http://www.mwpai.org/blog/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/artists-in-central-new-york/ <p>The <a title="63rd Exhibition of Central New York Artists" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/63rd-exhibition-of-central-new-york-artists/">63rd Exhibition of Central New York Artists</a> opens on March 3, but you can have a preview by visiting not one, but two area solo shows by artists whose work was selected for it.</p> <p>Jonathan Kirk / Machines: Fragments and Reveries will be on view just a few more days, til February 1, at the <a title="Clifford Gallery, Colgate University." href="http://merz.colgate.edu/" target="_blank">Clifford Gallery, Colgate University.</a></p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 420px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-30-13/_resampled/resizedimage420600-isambards-kingdom.jpeg" width="420" height="600" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Jonathan Kirk, Isambard’s Kingdom</p> </div> <p>It’s a beautiful and interesting exhibition of sculpture that ruminates on, among other things, the wonders of engineering and the delight of making things with one’s own hands and imagination.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 451px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-30-13/_resampled/resizedimage451600-old-king-cole-2.jpeg" width="451" height="600" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Jonathan Kirk, Old King Cole</p> </div> <p>Christine Heller, who will create a drawing mural at <a title="Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute" href="http://www.mwpai.org/">Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute</a>, is doing something similar at the <a title="Kirkland Art Center" href="http://www.kacny.org/" target="_blank">Kirkland Art Center</a>, Clinton, NY. Her show there is <em>The Anatomy of Time: Line/Body/Action</em>, on view from January 24-March 9, with a reception on January 31 from 5 to 7 p.m.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 330px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-30-13/_resampled/resizedimage330600-hellerworking-on-woman-off-balance4.jpeg" width="330" height="600" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Christine Heller working in her studio.</p> </div> <p>It’s an excellent winter for art in Central New York. See you in the galleries.</p> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:45:19 -0500 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/artists-in-central-new-york/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/gale-farley-photography/ <p>The <a title="PrattMWP Art Gallery" href="http://www.mwpai.org/school-of-art/school-of-art-gallery/school-of-art-gallery-current-and-upcoming-exhibitions/">PrattMWP Art Gallery</a> kicks off the spring 2013 semester with a great show of photography by Gale Farley. Farley will talk about his work at the opening reception, 4 p.m. Friday, January 25.</p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 504px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-24-13/mw-roof.jpeg" width="504" height="336" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Gale Farley, untitled photograph</p> </div> <p>Farley’s photographs are gorgeously composed studies in form, texture, and light. The meeting of building gables becomes a trio of triangles; a brilliant white, gnarled branch stands in relief against rippling water; markings on a parking lot resemble abstract painting.</p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 504px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-24-13/newport-05-6-20-11.jpeg" width="504" height="336" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Gale Farley, untitled photograph</p> </div> <p>The eye continues to move between recognition of forms and their abstraction.</p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 450px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-24-13/_resampled/resizedimage450600-texas-red-stripe-parking-lot.jpeg" width="450" height="600" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Gale Farley, untitled photograph</p> </div> <p>Farley’s work startles in the best possible way, making us more alert to our surroundings and the beauty found therein.</p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 504px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-24-13/conversation-pink-orange-and-blue.jpeg" width="504" height="345" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Gale Farley, untitled photograph</p> </div> <p>Since moving to the Mohawk Valley in 1981, Gale Farley has operated a commercial photography studio. He was previously an adjunct instructor at Mohawk Valley Community College and is currently an Associate Professor of Photographic Technology at Herkimer County Community College. He holds an undergraduate degree in Photography from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas and an M.F.A. in Photography from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Mr. Farley’s work is held in many private and public collections, including the Museum of Art, MWPAI.</p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 504px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-24-13/white-stripe-brick-wall-conversation.jpeg" width="504" height="345" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Gale Farley, untitled photograph</p> </div> Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:32:39 -0500 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/gale-farley-photography/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/an-exciting-2013-at-mwpai/ <p>Our fans can tell you that life at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute has been hopping these past few months. Museum of Art Director, Anna T. D’Ambrosio, is moved by your enthusiastic support: “the exceptionally warm responses from our visitors is what stands out in my mind as a highlight of 2012, the kind people who have stopped me in the hall or parking lot to express how much the Museum and the Institute mean to them.”<br/><br/>You can count on more fun and more interesting art, music and classes for 2013. What’s happening?<br/><br/><img class="right" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-2-13/utica-coffee-2.jpeg" width="248" height="203" alt="" title=""/>The first <a title="Art after Five" href="http://www.mwpai.org/art-after-five/art-after-five-calendar/art-after-five/">Art after Five</a> party of the year kicks off 2013 on Thursday, January 10 at 5:30. Our theme is “Jazz, Jeans, and Java,” with tastings courtesy of the Utica Coffee Roasting Company and musical performances by Monk Rowe and Ann Carey.<br/><br/><img class="left" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-2-13/luminescent.jpeg" width="183" height="275" alt="" title=""/>In just a few weeks, January 26 at 1 p.m., there will be a great <a title="For Kids and Family" href="http://www.mwpai.org/performing-arts/performances-films/for-kids-and-families/">For Kids and Family</a> show by Luminescent Classic Tales. They present two well-known stories—<em>The Ugly Ducking</em> and <em>The Tortoise and the Hare</em>—with a twist. You can call it a “glowing” interpretation. <a title="The Ugly Ducking" href="http://www.mwpai.org/performing-arts/performing-arts-calendar/the-ugly-duckling-and-the-tortoise-and-the-hare/">Check this for more info. Looks pretty cool, doesn’t it?