Posts Tagged 'Laura Owens'

Farewell to #LauraOwens

We’ve reached the final weekend of our Laura Owens exhibition, and the whimsy and wonder that lit up our Hoffman Galleries will be fondly missed after its closing day on Sunday, July 29. This exhibition has been inspiring to many, and we can see why; the intricate artworks that represent the artist’s career from the mid-1990s to today include intriguing themes of fantasy, pop culture, nature, technology, and the avant-garde that tie it all together. Exploring Owens’s art was the highlight of many fun spring and summer programs and classes at the DMA, including Arturo’s Art & Me, Family Workshops, and Teen Tours. We also saw incredible new works of art created by visitors to the exhibition, including this vivid poem written by a young poet in The Writer’s Garret‘s summer program “Rail Writers.”

Among the inspiring aspects of this presentation is how delightfully “Instagram-able” it is, allowing viewers to create their own stories around each playful artwork and connect with an even broader audience. Just search the hashtag #LauraOwens and you’ll find a lively array of visitors interacting with Owens’s bold works and becoming part of the art. With bright colors, thickly layered swashes of paint and other mixed media, and untitled works that leave many subjects up to the imagination, these works are all about stimulating and sharing curiosity. Here’s a look back at what a few of our visitors had to say about their experiences:

_.mickelodeon._“Laura Owens is an amazing artist; prior to my venture I hadn’t heard of her. But now, I am a fan.” –@_.mickelodeon._

“Went to see some art without realizing we are the art.” –@ary_balderrama

in_dfwfamily2“Her work is LOUD, quirky, silly, dimensional, full of layers!” –@in_dfwfamily

edithvm“Exhibición de Laura Owens está llena de color y amor” –@edithvm

IMG_E1065“This painting really cat-ures my spirit.” –@kmeansbusinezz

There is still time left for you to share your perspective from this exhibition, whether it’s on social media or through artistic creations of your own. Either way, there is plenty to take away from Owens’s art, and we hope you take the opportunity this weekend to discover what that inspiration looks like for you.

Hayley Caldwell is the Communications and Marketing Coordinator at the DMA.

Untitled, But Not Insignificant

On your most recent visit, you might have noticed a new work of art in the Museum’s Concourse. Laura Owens’ whimsical piece Untitled (2004) was installed last week in honor of the artist’s recognition by TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art 2016 for her generous support of amfAR’s programs. TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art is an annual contemporary art auction held in the Richard Meier-designed Rachofsky House in Dallas, benefiting two organizations—the Dallas Museum of Art and amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. Laura Owens will receive the amfAR Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS this Sunday during a brunch hosted by Cindy and Howard Rachofsky.

lauraowens_install1

Best known for her large-scale paintings, Laura Owens came on the scene in the 1990s, creating engaging multifaceted compositions that are simultaneously fun and technique driven. Born in 1970, she received a B.F.A. in 1992 from the Rhode Island School of Design, and she graduated with an M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts in 1994. For the past two decades, Laura’s work has inspired others to think outside the confines of modern painting. The artist now resides and works in Los Angeles.

lauraowens_install2

Julie Henley is the Communications and Marketing Coordinator at the DMA. 

 

Imaginary Worlds for Imaginary Animals

Imaginary Worlds, one of this summer’s Go van Gogh outreach programs for younger audiences, is all about the imaginary and the make-believe, or as one student told me today,”the ideas that come from my brain that maybe NOBODY has seen before.” The program, inspired by a fantastical painting by Laura Owens, asks students to dream up creatures and worlds for them to inhabit. Go van Gogh staff has enjoyed having our imaginations expand as we’ve encountered super-creative artists make things like butterfly-ant-lion-bugs, uni-chick-a-sauruses, and grumpy horned snorkaks (snorkling yaks, maybe?). Below are the steps to our project, the DMA artworks that inspired us, and some really great creations.

One Big Imaginary Animal!: We start the program with a quick collaborative drawing to spark imagination and get everyone thinking about animals. Volunteers stick a large Post-It on the wall, draw an oval “body” shape for an animal, and invite students to each add just one different part to the animal. Sometimes we stop to think about our favorite animals and the parts they might have—like beaks, wings, antennae, tusks, trunks, fins, curly tails, fluffy manes, and slimy bodies. We encourage students to be silly together and dream up something they’ve never seen before, and we’re always impressed by how well they take that direction!

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Exploring Different Worlds: After making an animal together, students make one of their own. It’s then time to think about places for the animal to live. To get inspiration, we explore landscapes from the Museum’s collection, discussing features of each landscape, the weather and vegetation we see, and what kinds of animals might be best suited to live in each place.

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Creating Imaginary Worlds: Armed with lots of great ideas, students bring to life a world for their animal. Using watercolor pencils to draw their worlds, students add imaginary vegetation, imaginary weather, imaginary food, and most importantly, imaginary friends for their animals. In the final step of the project, we use wet sponges to add water to our watercolor worlds, blending colors to make artworks look fantastical.

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Getting Imaginations Ready: Before our summer fun started, Go van Gogh volunteers spent time doing these same activities during a training session at the Museum. As part of a warm-up activity, volunteers drew their own imaginary animals and explored paintings in our European galleries, to find a world their imaginary animal might inhabit. Below are a few of the photos volunteers took of their animals in DMA artwork habitats.

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To join Go van Gogh for some imaginary fun at your local library, visit the schedule on our website.

Amy Copeland
Manager of Go van Gogh and Community Teaching Programs

Artworks Shown:

  • Ernest Blumenschein, Mountains Near Taos, 1926-1934, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Helen Blumenschein
  • Wassily Kandinsky, Murnau, Burggrabenstrasse 1, 1908, 1908, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase
  • Frederic Edwin Church, The Icebergs, 1861, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt
  • Claude Monet, The Seine at Lavacourt, 1880, Dallas Museum of Art, Munger Fund
  • Henri Fantin-Latour, Still Life with Vase of Hawthorn, Bowl of Cherries, Japanese Bowl, and Cup and Saucer, 1872, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Mrs. John B. O’Hara Fund and gift of Mrs. Bruno Graf by exchange
  • Narcisse–Virgile Diaz de la Peña, Forest of Fontainebleau, 1868, Dallas Museum of Art, Munger Fund

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