MEREDITH FIFE DAY
35 Years: A Beginning

Sept. 16 to Oct. 30, 2010
Reception: Sat., Sept. 18 from 2 to 5 pm
Artist Talk: Sun., Sept. 26 at 2 pm

Giving equal attention to the joys of observation and the rigors of form, Meredith Fife Day approaches her art as a means of seeking unity with the rhythms of the worlds of experience and imagination. “35 Years: A Beginning,” a survey of her work in Parker Gallery at Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell serves up familiar subjects - subjects that continue to be associated with the artists throughout history that she reveres: the figure, landscape, still life, and urban and window views. Day believes that in keeping alive the spirit of artists who have come before her, the struggle and affection she invests in her work are validated in a way that cannot be achieved solely by the ambition to break new ground.Marilyn Bardet writes in an essay that accompanies Day’s exhibit, “In today’s new world of click-on imagery, to accord preeminence to old world urgencies of intimate seeing, subtleties of touch, placement and lingering reflection could seem a radical artistic credo that would complement a slow movement. … What, we may ask, is the worth of a bowl of summer fruit - as remembered, in winter? Meredith’s pictures weigh in. Her contemplative arrangements tell of her excited anticipation of seeing again, as if she were Demeter at winter’s end, resourceful, evoking daughter Persephone’s return for fertile ground. …

“Looking back at milestone pictures from her earlier painting days and toward the recent ebullient breakthrough improvisations in collage, one feels the constancy of her artistic desire to marry color and form in spirited, permanent arrangements that reflect sensations of ineffable states of awareness. Whether built in layered touches and washes in oils, or in wedged blocks of colored papers locked in place, Meredith’s works are the precipitate of an alchemic wedding of a medium with sight’s sense and memory.”

The exhibit at Parker Gallery will be on view Sept. 16 through Oct. 30, and will include paintings, drawings and collages. Day will simultaneously show her work at Back Gallery at Soprafina in Boston, Sept. 2 through 26, and in “LOOKING TOGETHER: A Crit Group Celebrates 12 Years of Observation” at Brickbottom Gallery in Somerville, Sept. 16 through Oct. 23.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TO:                 Editors, Feature Writers and Event Listings
SUBJECT:     Special Exhibition & Awards Banquet
DATE:            August 16, 2010

CONTACT: Sara Bogosian, President
Whistler House Museum of Art
978-807-6679 Cell –978-452-0260 Office

Whistler House Museum of Art to Honor Sculptor Mico Kaufman with
The James McNeill Whistler Distinguished Artist Award

LOWELL, MA. - This fall, the Whistler House Museum of Art will honor the internationally acclaimed sculptor and medalist Mico Kaufman with the James McNeill Whistler Distinguished Artist Award and will premiere a special exhibition of his award winning works. The event and exhibition, Mico Kaufman: From the Minuscule to the Monumental, will present medallic portraitures, sculptures in bronze and plastic and works of art on paper and canvas and will take place at the UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center on Sunday, October 17, starting at 4:00 p.m. with a celebratory award banquet beginning at 6:00 p.m.

The award recognizes the contributions, achievements and talent of an artist who has consistently demonstrated the highest level of excellence in his work; promoting, enhancing and educating, while advancing the world of art for the citizens of today and tomorrow. “Mico Kaufman is a deserving recipient of this award. His talent is undeniable and his range is diverse…having mastered many mediums and styles, from the classical and traditional to the abstract and modern,” said Sara Bogosian, president of the Whistler House Museum of Art, who is also co-chairing the event with Terry O’Connor.

The exhibition is significant in that it will be the first full-scale survey of Kaufman’s lifetime of work and traces his progression as an artist, featuring many of his significant works of art and recognition of his numismatic art (medals). “The occasion will introduce Mico’s work to a new generation of viewers, and for the artist’s longtime admirers will celebrate his importance within the history of art in the community and the world,” said Bogosian.

