Islip Art Museum Presents All in the Family

The Islip Art Museum will welcome summer with All in the Family.  The exhibition will be on view in the Museum galleries at Brookwood Hall, 50 Irish Lane, East Islip, NY, from June 23 through September 5, 2010.  A reception, which is open to the public, will take place on July 25, from 2-4 pm.

All in the Family will be curated by Jason Paradis from an open call and invitational.  The exhibit explores the way broad notions of affiliation have altered and expanded definitions of family, and the varied ways artists explores both new and traditional ties.

A reception for All in the Family will be held on Sunday, July 25, the last day of the exhibit, from 2-4 p.m.  A reception for Site Specifics '10, the exhibit in the Carriage House adjacent to the Museum, will take place at the same time.  Through a collaboration with the Islip Arts Council, both receptions will feature music by jazz and contemporary music groups.

A tour of the exhibition followed by an informal tea is scheduled for Thursday, July 8 at 3 pm.  There is a $10 reservation fee ($7 for members), which must be paid in advance.  To check availability, call (631) 224-5402.

The Islip Art Museum and the Carriage House are the leading exhibition spaces for contemporary art on Long Island.  Both are open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday from noon to 4 pm.  Contact (631) 224-5402 for more information.

Islip Art Museum Presents Site Specifics '10

The Islip Art Museum will celebrate the opening season of the Carriage House with Site Specifics '10, an exhibition that features installation projects by contemporary artists.  The exhibition will be on view in the Carriage House at Brookwood Hall, 50 Irish Lane, East Islip, NY, from June 5 through July 25, 2010.  A reception, which is open to the public, will take place on July 25, from 2-4 pm.

Site Specifics '10 will be curated by Karen Shaw.  The exhibit features projects by: Nancy Bowen, Lucile Bertrand, Ruth Hardinger, Suzan Shutan, Paul O'Keeffe, Kelly Richardson and Elizabeth Donsky.

Each artist has been assigned a room in the landmark Carriage House building at Brookwood Hall, which they will transform into unique environments that are inspired by social and aesthetic concerns.  Artists are on site for up to three weeks while creating their work, and often invite visitors to tour their studios and inquire about their processes.

   A reception for Site Specifics '10  will be held on Sunday, July 25, the last day of the exhibit, from 2-4 p.m.  A reception for All in the Family, the exhibit in the Islip Art Museum galleries, will take place at the same time.  Through a collaboration with the Islip Arts Council, both receptions will feature music by jazz and contemporary music groups.

A tour of the exhibition followed by an informal tea is scheduled for Thursday, July 1 at 3 pm.  There is a $10 reservation fee ($7 for members), which must be paid in advance.  To check availability, call (631) 224-5402.

The Carriage House and the Islip Art Museum are the leading exhibition spaces for contemporary art on Long Island.  Both are open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday from noon to 4 pm.  Contact (631) 224-5402 for more information.

Watercolors at Studio Museum in Harlem

The Studio Museum in Harlem presents A Delicate Touch: Watercolors from the Permanent Collection, an exhibition of eighteen works from the permanent collection, which incorporate the use of watercolor.  Including works dating back to the mid-twentieth century alongside others created within the present decade, A Delicate Touch offers an exciting, inter-generational look at the different takes on and treatments of watercolor.

An exacting technique requiring dexterity and a precise, delicate hand, watercolor has a rich history.  The medium dates back to European Paleolithic cave painting and was employed in the creation of illuminated manuscripts during the Medieval and Renaissance periods.  Later, watercolor would become many artists' technique of choice for sketches, copies and small-scale versions of larger works.

Drawing its title from John Dowell's Delicate Touch (1977), this exhibition shows the possibilities of watercolor as an artistic  technique, rather  than a mere sketching tool.  The artists take advantage of the medium's versatility, which allows for the precision of drawing without sacrificing the vibrancy provided by oil painting.  They also treat a range of subject matter.  Dowell's painting is a meditation on jazz, while other works depict forms, figures and landscapes.

