Thursday, January 25, 2007 Older Editions

Art exhibits open Friday at Phillips Academy's Addison Gallery

The Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy unveils several art exhibits opening this weekend, with an opening reception for winter exhibitions at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, Friday.

Kara Walker is best known for exploring the raw intersection of race, gender and sexuality through her iconic, silhouetted figures. In her series Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), Walker's ghostly figures challenge the portrayals of African Americans during the antebellum period and their involvement in the war. The series, which includes 15 large-scale, lithographic silkscreen prints, marks the first time the artist has united her signature black cutouts with historical documentation that influenced the development of her aesthetics. The exhibition will be on display at the Addison Gallery, Jan. 26 through April 15.

To create Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), Walker appropriated and enlarged select illustrations from the two-volume publication of the same name, published in 1866 and 1868.

She then overlaid the illustrations with large, black stencils. Walker transforms the 19th century narratives of battle, death and retreat and recasts and at times even reclaims the positions of African Americans in United States history while crafting a thought-provoking dialogue between past and present.

MODELS AS MUSE: MERGING PAST AND PRESENT, ADDISON'S MODEL SHIP COLLECTION SERVES AS MUSE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS

As part of its 75th anniversary celebration, the Addison Gallery of American Art invited four contemporary artists to create new works using the museum's famed model ship collection for inspiration. The result is "Models as Muse," a dynamic new exhibition featuring the treasured ship models in conversation with new works by Roderick Buchanan, Christine Hiebert, David Opdyke, and Jennifer and Kevin McCoy. "Models as Muse" will be on display at the Addison Gallery, Jan. 27 through March 18.

The Addison's ship model collection was commissioned as part of the museum's original 1930 collection and represents a broader understanding of art as the expression of skill as well as talent, and of beauty in the fashioning of functional objects. Created at a uniform scale to document four centuries of American history, the models include such diverse ships as Christopher Columbus' Santa Maria and the pilgrim's Mayflower to nineteenth century freight sloops and 20th century pleasure yachts.

In "Models as Muse," the ships serve as both the exhibition's central objects and as the inspiration for unique projects in a variety of media - from video to sculptural installations to wall drawings - by some of the most thoughtful and challenging artists working today, organizers said.

Each artist approached the project with a unique interest, whether it is in the issues of scale, miniatures, and model making, or with a focus on ideas of voyage, the lure of the sea, or globalization.

For Roderick Buchanan, the Addison's ship models inspired him to think about maritime history in his native Scotland, resulting in Shrinking the Clyde, a video installation that captures the scaling down inherent to the model-making process and the now shrunken shipbuilding history. In Dredge, sculptor David Opdyke chose to focus on the idea of the international shipping trade and consumer/commercial glut, while Jennifer and Kevin McCoy's multimedia installation, entitled Below Deck, creates an imaginary, fantastical view of what might occur below a ships surface. Comprised of bright blue adhesive tape, Christine Hiebert's site-specific wall drawing evokes the architecture of ships as well as their movement through space.

"This exhibition does what the Addison has always done best - linking the great art of the past with the art of the present," explained Addison Director Brian Allen.

The Addison Gallery of American Art located on the campus of Phillips Academy in Andover, is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. The gallery is closed on Monday. Admission to all exhibitions and events is free. The Addison also offers free education programs for teachers and groups. Call 978-749-4015, or visit www.addisongallery.org.