Art Gallery Visit # 2

Burchfield Penney Art Center Thursday, July 25, 2013

Step 1: The Exhibition- Let There Be Light

                                     

Theme: Light. Including wielded lights, the opportunity to explore lights, to manipulate lights, and control lights with your voice. There was also photo booth for an interactive piece of the exhibit.

Step 2: The Gallery

This type of track lighting was used throughout the gallery. Upstairs they had 2 large cut outs in the ceiling for the natural light to come down from above. 

The walls were white in the majority of the gallery as you see in the top picture. Some walls popped with a dark gray color as you see in the bottom picture which also shows the rotunda in the background that was tiled in a brick like pattern. The Margaret L. Wendt gallery was the only section of the center with all dark gray walls and there was one exhibit in a dark room with all black walls.

Materials used in the interior architecture included wooden flooring, drywalls, tables, and chairs.

The movement of the viewer flowed very well. When you first walk in you can either go left or right. I went left and viewed the John R. Oishei Foundation and Anthony J. Sisti Galleries which included all of Charles Burchfield's work on the entire left side of the center. Toward the back of the center is the East Gallery which included The Douglas Kirkland Photoshoot: Marilyn. I circled back around through the R. William Dolittle Gallery and Margaret L. Wendt Gallery before going upstairs to the Charles Cary Rumsey Gallery and Sylvia Rosen Gallery which were almost entirely open expect for one wall separating the two even though all the work upstairs was by the same artist.

Step 3: The Artwork

As you can see in a few of the pictures I posted from previous questions and then this photo show how the wall artworks were organized. They were all even spaced about 2 feet apart from each other and about 4 feet up from the ground. The areas that included sculptures had boxes that matched the walls spaced scattered through out the gallery with one sculpture on each box. The size and height of the box was based on the size of the sculpture.

This wall is from the Douglas Kirkland photoshoot: Marilyn. This was in the East Gallery and was the only place where the wall artwork was organized differently than what I explained in the last response. Each gallery held a theme or was consistent of work from just one artist. This wall shows very similar artwork because they are all pictures of Marilyn Monroe from one photoshoot, so they are incredibly similar. The Margaret L. Wendt gallery was completely dedicated to women so the works were similar in that they all fell into the same idea of women, women's rights, and the history of women. Upstairs was the display of Ellen Steinfeld's collection. All of her work was very similar with the same bright colors, shapes, and techniques used in every piece. This included wall artwork and sculptures that both matched each other. (Pictured below)

 

The artworks were very different from gallery to gallery. For instance, Charles Burchfield's work was mostly scenery, oil paintings, and drawings of cities and buildings. But then I would move to the photoshoot and see no paintings and now just photographs. Then I would move to the back of the gallery and see a large ceiling to floor sculpture made of bags. One room included sound and repeating video footage and then I would move to the gallery dedicated to women. So, they definitely organized the artworks by putting similar pieces together but it was moving from section to section where you saw the large differences between different kinds of art.

The artworks were al framed differently. Some had light wooden frames, some had black metal frames, and some had large bronze, textured frames.

The artworks are identified and labeled with these small cards printed with the artist, title of the work, year, and medium. A lot of them also had the name of the person who donated the work to the center.

The proximity of the artwork to each other varied from each gallery. Most of them as I mentioned earlier were about two feet apart from each other. Some of the photographs as shown in the Marilyn exhibit were a lot closer together and the sculptures were a good distance away from each other so it was easy to maneuver around them and view them.

Step 4: Art Criticism Exercise 

Ellen Steinfeld 

Nine Small Steps, 2009

Watercolor on Paper 

Courtesy of the Artist

Description: These shapes remind me of flowers and leaves.

Formal Analysis: The first thing I notice with this painting is the value and contrast. There are a lot of different colors used through the piece that are bright and whimsical but there are also touches of dark and black that cause your eyes to move around. Balance is created through the nine separation lines and the unity of the types of shapes that are used. The most crucial element in this piece is line as the lines create shapes and paths through different angles and curves. 

Bracketing: There is no kind of iconography that stands out to me with this piece.

Interpretation: This artist had many works on display all with the same type of colors and techniques throughout her paintings and sculptures. I believe this artist is trying to bring joy and hope with her work as the colors liven up the room and give a happy feeling. 

Patricia Carter

Allegory of a Surrogate Mother, 1998

Oil on Canvas

Gift from the artist

Description: This painting shows an African American woman in maid like clothing wearing an apron as she stands on a checkered floor in a blue room. Behind her is a picture on the wall. The picture shows her from the hips down with two infants at her feet.

Formal Analysis: Line creates a black and white checkerboard floor and separates the floor from the wall. The wall jumps out of the picture with emphasis created by the bright blue color. Form brings curtains pulled back and hanging down the sides of the picture. 

Bracketing: It seems this piece is representative of the African American history. The African American maid is taking care of the house and the children even in the modern world there are still stigmas and stereotypes.

Interpretation: I feel like the artist was trying to say that minorities are still sometimes used in the wrong ways. The picture in the background says to me that this woman works hard for a family taking care of someone else's kids and cleaning someone else's house. 

Virginia Cuthbert (1908-2001)

Self-Portrait, c. 1941

oil on board

Gift of Virginia Cuthbert Elliott, 1994

Description: An artist works in a studio painting a picture. Surrounded by brushes, canvas, frames, newspapers, and paint, the woman is staring straight out of the picture with a stern look on her face.

Formal Analysis: Balance and proportion definitely play a role in this piece as the woman because the center and her work is balanced around her. The proportions seem very realistic judging by the size of the woman compared to the table and dresser in the background along with the size of the brushes and everything scattered on the table.

Bracketing: I don't believe there is an iconography with this piece. 

Interpretation: I think the artist was trying to say a lot about herself as this was a self portrait. I can only imagine what an artist would go through trying to portray herself through her craft. I feel like this really said a lot about her personality. The colors are dim and subtle, her facial expression is vague and she is completely surrounded by her work. This was obviously a woman who lived to paint and was focused on her skill. She did not want to portray herself with a great big smile and in her prettiest dress but in a natural element of her life. 

I thought it was very interesting to visit the gallery and purposefully look at the exhibition from a different perspective. My first art visit I was very focused on looking at each piece of art that I never did take a step back and think about the type of questions we investigated for this assignment. It was nice to look at the gallery as a whole and take a step back to think about the arrangements and flow of the entire collection at the center.