Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park Announces the World Premiere Exhibition of Drawings and Prints by Iconic Contemporary Sculptor Beverly Pepper
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (PRWEB) January 23, 2018 -- CONTACT: John VanderHaagen | Public Relations Manager | 616-975-3155 | jvanderhaagen(at)meijergardens.org
MEIJER GARDENS ANNOUNCES THE WORLD PREMIERE EXHIBITION OF DRAWINGS AND PRINTS BY ICONIC CONTEMPORARY SCULPTOR BEVERLY PEPPER
Drawn Into Form: Sixty Years of Drawings and Prints by Beverly Pepper will premiere 70 pieces never before seen in public from an extraordinary gift of nearly 900 works.
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is honored to announce Drawn Into Form: Sixty Years of Drawings and Prints by Beverly Pepper. Opening on February 2, 2018, this exclusive exhibition is the first public showing of the gift of Pepper’s expansive print and drawing archives that was given to Meijer Gardens in 2016 and 2017. Spanning seven decades of work, this extraordinary gift from Pepper, one of the pioneering Contemporary sculptors, includes hundreds of drawings, prints, works on paper and notebooks – many containing sketches of her major sculptural endeavors. This exhibition will run through April 19, 2018 and will display sketches, studies, prints, and experimental drawings from across her entire career.
Pepper is world-renowned for her work, which often incorporates industrial metals like iron, bronze, stainless steel and stone into sculpture of a monumental scale, but her vast drawing and print repertoire is lesser known. Recognized regionally for her soaring steel Galileo’s Wedge, a favorite in Meijer Gardens’ Sculpture Park since 2009, Pepper’s monumental sculptures are celebrated from New York to San Francisco.
"Over the last two decades, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park has clearly demonstrated a strong commitment to my sculpture and I am enthusiastic to now have this major body of my work there," states Pepper. "To have in one location a space to study, compare and sequence my drawings and prints is an exceptional opportunity; I am most grateful to leave this record and have the curatorial team there looking after my work. The 2018 retrospective surveying sixty-five years of work is a rare luxury, and an unbelievable opportunity.” said Pepper.
“The importance of the gift and this exhibition simply cannot be overstated,” said Joseph Antenucci Becherer, Chief Curator and Vice President of Meijer Gardens. “The opportunity to experience the sheer brilliance of Pepper’s work and trace the trajectory of her career from a realist aesthetic in the late 1940s and 50s through her embrace of abstraction to become one of America’s leading abstract sculptors is beyond compare.”
Exhibition Programming
-Five Great Women Sculptors
Sunday, March 18, 2 pm
FEE: Included with admission
Presented by Suzanne Eberle, Professor of Art History, Kendall College of Art & Design
Monumental sculpture is often closely associated with men. However, throughout the history of Modern sculpture many important female artists, including Beverly Pepper, have worked in a large scale. Join us for a discussion of five female sculptors—Beverly Pepper, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Louise Bourgeois, Barbara Hepworth, and Louise Nevelson—and their giant impression on the history of art.
-A Maker’s Perspective: Artist-Led Gallery Walks
Tuesday, March 13, 6 pm - Mariel Versluis, Professor of Printmaking, Kendall College of Art & Design
Tuesday, April 17, 6 pm – Adam Wolpa, Visual Artist specializing in printmaking
FEE: Included with admission
Join us for a gallery walk with the insight of an artist. Each walk will focus on Beverly Pepper’s transition from her early work of observation drawing to her mature-artistic style of bold abstraction. Gain understanding into the techniques of many of the artworks in the exhibition including lithographs, etchings, layered paper collages, monotypes and modified mixed media prints.
Exhibition programs are drop-in and registration is not required.
Drawn Into Form: Sixty Years of Drawings and Prints by Beverly Pepper is made possible by:
The Meijer Foundation
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Foundation
Botanic and Sculpture Societies of Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Images available at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xr9i5qwfvstszaq/AACNz1vz9TOWK0rKdNHWSTJVa?dl=0
About Beverly Pepper
Beverly Pepper (b. December 20, 1922, Brooklyn, NY) is a world-renowned sculptor and one of the most prolific artists of our time. She lives and works in Italy. Along with Louise Bourgeois, Louise Nevelson and Barbara Hepworth, Pepper is one of four pioneering female artists.
Her repertoire includes sculptures created in bronze, steel, cast iron and stone; site-specific installations, drawings and prints. Her works have been exhibited and collected by major arts institutions and galleries around the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., Les Jardins du Palais Royal in Paris, France and The Museum of Modern Art in Sapporo, Japan.
Beverly Pepper established her career in the 1960s in the wake of Abstract Expressionism, and has been a major force across the international art scene since she first captured widespread critical acclaim in the 1960s.
About Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
One of the world’s most significant botanic and sculpture experiences, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park serves over 750,000 visitors annually. The 158-acre grounds feature Michigan’s largest tropical conservatory; one of the largest children’s gardens in the country; arid and Victorian gardens with bronze sculptures by Degas and Rodin; a carnivorous plant house; outdoor gardens; and a 1900-seat outdoor amphitheater, featuring an eclectic mix of world-renowned musicians every summer. The internationally acclaimed Sculpture Park features a permanent collection including works by Rodin, Oldenburg, Ai Weiwei, Moore, Serra, Bourgeois and Plensa, among others. Indoor galleries host changing sculpture exhibitions with recent exhibitions by Ai Weiwei, Picasso, Degas, di Suvero, Borofsky, Calder and Dine. In June 2015, the 8–acre Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park opened. Created by renowned designer Hoichi Kurisu, the garden features sculpture by Anish Kapoor, Zhang Huan and Guiseppe Penone, among others.
John VanderHaagen, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, http://www.MeijerGardens.org, 616-975-3155, [email protected]
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