2011 Exhibitions
Suzanna Fields: Pool
January 6 – February 5, 2011
Suzanna Fields grew up in Abingdon, VA and has an MFA in painting from Virginia Commonwealth University. She uses an array of innovative materials and processes to create drawings, paintings, and installations: “I extrude, pour, drip, spill, spray, cut up, brush on and draw with paint and ink in my drawings… my work mixes wonder, celebration, persistence and unease.” Fields’ whimsical and wondrous paintings on Mylar will be on view, in addition to her acrylic wall works and a new site-specific installation. Fields has exhibited her work at Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, the Irvine Contemporary, the Transformer and the Signal 66 galleries in Washington, DC and has an upcoming exhibition at Walker Contemporary in Boston. She has been featured in The Washington Post, New American Paintings, and Art Papers Magazine, and she has received honors including a Liquitex purchase prize as well as a Bethesda Contemporary Painting Award. Fields’ paintings are in numerous private collections as well as in the corporate collections of Philip Morris & Retail Data LLC.
IMAGE: Suzanna Fields, Peacock (detail), 2010. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist. Photo courtesy of Taylor Dabney.
The Gift: Acquisitions to the Permanent Collection
January 6 – February 5, 2011
Generous donors have given a number of works to the museum’s collection in 2009 and 2010. This exhibition will feature art in a variety of media spanning diverse styles. James McGarrell, often known for his paintings, also created deeply layered works on paper. A large-format photograph by Binh Danh provides contrast to his intimate Daguerreotypes and chlorophyll prints. The career of Jean Hélion will be represented through highlights of his stylistic transitions. This exhibition underscores the Wilson Museum’s mission as a repository of significant works of modern and contemporary art.
IMAGE: Jean Hélion, Fille au Mannequin, ca. 1955. Artists edition lithograph. Gift of Louis Blair in honor of Bill White. Courtesy of the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum. 2010.009.
Helen Frederick: Dissonance; 2011 Frances Niederer Artist-in-Residence
February 17 – April 16, 2011
Helen Frederick is an internationally recognized artist using printmaking, artist books, electronic media and installation works as a basis for commentary. Her work is included in the Whitney Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and numerous other collections throughout the world. Frederick is the founder of Pyramid Atlantic, a Center for Contemporary Collaborative Projects in Printmaking, Hand Papermaking, and the Art of the Book in Silver Spring, MD.
IMAGE: Helen Frederick, Armored for the Monkey Horde IX, 2010. Oil base monotype and digitally printed chine collé on artist-made paper. Courtesy of the artist.
Judy Pfaff: Year of the Dog
February 17 – April 16, 2011
Working in sculpture, drawing, printmaking, and installation art, Pfaff has exhibited throughout the United States since the early 1970s. Pfaff earned her MFA from Yale University and has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships. She currently is the co-chair of the art department at Bard College, NY. Her artwork is featured in the collections of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC.
IMAGE: Judy Pfaff, Year of the Dog #8, 2009. Woodblock, collage, with hand painting, ed. 20. Courtesy of the artist and Tandem Press.
Coloring Our World: Artist Imprints from Pyramid Atlantic and Navigation Press
February 17 – April 16, 2011
Pyramid Atlantic (established in1981) and George Mason University’s Navigation Press (established in 2006) have empowered hundreds of artists by assisting them in papermaking, printmaking, book arts, and digital media through collaboration. The exhibition features selections that were produced under founder Helen Frederick’s direction and include examples by renowned artists who play a substantial role in the art world. Lonnie Graham’s vibrant artist books, created via photogravure and letterpress with custom-made papers, are the result of the artist’s travels to east Africa. Enrique Chagoya expresses social and political commentary in his etchings. Miriam Schapiro uses screenprinting, flocking, pulp paintings, and custom-made papers in her work to honor influential women artists. Coloring Our World showcases the remarkable flexibility of the printmaking medium and the innovative partnership between artists and working presses.
IMAGE: Karen Kunc, Seeding Jewels, 2008. Woodcut. Navigation Press, courtesy of George Mason University.