Mico Kaufman was born on January 3, 1924 in Buzeu, Romania, where he grew up with his parents, Adele and Herman Kaufman and two siblings, sister Liza and brother Ionel. A self-taught artist, he learned to draw and sculpt through experimentation with different mediums. At the age of 16, he created his first formal project, a nude female figure whittled from his uncle’s broken cane.

His mother’s dream was that Kaufman become a concert violinist to follow in the footsteps of his famous cousin, violinist Louis Kaufman, but sculpting was Kaufman’s first love. As he prepared for a career in the arts, World War II interrupted his studies, preventing him from finishing high school. With the escalation of the Anti-Semitic movement throughout Europe and the persecution of Jews in Romania, Kaufman eventually found himself spending three years digging trenches in a Nazi concentration camp, until his release at the age of 21.

In 1947, at the end of the war, he left Romania for Italy where he began his formal art training in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. When asked by school officials why he thought he could sculpt, he showed them the nude female figure he had whittled years before, and so he was admitted. The professors thought he was extremely talented so they presented him with a full academic scholarship to study at the prestigious institution. He later transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence to continue his studies.

On his return to Rome, he met Katia Sanidas, a refugee from Greece. Soon after, they were married and in 1949 Katia gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Adele. In 1951, he received confirmation on his papers to legally leave Italy. At the age of 27, Kaufman immigrated to America with his wife and daughter, settling in Boston, Massachusetts. There they had two sons, named Arthur and Emil. In 1956, Kaufman became a United States citizen.

Supporting a family made it difficult for Mico to work as an artist so he would occasionally deviate from his artistic path and do any job that would make ends meet. Eventually he found work at the Greater American Plastics Company in Nashua, New Hampshire designing figures out of clay to create plastic molds for the production of toys.

In 1965, Kaufman received his first commission as a designer. He was asked to redesign the Simple Simon logo for the restaurant chain of Howard Johnson. That commission encouraged him to devote all of his time to improving his craft. Eventually he worked for several professional sculpture studios in Boston before opening his own studio in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.

During the late 1960’s and 1970’s there was an enormous demand for numismatic medals. This is when Kaufman’s career began to take flight, winning many important commissions. One of his first commissions was with the United States Government for the celebration of the 1976 Bicentennial. He created 192 different medals depicting important events in U.S. history. That high-profile commission gained him recognition in numismatic circles.

As he continued his work in medallic portraiture, Kaufman distinguished himself notably for his official presidential medals of U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Gerald Ford. He is the only sculptor in American numismatics to have been commissioned for four official presidential medals. Unlike the profiles that had traditionally adorned such medals, he is credited for not only introducing the innovative interpretation of three-quarter and full-face portraits, but also with capturing a human quality and personality in the otherwise formal poses.

Furthermore, his collection of almost 500 medals includes portraitures of Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Will Rogers, Michael Jackson, Arnold Palmer, Henry Kissinger and Elvis Presley. He has sculpted a series of medals for the Israeli government and created monetary coins for the Marshall Islands. In 1992 he became the recipient of the prestigious J. Sanford Saltus Award for Signal Achievement from the American Numismatic Society.

In addition to his medal works, Mico Kaufman created numerous portraits in bronze of national and international figures, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Arthur Fiedler, Dr. An Wang and Senator Paul Tsongas. A large number of these sculptures were actually created from live modeling sessions with these famous figures in U.S. business, history and the arts.

Many of his medallic works and portraits can now be found in museums, including the Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, Brandeis University, American Numismatic Society and private collections all over the world. He has exhibited in many locations, including Boston, New York, Florence, London, Lisbon, Portugal, Helsinki, Budapest, Krakow, Colorado Springs and Lowell, Massachusetts.

