New Britain Museum of American Art

Brown Gillespie, Milkyway, 2011, Wood, custom programmed LEDs, acrylic on canvas, 53 x 50 in., New Britain Museum of American Art,
Gift of Mary Gillespie

New Media: Brown Gillespie
Apr. 6–July 21, 2013
Opening Reception: 5:30-8 p.m.,
First Friday, April 5, 2013

Brown Gillespie has always been fascinated by color—its ephemeral and ever-changing quality in nature, principles of color theory, as well as the effect of emotions on the human perception of color. These interests coalesce in Gillespie’s Light Visions series to which Milkyway belongs.

Part painting, part light show, Milkyway consists of a box-framed canvas with acrylic pigments and LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) inside the frame. Programmed to loop, the LEDs continuously emit light onto the pigments to create swirling effects that mesmerize the eye on a visceral level. The hope, as Gillespie explains, is “that the changing color interacts and helps open access to the less rational, more experiential side of the brain and may help to heighten perception in the same way as a quiet walk in the woods . . . At first you don’t really see much, but after time, perception shifts and suddenly new smells and sounds become abundant along with heightened visual acuity.”

Community’s collective belongings. Photos by Collections Manager, John Urgo.

NEW/NOW: Michael Mahalchick: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Mar. 9–June 9, 2013
Opening Reception
Sunday, Mar. 10, 2013, 1-2:30 p.m.
Artists Remarks 1:30 p.m.

Michael Mahalchick to assemble a material portrait of the New Britain community with your help.

Michael Mahalchick moves seamlessly between the realms of sculpture/assemblage, installation, performance, music and dance, weaving chance, humor, brio and what he calls a “scavenging” aesthetic into his work. A graduate of the Tyler School of Art (BFA) and the California Institute of the Arts (MFA), he has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at PS1/MoMA, Queens, NY and the Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY, and is currently on the visiting faculty at the Yale University School of Art.

As Mahalchick conceptualizes his installation in NEW/NOW, he invites your input and participation. Objects donated to the Museum will become the raw material for his work. Mahalchick will combine them in unexpected ways to present a cross-section of our community’s collective belongings. The artist welcomes your trinkets, hand-made treasures, decorative items, manufactured goods, heirlooms with which you are ready to part, etc. If an object could conceivably be found at a garage sale and is of reasonable size, it likely fits the bill. Please be creative and think outside the box, and you may just find your former belonging reimagined, reused, reworked and on view in the Cheney Gallery from March 9 through June 9, 2013.

The NEW/NOW Series is made possible by the generous support of Marzena and Greg Silpe.

Romolo del Deo, The Beauty of Time, 2010, Bronze (unique), 19 x 9 x 6 in., Collection of Thomas and Kathryn Cox

A Joint Venture: The Collection of Thomas and Kathryn Cox
Jan. 25–June 2, 2013
Opening Reception
Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013, 2-3:30 p.m.

Married for the last 14 years, Thomas and Kathryn Cox joined their individual collections and passion for art and have been a force of American art collecting ever since.

Drawn to paintings that celebrate the beauty and awe-inspiring wonders of nature, the Coxes have shared an affinity for traditional landscapes of churning seas and drifting clouds. Among the many highlights are 19th-century seascapes by William Trost Richards, Stanley Woodward, and Frederick Waugh as well as landscapes by Alfred Bricher, Charles Davis, John Joseph Enneking, Walter Launt Palmer, and Nelson H. White.

Over the years, Tom and Kay’s interests have also grown to include contemporary works in a variety of mediums. Today, their eclectic collection includes exquisite glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly, Dante Marioni, Lino Tagliapietra; one-of-a-kind vessels by master ceramicist Cliff Lee; still-lifes by contemporary realists including the late Stephen Brown, Jacob Collins, Graydon Parrish, Larry Preston, Michael Thiese, Dan Truth and others; a whimsical riff on history painting by Mary Dwyer; an expressive pastel portrait of a pig by Bryan Nash Gill; and a haunting and evocative sculpture by Romolo del Deo, which toured the country last year as part of The Tides of Provincetown exhibition.

Kay Cox was an outstanding Chairman of the Museum Board, providing inspired leadership and support. She and Tom have enjoyed collecting and in many ways their close connection to the Museum has helped shape the direction that their collection has taken over a decade. The Coxes are also longtime co-chairs of the American Art Circle and John Butler Talcott Society premier membership groups.

Lisa Hoke, The Gravity of Color, New Britain, 2008, installation, Stephen B. Lawrence Fund and the Edwin Austin Abbey Mural Fund of the National Academy of Design

Lisa Hoke, The Gravity of Color, New Britain (detail)

Lisa Hoke: The Gravity of Color
May 28, 2008 (beginning)

Following a national competition for the honor, artist Lisa Hoke of New York City has been commissioned to create a new installation for the NBMAA at the top of the LeWitt Staircase leading from the first to second floor of the Museum. Her work on the colorful multi-media artwork will begin May 28 and will be completed by the end of June.

Hoke is a 2008 recipient of a fellowship sponsored by the Edwin Austin Abbey Endowment at the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts. More than 50 artists from throughout the U.S. submitted proposals for the project, coordinated in conjunction with NBMAA Director Douglas Hyland. A panel of six judges reviewed applications for the project, including three Museum representatives -- Hyland, NBMAA Chairman Timothy McLaughlin and Trustee Linda Cheverton-Wick.

Hoke’s work will replace The Eye, an installation created by Stephen Hendee in 2006 for the opening of the Chase Family Building.

Hoke is known for the innovative use of “found” materials in her work. Her NBMAA installation will be created with clear plastic cups coated with vibrantly colored paints, as well as new and vintage opaque paper cups found through a variety of sources.

Each of thousands of cups will be attached to Museum walls with a grommet, or glued, creating a breathtaking, jewel-like visual impact with swirls of color and texture. During her installation, Hoke will work with several assistants to choreograph the work from the wall at the top of the staircase, around the windows and up the inner wall next to the staircase as it extends to the second floor.

Hoke’s installation, like Stephen Hendee’s work The Eye, is a temporary piece which will be replaced in two to five years by another commissioned work of art. Hoke has created similar installations for other U.S. museums.