2011 Senior Majors Exhibition
May 10 – June 5, 2011
This exhibition featured the work of members of the Hollins University class of 2011 majoring in studio art: Amanda Agricola, Kristen Booker, Heather Bowden, Kinza Carpenter, Corianne Correll, Erin Doss, Hannah Doss, Sarah Enfiedjian, Jana Fry, Kaitlin Haughey, Mary Heinzel, Sarah Klam, Kellie Kunerth, Christina Murray, Jenna Nelson, Heather Talley, Jennifer Trevino, Meredith Stafford, Nancy VanNoppen, and Rebecca Wilson. The exhibition was the final requirement for art students earning their Bachelor of Arts at Hollins, and was the capstone experience of their year-long senior project.
Behind the Scenes at the Museum: Student-Curated Exhibition
May 10 – June 5, 2011
This exhibition featured work selected by student curators of Hollins University’s spring semester class “Behind the Scenes at the Museum: Principles and Practice of Curatorship within Contemporary Art” co-taught by Amy Moorefield, Museum Director, and Johanna R. Epstein, Assistant Professor of Art History. The students range from first years to graduate students and are pursuing degrees in Art History, History, Political Science and Studio Art. The student curators are Cassandra Bjerke, Jennifer Crow, Leslie Fowler, Hannah Irvin, Leah Langheim, Angel McCord, Lily Knoble, Ashley Pannell, Megan Robinson, Ellen Ruberry, and Natalia Tkacz.
Goodnight, Hush: Classic Children’s Book Illustrations
June 23 -September 10, 2011
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University presents Goodnight, Hush: Classic Children’s Book Illustrations, a two-part exhibition spanning the summers of 2011 and 2012.
Beginning in June 2011, original illustrations by artist Clement Hurd (1908–1988), world-renowned illustrator of many children’s books, including Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny (both written by Hollins alumna and perennial favorite Margaret Wise Brown and published by HarperCollins), were paired with the work of contemporary children’s book artists Thacher Hurd, Ashley Wolff and Ruth Sanderson.
The second part of Goodnight, Hush and its related events will be on view in the summer of 2012 and will be included in the statewide initiative Virginians for the Arts 2012 MINDS WIDE OPEN theme of “Virginia Celebrates Children and the Arts.” The exhibition will feature original artwork exclusively from Goodnight Moon. Margaret Wise Brown (1910–1952) was one of the first authors to write specifically for children aged two to five, and created some of the most enduring and well-loved children’s books of all time, in addition to developing the concept of the first durable board book.
The continuing celebration is the first of its kind to be offered in the mid-Atlantic region. With references to both the visual arts and literature, the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University will help children and parents explore how the arts on all levels shape families, generations, and communities.
Funding for this exhibition, programming, and publications has been generously provided in part by Roanoke County and Wachovia, a Wells Fargo Company. Selected programs are organized in partnership with Hollins University’s Graduate Programs in Children’s Literature and Hollins University’s Margaret Wise Brown Festival.
Bill White: Empathy and Engagement
September 29 – December 10, 2011
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum presented a major solo exhibition including many recent works by nationally recognized painter Bill White. From his studio in Troutville, Virginia, to the streets of Paris, White explores interior and exterior landscapes. Exhibition curator and museum director Amy Moorefield comments, “Bill White is a consummate artist whose paintings imply monumentality, regardless of their actual size. It’s all about the studio coupled with the plein-air experience, the physicality of the paint and the act of painting.” Form and color merge to delineate furniture, plants, windows, balconies, and bridges. White’s feeling for each scene provides the viewer with a sense of familiarity. Art historian Jen Samet writes, “White’s paintings are exuberant and expansive in their color, light, and abundance of form and life. However, they have a naturalism and softness that comes from the resistance to stylize or rigidly define form.”
White received his BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) and his MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Professor Emeritus after 39 years at Hollins University, White has received numerous accolades including Cabell Fellowship and Mellon Foundation grants, residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and the Cité International des Arts, and various faculty and service awards. Zeuxis, a national association of still life painters, twice hosted White as a guest artist. His work is in the collections of Indiana University’s Henry Hope Art Museum, Bloomington in Indiana; the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia; and the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg; among many others. White’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries including Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia; the Bowery Gallery in New York; White Canvas Gallery in Richmond, Virginia; and the Thomasville Cultural Center in Thomasville, Georgia. A full color catalogue with essays by Amy Moorefield, exhibition curator and museum director, and art historian Jennifer Samet, Ph.D, accompanied the exhibition.
