 13. We will be hosting 2 separate 1-week camp sessions which vary depending on your child’s age. Read below for more information.
Raiders of the Lost Art (Ages 8-10) – June 27 – July 1, 2022
Campers will uncover art techniques and materials of the past and make connections across time to the work of contemporary artists. Projects will include everything from creating their own paint using natural materials, working with plaster and clay, and 3D printing.
The Art of Game Design (Ages 11-13) – July 18 – 22, 2022
Campers will learn all about the game design process for creating analogue (board and card) games and basic digital games. Students will make their own games and complete working versions of them by the end of camp.
Important Info:
- Each camp session is 5 days long with each day lasting from 8:30am – Noon.
- Each session cost $150, with a 10% discount to families signed up with siblings. Use code SUMMER.
- We will be limiting camp sessions to 10 campers.
- Campers will supply their own snacks (no nuts) and water bottle.
- Campers will receive a free t-shirt with registration.
Sign Up
The Jule is partnering with the Utah Division of Arts & Museums on a national research study to evaluate the social impact museums have on their communities. There is an open call for individuals to participate in the study.
Existing participants are asked to visit three times through May 2022. You can visit the galleries or attend one of our engaging programs. After the final visit, there is a 30-minute online survey your experience.
Those who complete the survey will qualify for a grand prize drawing. Both first-time visitors and regular visitors are welcome to participate.
Submit an application at https://museumsocialimpact.org/apply/. For questions, contact the museum at 334-844-1484 or email at jcsm@auburn.edu.
John James Audubon filled his artwork with birds and plant life. Look closer: they also contain insects. Drawn life-size, the Audubon prints on view at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art feature tiny bugs that tell us amazing details about the bird’s environment. How many insects can you find?
You can make a firefly using the art of paper folding — origami (aw-ruh-gaa-mee). In traditional origami, artists fold a single paper square into a sculpture without cutting, gluing, taping or marking the paper. Electricity powers the firefly. The energy travels along a copper tape path – a circuit – from the battery to the light. You can make the firefly blink on and off by breaking the flow along the circuit.
What You’ll Need
Origami paper
Copper tape
3V lithium battery
LED light
Scotch Tape
Part 1: Origami Firefly Construction
Fold the square of paper diagonally, bringing two opposite corners together.
With the right angle facing up, fold the left and right corners up to the center.
Flip vertically, and fold back the top corner to the center. Fold upwards, approximately one centimeter away from your previous fold, creating the head of your firefly.
Take the left and right side corners and fold them towards the center. The origami firefly is now complete.
Part 2: Build the Paper Circuit
We need to fold open the wings to start the paper circuit. To do this, flip your firefly over and fold the wings outward. These folds will allow you to open and close the circuit, turning the lightbulb on and off.
Place your two pieces of copper tape as pictured. Place your battery positive side down on top of the cooper tape on the left.
When securing your battery with Scotch tape, be sure the right side of the battery is exposed. When you close your firefly, the copper tape on the right should touch the battery.
The light bulb has a longer prong and a shorter prong. The longer prong is positive, and the shorter prong is negative. Tape the positive prong on the left piece of copper and the negative prong on the right piece of copper.
Fold your wings. As the copper tape on the right-wing touches the battery, your light should glow. Your firefly and the circuit are complete.
Be sure to post your firefly on Instagram or Facebook, and tag @JCSMAuburn. Explore the “Outside In” through Sunday, January 2, 2022, and experience Audubon etchings alongside specimens from the Museum of Natural History.
