Art Museum features tribute gallery for former professor

Budd Stalnaker was an artist, a faculty member in the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts and a collector. Stalnaker died in May of this year, and the IU Art Museum is honoring his passion and life's work with a special exhibition that will open Saturday and run through Dec. 17.\nSupport for the exhibition -- titled "Hats off to Budd!" -- will be provided by the Class of 1949 Endowment for the Curator of the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. Pelrine is the curator of that gallery.\n"He was a good friend to the museum. He was always telling us about exhibitions and about donors. This is a gesture of respect and gratitude for what he has done," IU Art Museum curator Pelrine said of Stalnaker's contributions to the museum.\nThe Hexagon Gallery on the ground floor of the museum will be filled with gifts from Stalnaker's personal collection of African art, which includes almost 80 hats that exemplify the knotless netting technique. Stalnaker was particularly interested in this method because it is a time-consuming process resulting in a design that prevents unraveling, even if the hat sustains some damage in the process, according to a press release. In addition to the hats, Stalnaker collected pieces of kente, a fabric native to Ghana that is made of colorful woven cloth strips, which he also donated to the museum.\nAn artist himself, Stalnaker began teaching textiles at IU in 1964, according to a press release. His tapestry weaving works will be on display in "Hats off to Budd!" A press release from the IU Art Museum said his "ladder series" will be featured and described it as "a long-term exploration of variations on abstract ladders as a metaphor for climbing, growth and passage."\nTwo gallery talks will be given in conjunction with the exhibition. Patrick McNaughton, the Chancellor's Professor of African Art History, will be speak at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11. The lecture, titled "Living with Fine Design," will be about contextual information and artistry of Stalnaker's African collection.\nWilliam Itter, a faculty colleague and fellow collector of Stalnaker, will host a talk and reception at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12, titled "Between Art and Craft"