IMAGE: Bill White, Downtown Rooftops I, 2011. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Richard Boyd.
Jan Knipe
September 29 – December 10, 2011
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum presented an exhibition of recent drawings by artist Jan Knipe. Based in Radford, Virginia, Knipe uses both traditional and handmade materials to create drawings that investigate the boundaries of the medium. With muted monochromatic hues, she explores the ambiguity of shape and the relationships between objects while developing narratives around nature and architectural forms. As Museum director Amy G. Moorefield writes, “Through her facile and expressive handling of her rendering tools, she transforms perceptions of her external environment into translations that hover between the real and the abstract.”
Currently Professor Emerita from Hollins University where she taught from 1987-2009, Knipe has exhibited nationally dincluding the Hackett/Freedman Gallery in San Francisco, the Bowery Gallery in New York City, the Hermitage Foundation Museum in Norfolk and the Danville Museum of Art, Virginia among others. Her work is in many public and private collections including the Weisman Museum of Art in Minneapolis, the American Council on Education in Washington, DC, and the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia. She has received numerous awards, including a fellowship from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, a Cabell Fellowship, an individual artist grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and Grants for Artists Program (GAP) award from The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge.
A color catalogue with essays by museum director Amy Moorefield, art historian Ann Bronwyn Paulk Ph.D., and art critic John Goodrich will accompanied the exhibition.
This exhibition was supported, in part, by a grant from The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge and the Virginia Commission for the Arts.
IMAGE: Jan Knipe, Evening Still Life, 2009. Mixed chalk on Fabriano paper. Private collection. Photo by Richard Boyd.
2010 Exhibitions
Fiona Ross: Walking the Parallels to Terminus
January 7 – 30, 2010
Through a site-specific wall drawing and a series of works on paper rendered from one single (unicursal) line created with sumi ink and watercolor pens, artist Fiona Ross interprets the concept of “threading”- a meditative journey one would take walking in a complex labyrinth. The resulting work navigates the artist’s journey through intricate pathways that are self referential as well as culminating in fantastical landmasses filled with hidden surprises. Walking the Parallels to Terminus marks the first major wall mural project for the Museum. Ross received her B.A. and M.S.T. from Fordham University, NY, and her M.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is in the collections of Markel Corporation and Wachovia Securities.
IMAGE: Fiona Ross, Self-Portrait #1, 2009. Sumi ink on paper. Courtesy of the artist (now collection of the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University, 2011.034).
Behind the Scenes at the Museum: a Progressive Student-Curated Exhibition
January 7 – 30, 2010
This exhibition features the work selected by student curators of Hollins University’s Short Term class “Behind the Scenes at the Museum: Principles and Practice of Curatorship within Contemporary Art” co-taught by Amy Moorefield, museum director and Johanna R. Epstein, assistant professor of art history. Students will look at a variety of artistic forms and gain valuable hands-on experience and present a bi-weekly progressive exhibition using the museum’s collection as inspiration.
When Janey Comes Marching Home: Portraits of Women Combat Veterans
February 11 – April 17, 2010
Featuring an often-unseen side of war, this exhibition combines interviews and photographs to tell the stories of women in modern combat. Artist Sascha Pflaeging and writer Laura Browder join forces to present an unexpected view of war; while still a minority group, women account for over 180,000 American soldiers and veterans. Exploring myths and pop culture ideas, this exhibition provides an honest look at the military, motherhood, and femininity. This exhibition and the accompanying publication were made possible by generous grants from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the College of Humanities and Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University. This exhibition and the accompanying publication were made possible by generous grants from the Virginia Foundation for the humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the College of Humanities and Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University. The exhibition was organized by the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. Its tour is administered by the Anderson Gallery, VCU School of the Arts, with additional support from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Click here to read an article from The Virginia Quarterly Review.
IMAGE: Sascha Pflaeging, Staff Sergeant Connica McFadden, U.S. Army, 2008. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of the artist.
