Annual Faculty Exhibition

The Higgins Education Wing will exhibit artwork created by faculty members of the Studio Class Programs department from November 2015 – February 2016. Our Annual Faculty Exhibition presents 45 works of art by 28 artists who currently teach and assist at the Museum in the areas of painting, sculpture, graphic design, mixed media, printmaking, and photography. The exhibition features a wide range of visual practices, spanning many genres and media.

 As working professional artists and educators who balance their own art making with teaching at WAM, the faculty exhibition allows students, the community, and the public the opportunity to experience the diversity of approaches each artist employ. WAM’s Studio Class Programs faculty is a strong and diverse group, exploring a range of traditional and contemporary mediums and themes. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

The Higgins Education Wing is open Sunday–Saturday, 9am–5pm

For more information, about faculty and their classes visit worcesterart.org/classes

- Ashley Occhino, Manager of Studio Class Programs

Above: Ella Delyanis
Below [left to right]: Jill Pottle, Donalyn Schofield, Elaine Smollin, William Griffiths

Copley Portrait Reunion

An affecting reunion in the American art galleries: John Singleton Copley’s portraits of Boston-based merchant, Samuel Phillips Savage (1718–1797), and his wife, Sarah Tyler (1717/18–1764), are together at the Worcester Art Museum for the first time since 1963. Though companion paintings were often commissioned to celebrate a wedding, these portraits do not mark the beginning of the couple’s marriage, but rather commemorate its sad end. Sarah died in childbirth in February 1764, and various cues—such as her mask-like expression and rigid pose—suggest that her likeness was completed posthumously.

Copley’s portraits passed through different branches of the Savage family and have been reunited only occasionally, first at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia and, later, at the 1963 exhibition at WAM. Thanks to the generous loan of Samuel’s portrait by the Wunsch Americana Foundation, the companion paintings will be together through the spring of 2016.

View more American Art in our Collection Highlights

- Justin M. Brown, Curatorial Assistant, American Art

 

Video: MY ART STORY

As part of its 50^th Anniversary, the National Endowments for the Arts (NEA) commissioned a series of videos to celebrate arts and culture activities that NEA programs support in each of the 50 united states.

Worcester Art Museum was selected by NEA’s partner Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC)  as one of three institutions in the Commonwealth to be featured in the Massachusetts edition of this video.  WAM has received funding directly from the NEA or indirectly through the MCC virtually every year for the past 25 years.

Thank you NEA and MCC!  We wish you another great 50 years of support for the arts and cultural community.

Click here to learn more at arts.gov

- Trip Anderson, Grants Officer