Rick Beck (American, born Canada, born 1960) The Bull Cast glass and steel, 2004 Purchase, MMA Acquisition Funds and the Gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Frederic Boyer and sons, Frank Bednarek Consulting Services LLC, David and Carol Folkert, the Hines Corporation, Charles E. and Patricia B. Johnson, Sabra A. Carl, and John and Janet Day 2006.6a&b
The Muskegon Museum of Art will present GLASS Treasures from the Permanent Collection, a spectacular and immersive glass experience, July 7 – November 29, 2020. The exhibition will transform the L.C. and Margaret Walker Galleries into a dynamic and vibrant display of translucent color (and sound!) with works from our incredible collection of vintage and modern glass and offer the very rare opportunity to experience the impressive entirety of the MMA’s fine art glass.
The Exhibition
Works by the artists that defined the studio glass movement, including Dale Chihuly, Harvey Littleton, and Marvin Lipofsky will join works by today’s new masters. The exhibition will also highlight collections of vintage Tiffany and Steuben lamps and glasswork alongside pieces from the pioneering days of contemporary studio glass, to give guests an exciting glimpse into the technologies and interests that have shaped the glass movement.
Tiffany (American, 1848-1933) and Tiffany Studios Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Secundino R. Veiga. 1986.7, 1981.46, 1981.53, 1981.54
Dale Chihuly (American, b. 1941) Cobalt Blue Persian Set with Cadmium Red Lip Wraps (detail) Blown and shaped glass, 1992. Gift of the SPX Corporation. 2002.3a-n Photo by Frederic Reinecke
Four decades of studio glass collecting and working with established artists allows us to share the changing nature of this special medium—one that captures the imagination unlike any other. Because of the size of our permanent collection of paintings, sculpture, prints, and photography (along with our aggressive schedule of presenting 16-20 rotating exhibitions annually), we simply do not have space to display more than a few spectacular examples of glass at a time.
Tuttle Family Legacy
This exhibition also celebrates the legacy of C. Corcoran “Corky” Tuttle and her husband Robert Tuttle, who introduced the museum to studio glass and helped guide our collecting. Without their knowledge and generosity (and continued dedication of their children), this collection of treasures would not have been possible.
Daniel Clayman (American, born 1957) Clear Volume Cast glass, assembled, 2010 Gift of the Robert D. and C. Corcoran Tuttle Family in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Muskegon Museum of Art 2011.22
Albert Young (American, born 1951) Ten Stories Cast glass, steel, stone, 2002 Gift of the Robert D. and C. Corcoran Tuttle Family 2007.20
GLASS: Treasures from the Permanent Collection is the cornerstone of the Shaping the Future, Celebrating the Past exhibition project that devotes all the MMA galleries to presenting as much of our incredible permanent collection as possible.
Stephen Rolfe Powell (American, 1951-2019) Lurid Gasp Johnson Blown glass, 1999 Gift of Robert D. and C. Corcoran Tuttle 2005.1 Photo by Marc Hoeksema
SHAPING THE FUTURE, CELEBRATING THE PAST
June 23 through September 27, 2020
The Muskegon Museum of Art holds an internationally recognized permanent collection of art, boasting important works by artists such as Edward Hopper, John Steuart Curry, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Winslow Homer, Elizabeth Catlett, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre Bonnard. Begun in 1910, today the collection features paintings, prints, drawings, watercolors, sculpture, glass, and decorative arts covering a wide range of genres and time periods. A collecting institution, the MMA continues to acquire, through gift and purchase, both historic and contemporary art as a vital component of its mission. Through the summer and fall of 2020, all of our galleries will highlight and explore the various facets of our collection, celebrating our most recognized masterworks and bringing out more rarely seen objects that define over 100 years of collecting.
As the MMA looks to the next hundred years, join us in celebrating and exploring this renowned Muskegon treasure.
Virtual Preview Tour
Glass: Treasures from the Permanent Collection
L. C. and Margaret Walker A Gallery
This major exhibition showcases works by many of the artists that defined the studio glass movement along with works made by today’s new masters. OPEN JULY 7 – NOVEMBER 29, 2020
Edward Hopper (American, 1882-1967) New York Restaurant Oil on canvas, 1922 Hackley Picture Fund Purchase, 1936.12
From Dürer to Rembrandt: Five Centuries of Art and Faith
Theodore and Joan Operhall Gallery
Works on paper from the earliest days of printmaking in 15th-century Germany and 17th-century Holland along with paintings by Dutch, German, and Swedish artists demonstrate the significant influence of faith on the advancement of art.
