Palm Springs Art Museum

02/21/2021

Palm Springs Art Museum // Public Programs

EXHIBITION PREVIEW
Pure, Simple, and Beautiful Forms:
Glass from the Collection—Talk and Virtual Tour.

Thursday, February 25, 2021, 5:00 p.m. PST

Preview Palm Springs Art Museum’s exhibition Pure, Simple, and Beautiful Forms: Glass from the Collection. Join artist Richard Whiteley and retired Palm Springs Art Museum chief curator Katherine Hough for a virtual tour and discussion, moderated by Rochelle Steiner, Palm Springs Art Museum Chief Curator & Director of Public Programs and Education.

Curated by Hough and drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, Pure, Simple, and Beautiful Forms includes 22 works in glass by artists from the United States and abroad. At a time when we are confronted by tumultuous global issues that challenge the sustainability of the planet, this exhibition examines essential universal qualities of beauty, purity, and simplicity as created by artists working in glass. Featured in the exhibition is Richard Whiteley’s work, Reflector (2011), which utilizes enigmatic forms based on pure color, geometric underpinnings, and other mysterious structures.

Hough and Whiteley will guide a discussion about themes in the exhibition, including the idea of solitude seen through objects that channel the simple beauty of the world, as well as metaphysical landscapes and natural forms inspired by plants, the moon and the cosmos, and the invisible forces that captivate us. Whiteley will also share how he explores space through the use of glass in his practice, and his interests in the material qualities of the medium, which creates a dialogue between voids and solids.

02/20/2021

@persimmonbistro at Palm Springs Art Museum will reopen on MARCH 3rd!

Wednesday-Sunday, 11AM-6PM
Reservations: [email protected]

02/19/2021

Steven Biller Collection Favorites | Palm Springs Art Museum Insiders View

Thank you for spending time with us, Steven; wonderful to learn your Museum favorites!

As part of our ongoing efforts to keep our members engaged, informed, and inspired during the ongoing museum closure and beyond, we have developed a series o...

02/18/2021

ARTWORK OF THE WEEK // BARBARA CHASE-RIBOUD

Born in Philadelphia, Barbara Chase-Riboud is an African-American sculptor as well as a novelist. She received a BFA from Temple University and was the first African American woman to receive an MFA from Yale, where she studied with Josef Albers, Phillip Johnson, Paul Rand, and Alvin Eisenman. Over five decades, Chase-Riboud has created art and written fiction with a deep understanding of history and identity. She has lived most of her life in London and in Paris; travels to Asia and Africa have also influenced her work and outlook.

Chase-Riboud is best known for her Malcolm X sculptures, which she began in 1969 in memory of Malcolm X, whose assassination in 1965 deeply affected her. In 2003 and later, she added to this group of works, now totaling 20. In 1996, she began her Monument Drawings series, which similarly pays tribute to historical figures. In the same year, she received a commission from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to create Africa Rising, a sculpture commemorating the discovered African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan, a colonial-era cemetery for free and enslaved Africans.

Her drawings and prints typically refer to monuments as well. The print above depicts ideas for an unrealized sculpture, an homage to the 20th-century Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, whose poem cycle, “Requiem,” conveys experiences during the Stalinist years.

In 1974, Chase-Riboud published her first book of poetry, From Memphis & Peking, edited by Toni Morrison (Random House), and in 1979, she published her first novel, Sally Hemings (Viking Press), an international bestseller about the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings.

shown: Barbara Chase-Riboud (American, born 1939), Akhmatova's Monument, Paris, 1995, color offset lithograph, 29 15/16 × 21 5/8 inches. Gift of Marilyn Pearl Loesberg, 2020.114.

02/18/2021

Beautiful outtakes from @likethecolor. Palm Springs Art Museum just after sunrise.

02/14/2021

Happy Valentine’s Day! ❤️

Jim Dine (American, born 1935), Twin 6’ Hearts,1999-2002, patinated and painted bronze, 76 x 110 x 62 inches. Gift of Donna J. and Cargill MacMillan, 94-2008. Photo by @jagsart13

Ron Arad (Israeli, born 1951), "Soft Heart" Chair, 1991, 43 × 26 × 31 inches, polyurethane foam, fabric, and steel. Gift of Donna J. and Cargill MacMillan, Jr., 56-2012.

02/13/2021

PALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM AT HOME ART ACTIVITY // GET INSPIRED BY JACOB LAWRENCE

A community represents a group of individuals united by commonalities, such as sharing the same neighborhood, coming from the same culture, expressing a similar identity, or sharing beliefs. You might identify with more than one community as part of your identity. The artist Jacob Lawrence often took inspiration from growing up and living in Harlem to tell stories of Black life and history. Think about your own community or neighborhood, and take a look around you. Then choose a medium and approach to create an image that reflects what you might see.

“It was a very cohesive community. You knew people, you didn’t know their names, but you’d pass people on the street and see their faces over and over again. It was that kind of community. You knew the police you knew the fireman you knew the teachers, the people on the street. You knew the peddlers that’s what it was for me.” - Jacob Lawrence

Supplies: You decide!