On a much larger scale, Kaufman’s 17 outdoor sculptures and monuments include a seven-foot statue of artist James McNeill Whistler for the Whistler House Museum of Art; a bronze statue of Claude Debussy, which appears at both the University of Massachusetts Lowell and at St. Germain-en-Laye, France, birthplace of the famed composer; a five-figure sculpture of mill girls in Lowell, Massachusetts titled HOMAGE TO WOMEN; a sculpture called TOUCHING SOULS, of four children from different ethnic origins literally touching the soles of their feet as they sit spread-eagle in a circle in his hometown of Tewksbury, Massachusetts and outside of the Tewkesbury Abbey in its sister city of Tewkesbury, England.

SPIRIT OF THE MARATHON, a monumental sculpture created to honor all marathon runners from Pheidippides, who first ran the distance from the town of Marathon to Athens in 490 B.C., and to all past and future winners. It is installed in Marathon Square, in Marathon Greece, near the start of the 2004 Olympic Marathon and the site of the Olympic rowing and canoeing events. The second identical sculpture appears at the one mile marker in Hopkinton, Massachusetts honoring the runners of the Boston Marathon.

In recent years Kaufman has experimented extensively at the University of Massachusetts Lowell with abstract sculpture using extruded polyethylene. He is the first known artist creating works of abstract art in this medium and size. Different from his traditional bronze statues and medal portraitures, his work in molten plastic presents an artistic style that involves a freedom from all conventional design. It combines abstract fluid forms and favors a spontaneous and liberated personal style.

James McNeill Whistler, for whom the award is named, was one of America’s premiere19^th Century Artists. He created and developed new techniques in painting and print making, which had a major impact on the art world. The recipient of the James McNeill Whistler Distinguished Artist Award follows in the footsteps of this inspiring artist. As Joseph Pennell, biographer of Whistler wrote in Life of Whistler, “His name and his fame will live forever.” “Like Whistler, Mico Kaufman, the James McNeill Whistler Distinguished Artist Award recipient will also be remembered for his extraordinary contributions to the community and to the international world of art,” said Michael Lally, executive director of the museum.

The Whistler House Museum of Art, located in Lowell, Massachusetts, is the historic birthplace of the famous American artist, James McNeill Whistler. Established in 1878, as the Lowell Art Association Inc., it is the oldest incorporated art association in the United States. It is known internationally for its distinguished collection of 19^th and early 20^th century New England representational art. The Whistler House hosts many exhibits, lectures, educational programs, concerts and an array of social events.

Sources: Askart.com Website
A Marathon Achievement in Sculptural Pursuit by Barbara Rizza Mellin
The Mico Kaufman Website

EXHIBITION & AWARDS BANQUET

Sunday, October 17, 2010
4:00 PM Exhibition Opens
6:00 PM Event Begins

UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center
Lowell, Massachusetts

Donation
$100.00 per person for admission
$ 95.00 for Whistler House Museum of Art members
$125.00 per person includes admission and individual membership (A 30% Membership Savings)

For reservations/more information contact:
Whistler House Museum of Art
243 Worthern Street
Lowell, Massachusetts 01852
Phone: 978-452-7641

Linda Maletz: French Landscapes

Aug 4 to Sept 4, 2010
Reception: Aug 14, 2 to 4 pm

The paintings displayed are the product of annual trips to France beginning in 1970. It has been said that France is a garden, and if the mind’s eye vigorously suppresses commercial despoliation, that remains true. Whether the Channel, Atlantic or Mediterranean coasts, the Alps or the Pyrenees, the undulating fields of Normandy or the limestone outcroppings of Provence, the country’s natural beauty is as breathtaking as are the innumerable medieval structures and town centers, and the monuments testifying to the wealth and taste of a bygone aristocracy. I have tried to depict the authentic and the undiminished, so as to create a visual record of what was and what we hope to preserve.

Image Above: Asparagus Fields, Perigold, oil on canvas

Docent Training Program

The Whistler House Museum of Art is seeking individuals who are interested in becoming Volunteer Docents. A new Docent Training Program will begin on May 26, 2010. This training program will provide volunteers with the information necessary to conduct guided tours of the historic house and the Permanent Collection of the Lowell Art Association Incorporated. Informal training begins now and formal classes will be held at the Whistler House Museum of Art at 243 Worthen Street, Lowell later this year. Please email jdyment@whistlerhouse.org or call 978-452-7641 for more information.

