March 3, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: David Isgur, 860.768.4340 (office), 860.214.3961 (cell)
First Major Exhibition of Works by
Renowned Artist Nancy Graves to Open at
Joseloff Gallery
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. ― Nancy Graves: Inspired Vision, an exhibition of this
world renowned artist’s sculpture, drawings, and paintings, is the first comprehensive
overview of her work presented in this region. The show opens with a reception on
Tuesday, April 14, from 6 to 8 p.m., in Joseloff Gallery, at the University of Hartford,
200 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford.
Zina Davis, director of the Joseloff Gallery, will present a lecture about the
exhibition and Graves’ accomplishments on Wednesday, April 29, at noon in the
Joseloff Gallery. The exhibition will run through Sunday, June 28. The gallery is open
to the public and admission is free.
Included in the show are significant examples of work from various phases of her
career, including sculpture dating from the early 1970s to 1992, drawings, watercolors,
and several large-scale paintings.
Graves, whose untimely death occurred in 1995, is considered one of the most
innovative, inspired and prolific artists of her generation.
She is best known for vibrantly painted sculpture composed of natural objects cast
in bronze, assembled with those cast from objects of every description. Her groundbreaking technique, craftsmanship, and vision resulted in unpredictable structures of
layered meaning and provocative beauty. Paralleling her development as a sculptor are
paintings, watercolors, and drawings. While they posses their own unique visual
language, they reflect her constantly evolving vocabulary of forms and subjects that
reappear in her sculpture.
Born in Pittsfield, Mass., she was inspired by childhood visits to the Natural
History section of the Berkshire Museum. According to the Nancy Graves Foundation,
“The interplay between the replication of nature and the formal values of abstract art was
to inform her work throughout her life.”
After attending Vassar College, she studied painting at Yale School of Art and
Architecture (B.F.A., 1962; M.F.A., 1964). In 1964 she was awarded a Fulbright-Hayes
fellowship to study painting in Paris. In 1966 Graves moved to New York City, and in
’69 she became the first woman artist to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum
of American Art. During the early 1970s Graves also explored filmmaking, producing
five films between 1970 and ’74. Her work as been be subject of over 100 solo
exhibitions and is represented in countless public and private collections throughout the
U.S. and abroad.
This exhibition is funded by the Kohn/Joseloff Foundation and is made possible
through the Nancy Graves Foundation in New York.
For more information on this exhibit, visit the Joseloff Gallery website at
<www.JoseloffGallery.org>, or contact Lisa Gaumond, the Joseloff Gallery manager, at
860.768.5559 or <gaumond@hartford.edu>.
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