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AMHERST NEWS-TIMES • OBERLIN NEWS-TRIBUNE • WELLINGTON ENTERPRISE Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023

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JVS moves to fire teacher OWEN MacMILLAN THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM

OBERLIN — The Board of Education of the Lorain County Joint Vocational School voted unanimously to suspend teacher Jason Rodriguez without pay and initiate a firing procedure against him on Monday night. The board met in executive session before Superintendent Glenn Faircloth made a recommendation that the board pass the resolution. The resolution passed unanimously, suspending

Volume 10, Issue 5

A century of Chinese art

Rodriguez without pay effective immediately, stripping him of his benefits and initiating termination proceedings of his limited teaching contract. Faircloth declined to comment on why he recommended Rodriguez be fired, saying that employee suspension and termination proceedings are private. Rodriguez filed a lawsuit against the JVS in Common Pleas Court in November. The ChronicleTelegram is pursuing a copy of the lawsuit, as well as Rodriguez’s personnel file.

‘Sesame Street’ co-creator, Oberlin alumnus dies at 93 JASON HAWK EDITOR

“Sesame Street” cocreator Lloyd Morrisett, an Oberlin College graduate who served for many years on its board of trustees, died Sunday, Jan. 22 of natural causes at his San Diego home. He was 93. In an announcement, Sesame Workshop called him a “wise, thoughtful and kind leader” who was fascinated by how technology could be used to reach kids. “Without Lloyd Morrisett, there would be no ‘Sesame Street,’” said co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney. “It was he who first came up with the no-

tion of using television to teach preschoolers basic skills such as letters and numbers. He was a trusted partner and loyal friend to me for over 50 years, and he will be sorely missed.” Born in Oklahoma City during the Great Depression, Morrisett moved to New York City as a toddler and later to California. In a 2004 interview with the Television Academy Foundation, he said his father — a college professor — always believed that small, liberal arts colleges were the best places to study. Oberlin was on the younger Morrisett’s list of finalists when picking a SESAME PAGE A2 Classifieds, legals, display advertising, and subscriptions Deadline: 1 p.m. each Monday Phone: 440-329-7000 Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday

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JASON HAWK | Oberlin News-Tribune

“Climbing Over the Great Snow Mountain” by Shen Jiawe is on display at the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin as part of a new exhibition on Chinese paintings and drawings. Curator Kevin Greenwood said it’s an example of political propaganda from the 1970s.

Oberlin exhibit explores art evolution through communist era JASON HAWK EDITOR

OBERLIN — The evolution of Chinese art over more than a century of war and cultural upheaval is the subject of a new exhibition at the Allen Memorial Art Museum. “Riding the Strong Currents” features more than 30 pieces from the Oberlin College museum’s collection, many now on public display for the first time. Kevin Greenwood, the Joan L. Danforth Curator of Asian Art, said Chinese art from 1900 to today reflects tempestuous times. Paintings evolved through European and Japanese imperialism, devastation caused by the fighting between communist and nationalist forces and then cultural and economic revolutions. “So I wanted to show how painters in China have in a sense expressed all those changes, all those turbulent times, all those ins and outs of history,” he said last week. From the beginning of the 20th century to the 1960s, painting was an elite art form purchased by the educated and wealthy, Greenwood said. While some Chinese artists adhered

to traditionalist landscapes others experimented with new styles from around the globe. In the latter camp was Zao Wou-Ki, born in Beijing in 1920. He journeyed to France to practice aspects of Western style, and eventually became a French citizen. “Visually, you can see this dramatic difference between those two eras and those two styles,” Greenwood said, showing works in the AMAM’s Stern Gallery. In the 1960s and 1970s, Chinese art had shifted to depict soldiers, workers and farmers — socialist “superheroes” working for the communist revolution. Greenwood said the style

lai, who helped Mao Zedong consolidate the Communist Party’s control. “He had just died just before this painting was made,” said Greenwood. “Where Mao was a problematic person in history, people have a much more appreciative memory of Zhou Enlai… He softened a lot of the decisions of Mao and tried to help the people out.” During the same time period, traditional Chinese art styles were looked down upon. Greenwood said some artists defied convention by using those forms to send subversive messages. Among them was Liu Haisu. After JASON HAWK | Oberlin News-Tribune

Works by artist Liu Haisu hearkened back to traditional Chinese style. was inspired by Soviet art and China was viewed “as kind of the younger brother in the communist world order.” American viewers can have a hard time looking at the era’s paintings, he said — they are blatant propaganda designed to stir patriotic emotions. Several such pieces are by Shen Jiawe, including a 1977 work titled “Climbing Over the Great Snow Mountain.” It romanticizes Zhou En-

traveling to France as a young man, Liu established the first Western-style art academy in Shanghai, and was one of the first to use nude models, which was controversial in China at the time, Greenwood said. Liu’s works seem like they could have originated anytime over the course of 300 years. But Greenwood said the artist used them to show the nation’s spirit could not be broken. CENTURY PAGE A2

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