“Literature and Sport” and “Contemporary Photographic Practice and the Archive” are on view at the Harry Ransom Center through August 4.

Two new exhibitions, Literature and Sport and Contemporary Photographic Practice and the Archive open today at the Ransom Center.

Sport holds a sacred place in Western culture and literature. Writers as diverse as Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Norman Mailer, Marianne Moore, Don DeLillo, Joyce Carol Oates, and David Foster Wallace have written about sport.

Drawn exclusively from the Ransom Center’s collections, Literature and Sport showcases the literature of sport through fiction, essays, poetry, and plays. Organized by sport, the exhibition highlights some of the finest examples of literary writing about baseball, football, boxing, tennis, cricket, bullfighting, and other sports. From Bernard Malamud’s The Natural to Norman Mailer’s The Fight, great literary works capture the appeal of sport and its ability to transform both the individual and society, all the while demonstrating how writers elevate language to literature.

Contemporary Photographic Practice and the Archive was created in cooperation with the Lakes Were Rivers collective, an Austin-based group of artists working in photography and video. Members of the collective created a body of work influenced in some way by the Ransom Center—its space, its purpose, its collections. Approximately 50 new works are displayed alongside Ransom Center collection materials chosen by the artists, including photographs by Ansel Adams and Man Ray, manuscripts from the E. E. Cummings archive, William Blake’s Songs of Innocence, an embellished Maurice Ravel score, and props from the Robert De Niro collection.

Both exhibitions are on display through August 4 and can be seen in the Ransom Center Galleries on Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday hours to 7 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays the galleries are open from noon to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays.

Beginning June 18, free docent-led tours are offered on Tuesdays at noon, Thursdays at 6 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Join us for an “All-Star Evening,” the opening celebration for the summer exhibitions Literature and Sport and Contemporary Photographic Practice and the Archive, this Friday from 7 to 9 p.m.  Become a member now to receive complimentary admission and valet parking at this event. If you are not yet a member, tickets are available for $20 at the door (valet parking not included for non-members).

Landmarks is the public art program of The University of Texas at Austin. Its projects and artworks are located throughout the University campus and are viewed by thousands of people every day. Highlights include 28 modern and contemporary sculptures on long-term loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Recent installations include two works by Sol LeWitt in the Bill & Melinda Gates Computer Science Complex and Dell Computer Science Hall and a six-channel video projection by Ben Rubin on the southern façade of the Jesse H. Jones Communication Center Building.  This fall Landmarks will unveil a Skyspace by James Turrell on the roof deck of the Student Activity Center.

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Get a first look at the exhibitions and enjoy ballpark-inspired snacks, including hot dogs and veggie dogs from The Hot Dog King and frozen pops from GoodPop. Sip on a refreshing summertime cocktail from Dripping Springs Vodka, sangria from the Austin Wine Merchant, or locally brewed beer from Live Oak Brewing Company.

Pose as your favorite baseball player in our baseball card photo booth; members receive a printed baseball card as a party favor! Guests will also have the opportunity to enter to win a prize package that includes a sports massage, two platinum film fan memberships to the Paramount Theatre, dinner for two at Lamberts, and more.

In addition to biannual exhibition openings like “All-Star Evening,” members receive priority entry and free parking at select events throughout the year, including an upcoming Ransom Center Lecture with Don DeLillo, renowned author of Underworld, White Noise, and End Zone. View all upcoming events and stay connected with the Ransom Center through your favorite social media sites.

Become a member to receive complimentary admission and valet parking at this event. If you’re not a member, tickets are available here for $20 (valet parking is not included). Tickets may also be purchased at the door for $20.

The Texas Vietnam Heroes exhibit is a personalized tribute to honor and remember each of the Texans who died in the Vietnam War. Every veteran is represented on a handmade dog tag in a display that may be touched and photographed. Visit this exhibit in the Great Hall of the LBJ Library before July 28 when it will move to San Antonio.

Members of the Future Forum will gather at the Library on May 20 for a lively evening debating the premise of Erica Grieder’s new book, Big, Hot, Cheap and Right: What America Can Learn from the Strange Genius of Texas. Co-sponsored by Texas Monthly, this event is free for Future Forum members and open to non-members for a fee. Register online to attend.

Finally, former LBJ Library director Harry Middleton taught his last class at the University of Texas in April, and C-SPAN was here to record it. Middleton reflected on his years as a teacher in this article in the Austin American Statesman published last weekend.

Here’s our Question of the Month: Some people claim that bag searches in schools and body scans in airports are intrusive and unconstitutional. Others believe that protecting the  public from harm justifies these procedures. Do you think that security measures should outweigh privacy rights?  Visit the Legacy Gallery in the LBJ Library Great Hall where an interactive Impact Table gives you the opportunity to voice your opinions and vote. You can also vote on our website.

RIDE DETAILS:

Meet at Mellow Johnny’s at 9:30 a.m. and ride to Austin’s Cultural Campus partner organizations: LBJ Presidential Library, Visual Arts Center, Harry Ransom Center, and Blanton Museum of Art. Representatives at each location will share highlights about art and artifacts on view. This is a co-ed group ride perfect for cyclists of all levels and riding abilities. Total distance is about six miles.

Helmets and waivers are required. Ride may be cancelled in the event of inclement weather. Check the Mellow Johnny’s website for updates.

Need more info? Email julie@mellowjohnnys.com.

Han and Mihalyo’s structure, titled Diffuse Reflection Lab, is a mixture of dioramas and engaging, interactive spaces—one room, modeled after a café, is filled with magazines, tables and chairs, often occupied with visitors or studying students. Drawing inspiration for their installation from the shiny newness of downtown Austin, against what they found to be an otherwise modest city fabric, and the notoriously intense Texas light, Lead Pencil Studio fills these spaces with an array of reflective surfaces and objects. Each wall, room and object is used to consider different reflective surfaces and their properties, as well as how the reflection of light informs and defines spaces.