Impressionist Painting Lessons

at the Whistler House Museum of Art / Parker Gallery

A basic overview of the Cape Cod method

Dennis Lucas, the instructor, is a traditional Impressionist painter trained at the Cape School in Provincetown. His work focuses on the ever-changing light key and its effects on color in nature. His work is currently featured on the Cape and Islands and is collected throughout the United States. Lucas is a past artist-in-residence at the Whistler House Museum of Art.

Materials Needed

Basic oil colors
Canvas or masonite boards
Palette knife/brushes
Turpentine
Paper towels

We are collecting names now to run a session this fall:

5 Day Workshops $250 - meeting for a two hour period (5 days in one week)

Weekend Workshop $150 - two day session for three hours each day.
Saturdays & Sundays, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm

October dates to be posted soon.

Call to register: 978-452-7641

DRAWINGS & PAINTINGS BY
ARSHILE GORKY
MINA BOEHM METZGER COLLECTION

On Display Now in the Historic House

This fall, the Whistler House Museum of Art premiered a special exhibition by the internationally acclaimed artist, Arshile Gorky (1904 - 1948), known to be the Father of American Abstract Expressionism. The exhibit, entitled Drawings and Paintings by Arshile Gorky - Mina Boehm Metzger Collection, is named after a friend, patron and student of Gorky’s. It presents 28 never-before-seen and rarely seen works of art and will be exhibited in the museum’s Parker Gallery. The collection is significant in that it presents many of Gorky’s earlier works and traces his progression as an artist. Included in this collection, which is made up of drawings and paintings, is the only surviving stone sculpture executed by the artist.

As part of its permanent collection, the Whistler House Museum of Art owns one of Gorky’s few remaining works of the time, Park Street Church, Boston (1924), which was painted in a Post-Impressionistic style and has been exhibited at many museums, including the Smithsonian and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

An Armenian immigrant, Vosdanig Monoog Adoian, (better known as Arshile Gorky) was born in the village of Khorkom on Lake Van, in the Van Province of Armenia, on April 15, 1904. As a child, Gorky survived the genocide of the Armenian people by the Ottoman Turks. While escaping to Russian-controlled Armenia, his family of three sisters and his parents were displaced and dispersed. Leaving his family behind, his father escaped the Turkish military draft by moving to the United States and settling in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1919, during a forced march in Yerevan, his mother died of starvation in Gorky’s arms. (Her memory inspired a series of portraits.) In 1920, at the age of sixteen, leaving behind the war-ridden territory of the collapsed Russian empire, Gorky arrived at Ellis Island and then joined his father. He spent his early years in the United States in Providence, Rhode Island, Boston and Watertown, Massachusetts.

Prior to immigrating to the United States, Arshile Gorky was mainly a self-taught artist. Passionate about his Armenian heritage and love of art of the past, its shades were dominantly present in his work throughout his lifetime. In Boston, he enrolled in the New School of Design, which he attended from 1922 to 1924. During this period, Gorky was heavily influenced by the French Post-Impressionist painter, Paul Cezanne, who paved the way to Cubism. On moving to New York, sometime in 1925, he began to follow the contemporary artistic style of Pablo Picasso’s Synthetic Cubism and the innovative style of Spanish Surrealist painter, Joan Miro.

While in New York, Gorky began an artistic and personal friendship with such artists as Stuart Davis, John Graham and Willem de Kooning. He attended both the National Academy of Design and the Grand Central School of Art, where he also taught until 1931. It was at this time that he changed his name from Vosdanig Adoian to Arshile Gorky, claiming to be a relative of the prominent Soviet writer Maxim Gorky, who enjoyed considerable fame in the West. Seeking to make a name for himself in the art world, he felt justified in taking on a pseudonym, as did many of his colleagues of the time. He was determined to eventually reveal himself as an Armenian.