Step 1: Think about your community, the neighborhood where you live, or the place you grew up. Write a list of things that remind you of this area or things you might see in it.

Step 2: Review your list and select one or more ideas to depict.

Step 3: Think about the medium you would like to use to show your scene. You might draw, paint, collage, or photograph its likeness or select things that remind you of your chosen place.

Step 4: Practice developing your ideas. If you are illustrating your neighborhood, practice sketching things you might see, such as street signs, landmarks, or trees.

Step 5: Finalize your image and then submit your work at www.store-psmuseum.org/submission-24/

Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917-2000), Harlem Street Scene, 1975, screenprint, 24 ½ × 18 ½ inches. Gift of Sonya S. and Richard P. Tatar, 65-1992.

02/12/2021

ARTWORK OF THE WEEK // MILDRED HOWARD
Mildred Howard works in multiple forms, including collage, assemblage, sculpture, and installation. Houses—which range from small scale to actual size—are a recurrent subject in her practice, and each references a specific place, site or idea. Her materials often include common found objects such as bottles and silverware, evoking a sense of domesticity. In the work 3219, the artist mounts wine glasses and bottles of various sizes on a steel frame.

Howard’s first glass house created in 1990 was inspired by the bottle houses described by African-American writer James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) in his Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. The novel, published in 1912, describes a boy who grew up in a home surrounded by bottles, placed neck down into the dirt, which he believed grew like flowers. In various African cultures, bottles placed in front of homes represent protection and safekeeping. Howard’s bottle houses also suggest places of reflection and safekeeping, as well as opportunities for discovering and reflecting upon one’s own history.

Born in San Francisco, Howard was raised in Berkeley, California where she became politically active in the civil rights movement. A dancer before becoming a visual artist, she earned her MFA in 1985 from John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, California and has taught at a number of universities. She has received many awards and fellowships, including the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, the Lee Krasner Award in recognition of a lifetime of artistic achievement, and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute. She continues to live and work in the Bay Area and remains active in the community.

Mildred Howard (American, born 1945), 3219, 2004, steel, glass bottles, glue, 30 ½ x 30 x 26 ½ inches. Gift of David Kaplan and Glenn Ostergaard, 2019.1

02/11/2021

FREE ONLINE EVENT THIS EVENING!

To celebrate the release of the publication “Gerald Clarke: Falling Rock,” join us for a virtual book launch and conversation with artist Gerald Clarke; curator and contributing scholar Ashley Holland; and Palm Springs Art Museum Senior Curator Christine Giles. This new book is co-published by Palm Springs Art Museum and Hirmer Verlag on the occasion of the survey exhibition that brings together three decades of Gerald's work. The conversation will include images of the exhibition Gerald Clarke: Falling Rock and will be moderated by Palm Springs Art Museum Chief Curator & Director of Public Programs and Education Rochelle Steiner.

This is the first monograph published on this inventive contemporary Native American artist who utilizes wit and humor to expose historical and present-day injustices found in critical social, economic, and environmental issues facing our world. The virtual event will include a discussion of Clarke’s practice that spans sculpture, painting, and installation, and draws inspiration from histories of Pop art, conceptualism, and politically engaged work produced by both Native and non-Native artists.

Gerald Clarke: Falling Rock Conversation and Book Launch
Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, 5:00 p.m. PST
Register here: https://www.psmuseum.org/events/public-programs?mc_cid=cf6e406515&mc_eid=8525f11569
The event will be live streamed and then the link will remain live for viewing via a recording for one week following.

02/07/2021

#palmspringsartmuseum x @katrinaramsvik

02/04/2021

ARTWORK OF THE WEEK // HENRY OSSAWA TANNER

“I cannot fight prejudice and paint at the same time.” Henry Ossawa Tanner (1891)

Henry Ossawa Tanner, best known for his biblical subjects, was inspired by his visits to the Holy Land starting in 1897. The dramatic scene in Christ on the Mount of Olives depicts Jesus with two figures in the Garden of Gethsemane, most likely on the night he was arrested prior to his crucifixion. Dressed in white and appearing forlorn, Jesus stands before what are likely two of his disciples. The intense white light and Tanner’s loose, expressive brushstrokes add spatial depth, emotion and mood to the environment. His limited palette of indigos and turquoise—referred to as “Tanner blues”—evokes a somber and introspective religiosity.

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Tanner was profoundly influenced by his parents in both his life and art. His mother, from Virginia, had escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad; his father, a teacher and minister, became bishop of the African Episcopalian Church. His unusual middle name was derived from Osawatomie, Kansas, where the abolitionist John Brown had initiated his antislavery campaign. In 1879 Tanner enrolled in the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art where he studied with the American painter Thomas Eakins, who had the greatest impact on Tanner’s early style, and where he developed a life-long friendship with fellow art student Robert Henri. Following his schooling, Tanner departed for Europe in 1891 to study in Paris. Due to the racism he encountered in the United States, Tanner remained in France for 46 years. There he achieved acclaim and in 1923 was awarded the highest national honor—the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. However, Tanner also maintained a connection to the U.S. through occasional visits. In 1927, Tanner became the first African-American artist to receive full membership in National Academy of Design, New York.

Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859-1937), Christ on the Mount of Olives, 1925, oil on canvas, 19 1/2 x 26 1/8 inches. Gift of Robert Vitkin in memory of Jeannette Vitkin, 20-1999.

02/01/2021

ARTWORK OF THE WEEK // SAM MALOOF

Sam Maloof, an influential pioneer of modern furniture, was a master woodworker whose handcrafted furniture is prized for its simplicity, practicality, craftsmanship, and modern sensibility. Throughout his sixty-year career, he approached design consistently, employing articulated joinery, organic forms, and a devotion to swooping lines. The sensuous curves and elongated rockers in Walnut Rocking Chair with Ebony Accents No. 38 look sculptural, like an archer’s bow, while functioning to keep the chair from tipping over. Maloof’s designs were hand-sketched, and he was involved in all aspects of the construction process, adjusting aspects of his furniture by look, not measurement. As a result, each piece is unique. A signature aspect of Maloof’s work is the sleek surface, achieved by leaving a mixture of linseed oil, tung oil, and beeswax on the wood’s surface for multiple days before polishing. Due to his meticulous workmanship, Maloof’s output remained small, producing an average of 80 pieces per year and creating long waiting lists for his designs.

Born in Chino, California, Maloof started designing and making custom furniture in the 1950’s after studying woodworking in high school in Ontario. He began his career by creating furniture with plywood and recycled wood pallets to furnish a house he and his wife bought without the money to buy furniture. Maloof came to prominence in the postwar era of minimalist architecture when mass production was often privileged over handcraft. In spite of this, his handcrafted walnut chairs and bar stools were selected to furnish several of the Case Study Houses—the modernist, experimental homes in the Southern California area that included designs by Richard Neutra, Charles Eames and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, and other progressive architects between 1945 and 1966. In 1985, Maloof became the first craftsman to be recognized with a MacArthur “genius” grant, and he received honorary doctorates from the Rhode Island School of Design, Aurora University in Illinois, and California State University, San Bernardino.

Sam Maloof (American, 1916-2009), Walnut Rocking Chair with Ebony Accents No. 38, 1985, walnut with ebony accents, 46 × 27 × 46 inches. Gift of Elaine B. Scheider and Harold Bishop, 39-2010.

#PSArtMuseumatHome

01/30/2021

PALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM AT HOME // ART ACTIVITY

Use expressive gestures to explore rhythm and movement in creating an abstract work of art. Rhythm is often associated with the beat of music, but it is also a way to describe motion or movement through the use of color, pattern, technique, or brushstroke.

Look at Karin Davie’s painting “Chinatownblues no 2.” Notice how the swirling lines create a sense of rhythm through the use of color, pattern and brushstroke. Her large gestures create a pattern differentiated by colors that form paths across the work. Also, notice the way your eyes follow her colorful lines and the brushstrokes, creating a sense of direction and motion. The different colors and brushstrokes draw your focus to different parts of the work. This experience creates a sense of rhythm as your eyes move across her work, similar to the way rhythm is formed by a sequence of beats in music.

Supplies:
Paint (or other coloring supplies)
Drawing paper or canvas
Cup and water
Paint brush
Towel to dry brush
Paint palette, such as paper plate or non-stick surface like wax paper
Music is optional, but might help by providing different beats to practice rhythm

Step 1: Select your color palette. You might choose cool colors (blue, green, and purple), warm colors (red, orange, and yellow) or complementary colors (red, yellow, and blue; or orange, green, and violet). If you are using paints, apply them to your paint palette.

Step 2: Before you apply color to your artwork, practice using your paint brush or coloring implements to create rhythm. Start by moving your brush or implement in small motions with your hands as if they are moving to the beat of music. Then, enlarge your movements by using your arms and body. Once you have warmed up with movement, think about how you will create rhythm in your work. This might be with color, pattern, technique, or brushstroke. Then apply your first color.

Step 3: Continue to create marks by using movement to work across the canvas. Are they fast or short strokes, or long, sweeping squiggles? If you need inspiration, play music and let your movements follow along with the beat. Karin Davie was inspired by performance and dance. Imagine that you are in motion as you create your artwork; how is the paint brush moving across the canvas or paper?

Step 4: After your first few marks, examine your work. Do you get a sense of movement and rhythm? Can you go back and use different colors or patterns to create more rhythm? Adding layers on top of your first few marks will also create a sense of depth.

Step 5: Submit your work! Submission link: https://store-psmuseum.org/submission-24/

Karin Davie (Canadian, born 1965), “Chinatownblues no. 2,” 2006, oil on canvas, 84 x 108 inches. Gift of Emily and Teddy Greenspan, 2020.24.