Stanley Lewis: 2010 Frances Niederer Artist-in-Residence
February 11 – April 17, 2010
Painter Stanley Lewis creates stunningly beautiful works referencing urban landscape and intimate interior environments. The exhibition will feature his detailed paintings as well as works on paper. Lewis received a Guggenheim Award in Painting in 2005 as well as the Andrew Mellon Faculty Enrichment Grant, UICA Faculty Grant, and a Danforth Fellow for study in Art and Architecture. Art critic Lance Esplund praises Lewis: “Through exactitude and spatial harmony, his paintings and drawings not only celebrate the things of this world, they rejoice in the act of looking—and of living.”
The Frances Niederer Artist-in-Residence program allows Hollins University to bring a nationally recognized artist to campus every year. In residence during the spring semester, the artist teaches and works with students and faculty.
2010 Senior Majors Exhibition
May 11 – June 12, 2010
This exhibition features the work of the members of the class of 2010 majoring in studio art and film & photography: Julia Coleman, Erin Margaret Coffin, Kelly Davidson, Kat Elizabeth, Tess Endicott, Lauren Guerra, Caroline Hays, Morganne Ingram, Kimberly A. Kennedy, Emma Kirks, Katrina LaRossa, Melissa Michalski, Cameron Niedermayer, Kelly Schumeyer, Wizzy Strom, and T. Robinette. Join us at the campus preview reception to congratulate these hardworking students. The family reception at the conclusion of the show is a celebration for parents and relatives who are on campus for Commencement.
Reunion 2010: Eleanor Delaney “Siddy” Wilson ’30
May 11 – June 12, 2010
An annual exhibition focusing on a notable alumna in the visual arts, Reunion 2010 features the work of Eleanor D. “Siddy” Wilson ’30. This museum, named in her honor, is the culmination of her philanthropic generosity and benefits both the Hollins and greater Roanoke communities. Eleanor Delaney “Siddy” Wilson graduated from Hollins with a degree in chemistry in 1930. She went on to become an accomplished actress on Broadway and to receive a Tony nomination. She directed plays, performed with the USO, and worked in television and movies. She pursued her interest in art by studying with Margaret Stark and Rafael Soyer in New York City. Siddy’s desire was that her beloved Hollins have a world-class art museum. The exhibition features selection from a recent gift by executors of her estate of artwork and archival documents, including photographs, journals, and writings.
IMAGE: Courtesy of the Eleanor D. Wilson archive.
The Fleeting Glimpse: Selections in Modern and Contemporary Photography from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
September 16 – December 4, 2010
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University, in partnership with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, will present The Fleeting Glimpse: Selections in Modern and Contemporary Photography from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, opening on Thursday, September 16. It will feature the work of 28 artists using the medium of photography to transform common-found occurrences in nature and humanity into unusual encounters and strange juxtapositions. This exhibit is the first major focus on the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA)’s renowned photography collection, and is co-curated by Christine Carr, artist and assistant professor of art at Hollins University, and Wilson Museum Director Amy Moorefield. After its inaugural exhibition at the Wilson Museum, The Fleeting Glimpse will be on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts from January 15 through April 3, 2011.
Funding for The Fleeting Glimpse comes in part from the City of Roanoke through the Roanoke Arts Commission as well as support from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
IMAGE: Lee Friedlander, Shadow – New York City, 1968, Silver Print. John Barton Payne Fund, 74.6.8/15 © Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.
Jim Campbell: In the Repose of Memory
September 16 – December 4, 2010
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University and Roanoke College Galleries are pleased to announce the joint exhibition Jim Campbell: In the Repose of Memory, opening on September 16th. Campbell is a pioneering electronic artist whose works have set the standard for art made with technology for over twenty years. He uses technologies developed for information transfer and storage to explore human perception, memory and the ways we measure time.
IMAGE: Jim Campbell, Home Movie 1040-2, 2008. Video installation. Courtesy of the artist & the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York.
2009 Exhibitions
Taliaferro Logan: Georgianna Waxes
January 8 – 31, 2009
This site-specific encaustic installation by nationally known artist Taliaferro Logan that is inspired by the book “Georgianna” written by the artist’s grandmother Fay L. Logan. Loosely written as a fictional saga of a family drama in the Roanoke Valley during the early part of the 20th century, the exhibition explores the family’s confessional tale of tragedy and redemption and the blurred lines between history and fiction. The resulting works focus on each chapter of the book, each hauntingly beautiful and together form a powerful visual drama of familial dynamics.
