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CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY AT MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE

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MIDDLEBURY, VT. — Since the mid-1980s a number of photographers have created bodies of work that examine the diverse forms and rich metaphorical associations of gardens.

Curated by Thomas Padon and initiated and organized by the American Federation of Arts (AFA), “Contemporary Photography and the Garden — Deceits and Fantasies” looks at a group of American and European artists and their wide range of artistic responses — from reflecting upon the garden as a site of lyrical beauty to drawing upon it as a dark visual metaphor for the manipulation of nature.

The exhibit will open at The Middlebury College Museum of Art January 20–April 17, and will travel to six additional museums.

“This exhibition has been many years in the making and we are pleased to present this beautiful and stimulating body of work to a broad national audience,” states Julia Brown, director of the AFA. “Thomas Padon has embraced this project with much passion, building relationships with many remarkable artists. We were thrilled that Sally Mann and Catherine Opie responded with such enthusiasm to his invitation to create new work especially for the exhibition. Looking at all of the photographs in the exhibition, I am still struck by the diversity of artistic expressions to the form, atmosphere and symbolism of the garden.”

Sally Apfelbaum’s mural-sized, multiple-exposure prints of Giverny reveal the lush and lavish atmosphere of the garden, as do Linda Hackett’s color-pinhole photographs of Long Island gardens and Sally Gall’s silver gelatin images of gardens in brazil and Hawaii.

The panoramic silver gelatin photographs of Italian gardens by Geoffrey James; Len Jenshel’s intensely hued photographs of gardens in California and South Carolina; and Erica Lennard’s rich silver gelatin prints documenting the sculptural forms and textures of Japanese gardens, all demonstrate the abundant beauty of the garden.

Jack Pierson’s vividly colored photographs are tightly focused and detailed compositions in which a single element within the garden is often isolated.

The exhibit will travel to the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, N.Y., May 22–June 17; the Columbia (S.C.) Museum of Art, October 21–January 2, 2006; and the Tacoma (Wash.) Art Museum, January 14–April 30, 2006.

For information, contact Heidi Riegler, director of communications, at 212-988-7700.

 

Portland museum of art locals

PORTLAND, MAINE  — The Portland Museum of Art will exhibit “Architecture Real and Imaginary: Prints by Piranesi” January 15–March 13. The exhibition is drawn from the collection of the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Ga., and consists of 38 prints by the master etcher Giovanni Battista Piranesi. For information,  207-775-6148 or  PortlandMuseumofArt.org.

PORTLAND, MAINE  — The Portland Museum of Art will exhibit “Margaret Bourke-White: The Photography of Design, 1927–1936” January 20–March 20. This is the first major exhibition devoted to the critical early years in the life and work of photographer Bourke-White. “The Photography of Design” features approximately 150 photographs, many of which have not been seen by the general public since the 1930s. For information, 207-775-6148 or PortlandMuseumofArt.org.

PORTLAND, MAINE  — The Portland Museum of Art presents “Youth Art Month 2005” from February 26 to March 27. March is National Youth Art Month, and the Portland Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Maine Art Education Association, MAEA, has organized an exhibition of artwork in honor of arts education programs around the state. This year marks the 25 anniversary of Youth Art Month exhibitions in Maine, and the 11 annual exhibition at the museum. The exhibition showcases more than 100 works of art by students throughout the state, from elementary school through high school. A reception will be held Friday, March 11, 5:30 pm to 8 pm. For information, 207-775-6148 or PortlandMuseumofArt.org.

PORTLAND, MAINE  — Through April 10, the Portland Museum of Art is exhibiting “New Acquisitions 2004,” which highlights significant art acquisitions of the previous year in a special exhibition. “New Acquisitions 2004” spotlights an array of artworks that entered the collection in the last 12 months, such as paintings by Lynne Drexler, Childe Hassam, Dahlov Ipcar, Janice Kaspar, and Marguerite and William Zorach; photographs by Eliot Porter, Edward Steichen and Clarence White; works on paper by Leonard Baskin, Helen Frankenthaler and James Thurber; and a variety of decorative arts. For information,    207-775-6148   or   PortlandMuseumofArt.org.