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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1996)
Aggielife Wednesday • October2, Portable Art To rW Sah Moses Jim Johnson, director of the Benz Gallery, finds a new art to shopping — the bag, Mis Hoo TTAc to Part i ^TAlrtUA ( V ) M STRUCTING YOUR FUTURE? BUILD YOUR RESUME. Come learn how you can build your resume with The Whit Disney World* College Program. You'll be able to earn college recognition or credit while gaining the experience of a lifbtime! This is a unique opportunity to enhance your resume with the Disney name. Representatives will be on campus to answer all your questions concerning the Walt Disney World* College Program. Interviewing: All Majors! Positions available throughout theme parks and resorts: Attractions, Food<S Beverage, Merchandise, Lifeguarding, and many others! Ask the Disney Representative about special opportunities for students fluent in Portuguese. Presentatlon Date; Oct. 7,1996 Tlnw; 5:00 pjru location: Rudder Theatre TorJMoreJnformation CQntact; Office of Cooperative Education, (409) 845-7725 Also visit us at Orlando Sentinel Online on AOt using keyword "Disney jobs* or www.CareerMosafc.com/on/vvdw/wdwLhtini An Equal Opportunity Emptoyar « Drawing Creativity From Divarsity I ’ you could. you would. $IIW—«l)i—l—MWI. 111 - ! I ' ' ' : C:' ■ 1 4 S Macintosh. More ai'iordable than ever. With low student prices on Macintosh computers, you can start doing whatever it is you want to do. And to make it even easier for you to purchase a Mac, apply for the Apple Computer Loan. So you can take home a Mac, and you won’t have to make a payment for 90 days.* How do you get started? Just visit your campus computer store today and pick up a Mac. Leave your mark. A By Kimber Huff The Battalion S ome people enjoy collecting things. The more common collections consist of base ball cards, stamps, books, CDs or foreign coins. Jim Johnson, a senior lecturer in the Horticultural Science De partment and director of the Benz Gallery of Floral Art, is the sponsor of a different collection — shopping bags. Johnson first got tJie idea for a shopping bag collection when he Jieard about a similar collec tion in the Cooper-Hewitt Muse um in New York. “I thought, ‘That’s something students could be doing here,”’ Johnson said. "It’s fun, it’s un usual, and it’s free.” Johnson began his collection by talking to Edith Flynn, a benefactor of the Benz School of Floral Design who agreed to do nate old shopping bags from her attic to the collection. Johnson began asking for shopping bags when he spoke during tours or to groups of peo ple in the floral art field. In two months, the he had collected 100 bags. The first exhibit of the portable art collection, held in ’88, sparked comments from professors and students. As publicity increased, the collection grew, and more peo ple began donating bags from around the world. “I found bags on my desk and under my door, appearing out of nowhere,” Johnson said. “I got to be called the Bag Man.” The collection grew and re ceived more publicity when Johnson was chosen to be the co-chairman of the National Symposium on Floral Design, held in Dallas in 1991. The theme of the symposium soon became “Bag an Idea in Big D.” In 1992, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum began receiving more shopping bags than it could hold, so the museum director of fered to redirect shopping bag donors to the collection housed at the Benz School. Johnson estimates that the collection includes over 1,000 shopping bags. These bags date back to the ’50s and come from throughout the U.S., England, Ireland, Cana da and Eastern Europe. Shopping bags are a unique form of art, since they are sup posed to define a company’s image through color, design and logos. For example, the collection includes a bag from Hermes, a French boutique famous for its handmade clothes. The Hermes shopping bag is handmade and sports a distinctive orange color. Johnson said the color has be come a well-known trademark of the bag. Some shopping bags repre sent its company’s image through artwork. Johnson said one of his fa vorite designs is an unfinished puzzle on a Tokyo Idaza bag. Other bags may be interesting because they have an unusual gimmick to them. Several years ago, during a tough economic period, many flour companies were heading toward bankrupt cy. The companies decided to earn extra cash by selling used flour bags as gift bags or sacks. The collection contains many unusual bags, but Sharon Duray, senior academic adviser for the horticulture department, said a Harley-Davidson shopping bag surprised her the most. "You just don't thinkol having a shopping motorcycle parts,” Duraysaii The shopping bag than the most difficult forthecsl tion to acquire is a Sabs Christmas bag decorated® cows. Pat Hermes, a friem Johnson’s, first sawabaglai Houston carrying it am Thinking it would bethepd shopping bag to addtothei lection, Hermes gave a can shoulder bag to thereto woman in exchange for the per bag. Johnson said manybagi the collection haveaCta theme because “that'sn stores use more bags than other time of year.” Duray said the bagsii portable art collectionbringti "memories of going special things at Christmas.' I FE A tin ~ZL if I >i lavni' / a jit ek, ai iss professor of horticulture; ence, said the exhibithas same affect on her. "It brings back memoiii Zajicek said. ‘‘Sometimes bags were as neat as the gifts. Ann Boney, secretary for Benz School of floralDesij has learned to apprecii portable art since sheb work with the collection. “I had looked at sh bags since I was a little girl,hi had never really seen I took this position,” Boneysi “You can get a differentstt from looking at them. Now, 1,10, PHIYOU walls at home are nothingl) Si (portable art) « FLAT-OU |I'M LABELLIt I LAe ^^8 "sport gladia rt capture ft guts, n ields open PAINT You have Rony Angkriwan, TheE Jim Johnson stands beside his collection of bags from around thevd 5007 North Hwy 268- Attentioi Interested in preer with a 1 software c< College Sta Ilf you would College Stat [radirate and r An all-Gershwin evening with Marcus Roberts is perhaps the most exciting and talented jazz pianist on the scene today. Backed by the equally skilled Academy of the Ascension, he will create dynamic new interpretations of the music of George Gershwin, including a thrilling variation of “Rhapsody in Blue.” Jazz up your life with “Portraits in Blue”! orchestra ctober 3,! |nioney you w Houston send your Rudder Auditoriuir, M.E. K 881 Cout Houston, r / / * “If you’ve ne of Marcus Ro have you bet h will train j | all discipline our syste CBS This Mon “...Roberts ON TOUR WITH O/icr ii, l'‘her II I'fih \“/‘ii', wei/I “I ni/ereh 'ir/im/a/iiil mil. he m/wm//</)• hn ,/,/) < Inleresl mr/inift ihiniis Ibis W ihi) I'erinil n ill he mkledhi the/iriiid/kil mill mil hear inleresl. irbkb mil he lililliilei/III /he re/tr, nielli m'/vi/.v/c I hr e.\,i/n/'le Ihe ufiilllh <»/ Uin /WO Ihh/ilil lilteresfnile "I U. Is": iritb till Alllfliill ttmilltW litl/c lAl’Kl "/ /W',,. A imilllhlv fllYIIIClIt nflOSh /hr /he I'niier Utie ijltfi s\s/ew h tin e</niiitfe btbti/hii ,i Mil I “in iinthmil"/ SI.hi. 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I'nirer I/,ft- h ,/ Iriiileninrh ../ I/,/'/, t nin/'iilcr hie I// Miicmlnsh enin/inlers lire i/cs/niictlIn he tieassilile In iliiluitliitils irilh i/isilhili/y in letirn iiiinv il V wily/, eilll ■Shi) hot) ~,Sh,s nr /'/ ) sill) OtUII Reduced rates for student tickets. Now accepting AggieBucks Persons with disabilities please call 845-8903 to inform us of your special needs. We reddest notification three (3) working days prior to the event s td assist you to the best of our ability. s Oclober II, 1996. A listmeslimale bust <uler Loan bits antis f %mtosi and SlyleWrile