Claire Van Vliet

1971 BEAVER NEWS
“Van Vliet, Spruance Works Shown by Philadelphia Club”

The Print Club of Philadelphia is sponsoring an exhibit of the work of Benton Spruance and Clare Van Vliet from October 8 to 30. The Spruance showing will be inclusive from working studies to finished prints. The Van Vliet display will be of her most recent lithographs. 

Claire Van Vliet is a native of Canada. She received her masters of fine arts degree from Claremont College. She has taught at the Philadelphia College of Art and the University of Wisconsin. After spending five months in Scandinavia, Miss Van Vliet has returned to teach in Philadelphia. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States. 

Benton Spruance former chairman of the Beaver art department held an unchallenged position as a lithographer, teacher, and administrator until his death in 1967. Both the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Print Club have held retrospective displays of his work to familiarize the public with his artistic development. The present exhibit is aimed at adding new insights into his work. 

On Wednesday, October 27, Miss Van [Vliet’s] works will be put on display in the Gallery of the Eugenia Fuller Atwood Library. The show will deal with developmental processes, including lithographs, drawings, and watercolors. The exhibition is open to the public. Hours of the gallery are 9 to 5 p.m., Monday thru Friday; 2 to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. 

1971 BEAVER NEWS
“Artists Hanson and [Van Vliet] Present discussions of work” by Paula Oram

Late Wednesday afternoon, Jo Hanson showed slides and discussed Crab Orchard Cemetery, her photographic art environment. The environment is a re-creation of a rural cemetery in an area of Illinois. Ms. Hanson lived in the area until the age of 18, but did not begin thinking about the environment until 1968. “There was a wealth of information in the stones if I could learn to understand them. The information that I was getting was a record of changing value systems,” she explained.  Once the concept came together, it took about two years to do. 

She constructed the tombstones out of styrofoam by making rubbings and photographing the rubbings. She uses them to make silk screen stencils that are placed onto the styrofoam. To prepare the styrofoam, she cuts it with a hot wire. 

The cemetery surroundings are captured on photographic murals. She made a 360 degree circle as she took pictures of the view. “I put the negatives together to get the entire scene.” She placed each panel edge to edge. To complete the environment of the rural cemetery, she has included a sound track of the undercurrents of sound in the cemetery. 

The environment is at Peale House, 1811 Chestnut Street, from October 14 until December 5. 

Clare Van Vliet, bookmaker and printmaker, was also on campus last Wednesday. She is involved with the entire book processing operation. Her books consist of the writing of other people, like Kafka or Lorca, plus her own prints and are made in both cloth and paper. 

Ms. Van Vliet also designs the way in which the books are bound. She does not feel they have to be bound in the conventional sense of the word. “The binding is heavier than the paper and takes away from the actual material.” If it is bound, the book follows a controlled sequence. As a result, she places her books in boxes designed with the book in mind or a cover that the book can slip into. In this way, the book allows greater flexibility for the reader. 

Ms. Van Vliet is concerned with the entire feeling her readers get from her books. “The book should serve the type of communication you are trying to project. Everything should serve a mood.” For example, the type should be in tune with the ideas expressed. 

“There are many ways to look at my work; visually, literally, or both.”

* Date is estimated.