Joos van Cleve (Flemish, circa 1485-circa 1540) St. Jerome in Penitence Oil on wood panel circa 1516-18 Hackley Picture Fund Purchase. 1940.47
Graphic: 19th- and 20th-Century Prints and Watercolors
Theodore and Joan Operhall Gallery
Examples from the golden age of printmaking in late 19th- and early 20th-century Europe to the etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, and screenprints of today
Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926) The Mandolin Player Etching on paper, circa 1889 Purchase, L.C. and Margaret Walker Fund. 1949.13
The Artist’s Lens: 20th- and 21st-Century Photography
Alcoa Foundation/Ernest and Marjorie Cooper Gallery
Photography by nationally and internationally recognized photographers, including a selection of prints from Edward Curtis’s photographic masterpiece The North American Indian, as well as our own Michigan artists.
Edward Sheriff Curtis (American, 1868-1952) Placating the Spirit of a Slain Eagle – Assiniboin Photogravure on Holland paper, copyright 1926 Purchased by subscription, transferred from the Hackley Public Library and Muskegon Public Schools. 2014.6.634
A Living Legacy: Modern and Contemporary Art
Michael and Kay Olthoff/Thelma and Paul Wiener Gallery
Modern pieces that bridge the distance between our early paintings and today’s art and works by contemporary artists
Maria Tomasula (American, born 1958) Please Don’t Go Oil on panel, 2010 Purchased in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Muskegon Museum of Art, through the Shaw and Betty Walker Foundation Fund. 2012.8
POSTCARD SALON
September 17 through October 1, 2020
The 14th annual Postcard Salon returns for the fall of 2020, to showcase of the amazing creativity of our artist community. The exhibition features original 4 x 6 inch artworks from artists of all ages and skill levels in a wide array of media. Postcard art that was delivered to the MMA for the cancelled spring Postcard Salon exhibition will be on display in this exhibition. A sale event has not been determined at this time.
Underwritten by G&L Chili Dogs. Check out the G&L website for take-out information!
THE BENNETT PRIZE CALL FOR ENTRIES
April 16 through October 16, 2020
Call for entries opens for $50,000 Bennett Prize for women figurative realist painters
Talented women painters looking to take their figurative realist work to the next level
are invited to apply for the $50,000 Bennett Prize®, the largest offered solely to women painters.
The call for entries runs from April 16 – Oct. 16, 2020. Details are at www.thebennettprize.org Entry is
online at www.callforentry.org
More than 600 artists entered the competition two years ago, exceeding expectations.
“The first call for entries revealed a deep vein of exceptional talent that runs across this country, and
we are eager to see an even more extensive range of original work in this second call,” said Steven
Alan Bennett, of San Antonio, Texas, who co-founded the prize in 2016 with Dr. Elaine Melotti
Schmidt. They are among the country’s top collectors of figurative realist art and have established a
$3 million fund at The Pittsburgh Foundation to ensure that The Prize will be awarded every two years
in perpetuity.
“We are committed to ensuring that talented women painters are duly recognized, and the
overwhelming response to the first competition reveals just how warranted this support for women
painters is,” Bennett said. “Their work deserves to be seen, and the public deserves to see it.”
Tampa-based artist Aneka Ingold won the first Bennett Prize last year . She is currently creating new
work for her Bennett Prize solo exhibition, which will be presented across the country in 2021 along
with the work of the 10 finalists in this second call for entries. The exhibition will first be held at the
Muskegon (Michigan) Museum of Art from May 20 – Sept. 5, 2021.
Ingold’s paintings are noted for their powerful, expressive representations of femininity, exploring
women’s experiences across time, culture and history.
“Women figurative realist painters have so many important stories to share and their voices need to be
heard,” Ingold said. “As the inaugural recipient of The Bennett Prize , my artistic voice has been
amplified and my career empowered in ways I never dreamed.”