IMAGE: Talia Logan, Flora Swarm. Encaustic. Courtesy of the artist.
Reimagining the Distaff Toolkit
February 19 – April 18, 2009
The artists featured in this exhibition investigate the tools traditionally used by women. A distaff is a now-obsolete device traditionally used for yarn making; as technology progressed, it was incorporated into spinning wheels, which also later became obsolete. The word “distaff” was used to refer to women and their work for years after the tool itself became outdated. Tom Cohen, Judith Hoyt, Alison Saar, Bettye Saar, Marie Watt and others use once-common objects to question and comment on the roles women assume through history. “Each work of art in Reimagining the Distaff Toolkit has, at its visible core, a tool that was important for women’s domestic labor in the past. The old tool becomes the fulcrum for a contemporary work of art,” says Rickie Solinger, Curator. This exhibition was organized by WAKEUP/Arts.
IMAGE: Marie Watt, Conversation: Plow, 2007. Fabric and mixed media. Courtesy of the artist.
The Light Fantastic: Irish Stained Glass Art
February 19 – April 25, 2009
The Light Fantastic: Irish Stained Glass Art represents the work of 12 leading contemporary Irish glass artists and highlights the importance of traditional stained, painted and etched glass in Ireland. These artists are pushing conceptual and structural boundaries for stained glass installations.
Here, contemporary glass artists explore the flexibility of their medium. Although each piece in this exhibition is fundamentally a rectangular glass panel or series of panels, the different technical approaches used by each artist define his or her concept of the medium. Through various methods of production, these works provide an opportunity for viewers to see the way light can transform art.
Originally on view at the Crafts Council of Ireland, this exhibition was organized by International Arts & Artists. The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum is pleased to be the first venue to present this exhibition in the United States.
IMAGE: Nora Duggan, Aquatic, 2007. Courtesy of the artist.
In the Eclipse of Angkor
2009 Frances Niederer Artist-in-Residence Binh Danh
February 19 – April 18, 2009
Artist Binh Danh was born in Vietnam in 1977, two years after the fall of Saigon, and in 1979 he and his family left their country and eventually reached the United States. The experience inspired him to create artwork exploring time and memory. “This series… continues my exploration of the photographic process. Photography has allowed me to mediate on death and its influence on the living. The themes of mortality, memory, history, landscape justice, evidence and spirituality encompass this [work],” states the artist.
Danh invented a process known as chlorophyll printing, by which makes images on leaves by applying a negative to the leaf and setting it in the sun; the sun imprints the picture through the chlorophyll within the leaf. Danh received his MFA at Stanford University. His work has been exhibited at the George Eastman House in Rochester, the Asia Society Museum in New York City, and the University of Hawaii Art Museum in Honolulu.
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum is honored to premiere this new body of work, In The Eclipse of Angkor, and the exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog with contributing essays by J. Ruth Epstein, visiting professor of art history at Hollins University, and by Museum Director Amy G. Moorefield. Exhibition courtesy of the artist and Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona and Haines Gallery, San Francisco, California.
IMAGE: Binh Danh, Angkor Wat, 2008. Courtesy of the artist.
2009 Senior Majors Exhibition
May 5 – May 17, 2009
Featuring the work of: Sarah Black, Meghan Foster, Julia Garland, Kimberly Kennedy, Sharon Mirtaheri, Meritha Rucker, Ashley Viers, Leigh Werrell, and Meg Umberger. The Senior Majors Exhibition is the final requirement for students earning their Bachelor of Arts at Hollins and is the capstone experience of their senior project. Each of the participating artists will exhibit work from their final undergraduate portfolio that represents the culmination of their work.
Architectonic Logic: Silt-cast Stoneware by Chris Gryder
May 5 – June 27, 2009
In the artist’s words, “within the shallow bas-relief surface of my work, is a compressed amalgam of the natural world and the human world.” Gryder earned his Bachelor of Architecture at Tulane University, New Orleans, and his M.F.A. in ceramics at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. He also studied for five years with Paolo Soleri at Arconsanti in Mayer, Arizona, where he refined his silt casting technique. Gryder has exhibited internationally, and his work is in numerous public and private collections. With this exhibition, the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum is pleased to debut Ecliptic, a major commission that will be installed in July 2009 at Florida State University/Panama City.
