Oakland, CA - The art of Catherine Wagner, internationally acclaimed artist and art professor at Mills College, will be featured as the opening installation for the new Connections Gallery at the inauguration of the new de Young Museum (San Francisco).  Re-Classifying History, Wagner’s large-scale photographic series, will be on exhibit from October 15, 2005 through February 12, 2006.

The de Young will reopen in a new, state-of-the-art building in Golden Gate Park on October 15, 2005.  The facility will integrate art, architecture and the natural landscape, showcasing the collections of extensive textiles and American art from the 17th to 20th centuries, as well as art from the native Americas, Africa, and the Pacific.

Re-Classifying History is an investigation of works of art from the Museum’s permanent collection that were in storage during construction of the new museum.  Wagner photographed artworks from the American Decorative Arts Collection within their crating systems as artworks themselves, initiating a reaction between the element of support and the object.  Among the photographed subjects are larger-than-life marble and plaster sculptures of Dalilah, Penelope, and Christopher Columbus.

A faculty member at Mills since 1978, Wagner works with archetypes of society and transforms them into conceptual images investigating the construction of culture.  She has been a keen observer of the built environment for more than 20 years. Her work is represented in significant public collections worldwide, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Bibliotheque National de Paris, and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London).

Wagner is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships.  In 2001, she was named one of Time magazine’s “Fine Arts Innovators of the Year.”

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently ranked among the top 75 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills is also recognized as one of the country’s 20 most diverse colleges. The Princeton Review selected Mills as one of 11 colleges for first-time inclusion in its Best 361 Colleges - 2005.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity.

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