For Love or Money is the Kinsey Institute’s contribution to Themester 2015 at Indiana University. This year the theme is @Work: The Nature of Labor on a Changing Planet.

For Love or Money will explore various forms of sex work, as well as professions associated with sex and gender expression, including prostitution, exotic dancing, nude and erotic modeling, peep shows, burlesque and drag performance, and adult film production.

More than 80 artworks, photographs, artifacts, film posters, books, magazines, and documents from the Institute’s research collections will be exhibited, including works by contemporary artists Herbert Ascherman, Dennis Chamberlin, Michael Grecco, Jason Kiley, M.C. Madrigal, Barbara Nitke, Michael Rosen, Dona Schwartz, Annie Sprinkle, Daniel D. Teoli Jr., Martin Weinberg, and Hope Wurmfeld.

These varied materials offer a broader view of these forms of work, beyond the stereotypes of sex-related work as demeaning or victimizing. These professions may be out of the mainstream, but they play a significant role in the American economy and culture.

The exhibit continues through February 12th, 2016

Working Wood: Oak-Rod Baskets:
Working Wood: Oak-Rod Baskets in Indiana presents the work of the Hovis and Bohall families of Brown County, Indiana, who made distinctive white-oak baskets for their neighbors to carry everyday items and to gather corn. However, by the 1930s, the interest of urban tourists transformed these sturdy workbaskets into desirable souvenirs and art objects. In recent years, these baskets have come to be called “Brown County” and “Bohall” baskets, perhaps because of the great number of baskets made by the Bohall family in Brown county during the 1920s and 1930s. Nevertheless, the history of this craft is more complex these names reveal. Using artifacts and historic photographs, this exhibit explores the shifts in the uses and meanings of these baskets as they changed from obsolete, agricultural implements, into a tourist commodity. Using the lens of work, this exhibition tells the story of these oak-rod baskets and the people who made and used them, and how local makers strived to find a new audience for their old craft, and how ultimately the lure of steady work in the city contributed to the end of this tradition. Exhibit runs through February 7th.

Putting Baskets to Work in Southwestern China:
Putting Baskets to Work in Southwestern China explores the use of basketry in urban and rural labor in contemporary China, and draws upon a newly-acquired collection of bamboo baskets documented as tools of labor in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi provinces. The exhibit was co-curated by Jason Baird Jackson, director of the MMWC, and Lijun Zhang, Research Curator at the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities in Guangxi, China. Exhibit runs through February 7th.

Cherokee Craft, 1973
Cherokee Craft, 1973 offers a snapshot of craft production among the Eastern Band Cherokee at a key moment in both an ongoing Appalachian craft revival and the specific cultural and economic life of the Cherokee people in western North Carolina. The exhibition showcases woodcarvings, masks, ceramics, finger woven textiles, basketry, and dolls. The works presented are all rooted in Cherokee cultural tradition but all also bear the imprint of the specific individuals who crafted them and the particular circumstances in which these craftspeople made and circulated their handwork. Exhibits runs through June 12th.

MONSTERS! are extraordinary or unnatural beings that challenge the predictable fabric of everyday life. This exhibition looks at monsters from around the world, discovering who they are and what purposes they serve in various cultures, as different images of monstrousness emerge from the dark recesses of human imagination. Exhibit is open through December 18th, 2016.

Gallery is open 9am-4:30pm Tues-Fri and 1pm-4:30pm Sat/Sun. Sponsored by Fall 2015 Themester @Work: The Nature of Labor on a Changing Planet.
Free visitor parking is available by the Indiana Avenue lobby entrance. Metered parking is available at the McCalla School parking lot on the corner of Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue. The parking lot also has spaces designated for Indiana University C and ST permits. During the weekends free parking is available on the surrounding streets. An access ramp is located at the Fess Avenue entrance, on the corner of Ninth Street and Fess Avenue. Reserved parking spaces are available on Ninth Street, between Fess Avenue and Indiana Avenue. If you have a disability and need assistance, special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Please call 812-855-6873.

Want to start the new year off on the right foot? Head over to Fairfax State Recreation Area on Friday, January 1 for Monroe Lake’s 3rd annual First Day Trail Run and Walk at 3:30 p.m.

The event is untimed and non-competitive, with two different course distances to choose from. Runners and walkers of all fitness levels are welcome.

Pre-registration and additional event info is at http://bit.ly/firstdaytrail2016. Same-day registration will also be accepted from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. The cost is $15 per person.

All registrations include a post-event hors d’oeuvres buffet at the Fourwinds Resort (located inside Fairfax SRA) and an entry into the prize drawing.

The first 300 people who pre-register by Dec. 30 will also get a commemorative patch and a $15 gift certificate for the restaurants at the Fourwinds Resort.

Further questions about the event should be directed to Jill Vance, Monroe Lake’s Interpretive Naturalist, at [email protected] or 812-837-9967.

Fairfax SRA (stateparks.IN.gov/2954.htm) is at 9301 S. Fairfax Road, Bloomington, 47401. Entrance is free during the winter months.