</a><br/><br/>And there are some faboloso upcoming <a title="Great Artists Series performances" href="http://www.mwpai.org/performing-arts/performances-films/great-artist-series/">Great Artists Series performances</a>. On January 29, 7:30 see <a title="Live at Birdland" href="http://www.mwpai.org/performing-arts/performing-arts-calendar/live-at-birdland/">Live at Birdland</a>—some quintessential big band jazz—and on February 27 at 7:30 the incomparable <a title="Chieftains" href="http://www.mwpai.org/performing-arts/performing-arts-calendar/the-chieftains-with-paddy-moloney-and-special-guests/">Chieftains</a> to warm us into the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day. Visit the <a title="Great Artists Series performances" href="http://www.mwpai.org/performing-arts/performances-films/great-artist-series/">Institute website</a> for all the details you need.<br/><br/></p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 600px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-2-13/_resampled/resizedimage600508-chieftainsimage2.jpeg" width="600" height="508" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">The Chieftains with Paddy Moloney and Special Guests</p> </div> <p>Have you signed up for <a title="Community Ed art classes" href="http://www.mwpai.org/school-of-art/community-art-classes-spring-2013/">Community Ed art classes</a> yet? The semester starts on January 22 with classes in dance and art for kids, teens and adults with subjects that include jewelry making, quilting, drawing, painting, sculpture, you name it. Become an <a title="Institute member" href="https://www.trainorecomm.com/secure/mwpai/index.php">Institute member</a> and save on the cost, too.<br/><br/><img class="right" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2013/January-2013/1-2-13/mwpdance.jpeg" width="225" height="225" alt="" title=""/>There will be some great art exhibitions at the Museum this year, including the next installment of the <a title="Artists of Central New York Exhibition" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/63rd-exhibition-of-central-new-york-artists/"><em>Artists of Central New York Exhibition</em></a>, featuring 29 artists working within a one hundred-mile radius of Utica. Some exceptional talent calls this regional home and we are lucky to have them. The show will be on view between March 3 and April 28.<br/><br/>Our big summer exhibition is <a title="The Prints of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/the-prints-of-andy-warhol-from-a-to-b-and-back-again/"><em>The Prints of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again</em></a>, on view between June 9 and September 8. Lots more on this one in upcoming posts.<br/><br/>And don’t forget the <a href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/events-exhibitions/">usual suspects</a> like Art and Yoga, Book Group, and Lunch Art Videos.<br/><br/>We look forward to sharing some good times with you in 2013. Keep in touch!</p> <p> </p> Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:52:58 -0500 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/an-exciting-2013-at-mwpai/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/happening-holidays-at-munson-williams-proctor-arts-institute/ <p>Visiting relatives at your house for the holidays? Kids home from school? Come on down to the Institute for the 2012 Holiday Break, December 26 through December 29.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/December-2012/12-22-12/fountainelmsxmas2-2.jpeg" width="500" height="378" alt="" title=""/><br/>There are lots of things going on, from drop-in crafts to story times to special films. Not to mention, of course, great exhibitions – <a title="Victorian Yuletide" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/victorian-yuletide/">Victorian Yuletide</a>, <a title="Paper Visions" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/paper-visions/">Paper Visions</a>, and <a title="Seeing the World Within: Charles Seliger in the 1940s" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/seeing-the-world-within-charles-seliger-in-the-1940s/"><em>Seeing the World Within: Charles Seliger in the 1940s</em></a>.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 500px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/December-2012/12-22-12/charles-seliger-don-quixote-1944.jpeg" width="500" height="446" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Charles Selger (1926-2009), Don Quixote, 1944</p> </div> <p>On Friday and Saturday preschoolers and their caregivers are invited to <a title="Art Story: Every Picture Tells a Story" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/art-story-every-picture-tells-a-story/"><em>Art Story: Every Picture Tells a Story</em></a>. This program offers an introduction to art through an Eric Carle picture book and artwork in the exhibition <em>Seeing the World Within</em>. Enjoy a 45-minute program for children ages 3 to 5 that includes a simple take-home craft. This is free and open to all.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/December-2012/12-22-12/ericcarle.jpeg" width="250" height="201" alt="" title=""/><br/>The visually stunning family film, <em>Microcosmos</em>, is screened several times during Holiday Break. It captures the fun and adventure of a spectacular hidden universe revealed in a breathtaking, close-up view unlike anything you’ve ever seen! Utilizing special macroscopic photographic techniques, filmmakers Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou created this fascinating, spectacular look at the hidden worlds in the life cycle of an ordinary meadow in France. Insects become gigantic beasts, blades of grass turn into towering monuments and raindrops form puddles that resemble vast oceans. The filmmakers find humor, drama and beauty in the lives of these tiny flora and fauna as caterpillars transform themselves into butterflies, beetles struggle with their day’s foraging, and snails reproduce their species. Tours of the Seliger show are scheduled following the 2 p.m. screenings and at 6 p.m. before the evening screening.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/December-2012/12-22-12/microcosmos-2.jpeg" width="448" height="252" alt="" title=""/><br/>Check out the schedule on the Institute’s <a title="website" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/events-exhibitions/">website</a> and make plans to join us for some entertaining art stuff.</p> Sat, 22 Dec 2012 09:18:19 -0500 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/happening-holidays-at-munson-williams-proctor-arts-institute/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/happy-musical-holidays/ <p>This weekend I programmed my IPod with a holiday playlist of pop songs, with multiple versions of “The Christmas Song” (Brave Combo, Les Brown and His Band of Renown, Vince Guaraldi) and “Merry Christmas Baby” (Chuck Berry, Lionel Hampton and Otis Redding) as well as the Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride” (my favorite version of the song), “Christmas Night in Harlem” by Louis Armstrong and “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/December-2012/12-11-12/spector-xmas-album-500.jpeg" width="500" height="503" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>I’ve never been a big fan of the sentiments expressed in the song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” – the part about difference and not letting him join reindeer games – but how can I help from loving the Temptations’ version of the song, right?