The Bennett Prize is designed to propel a woman painter’s career to broader recognition. The winner
receives $25,000 each year for two years, so she has needed time to create her solo show. The Prize
helps level the playing field for women artists. Works by women artists are collected and shown less
frequently by galleries and museums and, when they are purchased, the prices paid are typically far less
than those paid to artists who are men.
“Through our Center for Philanthropy, our Foundation has been involved with The Bennett Prize from
its inception. It has been a great privilege to see how The Prize has elevated the profile of women artists
by funding their work and creating opportunities for the public to experience the talents and creativity
of women figurative realist painters,” said Lisa Schroeder, Pittsburgh Foundation president and CEO.
The Bennett Prize is awarded by a four-member jury, which this year is comprised of Patrick Moore,
director of the internationally renowned Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh; painters Alyssa Monks
and Katie O’Hagan, both of New York; and Bennett, co-founder of the prize. The jury will select 10
painters from among the entrants and ultimately one winner.
“In hosting The Prize, we’re able to bring new voices and stunning artworks to our audiences, advance
women painters around the country, and present challenging new potentials for the use of the figure in
contemporary art,” said Art Martin, director of collections and exhibitions/senior curator at the
Muskegon Museum of Art, and a former Bennett Prize juror.
“As the first exhibition of Bennett Prize finalists’ work travels the country, we expect this second call
for entries to attract more entries, more individual styles, more traveling venues and more people eager
to see this work,” said prize co-founder Schmidt. “We hope to see women painters from every area of
the country, every demographic and every flavor of figurative realism competing for this coveted
recognition.”
The Prize is not open to hobbyists or students, or to artists whose work has been sold for $25,000 or
more, or who have received an award, prize or other recognition for their art in that amount.
In recognition of the extraordinary circumstances we are facing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
and the resulting economic hardship, The Pittsburgh Foundation, Muskegon Museum of Art, and Prize
founders Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt and Steven Bennett have made the decision to reduce the fee for
entry by half, to $25.
In addition to the first round winner, Ingold, the nine finalists were:
• Dorielle Caimi, Santa Fe, NM
• Jennifer R. A. Campbell, Washington, D.C.
• Kira Nam Greene, Brooklyn, NY
• Mary Henderson, Philadelphia, PA
• Stefanie Jackson, Athens, GA
• Rebecca Léveillé, Amherst, MA
• Jenny Morgan, Brooklyn, NY
• Daniela Kovačić Muzio, Evanston, IL
• Carrie Pearce, Peoria, IL
Artist Russell Prather is featured in this solo installation-style exhibition of his most recent works at the Muskegon Museum of Art, starting in October. Prather, a Michigan artist and Professor at Northern Michigan University, creates his multi-layered artworks from mylar, paint, and various hardware, establishing hybrid sculptures that shift in form with the viewer’s perspective. Multiple flat layers of opaque and translucent surfaces combine to create illusions of three dimensional forms. Combined in many instances with light, Prather’s work is intended to confound our habitual way of understanding what we see, and in that dilemma, opens ourselves to new ways of perceiving and understanding.
Russell Prather “Crust Mantle Core”, 24″x 19″x 15.5″, tinted acrylic medium on layers of polyester film, 2020 Photo courtesy of the artist
Russell Prather “Crust Mantle Core”, 24″x 19″x 15.5″, tinted acrylic medium on layers of polyester film, 2020 Photo courtesy of the artist
Russell Prather “Crust Mantle Core”, 24″x 19″x 15.5″, tinted acrylic medium on layers of polyester film, 2020 Photo courtesy of the artist
Russell Prather “Crust Mantle Core”, 24″x 19″x 15.5″, tinted acrylic medium on layers of polyester film, 2020 Photo courtesy of the artist
Russell Prather “Pod”, 12″ x 9″ x 15.5″, tinted acrylic medium on layers of polyester film, 2019 Photo courtesy of the artist
Russell Prather “Pod”, 12″ x 9″ x 15.5″, tinted acrylic medium on layers of polyester film, 2019 Photo courtesy of the artist
Russell Prather “Pod”, 12″ x 9″ x 15.5″, tinted acrylic medium on layers of polyester film, 2019 Photo courtesy of the artist
Russell Prather “Void in Blue”, 17” x 14” x 12”, tinted acrylic medium on layers of polyester film, Led light panel, 2019 Photo courtesy of the artist
