The Fluid and Dynamic Nature of Fine Art Metals
NEW PALTZ — Juxtapositions: Selections from the Metals Collection, an exhibition curated by SUNY New Paltz art professors Jamie Bennett and Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, will open at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art on September 17, 2005 with a reception from 2-4 p.m.
The exhibition will highlight recent acquisitions, establishing comparisons between a wide range of objects – old and new, precious and common, unique and production work – in order to better understand the fluid, dynamic relationships between these categories in the field of metalsmithing. Included in the exhibition will be a number of renderings and preparatory sketches by artists, as well as a special tribute to the recently deceased Hermann J?nger – the renowned and influential German jeweler and professor at the Akademie der bildende K?nste in Munich – who also exhibited his work and lectured at SUNY New Paltz.
Juxtapositions will be on view through December 11, 2005.
Image:
Hermann Junger
5-Necklace Cluster, 1983
Sterling, steel, 24K gold, crystal, hematite, copper, 18K gold
26″ long
About the curators
Jamie Bennett is a member of the SUNY New Paltz faculty in the Metal Program, where he has been teaching since 1985. Professor Bennett is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including three National Endowment for the Arts Individual Fellowships, three New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships and a Massachusetts Council for the Arts Fellowship. From 1990 to 1995 he served as an Honorary Board member of the Renwick Alliance, Renwick Museum of the Smithsonian Institute and on the Board of Directors of the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, Massachusetts. He is currently the Coordinator of the Educator’s Dialogue Forum of the Society of North American Goldsmiths. Professor Bennett has exhibited and lectured internationally with recent one person exhibitions in Tokyo, Japan, Sweden, and Austria.
Myra Mimlitsch-Gray is a professor of art in the Metal Program at SUNY, New Paltz. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Individual Artist Fellowships from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 1998 she was awarded the Chancellors Award for Excellence in Teaching at the State University of New York. In 2004 Mimlitsch-Gray was an Invited Artist to the International Masterclass Programme at the Royal College of Art in London, England.
Mimlitsch-Grays artwork is included in the permanent collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Cranbrook Art Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Greater Lafayette Museum of Art, the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, the Mint Museum of Craft and Design, the Museum of Arts and Design, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and the Renwick Gallery-National Museum of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution.
About the Museum
The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art is dedicated to collecting, researching, interpreting, and exhibiting works of art from diverse cultures. The permanent collection spans a period of almost 4,000 years. Areas of specialization include 20th century paintings and works on paper, Asian and Pre-Columbian art and artifacts, metals and photographs. SDMA has a special commitment to collecting and exhibiting important works of art created by artists who have lived and worked in the Hudson Valley and Catskill regions. The Museum is a major cultural resource in the Hudson Valley serving a broad-based constituency from both on and beyond the New Paltz campus.
Hours and other information
Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 11 am – 5 pm, Sunday 1-5 pm Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, university intersession, and national holidays. SDMA accommodates the disabled. Admission is free. For further museum information call 845-257-3844 or visit the web at www.newpaltz.edu/museum
The State University of New York at New Paltz is a highly selective college of 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students located in the Mid-Hudson Valley between New York City and Albany. New Paltz is ranked 5th among the best public universities and 42nd among public and private universities in the North that offer bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s rankings for America’s Best Colleges 2006.
Degrees are offered in the liberal arts and sciences, which serve as a core for professional programs in the fine and performing arts, education, healthcare, business and engineering.