</p> <p> <img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/December-2012/12-11-12/_resampled/resizedimage599600-the-temptations-rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer-gordy-2.jpeg" width="599" height="600" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>Next step is to visit the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute Library’s music collection because – whoa – what a choice to be found there! Talk about something for everyone. There is holiday music sung by Dolly Parton, Frank Sinatra, and Luciano Pavarotti. There are recordings of Christmas Oratorio by Bach and Saint-Saens. There is holiday medieval music performed by Chanticleer and holiday jazz by Oscar Peterson. Henry Mancini more your taste? No problem. And what about this title: “What if Mozart Wrote ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus?’” Mmm, okay.</p> <p> </p> <p>Get thee to the MWP Library for some excellent holiday music. It’ll make your spirits bright, promise.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/December-2012/12-11-12/christmas-music.jpeg" width="380" height="349" alt="" title=""/></p> <p> </p> Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:26:21 -0500 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/happy-musical-holidays/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/oh-jazzy-night/ <p>We’re looking forward to <a title="Hilary Kole’s Concert in the Court" href="http://www.mwpai.org/performing-arts/performing-arts-calendar/hilary-kole/">Hilary Kole’s Concert in the Court</a> here 8 p.m. Saturday, December 8.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/December-2012/12-5-12/kole.jpeg" width="212" height="238" alt="" title=""/>She is a remarkable performer who has worked with jazz legends such as the late and truly great Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, John Pizzarelli, David Frishberg, Monty Alexander, Benny Green, Freddy Cole, Alan Broadbent, and Cedar Walton. In New York City, Kole has performed at all the best venues, including Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Town Hall, Birdland, The Blue Note, and the Iridium.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/December-2012/12-5-12/_resampled/resizedimage600338-kole2.jpeg" width="600" height="338" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>Stephen Holden of the New York Times raves:</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Ms. Kole’s poised, sultry ballad-singing has always been easy on the ears. But her smooth melodic lines have never been so consistently infused with literary subtext, which spells the difference between sounded pretty, and having something to say.</em></p> <p>Visit <a title="Ms. Kole’s website" href="http://www.hilarykole.com/">Ms. Kole’s website</a> for a preview of this captivating artist.</p> <p>See you Saturday night!</p> <p><em><strong>Thanks to Empire Recycling for sponsoring this event.</strong></em></p> <p><em>All photographs by Carol Friedman.</em></p> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:09:25 -0500 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/oh-jazzy-night/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/when-andy-met-mick/ <p>Several of us at the Museum are gearing up for summer 2013’s Warholiana bash here. We’re reading dairies and watching YouTube videos and enjoying it a lot because Andy is so quotable and his friends and associates were all so colorful.</p> <p>Here is his story, from his memoir <em>Popism</em>, about meeting Mick Jagger, who was just about 20 years old at the time:</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>This spring of ’63 I had met a just-married, twenty-two-year-old beauty named Jane Holzer. Nicky Haslam took me to a dinner at her Park Avenue apartment. David Bailey was there, and he’s brought the lead singer in a rock-n-roll group called the Rolling Stones that was then playing the northern cities of England. Mick Jagger was a friend of Bailey’s and Nicky’s . . .</em></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>’We met him when he was Chrissy Shrimpton’s maid,’ Nicky told me, “Jean’s younger sister. She put an ad in the paper – ‘Cleaner wanted’ – and up turned Mick. He was a student at the London School of Economics; he was just cleaning flats to pay his way. And then she fell in love with him. We kept telling her, ‘But Chrissy, he’s so awful looking,’ and she’d say, ‘Not really.’</em></p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 280px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/November-2012/11-26-12/shrimptonbailey.jpeg" width="280" height="180" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Jean Shrimpton and David Bailey</p> </div> <p>So, stay tuned for <a title="The Prints of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/the-prints-of-andy-warhol-from-a-to-b-and-back-again/"><em>The Prints of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again</em></a>, which includes Warhol’s portrait of Jagger, plus lots of other folks.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/November-2012/11-26-12/warholjagger.jpeg" width="182" height="278" alt="" title=""/></p> <p><em><a title="The Prints of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/the-prints-of-andy-warhol-from-a-to-b-and-back-again/">The Prints of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again</a></em> will be on view at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute from June 9-September 8, 2013. It’s organized and circulated by The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh.</p> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 09:46:59 -0500 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/when-andy-met-mick/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/so-long-sphinx/ <p>See the “Scarab Vase” and all the treasures in <a title="Shadow of the Sphinx" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/shadow-of-the-sphinx/"><em>Shadow of the Sphinx</em></a> now because the exhibition will close in 11 days!</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 274px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/November-2012/11-20-12/scarab-vase.jpeg" width="274" height="184" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Adelaide Alsop Robineau (1865-1929)<em><br/>The Apotheosis of the Toiler (The Scarab Vase)</em><br/>1910, porcelain</p> </div> <p>The Museum of Art was fortunate to borrow the so-called “Scarab Vase” for this all-things-Egyptian extravaganza because in early 1989 it was stolen from the <a title="Everson Museum of Art" href="http://www.everson.org/home.php" target="_blank">Everson Museum of Art</a>, which has owned it for decades. This is the February 15, 1989, account reported by the Los Angeles Times:</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Syracuse, N.Y.: A vase valued at $500,000 and considered one of the best-known pieces of ceramics in the world has been stolen from a museum here.</em></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em> “It’s the Mona Lisa of ceramics,” Ronald Kuchta, art director of the Everson Museum, said of the Scarab Vase, made in 1910 by potter Adelaide Alsop Robineau of Syracuse. The Scarab Vase was apparently removed from the Everson’s Falcone Gallery between 7:30 a.m. Monday and 10 a.m. Tuesday, while the museum was closed to the public, Kuchta said. A thief removed four screws holding a plexiglass cover over the vase, took the 17-inch-tall aqua-tinted work, and substituted a less valuable copper vase</em>.