The Studio Museum in Harlem is located at 144 West 125th Street, between Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and Lenox Avenue.  Subway: A, B, C, D, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 to 125th Street.  Bus: M-2, M-7, M-10, M-100, M-101, M-102 or BX-15.

Suggested donation is $7 for adults, $3 for students (with valid identification) and seniors.  Free for children 12 and under.  Sundays are now free at The Studio Museum, thanks to generous support from Target.

The Museum is open Wednesday through Friday, and Sunday from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m., and from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.  The Museum is closed on Monday, Tuesday and major holidays.  For more information, please call (212) 864-4500, (fax) 212-864-4800 or www.studiomuseum.org.

Rare Collection of Woven Sculptures and Baskets Donated to Museum of Arts and Design

A rare collection of contemporary baskets including functional vessels as well as expressive works that challenge traditional definitions of basketry, has been promised to the Museum of Arts and Design by Sara and David Lieberman.  With their passion for collecting contemporary craft and their exceptional openness to new forms and ideas, the Liebermans have assembled one of the best compilations of contemporary baskets in the country.  Their collection will be presented for the first time in New York in the exhibition Intertwined: Contemporary Baskets from the Sara and David Lieberman Collection, from March 16, 2010 and through September 12, 2010 at the Museum of Arts and Design.

Intertwined provides an international overview of an art form that is a fascinating blend of ancient and contemporary.  The exhibition includes more than 70 traditional and non-traditional works, tracing the evolution of the basket from a useful object toa work of art that can have expressive, sculptural, and conceptual significance.  The baskets utilize a range of materials from traditional organic fibers to surprising media such as zippers and fish skins.

Munter And Kandinsky Guggenheim Retrospective

Gabriele Munter and Vasily Kandinsky, 1902-1914: A Life in Photographs, an exhibition of personal images of Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944) and his long-time companion Gabriele Munter (1877-1962), taken by both artists, is on view in the Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.   This exhibition of biographical photographs is unique to the Guggenheim Museum's presentation and features images that have never before been exhibited in the United States.

Featuring photographs by the German artist Munter and a selection by the Russian-born Kandinsky, this presentation of 31 framed exhibition prints documents the years the two lived, traveled, and worked together between 1902 and 1914.  Though better known as a painter, Munter was also an accomplished amateur photographer and most of the images on view at the Guggenheim were taken by her, offering a glimpse into the private and public personas of both artists.

The works on view in Gabriele Munter and Vasily Kandinsky, 1902-1914 show Munter's role in documenting the historic interactions of the Blaue Reiter movement as well as reveal some of her private moments with Kandinsky in their studio in Munich, at her house in Murnau, and during their travels to Europe and northern Africa.  The photographs in the exhibition range from informal snapshots – Kandinsky working in the garden of Munter in the arbor of her home–to more formal portraits, such as the image of Kandinsky in front of Small Pleasures (Kleine Freuden), a canvas he completed in 1913 that is now in the collection of the Guggenheim Museum.

Admission is Adults $8, students/seniors (65+) $15, members and children under 12 are free.  Admission includes audio-guide tour.  Museum hours are Sunday to Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7:45 p.m.  Closed Thursday.  On Saturdays beginning at 5:45 p.m., the museum hosts Pay What You Wish.  For general information, call (212) 423-3500 or visit guggenheim.oorg.  It's located at 1071 Fifth Avenue.

Tales & Treasure At Whaling Museum

Journey back to the 1800s through the rare glimpses of hidden gems now on view from the Whaling Museum's archives.  Explore objects, their stories, and adventures brought to light including an eighteen-foot dugout canoe from Liberia used to transport free blacks, lamps on display for the first time, the museum's best scrimshaw pieces, Edward Lange paintings, a woman's whalebone corset, and logbooks detailing rescues and shipwrecks.

It is on display through Labor Day 2010.  Admission is $6 for adults, $5 students & seniors, families $19.  Military, members, children under 5 are free.  Sunday 11-12 am by donation.  The hours are from 11 – 5 pm, Tuesday through Sunday; Open holiday Mondays.

For more information please call (631) 367-3418 or www.cshwhalingmuseum.org.