IMAGE: Chris Gryder, Pinwheel Big Bang (detail). Silt-cast stoneware, 3 x 4 feet. Courtesy of the artist.
Reunion 2009: Exhibition of Recent Work by Mary Page Evans ’59
May 28 – September 5, 2009
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University is proud to feature a solo exhibition by nationally known artist Mary Page Evans. In the exhibition From Nature, Evans will present paintings and works on paper focusing on the elements of nature with a significant emphasis on the Roanoke Valley. Working directly in nature (en plein air), Evans relates her work to music-each element working in harmony to create masterful works of art. Since the early 1970s, Mary Page Evans’ work has been the focus of numerous solo and group exhibitions in galleries, art museums and universities as well as in United States Embassies around the world. Her work is in the collections of several public and corporate collections such as the DuPont Company, MBNA, and National Museum of Women in the Arts, State Museum of Pennsylvania, University of Delaware, Delaware Art Museum, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Evans is a graduate of Hollins University (formerly Hollins College) and returned to campus for the opening of the exhibition, which will take place during Hollins’ Reunion Weekend. Evans gave a gallery talk to her class (1959), and other returning alumni as part of the festivities.
IMAGE: Mary Page Evans, Large Sussex, 2006-07. Courtesy of the artist and Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Washington, D.C.
Barry Masteller: Boulevards
May 29 – August 22, 2009
Barry Masteller’s ephemeral paintings evade precise portrayals of time and place. In his series Boulevards, the glow of twilight transforms the cityscape into a haunting, dreamlike apparition. Silhouetted streets, buildings, and people are arranged to create a conflicting sense of community and isolation. Masteller’s work has been shown extensively in both group and solo exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at the San Jose Museum of Art and at Caldwell/Snyder Gallery in New York.
IMAGE: Barry Masteller, Boulevard 55 (detail), 2006. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Katharine T. Carter & Associates, New York City.
Barbara Bernstein: Things are not what they seem, nor are they otherwise
July 16 – August 22, 2009
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum will originate the first major site-specific exhibition in the region by artist Barbara Bernstein. Things are not what they seem, nor are they otherwise will encompass the largest space of the museum, incorporating architectural references culled from Hollins University’s historic campus. Familiar elements of columns, streams, benches and walkways will be interpreted in two and three dimensions. Bernstein creates her site-specific works with simple, manufactured, predominately black and white materials such as electrical tape, contact paper, construction paper and foam core. The viewer is invited to see and experience a familiar environment in unfamiliar, surprising ways. Barbara Bernstein is the Artist in Residence at the Virginia Creative Center for the Arts (VCCA) in Amherst, Virginia. Bernstein taught at Yale University, the Rhode Island School of Design and Carnegie-Mellon University, among others. Her work has been shown in national and international exhibitions, including at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia, and the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.
IMAGE: Maquette from Things are not what they seem, nor are they otherwise, Barbara Bernstein, 2009. Foam core, electrical tape, construction paper. Courtesy of the artist.
Betty Branch: Through the Crow’s Eye, a Retrospective
September 17 – November 21, 2009
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum is pleased to curate and present the first major retrospective of internationally recognized Roanoke artist Betty Branch. Through the Crow’s Eye honors one of the most respected sculptors in the southeast region. Her work has been exhibited worldwide and is presented in an exhibition showcasing decades of artistic experimentation.
The exhibition utilizes all three spaces of the museum and includes an outdoor sculpture component. It focuses on over thirty of Branch’s most significant works, including several on loan from private collections around the country, video documentation of her performance art presented alongside her poetry, and several outdoor sculptures, including a new site specific landwork.
IMAGE: Betty Branch, Road Show, 2006. Bronze, 28x12x18”. Courtesy of the artist.
2008 Exhibitions
Hidden Treasures
January 8 – February 16, 2008
The Wilson Museum actively collects art in support of our core mission as a teaching museum. Since opening in 2004, we have added hundreds of items to our collection and only a fraction has been on public view. Hidden Treasures features works in a variety of media including work by Carrie Mae Weems, Ron Kleeman, Lizzie Nungarday, and Kay Ross.