</p> <p> The vase was recovered and returned to the Everson before long, whew!, but since that time it has never left the museum. Until now.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 226px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/November-2012/11-20-12/robineau-and-scarab-vase.jpeg" width="226" height="210" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Adelaide Alsop Robineau <br/>working on <em>“The Scarab Vase”</em></p> </div> <p>The Scarab Vase is actually called <em>The Apotheosis of the Toiler</em> because it took Adelaide Alsop Robineau (1865-1929) more than 1000 hours of painstaking effort to create its exquisite, intricate design. Mrs. Robineau was a remarkable talent who studied painting with William Merritt Chase and ceramics with Charles Binns at Alfred University. She became internationally influential in the studio pottery movement at the turn of the 20<span style="color: #292929; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 10px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; display: inline !important; float: none;">th</span> century by exhibiting her work widely, and with her husband, Samuel, publishing the journal Keramic Studio and operating the Four Winds studio and kiln in Syracuse.</p> <p>See it now!</p> <p> </p> Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:34:20 -0500 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/so-long-sphinx/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/exhibiting-history-in-an-art-museum/ <p>MWPAI will be presenting “The First Step to Freedom: Abraham Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation,” an unprecedented display of the only surviving version of the document in Lincoln’s handwriting October 6 and 7.</p> <p><img class="right" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/November-2012/11-2-12/brochure-cover-jpg.jpeg" width="240" height="300" alt="" title=""/>Since this exhibition was announced, I have been asked, “What does this have to do with art?”</p> <p>Good question.</p> <p>Let me begin to answer this by saying my knowledge of “art” is very limited. Prior to my coming here, the only artists I was truly knowledgeable of were the ones who illustrated Mad magazine.</p> <p>However, since my chosen academic discipline has always been history, I became very excited about seeing this document. I also began to ponder the “justification” of displaying this exhibition in an art museum.</p> <p><img class="left" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/November-2012/11-2-12/slave1.jpeg" width="278" height="300" alt="" title=""/>From the 17th to the 19th centuries, an estimated 645,000 Africans were brought to what is now the United States. By 1860 the slave population in the United States had grown to four million.</p> <p>On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the preliminary proclamation. It stated that he would order the emancipation of all slaves in any state of the Confederacy that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. None returned and The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by Lincoln on January 1, 1863, based on the president’s constitutional authority as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. It proclaimed all slaves in Confederate territory to be forever free by ordering the Union Army to treat slaves in Confederate states as free. The Proclamation did not itself outlaw slavery. It did, however, make the destruction of slavery an explicit war goal.</p> <p><img class="right" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/November-2012/11-2-12/ep-page-3-2.jpeg" width="169" height="300" alt="" title=""/>Slavery was made illegal everywhere in the U.S. by 13th Amendment, which took effect in December 1865.</p> <p>Almost 100 years after the nation’s founding the declaration that “all men are created equal” began to take reality.</p> <p>So, back to the original question, “What does this document have to do with art?”</p> <p>Directly, nothing.</p> <p>However, The Emancipation Proclamation did much more than begin the process to abolish slavery. This document is a declaration of freedom, which has <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>everything</em></span> to do with art.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> Fri, 02 Nov 2012 09:24:23 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/exhibiting-history-in-an-art-museum/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/the-first-step-to-freedom-abraham-lincoln-s-preliminary-emancipation-proclamation/ <p>Something very exciting is happening at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute November 6 and 7. A rare Civil War document, handwritten by President Lincoln, will be on view.</p> <p>MWPAI will exhibit the only surviving version of Abraham Lincoln’s preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, a document in Lincoln’s handwriting, November 6 and 7 in the Museum of Art. The Museum will observe extended hours, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. both days.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 362px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-29-12/_resampled/resizedimage362600-prelimemancipationproclamationtwo.jpeg" width="362" height="600" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in <br/>Abraham Lincoln’s handwriting</p> </div> <p>MWPAI President Anthony Spiridigloizzi said, “We are honored to be able to present this to our community.”</p> <p>The exhibition, <em>The First Step to Freedom: Abraham Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation</em>, was organized by The New York State Museum, a division of the New York State Education Department, and will include historical background and interpretation of the document. Also included is the manuscript of a speech written and delivered in New York City in September 1962 by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Proclamation’s centennial.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 350px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-29-12/mlk.jpeg" width="350" height="436" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking in New York City, 1962, <br/>on the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation</p> </div> <p>State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. noted the exhibition incorporates collections and images from the New York State Library and the New York State Archives. He said the documents stand as important markers in the path to freedom and equality for African-Americans and are among New York State’s greatest treasures.</p> <p>Although Lincoln’s handwritten final Emancipation Proclamation burned in the Chicago fire in 1871, the preliminary Proclamation survived the State Capitol fire of 1911 and has been preserved by the State Library. Lincoln’s handwritten preliminary Proclamation, issued 150 years ago in the midst of the Civil War, is the only surviving copy of this document in Lincoln’s own handwriting. Lincoln donated it to the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which raffled the document at an Albany Army Relief Association Fair in 1864. It was later purchased by the New York State Legislature.</p> <p>“This unique freedom document did nothing less than change the Civil War—and change American history,” Harold Holzer, award-winning Lincoln historian, said. “In a very real way, this one-of-a-kind relic testifies not only to Lincoln’s resolve to expand freedom, but New York’s resolve to preserve it.”