Students from the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Art and Art History and School of Architecture played a vital role in the completion of Diffuse Reflection Lab. Working alongside Lead Pencil Studio, these students enjoyed the valuable opportunity to have hands-on involvement in all aspects of the installation—from planning and development, to implementation and staging.

To gain insight into the artists’ perspective on Diffuse Reflection Lab be sure to check out the VAC’s recent artist documentary on Lead Pencil Studio.

Diffuse Reflection Lab is on view through May 11 at the Visual Arts Center.

Etchings that depict holdings from the Ransom Center’s collections. © Thomas McConnell Photography 2004.

The Harry Ransom Center has launched a website to highlight the images in the widow etchings on the exterior of the building. “From the Outside In: A Visitor’s Guide to the Windows” provides an opportunity to discover more about the Ransom Center’s renowned collections of literature, film, photography, art, and the performing arts.

The physical renovation of the Ransom Center, completed in April 2003, included the addition of two glass-enclosed atria on the first floor. The atria are surrounded by windows featuring etched reproductions of images from the collections and offer visitors a hint of the cultural treasures to be discovered inside. These architectural elements literally take the “inside out” by showcasing materials from the Center’s collections and making the images viewable from both the interior and exterior of the building.

This online guide identifies each image from the perspective of a visitor viewing the windows from the exterior of the building. Volunteers and docents have written more in-depth descriptions of twelve of the etchings, and readers can learn more about the image and its creator. Some of the highlighted images include doodles from Samuel Beckett’s Watt notebook, Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange, a typescript page of Carson McCuller’s The Member of the Wedding, and John Tenniel’s illustration from Alice in Wonderland.

A PDF version of the “Guide to the Windows” is also available.

Showcasing the Briscoe Center’s unparalleled photographic collections, News to History highlights the thirteen presidential administrations from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Barack Obama. The exhibit features the iconic images that captured the interaction of each president with their era.

“Historians use a wide variety of sources to interpret the past, but the still photographs shot by photojournalists are among the most compelling sources we have for documenting and understanding our history,” said Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center. “The photographs we are displaying in News to History are an outstanding example of the value of this resource for teaching and research.”

“We are delighted to partner with the Briscoe Center in providing our visitors with a riveting journey through 80 years of Presidential administrations,” said Mark Updegrove, director of the LBJ Presidential Library.

Since 1992, the Center has conducted an ambitious program to collect and preserve the historically valuable imagery produced by photojournalists. The photographers whose work is displayed in News to History have placed their archives with the Briscoe Center. Today, the Briscoe Center preserves the largest single collection of photographs of the U.S. presidency outside of Washington, D.C.

In addition to photographic holdings (such as slides, negatives, prints, and tear sheets), the photojournalism collections comprise such archival materials as personal papers, correspondence, diaries, news stories, and three-dimensional artifacts. The combination of these materials provides researchers with remarkable primary source evidence for interpreting history. The Briscoe Center is an organized research unit of the University of Texas at Austin.

For more information, visit The Briscoe Center for American History.

Presented by the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music and Austin's Cultural Campus.

Here’s what to look forward to on April 6:

Blanton Museum of Art: Founded in 1963, the Blanton Museum of Art is one of the foremost university art museums in the country and holds the largest public collection in Central Texas. The Blanton is particularly well known for its collection of modern and contemporary American and Latin American art. Inspired by these collections, musicians from the Butler School are presenting the enchanting Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by the famous twentieth century Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, along with other sumptuous works for classical guitar and bassoon.

Harry Ransom Center: The Harry Ransom Center is cherished in Austin for offering fascinating exhibitions of literature, photography, film, art, and performing art. This spring they present a major exhibition of Arnold Newman’s photographs of innovators, celebrities, and cultural figures. One of Newman’s most iconic images features Igor Stravinsky at a grand piano. Taking inspiration from this photo, the Butler School of Music moves one of its priceless Steinways to the Ransom Center for a collection of chamber music pieces with piano, including the classic masterpiece “Arch Duke” trio by Beethoven.

The Visual Arts Center: The Visual Arts Center (VAC) is a place where art exhibition and education intersect, drawing together a uniquely diverse community of students, faculty, guest artists, and creative voices from around the world. Situated in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Texas at Austin, on April 6 VAC visitors can explore the popular, annual exhibition of UT student work. The Butler School of Music also presents a concert of music by UT student composers. Come hear lively, colorful, fresh-off-the press chamber music, and discover a new generation of brilliant, young Longhorn artists, composers, and musicians.

Texas Memorial Museum: Natural history with a Texas focus! Texas Memorial Museum is the place to see Texas dinosaurs and fossils, wildlife, and gems and minerals. Marvel at the 30-foot mosasaur that swam here when the area was covered with a shallow sea. Wonder at the Texas Pterosaur – largest flying creature ever found, with a wingspan of 40 feet. Gather beneath the Pterosaur on April 6, as the Butler School presents musicians as archeologists, preforming 17th century music on replicas of antique instruments.

LBJ Library and Center: The LBJ Library houses the historical documents, telephone recordings, video, artifacts and photographs of President Lyndon Johnson to let researchers and the public render their own verdict as to his place in history. The Library features three floors of interactive exhibits to educate visitors about legislation passed during LBJ’s years in the White House. To celebrate LBJ’s heroic legacy for African American civil rights, the Butler School presents a concert of jazz from the 1960s. Enjoy famous tunes by Miles Davis and Charles Mingus, brilliant African American composers that overcame oppression and segregation to change the history of music and American culture.

Visit the participating museums’ websites for directions and parking information.