New Kinsey exhibit expands meaning of erotic art

Erotic art has a new home.\nThe first annual Kinsey Institute Juried Erotic Art Show premieres at 5 p.m. Friday with a public reception.\nThe show will feature almost 40 contemporary artworks created by artists from 19 different states, said organizer Garry Milius. \nThe Kinsey Institute has long been the home of research and artifacts relating to sex and human sexuality. Its vast collections include movie posters, old-fashioned forms of birth control, undergarments from the 19th century and various types of artwork, which the Kinsey Institute has collected through donations throughout its 59-year history.\nThis art show will help students and community members realize that there is more to the Kinsey Institute than sex research, said Catherine Johnson-Roehr, curator of art, artifacts and photographs.\nThis new exhibit is different for Kinsey in a few ways. Artists submitted digital images of their pieces, which the juror, School of Fine Arts Gallery Director Betsy Stirratt, narrowed down to the almost 40 which are on display Friday. This is the first juried show the Institute has ever done.\nJohnson-Roehr chose Stirratt as the juror for her previously established connection to the Kinsey Institute. Stirratt has worked on a number of exhibitions for the Institute in the past, including The Art of Desire in 1997.\nThis is also the Kinsey Institute's first contemporary fine art exhibition. The artworks are mostly recent creations, but some date back as far as the 1970s. \nWhen Milius and Johnson-Roehr sent out a call for artwork, they did not define the word "erotic," leaving it up to the individual artists to decide what it meant to them and their craft. They believe the show's contents may surprise viewers.\n"I think it will make them think about the word 'erotic' and how people define it," Johnson-Roehr said.\nStirratt concurs, asking viewers to leave their expectations behind. "Everything will exceed their (your) expectations in a positive way," she said.\nThis show opens up a venue for artists creating this kind of art, Johnson-Roehr explained.\n"A lot of artists create erotic art, but some galleries won't show them, especially in the Midwest," she said.\nAbout a third of the artists featured in the show are local artists, including Missa Coffman, Shane Harris and Anne Potter, according to the press release.\nA benefit of this show is the Kinsey Institute's acquisition of about half of the works. They have no budget to buy artifacts or artwork and must rely on donations. Many of the participants in this juried show are allowing the Kinsey Institute to keep their works as part of the Kinsey permanent collection.\nThe exhibition begins with tonight's reception at the Kinsey Institute gallery from 5 to 7 p.m. Admission is free and the exhibition will run until June 30. For more information, call 855-7686 or visit www.kinseyinstitute.org.