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Huntsville Museum of Art EMAIL: info@hsvmuseum.org www.hsvmuseum.org Exhibitions: The Red Clay Survey: 2012 Exhibition of Contemporary Southern Art CHICKS: American Women from the Collection Darkness into Life: Alabama Holocaust Survivors Through Photography and ArtYAM: Exhibition for Youth Art Month
The Red Clay Survey, in its eleventh presentation, is a recurring juried exhibition open to established and emerging artists in 11 Southern states. In its eleventh presentation. The artists juried into The Red Clay Survey are selected through a comprehensive two-fold process, involving an initial stage of jurying by image and a second stage of reviewing actual works. Out of 1,400 entries the Museum received, the jurors chose 80 works by 61 artists from 10 states. The competition will feature more than $8,000 in cash awards, including Museum Purchase Awards, a Juror’s Choice Award, two Alabama Artist Awards, four Merit Awards, and a People’s Choice Award determined by Museum visitors by voting in the gallery during the run of the show. This year's jurors are realist artists Janet Monafo and Paul Rahilly of Boston, Mass. Monafo has earned wide respect from collectors, curators, and artists for her exquisitely rendered pastels. Currently teaching drawing at Massachusetts College of Art, she is a nationally recognized artist with a long list of accolades. In 2002 she was elected into the Pastel Society of America’s Hall of Fame, an honor also held by William Merritt Chase and Mary Cassatt. Rahilly is a leading figure in the field of contemporary American realism. Currently an instructor in painting and drawing at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Massachusetts College of Art, he is equally admired and collected as a painter of figures, portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. “The Red Clay Survey provides Museum visitors with a rare opportunity to become familiar with what’s currently happening on the contemporary art scene across the South,” Peter J. Baldaia, director of Curatorial Affairs, said. “As in years past, the exhibition includes a wide range of fine art and craft media, in styles ranging from traditional to avant-garde.” Initiated in 1988, the series “takes the pulse” of current art and intends to recognize and encourage excellence, while providing a permanent record of the development of regional art through the publication of a comprehensive exhibition catalogue. The Museum will celebrate the opening of the exhibition with a Preview Party on Saturday, May 19, from 7 to 9 p.m. The award winners will be announced at 7:30 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet some of the Red Clay artists, hear live jazz music by The Ken Watters Group, and enjoy a reception hosted by Museum Members Charlie Bonner and Yvonne Hawkins. The preview event is FREE to Museum members and participating artists. Non-members will be admitted for $25 per person. Guests are asked to call 256-535-4350 ext. 208 to RSVP. Major support for the exhibition was provided by Regions Bank. Additional support was provided by the Alabama State Council on the Arts, Graphic Artist Betty Altherr Howard, The Huntsville Times, and The Women's Guild of the Huntsville Museum of Art. Red Clay award sponsors include: Alice Chang, Dorothy and Julian Davidson, Heather and Paul Dionne, Kelly and Randy Schrimsher, Anne and Ed Uher, and the Huntsville Museum of Art Docents.
CHICKS: American Women from the Collection CHICKS: American Women from the Collection celebrates the achievements of American women artists working from the mid-19th through the early 21st centuries. The Museum’s curators chose the title CHICKS to suggest smart, capable, and confident women, but the word can also have the opposite connotation—reminding us of the lingering gender bias that still exists in our society. The struggle of women to gain recognition as artists regardless of their sex is an age-old one that continues to this day. Combining works from the Museum’s Sellars Collection with contemporary works (also from the Museum’s collection) by women living and working today, CHICKS aims to draw interesting contrasts and parallels between various generations of women creating art. The Museum’s holding of art by American women was tremendously enriched with the recent acquisition of the Sellars Collection, a landmark group of paintings, drawings, and sculptures highlighting more than 250 women artists active in the U.S. between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries.
The Museum’s award-winning Encounters series of regional contemporary art continues with this North Alabama artist’s distinctive painted assemblages that incorporate found objects and retro print ephemera into whimsical implied narratives. Museum Director of Curatorial Affairs Peter J. Baldaia organized the Encounters series of solo exhibitions to highlight outstanding regional contemporary art. "The Museum is pleased to present a selection of recent work by this talented North Alabama artist. Bibb's painted constructions are inventive, witty, and have great visual appeal,” Baldaia said. The artist has a main theme in mind when he begins a piece, but as he sorts through his inventory of old magazines, catalogs, and scrap objects like early license plates and car parts, the story evolves. Whether the resulting work suggests a bird, a guitar, a layer cake, or the figure of a woman, there is always a sense of contrasting materials and a good dose of humor. Project support is made possible in part by The Alabama State Council on the Arts, Altherr Howard Design, The Huntsville Times, and The Women’s Guild of the Huntsville Museum of Art.
The Huntsville Museum of Art and the Birmingham Holocaust Education Committee are proud to present Darkness into Life: Alabama Holocaust Survivors through Photography and Art, which will open Sunday, March 25. The exhibit will be on view through June 10 in the Prozan Gallery in the Davidson Center for the Arts, accessible from the Williams Street entrance to the Museum. The stories of 20 Holocaust survivors who reside in Alabama will be presented through narratives about each survivor; paintings by Mitzi Levin which illustrate their memories of childhood, hiding, imprisonment, and liberation; and photographs by Becky Seitel that capture the survivors in the present. Created to educate, the exhibit has traveled throughout the state to help teach students about the Holocaust, genocide, and bigotry. “The Huntsville Museum of Art is pleased to be the first major institution in North Alabama to host the show,” Sarah Gessler, Museum Board Chairman, said. “In this sensitive collection of photography and art, viewers are provided intimate glimpses into the private memories of true survivors.” Seitel and Levin spent hours visiting each survivor and listening to their stories. The survivors began with their memories of life before occupation and imprisonment. Their stories continued with their lives in Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery, Mobile, and Opelika. Both artists have created bold, thought-provoking and moving paintings and photographs with text explaining the personal stories behind each piece. Survivor biographies and maps will provide an additional historical dimension to the exhibit. “Out of their pain and sadness came a deep appreciation of life and the desire to reclaim their future,” Seitel said. “They shared their memories and asked that we never forget,” Levin added. On opening day at 2 p.m., the Museum will present a program with Exhibition Coordinator Barbara Solomon and Photographer Seitel, who will discuss the inspiration and background for this powerful exhibit. The event will be held in the Loretta Spencer Hall. The Temple B'nai Sholom Sisterhood and Etz Chaymin Synagogue Sisterhood will host a reception following the program. Additional programs will be held on Sunday, April 22, and Thursday, May 24. The exhibition is sponsored by Major (Ret.) and Mrs. Stanley Minkinow, Pam and Ken Rhodes, Jerry and Arlene Averbuch, Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar of Temple B’nai Sholom, The Alabama State Council on the Arts, The Huntsville Times, and The Women’s Guild of the Huntsville Museum of Art. No admission will be charged to view this exhibition or attend any educational programs related to it. |
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