"Solitude and Focus: Recent Work by MacDowell Colony Fellows in the Visual Arts"
2005-01-23 until 2005-06-22
Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art
Ridgefield, CT, USA

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is pleased to present the exhibition, Solitude and Focus: Recent Work by MacDowell Colony Fellows in the Visual Arts, featuring the work of thirteen artists who participated in recent residencies at The MacDowell Colony. Founded in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 1907, by the American composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, Marian MacDowell, The MacDowell Colony is one of the most revered artist retreats in the US. Each year more than 240 artists, including architects, composers, filmmakers, writers, visual artists, and those working in interdisciplinary genres, come to MacDowell from all over the world to focus on their work in an inspiring environment created to foster the imagination. The Colony’s mission remarkably parallels that of The Aldrich in their commitment to supporting new work by visual artists.

Organized by Richard Klein, Aldrich director of exhibitions, the exhibition will represent a cross-section of visual arts disciplines, including photography, painting, drawing, animation, sculpture, printmaking, video, and installation. Participating artists include: John Bisbee, Lynn Cazabon, Neil Goldberg, Mark Greenwold, Bill Jacobson, Joyce Kozloff in collaboration with Judith Solodkin, Sarah Jane Lapp and Mark Dresser, Jane South, Whiting Tennis, Alan Wiener, and Amy Yoes. A new video by New York-based artist Neil Goldberg will provocatively explore the need and motivation to create art. Shot in 2001 while Goldberg was a Fellow at MacDowell, the video pieces together interviews with five other artists who were in residence at the time and will premiere at The Aldrich. Each work chosen for this exhibition will aim to convey a sense of the individual achievement of MacDowell Fellows and their ongoing contribution to America’s cultural life. A catalogue will be published in conjunction with the project, including commentary by Klein and participating artists.

The MacDowell Colony nurtures the arts by offering creative individuals of the highest talent an inspiring environment in which to produce enduring works of imagination. Since its inception in 1907, more than 5,500 women and men of exceptional ability have come to the Colony. Situated on 450 acres of woodlands and fields, the Colony has 32 studios, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and is a National Historic Landmark. Works of art conceived, developed, and completed during residencies at MacDowell have added immeasurably to our country's cultural life. In 1997, The MacDowell Colony was awarded the National Medal of Arts for "nurturing and inspiring many of this century's finest artists."

IMAGE
Mark Greenwold
Endless Love, 2002

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Connecticut

Other Important Exhibitions in United States