Frederick Sommer
January 22 – April 12, 2008
Frederick Sommer (1905 – 1999) was a master artist whose work influenced generations of photographers. Often recognized for his elegant black-and-white photographs with distinctive images of surrealist collages, horizonless landscapes, out-of-focus nudes, and cameraless abstractions. Sommer also maintained lifelong interests in drawing, painting, collage, poetry, and prose. Using a variety of media to experiment with figure and shape, he created an unusually diverse body of work a portion of which will be on view in this exhibition that examines more than fifty years of his work organized collaboratively by the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum and the Frederick and Frances Sommer Foundation.
IMAGE: Frederick Sommer, Cut Paper, 1967. Collage. Courtesy of the Frederick & Frances Sommer Foundation.
2008 Frances Niederer Artist-in-Residence: Holly Roberts
February 26 – April 26, 2008
New Mexico-based artist Holly Roberts begins with photographs to produce multi-media expressions of human drama. Described as “kind but unflinching,” she creates pieces which are equally sweet and complex. Deeply influenced by Native American figures and spirituality, Roberts’ work reflects the questions and ambiguities of daily life, leading the viewer to apply her art to their own life. Roberts graduated with her M.F.A. from Arizona State University and has received two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
IMAGE: Holly Roberts, Man Grazing, 2007. Mixed media. Courtesy of the artist.
Cabell Sabbatical Exhibition: Bill White, Paintings from England
March 4 – April 26, 2008
Bill White, Professor of Art, spent the fall of 2006 living and working in Kent, England while on a sabbatical leave from Hollins, funded by a Cabell Grant. The works exhibited were painted “en plein air” at varied locations in the fields around the small village of Hastingleigh. The quintessential landscapes show herds of black-faced sheep, the mercurial weather, and the soft light of England where one minute the sky is clear and the next the clouds scutter by, bringing rain. White received his M.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and has had solo exhibits in New York City, Philadelphia, and throughout Virginia.
IMAGE: Bill White, Dappled Light, 2006. Oil on linen. Courtesy of the artist.
Women Only! In Their Studios
April 20 – June 29, 2008
Showcasing a variety of media and styles, Women Only! features a new canon of modern artists. All of these women share a relentless focus and the courage to embrace uncharted territories. Each artist is an innovator of compelling power, whether working in painting, photography, or even quilts or videos. Featured artists include Jennifer Bartlett, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Camille Billops, Elizabeth Catlett, Linda Freeman, Ann Hamilton, Grace Hartigan, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Elizabeth Murray, Howardena Pindell, Laurie Simmons, Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schapiro, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Joan Snyder, Pat Steir, Gail Tremblay, Jackie Winsor and Flo Oy Wong.
IMAGE: Miriam Schapiro, The Garden, 1990. Acrylic and fabric on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.
2008 Senior Majors Exhibition
May 6 – 18, 2008
This exhibition features the work of the members of the class of 2008 majoring in studio art and film & photography: Olivia Page Body, Casey Ann Bridgers, Kristin Bringewatt, Keri “Sssargon” Cheely, Keely Comstock, Pamela Marie Cruz, Meg Graninger, Stephanie Lohmann, E. Ogier, Shannon Sarkozy, Mary Celeste Townsend, Sarah Triplett, Sherry Tucciarone, Ashley Lenore Walther, Racheal W. Yang, and Stacy D. Zimmerman.
Reunion 2008: Diana Reuter-Twining ’73
June 17 – August 16, 2008
Diana Reuter-Twining is a sculptor whose work is steeped in the genre of art known as animalier, the French term for “animal art.” Living in Virginia and traveling worldwide affords her the opportunity to catalogue the nature that is so vital to her work. As an architect and artist, Reuter-Twining is keenly aware of the plasticity of space. Her bronze sculptures are dynamic and have the vantage point of an intimacy with nature that could only be captured through experience.
IMAGE: Diana Reuter-Twining, Temptation. Bronze. Courtesy of the artist.
Reunion 2008: Taisie Berkeley ’70
June 7 – September 6, 2008
Taisie Berkeley has won national recognition for her magazine profiles of people. In her photo essays, she brings emotion, perceptiveness, and grace to her art. While traveling in India on a Fulbright grant, she documented the day-to-day lives and struggles of Indian women. These photographs and their accompanying text reveal Berkeley’s sympathy for their plight. She received her M.F.A. from the University of Delaware and currently teaches photography at the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland.