Gorky’s body of work is a unique combination of Surrealist, Cubist, and Expressionistic artistic styles, mastering each of the highly diverse styles with equal ease. By the 1940s he was known as a surrealist painter and is considered to be the important bridge and direct link between European Surrealists and US Abstract Surrealists.

Gorky was one of the major forces behind the emergence of the Abstract Expressionist movement. It was a movement of artistic styles, during the mid 1940’s, that involved complete freedom from all traditional aesthetic and social values. It combined abstract form and favored spontaneous, liberated personal expression. It is said to be America’s most important contribution to Modernism. Gorky’s work greatly influenced famous Abstract Expressionist such as Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, and Willem De Kooning.

The Mina Boehm Metzger Collection contains works that span his artistic career, showcasing Arshile Gorky as a seminal figure in the movement toward abstraction that ultimately transformed American art as we know it today. Along with museums all over the world, including the Tate Modern in London, his works can be found in most major American museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and The Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Gorky was an enigmatic and intense character, but a man of great poetic spirit. Although achieving personal success and fame, his final years were full of melancholy, loneliness, and a yearning for his homeland of Armenia. At the height of his creative success, he experienced cancer, a failed marriage, a broken neck due to a car accident and a fire, which destroyed many of his new works. In 1948, at the age of 44, he committed suicide.

Mina Boehm Metzger, for whom the collection was named, was born in 1877 in Vienna, Austria, “under the American flag”. Her father was an inventor who in his youth had explored the American west with Buffalo Bill. Later he became a noted architect in New York City where he headed up his own firm.

In 1898, she married David Metzger, a young, successful New York business man, and the following year had twin daughters. For many years she led a busy life often accompanying her husband on business trips to Europe where she had the opportunity to visit many museums. This was the beginning of the stimulating age of Impressionism. These experiences left a lasting impression on her artistic spirit.

Although she studied art as part of her early education, she did not have any formal training until the 1930s. In New York City, where Mina Boehm Metzger lived, the Grand Central Art School offered a class in beginning painting in which she enrolled. It was there that she met Arshile Gorky, the teacher. She was not only his student, but one of the first to recognize his genius. She and her husband became his patrons at a time when the aftermath of depression made life almost impossible for young artists.

Metzger, along with her daughter, Margaret Vandercook, a sculptor, and Gorky had adjoining studios in Union Square in New York City. All three were part of the exciting art revival in New York at that time. The collection contains several important images of Metzger in the form of drawings.

In October 2009, The Philadelphia Museum of Art will present a major retrospective exhibition on Gorky, entitled Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective. It will open in Philadelphia and travel to Los Angeles and London. It will be the first full-scale survey of Gorky’s work since the retrospective held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1981. This occasion will introduce Gorky’s work to a new generation of viewers, and for the artist’s longtime admirers, will celebrate his singular importance within the history of art. The Whistler House Museum’s Park Street Church, Boston (1924) will be a part of the important traveling exhibition.

The Mina Boehm Metzger Collection is a significant addition to the Whistler House Museum of Art. The museum is proud to have this important collection on permanent loan. After the premiere exhibition, the collection will be on display in the historic house. A catalogue, Drawings and Paintings by Arshile Gorky-The Mina Boehm Metzger Collection, will accompany the exhibition. This special exhibit has been made possible through a grant from the Theodore Edson Parker Foundation, the Lowell Cultural Council and the legal support of Gallagher and Cavanaugh LLP.

Sources: Arshile Gorky, His Life and Work, a biography by Hayden Herrera, Arshile Gorky (1908-1948) A Retrospective by The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York The Arshile Gorky Foundation Website.

MEREDITH FIFE DAY 35 Years: A Beginning

Sept. 16 to Oct. 30, 2010 Reception: Sat., Sept. 18 from 2 to 5 pm Artist Talk: Sun., Sept. 26 at 2 pm