The Academy Art Museum is pleased to announce three new exhibitions: Spatial Reckoning: Morandi, Picasso and Villon, 2023 Artist in Residence Laura Letinsky, and Amy Boone-McCreesh: Visual Currency. An opening reception for all three exhibitions and an artist talk with Letinksy will be held on Thursday, August 3 at 5:30 pm.
“Our latest slate of exhibitions—thoughtfully conceived and organized by curator Mehves Lelic—showcase diverse forms of creative expression, from the quiet still life paintings of modernist master Giorgio Morandi to the maximalist mixed media works of contemporary artist Amy Boone-McCreesh. At any given time at the Museum, we want our visitors to experience a wide range of artworks across art history, get inspired, and encounter new ideas—the new shows deliver on our goal,” commented Director Sarah Jesse.
“Our Artist-in-Residence Program is now in its fifth year, and it has given us incredible opportunities to bring artists here to the Eastern Shore to produce work at the Museum and engage with our community. Laura Letinsky’s seminal work questions what a photograph is through intricate yet quiet still lifes. This question resonates deeply with many of us due to the ubiquity of images and cameras in today’s world. We are looking forward to our visitors reflecting on this question through Letinsky’s moving work,” notes Curator Mehves Lelic.
“Letinsky will also produce a limited-edition print for our Emerging Collectors Circle members,” Lelic continues. “This group of art appreciators come together throughout the year for studio visits and fair trips, and their dues support free public programming at the Museum. I am excited to see the piece Letinsky will make here in her studio at the Museum!”
Spatial Reckoning: Morandi, Picasso and Villon
August 1 – October 22, 2023
This exhibition charts the myriad ways in which three prolific European artists used space and perspective as gateways to modern abstraction in the 20th century. Building on—and later breaking canonical rules of—perspective, spatial composition, and ratio, Jacques Villon (French, 1875 – 1963), Giorgio Morandi (Italian, 1890 – 1964), and Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881 – 1973), created works that evoked spirituality and emotion and slowly frayed the knot between reality and artistic representation. The resulting depictions of figures and still lifes helped define these artists as pioneers of a trailblazing aesthetic and inspired new frontiers in art, from Modernism and Cubism to Expressionism.
AAM is grateful to the Cincinnati Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Christian Keesee Art Collection, and Conrad Graeber Fine Art for their generous loans of artwork.
Giorgio Morandi (Italian, 1890-1964), Still Life, c. 1955, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lenart in honor of Rusty and Nancy Powell, 1997.112.1
2023 Artist in Residence Laura Letinsky
August 1 – October 22, 2023
Laura Letinsky (Canadian, b. 1962, lives and works in Chicago) is a lens-based artist whose still lifes have transformed the medium in the 20th century. Inserting the aftermath and the human presence into her layered, symbolically-charged still lifes, Letinsky interrogates both the meaning of domestic space and women’s role in it, and the indexical and representational power of photographs. Letinsky is a Guggenheim Fellow, and her work is held in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum; the Getty Museum; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and has been exhibited internationally.
Letinsky will present a masterclass during her residency in August 2023 on how the camera shapes our understanding of the world.
The Artist in Residence program is generously supported by Mary Ann Schindler.
Laura Letinsky (Canadian, b. 1962), Untitled #9a (diptych), from the series To Say It Isn’t So, 2006, chromogenic print, courtesy of the Artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery
Amy Boone-McCreesh: Visual Currency
July 28 – November 5, 2023
Baltimore-based artist Amy Boone-McCreesh works in sculpture, collage, and mixed media to present colorful, maximalist takes on luxury and access. Critiquing preconceived notions of adornment and decoration, especially as they relate to interior space, and reconstructing imagined interiors in a brightly colored and explosive manner, Boone-McCreesh points to the arbitrariness of taste and opens a door to imagining how else our collective understanding of exclusivity and poshness might manifest. Her brand of luxury speaks the language of abundance and is derived from distinctly unrarefied materials: wall paint, acrylic, paper, and beads are just some examples. The result is a blossoming world of excitement that flaunts the language of high fashion and design of our time.
Boone-McCreesh received her MFA from Towson University in Maryland and shortly thereafter was awarded a two-year Hamiltonian Artist Fellowship in Washington, DC. Her work has been included in exhibitions across the country and she is a two-time recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award.
