Labor Days Arts, Media Exhibition scheduled at SIU

A discussion on legendary labor activist and agitator Mother Jones is among the activities slated for a month-long exhibition scheduled at Southern Illinois University Carbondale that will look at labor through art and various media forms. 

The Labor Day Arts and Media Exhibition is scheduled to run from Aug. 29 through Sept. 27 in University Museum. 

All of the events are free. Exhibits will be available for viewing during museum hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and when events are occurring in the museum auditorium. 

Rosemary Feurer is scheduled to present “The Life and Times of Mother Jones” at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 13 in the University Museum auditorium. 

Feurer is an associate professor in the Department of History at Northern Illinois University and labor historian. 

As a part of her presentation, Feurer plans to present the film, “Mother Jones, America’s Most Dangerous Woman,” which she produced and co-directed. 

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, she said, is the labor movement’s “founding mother” and its most iconic figure. Her wrap-around talk will be about “Mother Jones and the art & theater of resistance.” 

Feurer will address any questions about coal mining in Illinois and Southern Illinois, and Mother Jones’ role in helping organize mine workers in Zeigler in the early 1900s. 

Feurer is completing a book called “Illinois Mine Wars, 1860-1935” and is working on a new biography of Mother Jones. She also manages the online Mother Jones Museum.

Other events include a panel discussion on labor organizing in Southern Illinois and a poetry reading. 

The event schedule follows: 

Sept. 5 at 6:30 p.m., Morris Library, John C. Guyon Auditorium: Film and discussion on “sorry to bother you” by Boots Riley. George Boulukos, professor and director of graduate studies, SIU Carbondale Department of English and De’Angelo Williams Jr., a 2010 alumnus in cinema and photography, will lead the presentation and discussion. 

Sept. 12 at 6 p.m., Museum Exhibition Gallery: Poetry reading, organized by Judy Jordan, associate professor, SIU Carbondale English department. Poets reading will be Jordan; Jon Tribble, editor of the Crab Orchard Review, and two poets in the English department’s master of fine arts creative writing program, Mary Ardery and Jessica Freeman.

Sept. 13 at 5 p.m., University Museum: Artists’ reception followed by Rosemary Feurer lecture, “The Life and Times of Mother Jones” at 6:30 p.m.

Sept. 19 at 6:30 p.m., Museum auditorium: “Labor Organizing in Southern Illinois Today” panel discussion.

Sept. 25 at 5:30 p.m., museum auditorium: “The Future of Work is Cooperative.” Carbondale Spring will discuss the history of cooperatives and the work they are doing to make “Fat Patties” in Carbondale a cooperative restaurant. 

The exhibition will feature more than one dozen regional artists using a variety of mediums, each with a focus on labor. 

Works from the University Museum collection and the Illinois Labor Society will also be on display. 

Participating artists are scheduled to include:

Mark Denzer. Ann R. Fisher. Krista Rose Frohling, adjunct instructor, photography, Lindenwood University, Webster University and East Central College; College of Mass Communication and Media Arts alumna.

Jonny Gray, associate professor, Communication Studies. Sean Hoisington.

Alex Kirt, assistant professor, School of Communication and Mass Media, Northwest Missouri State University and double-degree SIU College of Mass Communication and Media Arts alumnus.

Sarah Lewison, associate professor, Radio, Television, and Digital Media. Daniel Overturf, professor, Cinema and Photography.

Lee Spalt. Lauren Afton Stoelzle. Robert Spahr, associate professor, Cinema and Photography. William H. Thielen. Tabitha Tripp.