The Following project description penned by Janice Schuetzenhofer places the works you see here in context.

Invited as an exchange student to participate as a resident artist as part of a team comprised of Austrians and American, I was charged to produce a work from my perspective in response to what I would experience while working on "Liberation 45". I spent 2 months living and working with the artist and several local families in and around Polleau(Styria), Austria, and hop to eventually pursue a Fulbright involving accounts of Austrians and Americans who have worked towards healing and reconciliation.


Liberation 45:

Four graduates of the Maryland Institute College of Art (Josef Schuetzenhofer, Douglas Hoagg, William Contino, and Emily Hines) recently completed and positioned an art object on public grounds in the rural town of Poellau, Austria.
The project was initiated by Joseph Schuetzenhoefer, who is a native of the Austria. This art project is a reaction to the historical local activities during WWII and also to the regional resistance towards dealing with the subject matter. The project was started in 2001 and is an ongoing project which includes exhibitions, documentations (film and literary), lectures, an exchange program for artists and authors, the ?Library of Friendship? at Alfred University (a collection of Austrian art publications), and historical and sociological research projects.

Together with Dr. Klaus Zeyringer, a professor of German literature and local resident, Schuetzenhoefer chose to create a work of art that is in contrast to the town war memorial which glorifies the local ?war heroes?, but has no mention of the countless allied soldiers who lost their lives in the area during the war to liberate Europe from National Socialism.

The local authorities refused to support this project, or to even give consent for an appropriate site for the art object. After numerous attempts to work together with the town council representatives failed, the decision was made not only to carry on independently, but also to endow the project with an international participation which reflects the allied involvement.
A petition was started to apply pressure on the Poellau town representatives. The petition was initiated by Gerhard Ruiss of the IG Autoren (Authors Council) in Vienna and was signed by hundreds of leading Austrian authors, artists, musicians, entertainers, etc.- including the Nobel Prize winning author, Elfriede Jelinek.

The project was ?adopted? and is supported by the Styrian Cultural Initiative under the direction of Mr. Herbert Nichols-Schweiger. The Styrian Cultural Initiative is a state funded organization which works with public space artwork. Without the intervention of this initiative, a site in town would not have been approved.

The artists arrived the last week in June, and the object was built and installed within a 10 day session of creative and stressful labour and with the assistance of numerous other local residents. Approximately 200 persons attended the lecture and unveiling of the art object on its temporary site in the town park.

The art object was designed to mimic the shape of the rudder of a B24 WWII aircraft. The 4 painted images represent the 4 downed U.S. Air Force planes which crashed in the local area during the war. Two silk screen images are printed on one side- one of an American Air Force division, and the other is a Russian division who crashed or fought at the wars end in Poellau. The names of the airmen who lost their lives in these crashes are listed on the object.

The Following project description penned by Janice Schuetzenhofer places the works you see here in context.

Invited as an exchange student to participate as a resident artist as part of a team comprised of Austrians and American, I was charged to produce a work from my perspective in response to what I would experience while working on "Liberation 45". I spent 2 months living and working with the artist and several local families in and around Polleau(Styria), Austria, and hop to eventually pursue a Fulbright involving accounts of Austrians and Americans who have worked towards healing and reconciliation.


Liberation 45:

Four graduates of the Maryland Institute College of Art (Josef Schuetzenhofer, Douglas Hoagg, William Contino, and Emily Hines) recently completed and positioned an art object on public grounds in the rural town of Poellau, Austria.
The project was initiated by Joseph Schuetzenhoefer, who is a native of the Austria. This art project is a reaction to the historical local activities during WWII and also to the regional resistance towards dealing with the subject matter. The project was started in 2001 and is an ongoing project which includes exhibitions, documentations (film and literary), lectures, an exchange program for artists and authors, the ?Library of Friendship? at Alfred University (a collection of Austrian art publications), and historical and sociological research projects.

Together with Dr. Klaus Zeyringer, a professor of German literature and local resident, Schuetzenhoefer chose to create a work of art that is in contrast to the town war memorial which glorifies the local ?war heroes?, but has no mention of the countless allied soldiers who lost their lives in the area during the war to liberate Europe from National Socialism.

The local authorities refused to support this project, or to even give consent for an appropriate site for the art object. After numerous attempts to work together with the town council representatives failed, the decision was made not only to carry on independently, but also to endow the project with an international participation which reflects the allied involvement.
A petition was started to apply pressure on the Poellau town representatives. The petition was initiated by Gerhard Ruiss of the IG Autoren (Authors Council) in Vienna and was signed by hundreds of leading Austrian authors, artists, musicians, entertainers, etc.- including the Nobel Prize winning author, Elfriede Jelinek.

The project was ?adopted? and is supported by the Styrian Cultural Initiative under the direction of Mr. Herbert Nichols-Schweiger. The Styrian Cultural Initiative is a state funded organization which works with public space artwork. Without the intervention of this initiative, a site in town would not have been approved.

The artists arrived the last week in June, and the object was built and installed within a 10 day session of creative and stressful labour and with the assistance of numerous other local residents. Approximately 200 persons attended the lecture and unveiling of the art object on its temporary site in the town park.

The art object was designed to mimic the shape of the rudder of a B24 WWII aircraft. The 4 painted images represent the 4 downed U.S. Air Force planes which crashed in the local area during the war. Two silk screen images are printed on one side- one of an American Air Force division, and the other is a Russian division who crashed or fought at the wars end in Poellau. The names of the airmen who lost their lives in these crashes are listed on the object.

These works are about frustrated intimacy inter-between human hearts and their Father. It seems to be about overcoming bitterness, loneliness, blindness, numbness, and disillusionment. These are individuals that i know or have known and love. It is an ongoing collection of studies and ponderings.

Created from gleaned scraps of transparent cloth as a painting medium, these images are the result of the feelings of scarcity and loss I experienced and re-experienced in transitional phases of grief.

Collage drawings on muslin with found objects, these works became about an exploration of my origins and childhood companions. What happens to us as we reach maturation and what are our perceptions of this as we shift? Someone whom I respect pointed out that the real work being formed was a new process which enabled works such as these to materialize. They are what happen when I learn to tune into my intuition and make honestly apart from a spirit of competition, achievement, or comparison.

These experimental works use simple, conventional, and overlooked materials in innovative ways. Discarded silkscreen is used instead of paint to make flesh, paint is used to stain distressed silk. Experiments with texture and agitation of materials serve to raise questions about the aftermath of abuse in all its forms. The title suggests the need for a Spiritual life and relationship with a Protector and Friend in the wake of hardship.