IMAGE: Taisie Berkeley. Courtesy of the artist.
Contemporary Clay: The Collections of 16 Hands
July 22 – September 20, 2008
Curated from the private collections of southwest Virginia pottery enclave 16 Hands, this exhibition features the work of many of the most influential artists in contemporary clay. Included is one piece by each of the nationally renowned potters of 16 Hands, so that we can see their work in the context of that which inspires them. The members of 16 Hands, Silvie Granatelli, Ellen Shankin, Brad Warstler, Stacy Synder, Richard Hensley, and Donna Polseno live in southwest Virginia and recently celebrated their tenth anniversary of organized studio tours.
IMAGE: Wayne Higby, Horseshoe Bay, 1973. Raku earthenware. Courtesy of Donna Polseno and Richard Hensley.
Print as Muse: Reflections on Vanitas from the James W. Hyams Collection
August 26 – October 25, 2008
Taking a cue from the 16th century Northern European still-life painting tradition, this exhibition explores the subject of vanitas, a reminder of the transient nature of vanity and youth. Prints in particular were created for mass distribution and the nature of the medium renders them notoriously impermanent. These contemporary works from the James W. Hyams Collection explore, exploit, or relate to the impermanence of life and our culture’s obsession with beauty. Hyams is a noted collector whose exhibition of photorealist prints traveled extensively throughout the southeast.
IMAGE: Jeff Koons, One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank, 1995. Lithograph on paper, edition of 50. Courtesy of James W. Hyams.
60×60
September 23 – November 22, 2008
Purdue University Galleries hold a biennial competition of small-scale contemporary printmaking. Over the years, the Galleries have acquired more than 160 artworks from these competitions. Sixty of these prints have traveled to the Wilson Museum, and each piece is no larger than sixty square inches. Works range from delicate etchings to wildly colorful works on paper and represent some of the best up-and-coming printmakers working today. 60×60 was developed by the Purdue University Galleries, West Lafayette, Indiana.
IMAGE: Carol Wax, Sewing Circles, 1993. Mezzotint. Courtesy of Purdue University Galleries.
Larry Day: Ironic Realist
October 7, 2008 – January 10, 2009
One of the pioneers in the postmodern genres in his blending of classical and new realism in painting, Larry Day (1921-1998) was a professor of painting, drawing, and theory at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) in Pennsylvania. He was also senior critic at University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Fine Arts. His work has been the focus of numerous exhibitions nationally and abroad and his works are in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., among others. In 2004, a selection of Day’s drawings and paintings were added to the Wilson Museum’s permanent collection through the generosity of his widow, Ruth Fine. This exhibition, showcasing the entire gift, is curated by Hollins University Professor of Art Bill White, in consultation with Meredith Ward Fine Art, New York.
IMAGE: Larry Day, Self Portrait, 1981-83. Oil on canvas. Gift of Ruth Fine. Courtesy of the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, 2005.009.
Friends and Family
November 1 – December 10, 2008
The Wilson Museum is proud to host an exhibition of artwork given to the collection and on loan to us from generous Hollins alumnae and friends of the museum. The centerpiece of this exhibition is a beautiful portrait by Howard Chandler Christy, a prominent American illustrator in the early 1900s. Later in life, Christy turned to portrait painting, creating likenesses of powerful figures and celebrities including President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, Amelia Earhart, and Benito Mussolini. Join us as Hollins celebrates the kickoff of the 2008-2009 Capital Campaign.
IMAGE: Howard Chandler Christy, Untitled portrait of a woman, 1932. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of anonymous lenders.
Louisa Matthíasdóttir & Leland Bell: Still Lifes – From a Shared Life
December 9, 2008 – February 14, 2009
Featuring works by married painters Louisa Matthíasdóttir and Leland Bell, this exhibition provides an in-depth presentation of their still lifes ranging from the 1950’s through the 1990’s. Widely regarded as two of the most energetic painters in New York’s post-war art scene, this exhibition explores their dynamic partnership and shared commitment to the tradition of still life painting. Still Lifes is organized by the Hafnarborg Institute of Culture and Fine Art, Iceland, in collaboration with the family of the artists.
IMAGE: Louisa Matthíasdóttir, Still Life with Squash, n.d. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries.