Opening Night SOFA 2005
OPENING NIGHT GALA PREVIEW OF SOFA NEW YORK 2005 TO BENEFIT MUSEUM OF ARTS & DESIGN
Opening on June 1, 2005
Wednesday, June 1, at Seventh Regiment Armory
NEW YORK – For the eighth consecutive year, the gala opening night preview of SOFA NEW YORK 2005, the International Exposition of Sculpture Objects and Functional Art, will benefit the Museum of Arts & Design and its exhibitions and public programs. The event will be held from 5 to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, June 1, at the Seventh Regiment Armory, Park Avenue at 67th Street , Manhattan .
SOFA NEW YORK , which draws more than 12,000 visitors each year, is widely considered a defining event in the decorative and fine arts world. The New York Times has called the SOFA NEW YORK expositions, “a stunning array of art…known for reflecting and setting cutting-edge design trends.” For more information, visit: www.sofaexpo.com . SOFA NEW YORK 2005 will be open to the public Thursday, June 2, through Sunday, June 5.
This year's event will feature more than 50 of the world's finest galleries and dealers presenting works by more than a thousand artists that bridge craft and the decorative and fine arts.
This year's theme will be “A Taste of New York,” with the creations of some of New York's finest restaurants, including Beacon, Café Boulud, David Burke and Donatella, E.A.T., Fresh Shore and Coast, LaGoulue, Michael's, Park Avenue Café and Zarela.
A silent auction ( 5 to 10 p.m. ) of outstanding art, donated by artists and other friends of MAD, will benefit the Museum and its exhibitions and education programs.
Event co-chairs are Sandra B. Grotta and Jack Lenor Larsen.
TICKETS
Benefactor at $5,000 per couple or corporation; Patron at $1,000 per person; Sponsor at $500 per person; Supporter at $300 per person. For tickets, call Stephanie Lang at MAD: 212-956-3535, ext. 129.
The MAD opening night gala is also the kick-off event for a week of arts activities. For the fourth consecutive year, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will declare June 1–5to be Contemporary Decorative Arts Week: Bringing Art to Life in New York City . The week is a citywide celebration of the greater New York metropolitan area's vibrant contemporary decorative arts and design scene. The theme, Bringing Art to Life , emphasizes the joys of bringing art into one's home and work environment.
SPECIAL SOFA PROGRAMS:
AT THE SEVENTH REGIMENT ARMORY:
Wednesday, June 1, through Sunday, June 5
Seventh Regiment Armory, Park Avenue at 67th Street .
A Special Exhibition at SOFA NEW YORK 2005
The artist Olga de Amaral began creating Estelas (1996), a series of low-relief suspended panels with gold leaf on the recto side and silver leaf on the reverse, after being inspired by stone monoliths on her farm in Colombia , South America . The works have a haunting presence and timelessness.
This special exhibition at SOFA NY 2005 is the first time the Estelas series will be displayed in New York . The series was organized by Bellas Artes Gallery in Santa Fe and curator Thea Burger in cooperation with the Museum of Arts & Design , which is also a lender to the exhibition. De Amaral seamlessly merges art, craft, and design through engagement with both materials and process, the basic principle upon which the Museum is founded.
Born in Colombia in 1932, De Amaral is ranked among the most significant artists working in fiber today. Over nearly half a century, se has produced a body of work of exceptional beauty and visual power that is a perfect marriage of art and craft. She brings to her work the sensibility of a painter, the tactile awareness of a sculptor, the vision of an architect, and the impeccable craftsmanship of a master weaver.
Olga de Amaral studied textiles with the legendary Marianne Strengell at Cranbrook in 1954-55. De Amaral's first American exhibition was held at Jack Lenor Larsen's showroom in 1967. In 1970-71 the Museum of Arts & Design (then the American Craft Museum ) awarded her a one-person exhibition in which she showed what she called “woven walls,” made of plaited strips of wool and horsehair. These works established her as a leader in the rapidly evolving field of art made in fiber.
AT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS & DESIGN:
Saturday, June 4, at Museum of Arts & Design
40 West 53 rd Street (between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue )
From 2 to 5 p.m. (open to Benefactor and Patron ticket holders)
The Museum of Arts & Design will offer a mini-course focusing on ceramics, conducted by David Revere McFadden, chief curator at MAD; curator Ursula Ilse-Neuman; and Garth Clark, well-known author and ceramics gallery owner.
This the first in a series of three, half-day courses organized by medium, which will present artists and their work in an historical context while providing opportunity for a close inspection of works of art, insights into important studio techniques and exposure to the work of emerging artist. A question and answer period will follow.
These courses are designed to give both novice and experienced collectors an overview of the museum's field–from the beginning of the 20th century to the present–and are intended to help develop a greater level of connoisseurship. The fee will be $50 per day; complimentary seats will be offered to Museum members who have joined at the Collectors Circle level ($1,500). For further information please call the MAD Education Department at 212-956-3535.
- Hunter Douglas Horizon Award for Emerging Artists
From 5 to 7 p.m. (open to all ticket holders)
The fifth annual Horizon Awards , conferred by the Museum of Arts & Design and Hunter Douglas Window Fashions, are given to five young artists: $5,000, $2,500, $1,000, $500 and honorable mention respectively. The honor, granted to students from the country's finest schools of art and design, is based on individual talent, innovation, and a demonstrated future commitment to working professionally in the three-dimensional visual arts. The award-winning student works will be exhibited at the Museum.
To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the award, the 10 schools previously honored have been invited to participate in the competition. Each school is asked to submit five works in ceramics, jewelry, metals, glass, furniture, wood and/or textiles. The award is open to undergraduate and graduates and the objects must be made by the student and may be one-of-a-kind, prototypes or first in a series. The awards are made possible through the generosity of Hunter Douglas Window Fashions.
Invited schools are Cranbrook Academy , Minneapolis College of Art, NSCAD ( Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), Savannah College of Art and Design, School for American Craft at RIT, School of Visual Arts , and the University of Wisconsin-Madison .
CURRENT EXHIBITION
On view during SOFA NEW YORK 2005:
Dual Vision, The Simona and Jerome Chazen Collection
May 26– September 11, 2005
This exhibition will present to the public for the first time 98 masterworks from one of the major private art collections of the 20 th century that transcends conventional genre boundaries.
The Chazen Collection is recognized for its seamless integration of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts. Dual Vision will feature masterpieces by seminal 20 th -century artists who worked in a wide range of media, including glass objects, paintings, ceramics, and works in bronze, fiber, and mixed media. Exhibition highlights include glass objects by Dale Chihuly, Dominick Labino, William Morris, and Mary Shaffer; paintings by Jean Dubuffet, Roy Lichtenstein, and Gerhard Richter; ceramic sculptures by Robert Arneson, Sir Anthony Caro, and Sergei Isupov; and weavings by Olga de Amaral.
Museum of Arts & Design Exhibitions Spring-Fall 2005
Heavenly Earth: Contemporary Asian Ceramics
at the Museum of Arts & Design
A special loan exhibition at the International Asian Art Fair
April 1–6, 2005 , Seventh Regiment Armory, New York City
The Museum of Arts & Design, in celebration of the 10 th anniversary of The International Asian Art Fair, has loaned a selection of exceptional contemporary pieces from the permanent collection, among them works by artists such as Masanichi Yoshikawa, Harumi Nakashima, Keisuke Mizuno, Chun Liao and Yasuo Hayashi. The Fair will be held April 1-6 at the Seventh Regiment Armory, Park Avenue at 67 th Street , Manhattan .
In the past five years, the Museum has acquired significant international works of art and design, and has concentrated on building a focus collection of contemporary ceramics from Asia . In the last few decades there has been a virtual renaissance in Asian ceramics that makes them highly prized. MAD has developed a collection of contemporary work that ranges from the intricate and delicate celadon glazes of Chun Liao's miniature vessels, to the exuberantly patterned work of Harumi Nakashima and the meditative and architectural purity of works by Yasuo Hayashi, to a dynamically choreographed vessel by Koike Shoko.
In past years, the Museum's active collecting has focused primarily on American art and artists. While the Museum has presented such exhibitions as Japan: Design Today (in 1960), the permanent collection did not reflect its international scope. This has changed dramatically with the adoption of the new name Museum of Arts & Design (MAD).
The Beaded Figure
April 1– May 15, 2005
This fourth juried biennial exhibition organized by Beadwork magazine will feature figural works by 50 artists. The Beaded Figure showcases the trends and innovations of all facets of beaded sculpture in entries from the United States , Japan , Italy and Canada . A number of beaded works from the museum's permanent collection will compliment the figural pieces.
Kimono Variations
April 13– May 15, 2005
This selection from the permanent collection presents fiber art inspired by the kimono form. Some works are wearable, others use the form of this loosely structured garment as a canvas on which to explore various fiber techniques. Ana Lisa Hedstrom has used resist-dyes to create a pattern of squares on a long crepe de chine coat; Julia Hill has made a kimono of painted silk. Marilyn Meltzer has assembled a kimono hanging of turkey feathers covered with Japanese calligraphy; Katherine Westphal has transferred color Xerox images onto Japanese paper rectangles to create a similar shape. Tim Harding has created a glorious field of flowers on a stitched greatcoat.
Beyond the Fringe
April 13– May 15, 2005
Fringes are most often considered purely decorative embellishments relegated to the edges of objects. However, artists working in fiber have recognized the extraordinary potential of fringe as a sculptural element that defines space and form. Working “on the fringe,” these artists have transformed a simple marginal decoration into visually arresting compositions. The works on view, selected from the permanent collection, reflect the Museum's focus on the creative engagement with materials and process that informs art, craft, and design. In these explorations of threads, the endless possibilities residing in these raw materials are eloquently revealed.
Shihoko Fukumoto's Indigo Cube – Mist is a six-foot-square teahouse formed by four panels of indigo-dyed, linen strands. This fringed enclosure is at once solid and permeable. Co-twisted (The Collective Unconscious) is a work by Tomoko Ishida in which hundreds of paper strips have been twisted on hanging wires to create a floating lacey cloud.
Dual Vision, The Simona and Jerome Chazen Collection
May 26– September 11, 2005
This exhibition will present to the public for the first time 98 masterworks from one of the major private art collections of the 20 th century that transcends conventional genre boundaries. The exhibition will travel nationally after its premiere at MAD.
The Chazen Collection is recognized for its seamless integration of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts. Dual Vision will feature masterpieces by seminal 20 th -century artists who worked in a wide range of media, including glass objects, paintings, ceramics, and works in bronze, fiber, and mixed media. Highlights in the exhibition will include:
- Glass objects by Dale Chihuly, Dominick Labino, William Morris, and Mary Shaffer
- Paintings by Jean Dubuffet, Roy Lichtenstein, and Gerhard Richter
- Ceramic sculptures by Robert Arneson, Sir Anthony Caro, and Sergei Isupov
- Weavings by Olga de Amaral
The artists represented in Dual Vision, The Jerome A. & Simona Chazen Collection pushed the frontiers of their respective fields: Dominick Labino was one of the founders of the American studio glass movement; Dale Chihuly's expressive use of color and form has won him world-wide recognition ; Robert Arneson changed the art world's perception of clay with his provocative, witty ceramic sculptures, and was a founding member of the California Funk movement ; and Olga de Amaral's serene golden weavings build on the textile tradition of her native Colombia . Common to all works in the collection is the artists' innovative use of materials and techniques as they championed new forms of creative expression.
Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation, 2, Contemporary Native North American Art from the West, Northwest and Pacific
September 22, 2005-January 15, 2006
Following the success of its critically acclaimed exhibition of contemporary Native American art – Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation – the Museum will organize and premiere the second exhibition in this three-part series. The exhibition is organized by the Museum's chief curator, David Revere McFadden, and Ellen Napiura Taubman, former director of the Department of Native American Art at Sotheby's and Native American art advisor to the Museum.
Changing Hands 2 will present more than 300 new works by 190 contemporary Native American artists. Many of the pieces have never before been publicly exhibited. The series presents artists whose works challenge given ideas and perceptions of the definitions of art, craft, and design today, as well as given concepts of ethnicity and contemporary culture. While acknowledging and honoring the long-established Native American traditions of culture, materials and techniques, the artists of Changing Hands have proposed new avenues of creativity, underscoring the ways in which art evolves, changes, and develops in response to contemporary concerns and issues.
Public programs will include a one-day seminar which will bring together artists, curators, critics and collectors to discuss the significance and future of Native American arts in the 21 st century; “Meet the Artist” gallery talks; weekend workshops for families; and off-site programs at the National Museum of the American Indian and other venues in New York City.
Changing Hands 2 includes a full-color catalogue with images of every work in the exhibition; artists' statements; and scholarly essays, and will be published in both hard-cover and paperback.