Elizabeth Murray: Blurring Distinctions

Elizabeth Murray - Painter’s Progress, Spring 1981 - 1981 - Oil on canvas, nineteen panels - 9’ 8" x 7' 9” - Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (Click Photo for Large Image)Elizabeth Murray (1940-2007) was an American artist whose work “blurs the distinction between abstraction and representation, and her shaped canvases and multipart supports challenge traditional conventions of painting.”

“Painter's Progress, Spring 1981” is a painting of an artist's palette and brush, made up of 19 individual canvases of various shapes, arranged in a fashion that allows the viewer to see the discrete pieces but also the painted image. Murray's paintings are fun, cartoonish, and also deadly serious in their commitment to the medium and its boundless possibilities. Murray is famous for expanding painting's dimensions by working across multiple canvasses, and fragmenting the picture plane. 

Murray described this piece as "so psychologically satisfying because I finally realized the meaning of shattering and of putting an image inside the shattered parts that would make them whole again." 

“100 Great Artists of the 20th Century”

(click photo for larger image)Just a reminder that “Dr. Jill” will be teaching another online class for the Bethany Arts Community  beginning Saturday, June 20th at 10am. To correct an earlier post, each class session will run for one hour (10am - 11am). There will be no class on July 4th. The final class session will be on July 25th.

This will be a five-week journey through the magnificent art created during the last century. 

Who are YOUR favorite artists? Will they be on the list? Come to class and find out!

Please click HERE  to Learn More and Register.

100 Great Artists of the 20th Century

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Please check out this online class taught by “Dr. Jill” through the Bethany Arts Community! Reconnect with some of your favorite artists and find out what they remain “great” throughout time.

Class size is limited so please REGISTER now!

What is Abstract Art—Really? - A Virtual Program by Jill Kiefer

(LEFT) Robert Delaunay, 1885-1941) - Joie de vivre (The Joy of Life) - 1930 - Oil on canvas, 200 x 228 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris - (RIGHT) Joan Miró, born April 20, 1893, Barcelona, Spain died December 25, 1983, Palma, Majorca. Women and Bird in the Moonlight - 1949 - Oil on canvas, 81.3 x 66.0 cm, Tate Gallery, London (click photo for larger image)“Dr. Jill” will continue to offer single-session art history programs online, beginning in June, on a variety of topics. Every session runs for one hour. The presentations are around 35-45 minutes long with time left over for a Q&A. Check out the program descriptions and REGISTER NOW! This is a global program—and the times noted are EDT (New York time) and GMT.

On Wednesday, 17 June, Jill will present What is Abstract Art—Really? – Abstract Art is a term which, over time, has come to be equated with Nonrepresentational Art. But are they really the same thing? A true work of abstraction is a nonobjective representation of the essence extracted from something real. Given all of these cryptic terms, it’s no wonder that people get confused! In this program, we’ll explore art that will help us to identify the differences between these terms—and lead to a deeper appreciation of both. Artists examined will include Wassily Kandinsky, Arthur Dove, Jackson Pollock, Louise Nevelson, Helen Frankenthaler, among others.

The date for this event is Wednesday, 17 June – 10:00 - 11:00 am EDT (New York Time) 14:00 - 15:00 (2:00 - 3:00 pm) GMT

Robert Morris: Art Pared Down

Robert Morris - Untitled (Brown Felt) - 1973 - Felt - Dimensions variable - Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY (click photo for larger image)Robert Morris (1931-2018) was one of the central figures of Minimalism. Through both his own sculptures of the 1960s and his theoretical writings, Morris set forth a vision of art pared down to simple geometric shapes stripped of metaphorical associations, and focused on the artwork's interaction with the viewer. However, in contrast to fellow Minimalists Donald Judd and Carl Andre, Morris had a strikingly diverse range that extended well beyond the Minimalist ethos. Through both his artwork and his critical writings, Morris explored new notions of chance, temporality, and ephemerality.

From the late 1960s, Morris moved toward a more spontaneous, if anonymous, expressiveness. He experimented in a wide variety of forms, including the “happening”; “dispersal pieces,” in which materials were strewn in apparent randomness on the gallery floor; and environmental projects. His work of the 1970s showed a preoccupation with paradoxes of mental and physical imprisonment.