Amy Boone-McCreesh (American, b. 1985), Access to Beauty II, 2021, mixed media and collage on paper, courtesy of the Artist
As the premier art museum on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Academy Art Museum presents high-quality exhibitions and a full range of art classes for visitors of all ages. Past exhibitions have featured artists such as James Turrell, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Pat Steir and Richard Diebenkorn. The permanent collection focuses on works on paper by American and European artists from four centuries including recent acquisitions by Graciela Iturbide and Zanele Muholi. Arts educational programs range from life drawing lessons to digital art instruction, and include lunchtime and cocktail hour concerts, lectures and special art events, as well as a Fall Craft Show celebrating 26 years. AAM also provides arts education to school children from the region and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. To continue the institutional movement of offering free public programming and to give barrier-free access to art, AAM eliminated admission fees in 2023.
Location: 106 South Street, Easton, Maryland
Hours: Tuesday-Wednesday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Thursday-Friday 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, and Saturday-Sunday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Closed Mondays and Federal holidays.
Admission: Free
Michael Whitehill, well-known in the local arts community for his masterly direction of edgy contemporary plays, needs four brave actors for Church Hill Theatre’s November production of God of Carnage by Yazmina Reza. Auditions will be held on the CHT stage on Saturday, August 12, from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm, Sunday, August 13, from 1:30 to 3:00 pm, and Tuesday, August 15, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. Production dates are November 3-19.
Charlie Hunter is a nationally recognized painter of the post-pastoral American landscape. His distinctive, low-chroma work, heavily reliant on a mastery of values, edges and composition, utilizes a variety of moderately unorthodox techniques. His work has been featured in numerous art and lifestyle publications, is in multiple collections and museums, and was the recent subject of a one-man show, SEMAPHORE, curated by fellow artist Eric Aho. In 2022 Hunter scored a trifecta of sorts, winning the Grand Prize at Plein Air Easton, First Place at Door County Plein Air, and Best Body of Work (Artists’ Choice Award) at Smoky Mountains Plein Air. With painter and designer Larry Moore, Hunter created the En Train Air painting train, and Hunter’s weekly live stream, REASONABLY FINE ART TALKS, has a fervent following.
The Summer Sing is an intergenerational community choral festival that invites area singers to perform a major work with professional soloists and instrumentalists. Previous seasons have attracted standing-room-only audiences and singers from Annapolis to Delaware and points in between. There are no required auditions as experienced singers, both professional and amateur, gather for the sheer joy of singing and creating a glorious community celebration of choral harmony.
Join us for the 2023 Chesapeake Film Festival, which has transformed downtown Easton into a film lover’s mecca for over 16 years. The LIVE Festival kicks off on September 30 at the historic Avalon Theatre, followed by a second day at the Ebeneezer Theatre on October 1. The festival will also feature a 7-day Virtual Festival from October 2 to October 8, showcasing over 50 outstanding documentaries, narrative films, animations, and engaging conversations with filmmakers. The Live Festival starts with the Maryland Premiere of Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection, a captivating documentary about the singer’s life and musical legacy. Don’t miss the chance to engage with the film team, including Executive Producer Andy Streitfeld and Associate Producer Jon Gann, who will be present for audience questions. The opening day includes blocks of documentary and narrative shorts, as well as the World Premiere of ICEMAN: Book One, directed by Harold Jackson, an award-winning director and CFF Board Member.
During three of its Playmakers camp days next week, the Garfield Center will host special performances by Maryland arts educators/performers for the Playmakers camp kids to enjoy. The events are also open to the public for a small $5.00 admission fee. All proceeds from ticket sales goes back into the Garfield Center’s youth education programs, including Playmakers.
Cast of Harvey at a read through of the script and discussion of the set. In clockwise order: Brian McGunigle (Dr. Chumley), Frank St. Amour (Elwood P. Dowd), Debra McGuire (Veta Louise), Karenna Foley (Myrtle Mae), Sharon Herz (the Nurse), James Diggs (Dr. Sanderson), Michael Moore (Wilson), Sheila Austrian (Mrs. Chauvenet), Mary Ann McGunigle (Mrs. Chumley). Not pictured: Bob Chauncey (EJ Lofgren)