</p> <p><a href="http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/ep/" target="_blank">A website featuring an online exhibition, with an education guide, an iBook for download, and additional materials, is available.</a></p> <p><em>The First Step to Freedom: Abraham Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation</em> is sponsored locally by Trainor Associates and Trainor Digital.</p> <p>Admission is free and open to the public.</p> Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:42:55 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/the-first-step-to-freedom-abraham-lincoln-s-preliminary-emancipation-proclamation/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/what-peggy-saw/ <div class="captionImage left" style="width: 199px; text-align: center;"><img class="left" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-24-12/selgeryoungman.jpeg" width="199" height="253" alt="" title=""/>Charles Seliger</div> <p><a title="Seeing the World Within" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/seeing-the-world-within-charles-seliger-in-the-1940s/">Seeing the World Within</a>, now on view in the Institute’s Museum of Art, tells the remarkable story of the young Charles Seliger (1926-2009) and his first decade as a professional artist.</p> <p>Seliger developed in the rich environment of 1940s’ New York City, which was temporary home to European intellectuals and artists who had moved there in exile from World War II. For Seliger and other Americans, the Surrealists were the most influential of these visitors, in part because they advocated automatic painting, a free flow of forms from the subconscious to the canvas.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 539px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-24-12/seligerhiddenskeleton1945.jpeg" width="539" height="419" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Charles Seliger, Hidden Skeleton, 1945</p> </div> <div class="captionImage left" style="width: 169px;"><img class="left" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-24-12/peggyguggenheimartofthiscentury.jpeg" width="169" height="154" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption" style="text-align: center;">Peggy Guggenheim<br/>at Art of This Century</p> </div> <p>Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) was a key player in the story of Seliger’s young artistic life. An American heiress, Peggy was a niece of Solomon Guggenheim for whom the Guggenheim Museum is named. She lived the expatriate’s life in Europe and was an avid patron of modern art. Her collection included paintings, sculptures, drawings, and collages by the likes of Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Kandinsky Magritte, Mondrian, and Picasso, to name only a handful.</p> <p>Peggy Guggenheim also left Europe during World War II. While she waited in New York, she founded Art of this Century, an unusual museum and gallery at 30 West 57th Street.</p> <p>Art of this Century promoted both established European artists in her collection as well as Americans, including William Baziotes, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Richard Pousette-Dart, Theodoros Stamos, and Jimmy Ernst (fyi, all represented in the Institute collection, thanks to our patron, Edward Root).</p> <p>These artists were experimenting with a new visual abstraction that was very inward-looking and was influenced by psychology, mythology and nature. It was an extremely stimulating environment for the young Seliger, who matured rapidly as an artist.</p> <div class="captionImage left" style="width: 184px;"><img class="left" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-24-12/seligerartofthiscentury.jpeg" width="184" height="273" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption"> </p> </div> <p>Peggy Guggenheim was so impressed with Seliger’s paintings, she gave him an exhibition at Art of this Century in 1945 – when he was just 19 years old! She wrote:</p> <p>“His painting is extremely organic, and his technique highly accomplished . . . [he is] an extremely serious painter, and I have a great deal of faith in his development.”</p> <p>In <a title="Seeing the World Within" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/seeing-the-world-within-charles-seliger-in-the-1940s/">Seeing the World Within</a>, you will enjoy what Peggy Guggenheim recognized in Seliger. His paintings are beautifully, thoughtfully painted with forms and colors evocative of living organisms always in the process of transformation.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>Be Sociable, Share!</p> Wed, 24 Oct 2012 09:07:53 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/what-peggy-saw/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/charles-seliger-s-micro-worlds-revealed/ <p><a title="Seeing the World Within: Charles Seliger in the 1940s" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/seeing-the-world-within-charles-seliger-in-the-1940s/"><em>Seeing the World Within: Charles Seliger in the 1940s</em></a> opens in the Museum of Art this weekend.</p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 600px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-19-12/_resampled/resizedimage600461-seligerorganicform.jpeg" width="600" height="461" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Charles Seliger<br/><em>Organic Form: Air, Sea, Land Enveloped,</em> 1948, <br/>tempera on Masonite, 9 x 12 in. <br/>MWPAI, Edward W. Root Bequest</p> </div> <p>Seliger was largely a self-taught artist and just a kid when he began exhibiting his paintings in New York City, alongside the likes of Jackson Pollock. But his youth notwithstanding, he had a clear vision. Seliger painted abstract organisms in flux and captured these microscopic, magical worlds with a confident technique. Seliger described his process as “a magnifying lens for the infinite minutiae forming reality.”</p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 435px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-19-12/_resampled/resizedimage435600-organicform1944.jpeg" width="435" height="600" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Charles Seliger<br/><em>Biomorphic Series, Organic Form #12</em>, 1944<br/>ink, earth, and tempera on Morilla board, 14 3/4 x 11 in. <br/>Collection of Michael Rosenfeld and halley k harrisburg</p> </div> <p>Back in August I wrote a preview of the exhibition. I was looking forward to the show then, and now that it’s installed, I can honestly report that it is beautiful, full of detailed paintings with textured patterns layered upon their surfaces that simply glow with rich color. You will want to linger over each one.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 247px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-19-12/seligermoma.jpeg" width="247" height="204" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Charles Seliger<em><br/>Natural History: Form Within the Rock</em><br/>1946, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in.<br/>The Museum of Modern Art</p> </div> <p><em>Seeing the World Within</em> is organized and toured by The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC. Visit the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute <a title="Seeing the World Within: Charles Seliger in the 1940s" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/seeing-the-world-within-charles-seliger-in-the-1940s/">website </a>for more details about the exhibition and its programs.</p> Fri, 19 Oct 2012 08:49:04 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/charles-seliger-s-micro-worlds-revealed/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/like-an-egyptian-at-the-library/ <p>While you’re in Museum of Art enjoying the glorious splendor of the exhibition, Shadow of the Sphinx: Ancient Egypt and its Influence, take some time to visit the MWPAI Library for mummy movies, music, and mystique that are available for loan to MWPAI members.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-12-12/_resampled/resizedimage600371-sphinx-i.jpeg" width="600" height="371" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>Exotic offerings include Cecil B. DeMille’s Cleopatra, The Metropolitan Opera’s Aida with Plácido Domingo, Taylor &amp; Burton’s Cleopatra, and Putumayo’s North African Groove.</p> <p>Walk like an Egyptian across State Street, from the Museum to the Library, and let them know that the Sphinx sent you!</p> <p> </p> Fri, 12 Oct 2012 16:14:21 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/like-an-egyptian-at-the-library/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/art-and-history-come-alive/ <p>Meg Gianetti, Museum of Art Educator for School Programs, has created an exhibition, opening October 9, in Gallery One North with artworks from the Museum’s collection based on the theme of people and artists as recorders of life in 18th- and 19th-century America.</p> <div class="captionImage left" style="width: 260px;"><img class="left" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-9-12/54-88.jpeg" width="260" height="300" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption" style="text-align: center;">Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)<em><br/>General Peter Gansevoort</em>, 1794<br/>oil on canvas, 20 x 25 in.<br/>museum purchase, 54.88</p> </div> <p>This installation is the basis for two tours about American history that support local 4th- and 5th-grade social studies curricula. <em><a title="Through Their Eyes" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/education-programs/schools-and-teachers/school-programs-american-history/">Through Their Eyes</a></em> examines life from the American Revolution to the beginnings of the Civil War, and <a title="Homework, Hops, &amp; Hoops" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/education-programs/schools-and-teachers/school-programs-american-history/"><em>Homework, Hops, &amp; Hoops</em></a> relates history through the eyes of kids who went to school (homework), worked (hops) and played (hoops) during the 19th century. Paintings by such notable artists as John Singleton Copley, Ralph Earl, Eastman Johnson, and Gilbert Stuart are included to bring eyewitness testimony of American life.</p> <p>In addition to these paintings, the exhibition also showcases a recent acquisition, the George Washington dumb stove, as well as Grace Williams’ childhood lap desk, and artists’ materials.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 498px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-9-12/_resampled/resizedimage498600-64-116-2.jpeg" width="498" height="600" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Eastman Johnson (1824-1906), <em>The Chimney Corner</em>, 1863<br/>oil on canvas, 15 1/2 x 13 1/4 in., gift of Edmund G. Munson, Jr., 64.1</p> </div> <p>And although Meg’s exhibition is targeted for elementary school visitors (and it is installed an appropriate height for them), the gallery is open to all. Museum visitors of all ages and backgrounds should find this an interesting stop in their gallery wanderings.</p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 398px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-9-12/_resampled/resizedimage398600-2011-18.jpeg" width="398" height="600" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Alonzo Blanchard (1799-1864), <em>George Washington dumb stove</em>, c. 1843<br/>cast iron, 72 x 24 x 18 in., 75th Anniversary acquisition.<br/>Gift of Burrell and todd Fisher and the Estate of LWB Fisher, 2011.18</p> </div> <p> </p> Tue, 09 Oct 2012 08:57:33 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/art-and-history-come-alive/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/milkshakes-and-mummies/ <p>We are planning something unusual for a Monday—<strong>the Museum of Art will be open on the Columbus Day holiday, Monday, October 8</strong> for a special<a title=" Shadow of the Sphinx" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/shadow-of-the-sphinx/" target="_blank"> Shadow of the Sphinx</a> day of programs called “Mummies and Milkshakes.”</p> <p>It promises to be great fun: craft projects, funny movies, stories, and of course, mummies and milkshakes. Look at all the great stuff kids and their grown ups can do, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.</p> <table style="width: 600px;" border="0"><tbody><tr><td> <p class="captionImage left" style="width: 268px;"><img class="left" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-1-12/meetthemummy.jpeg" width="268" height="188" alt="" title=""/>Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy</p> </td> <td> <ul><li>Milkshakes on the Terrace Café between 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (and open for lunch). Enjoy your milkshakes at the Café or while watching our featured film: <em>Abbott &amp; Costello Meet the Mummy</em>, screened at 11:30 a.m., 1:15 p.m., and 3 p.m. (it’s 90 minutes, fyi), in the Education Annex, lower level of Fountain Elms.</li> </ul><p> </p> <ul><li>Drop-in Craft: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Art Odyssey Interactive Galler</li> </ul></td> </tr></tbody></table><ul><div class="captionImage center" style="width: 512px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-1-12/stooges.jpeg" width="512" height="288" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Curly and a friend</p> </div> <li>EVERY HALF HOUR from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Auditorium<br/>The Three Stooges Short Film:<em> I Want My Mummy</em> and the 1943 Superman Cartoon Short: <em>The Mummy Strikes</em></li> <img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-1-12/_resampled/resizedimage600450-supermanmummystrikes.jpeg" width="600" height="450" alt="" title=""/><br/><li>11 a.m. Story Time:<em> I am the Mummy Heb-Nefert</em> by Eve Bunting–Exhibition Gallery at “King Tut” Chair</li> </ul><p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/October-2012/10-1-12/_resampled/resizedimage410600-i-am-the-mummy-heb-nefert.jpeg" width="410" height="600" alt="" title=""/></p> <ul><li>Noon Short Talk: “How Mummies Are Made”–Exhibition Gallery, Tomb Room</li> <li>1 p.m. Guided Tour: <a title=" Shadow of the Sphinx" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/shadow-of-the-sphinx/" target="_blank"><em>Shadow of the Sphinx</em></a></li> <li>1:15 p.m. Featured Film: <em>Abbott &amp; Costello Meet the Mummy</em> (90 min.)–Education Annex in Fountain Elms</li> <li> 2 p.m. Short Talk: “How Mummies are Made”–Exhibition Gallery, Tomb Room</li> <li>3 p.m. Story Time:<em> I am the Mummy Heb-Nefer</em>t by Eve Bunting–Exhibition Gallery at “King Tut” Chair</li> <li>3 p.m. Featured Film: <em>Abbott &amp; Costello Meet the Mummy</em> (90 min.)–Education Annex in Fountain Elms</li> <li>3:30 p.m. Short Talk: “How Mummies Are Made”–Exhibition Gallery, Tomb Room</li> </ul><p style="text-align: center;">All these events are free with <a title="Shadow of the Sphinx" href="http://www.mwpai.org/museum-of-art/museum-of-art-calendar/shadow-of-the-sphinx/">Shadow of the Sphinx</a> exhibition admission. <br/>Milkshakes sold separately at the <a title="Terrace Café" href="http://www.mwpai.org/visitor-information/terrace-cafe/">Terrace Café</a>.</p> Mon, 01 Oct 2012 09:51:09 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/milkshakes-and-mummies/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/autumn-art-and-alums/ <p>Sandra Stephens, PrattMWP Assistant Professor of Time Arts and Gallery Director, sent in this installment of Voices:</p> <p>“On Friday, October 5, from 4 to 6 pm, celebrate the accomplishments of our alumni students at the PrattMWP Gallery Alumni Show. The show features work by Adam Devarney, Jack Norton, Shelby Seu and Rebecca Zeh. All graduated from Utica to top art programs in the country, including our affiliate Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, and the Maryland Institute College of Art. They also have achieved various scholarships and awards including a Pratt Circle Award, MICA and Pratt Merit Scholarships, an Ellen Battel Stoeckel Fellowship, and a MICA Painting Departmental Award.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/September-2012/9-27-12/_resampled/resizedimage600312-alumnicard.jpeg" width="600" height="312" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>“Two of our former alums will also be present to give talks: Rebecca Zeh at 4:15 pm in Room 240 (a couple doors down from the gallery) and Shelby Seu at about 4:40 pm in the gallery.</p> <p>“DeVarney’s current work focuses on businessmen. He describes them as ‘vacant in expression’ with a ‘haunting lack of presence representing bewilderment caused by the sudden awareness of one’s own passing of time.’ He uses drawings, hand colored paper, found imagery, and acrylics to construct his collages. Typography, old photographs, how-to manuals and schematic drawings may also be hidden within his pieces.</p> <p>“Zeh is inspired by her memories, places she has been and people she has met. In addition to direct observation, she uses photographs as raw material and cuts them up and rearranges them for her painted compositions. Like Devarney, she is attracted to the collage aesthetic and uses a mixture of traditional dry and wet media on paper, wood and canvas. Seu explores pixelation as a ‘means of fragmentation in a visual and emotional sense.’ She combines elements of narrative painting, symbols and references to digital media. Norton’s mysterious and cheeky work keeps us guessing and wanting to see more.”</p> <p> </p> Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:47:16 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/autumn-art-and-alums/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/all-wellin-good/ <p>I am all a-twitter about an exciting arts event for Central New York: the grand opening of <a title="The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum at Hamilton College" href="http://www.hamilton.edu/arts-facilities/pages/museum/museum-home" target="_blank">The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum at Hamilton College</a>.</p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 600px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/September-2012/9-21-12/_resampled/resizedimage600223-wellin.jpeg" width="600" height="223" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">The Wellin Museum, Hamilton College</p> </div> <p><span style="color: #292929; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; display: inline !important; float: none;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/September-2012/9-21-12/_resampled/resizedimage600400-wellintwo.jpeg" width="600" height="400" alt="" title=""/></span></p> <p>On October 6 the Wellin opens to the public with three exhibitions: <em>Art and Artifacts, Case Histories: The Hidden Meaning of Objects,</em> and <em>Affinity Atlas</em>. There will be a full day of events, with student docent-guided tours between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and an opening reception at 5 p.m.</p> <p><em> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 600px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/September-2012/9-21-12/_resampled/resizedimage600392-wellinthree.jpeg" width="600" height="392" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">The Wellin Museum, Hamilton College, photograph by John Bentham</p> </div> Art and Artifacts</em> is described as a “modern–day cabinet of curiosities,” while Case Histories, organized by Wellin Assistant Director/Curator Susanna White, features are variety of objects from ancient to contemporary about which Hamilton College faculty and students have written. And <em>Affinity Atlas</em>, conceived by guest curator Ian Berry of the Tang Museum, Skidmore College, is “built on idiosyncratic treasures from the Hamilton collection” and juxtaposed with contemporary pieces to find unexpected linkages. I can’t wait to see these shows!</p> <p>Before the opening, we can at least enjoy these beautiful photographs taken by John Bentham.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:33:44 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/all-wellin-good/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/tony-the-other-new-york/ <p><a href="http://www.everson.org/exhibitions/details.php?id=600" target="_blank"><img class="left" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/September-2012/9-17-12/tony.jpeg" width="152" height="152" alt="" title=""/></a>This autumn the Central New York art world has quite the event to experience in <a title="TONY (The Other New York)" href="http://www.everson.org/exhibitions/details.php?id=600" target="_blank">TONY (The Other New York)</a>, an exhibition organized by the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse in collaboration with several different venues around town: ArtRage–The Norton Putter Gallery, Community Folk Art Center, Erie Canal Museum, Light Work, Onondaga Historical Association, Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact, Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, SUArt Galleries, Urban Video Project, The Warehouse Gallery, City of Syracuse, and XL Projects.</p> <p>Friends of <a title="PrattMWP" href="http://www.mwpai.edu/">PrattMWP</a> will be proud to know that two faculty members, Dan Buckingham and Sandra Stephens, were invited to participate.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 375px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/September-2012/9-17-12/imagescafolda9.jpeg" width="375" height="134" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Sandra Stephen’s video</p> </div> <p>Sandra’s work is included in a four-artist installation at the <a title="Community Folk Art Center" href="http://communityfolkartcenter.org/exhibitions.htm" target="_blank">Community Folk Art Center</a>, at 805 E. Genesee Street, and on view through December 8.</p> <p>Dan’s work can be found in two venues, at the <a title="Rosamond Gifford Zoo" href="http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org/tony" target="_blank">Rosamond Gifford Zoo</a>, 1 Conservation Place, through November 5, and at <a title="XL Projects" href="http://vpa.syr.edu/newsroom/college-information/xl-projects/current" target="_blank">XL Projects</a>, 307-313 S. Clinton Street, through October 21.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 275px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/September-2012/9-17-12/danbuck.jpeg" width="275" height="183" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Daniel Buckingham, Viewer</p> </div> <p>At the Everson, I’m looking forward to seeing the work of several artists, some of whom have exhibited at MWP in recent memory, including Yvonne Buchanan, Dorene Quinn, Stephanie Rozene, Lynn Schwarzer, and Jonathan Kirk. Jonathan also will have a one-artist show at the Clifford Art Gallery, Colgate University, November 28 and February 1. When last I spoke with him, he was working diligently in the studio.</p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 225px;"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/September-2012/9-17-12/jonathankirk.jpeg" width="225" height="225" alt="" title=""/><p class="caption">Jonathan Kirk’s sculpture</p> </div> <p>Get thee to Syracuse and support the artists who make Central New York such a vibrant and interesting place to live.</p> Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:28:10 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/tony-the-other-new-york/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/according-to-what/ <p>It’s September and, like back-to-school, it’s a new art season around the nation.</p> <div class="captionImage left" style="width: 245px;"><a title="“According to What?”" href="http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/collection/home/#collection=ai-weiwei-according-to-what" target="_blank"><img class="left" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/September-2012/aiweiwei.jpeg" width="245" height="206" alt="" title=""/></a> <p class="caption" style="text-align: center;">Ai Weiwei at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden</p> </div> <p>Museums big and small and from coast to coast are opening new exhibitions. In Washington, D.C., the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden showcases activist Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in <a title="“According to What?”" href="http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/collection/home/#collection=ai-weiwei-according-to-what" target="_blank">“According to What?”</a> from October 7 through February 24. At the Seattle Art Museum, you can see <a title="“According to What?”" href="http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/exhibitDetail.asp?eventID=21948" target="_blank">“elles:pompidou / women artists from the centre pompidou, paris,”</a> between October 11 and January 13.</p> <p><a href="http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/exhibitDetail.asp?eventID=21948" target="_blank"><img class="right" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/September-2012/elles.jpeg" width="220" height="229" alt="" title=""/></a>Here at MWPAI, Piano Jazz Legend Joe Sample kicks off the <a title="Concerts-in-the-Court series " href="http://www.mwpai.org/performing-arts/performing-arts-calendar/joe-sample/" target="_blank">Concerts-in-the-Court series</a> on Saturday, September 22. Get your tickets now at 797-0055 or <a title="tickets online" href="https://choicesecure03.net/MainApp/eventschedule.aspx?clientID=munson" target="_blank">tickets online</a> for a rare chance to see and hear this remarkable musician in person.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <div class="captionImage center" style="width: 259px;"><a href="http://www.mwpai.org/performing-arts/performing-arts-calendar/joe-sample/" target="_blank"><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/September-2012/joe-sample.jpeg" width="259" height="194" alt="" title=""/></a> <p class="caption">Joe Sample</p> </div> <p>Next post: TONY (The Other New York)</p> Wed, 12 Sep 2012 09:44:54 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/according-to-what/ http://www.mwpai.org/blog/happy-labor-day-in-art/ <p>Happy Labor Day!</p> <p>Throughout history, artists have celebrated people at work. Here are some of my favorites.</p> <p>This very early relief sculpture of stone masons dates from about 1300-something BC. It is from the Sphinx Gate at Alacahöyük, in modern-day Turkey.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/August-2012/8-30-12/_resampled/resizedimage600467-hit-ey-018.jpeg" width="600" height="467" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>Farm work is often documented by artists. Below is a detail from the extremely beautiful<em> Les Très riches heures</em>, an illuminated manuscript painted by the Limbourg Brothers for the Duc Jean de Berry between 1412-13.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/August-2012/8-30-12/tresrichesheures.jpeg" width="555" height="465" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>I love this painting at the <a title="Metropolitan Museum of Art" href="http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/brue/hd_brue.htm" target="_blank">Metropolitan Museum of Art</a> by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (died 1569), <em>The Harvesters</em>, 1565, of workers taking a break from their reaping.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/August-2012/8-30-12/brueghelelder.jpeg" width="500" height="370" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848-94) captured muscle-aching labor in <em>Floor Planers</em>, 1875 (sometimes called Floor Scrapers), in the <a href="http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/home.html" target="_blank">Musée d’Orsay</a>, Paris.</p> <p>Edsel Ford commissioned Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886-1957) to celebrate the automobile industry with a large, multi-paneled mural, <em>Detroit Industry</em>, 1932-33, at the <a title="Detroit Institute of Arts" href="http://www.dia.org/art/rivera-court.aspx" target="_blank">Detroit Institute of Arts</a>. Rivera’s impressive compositions seamlessly integrate the workers with a maze of machinery.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/August-2012/8-30-12/_resampled/resizedimage600450-dia-rivera-3.jpeg" width="600" height="450" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>Before he became director of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute School of Art, William Palmer (American, 1906-87) was employed as a W.P.A. artist and painted a mural titled <em>The Development of Medicine</em>, 1938, a section of which is reproduced here.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/August-2012/8-30-12/palmermedicine.jpeg" width="468" height="327" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>Photographer Elliott Erwitt (born Paris, 1928) is endlessly talented at capturing funny, poignant, fleeting moments. Here he visits the dressing room of Las Vegas showgirls in 1957 as they are about to perform.</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/August-2012/8-30-12/_resampled/resizedimage600387-erwitt.jpeg" width="600" height="387" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>And finally, another gal at work, a lovely Parisian barmaid in a strange composition by Édouard Manet (French, 1832-83), <em>Bar at the Folies-Bergère</em>, 1882, which you can see at the <a title="Courtauld Institute" href="http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/index.shtml" target="_blank">Courtauld Institute</a> in London. Perhaps you can relax with a cold one, too, this weekend. Enjoy!</p> <p><img class="center" src="http://www.mwpai.org/assets/Blog-Photos/Blog-2012/August-2012/8-30-12/_resampled/resizedimage600450-barfoliesbergere.jpeg" width="600" height="450" alt="" title=""/></p> <p> </p> Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:52:57 -0400 http://www.mwpai.org/blog/happy-labor-day-in-art/