American Academy's Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts Debuts New Exhibition Galleries

March 9, 2009 - PRLog -- NEWS RELEASE            
American Academy of Arts and Letters  
Gallery Location: Audubon Terrace
Broadway between 155 and 156 Streets    
(212) 368-5900 / www.artsandletters.org

INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION OF VISUAL ARTS AT THE
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS
MARCH 12 - APRIL 5, 2009

Over 100 paintings, photographs, sculptures, installations, and works on paper by 30 contemporary artists will be exhibited at the galleries of the American Academy of Arts and Letters on historic Audubon Terrace (Broadway between 155 and 156 Streets) from Thursday, March 12 through Sunday, April 5, 2009.  Exhibiting artists were chosen from a pool of more than 170 nominees submitted by the 250 members of the Academy, America’s most prestigious honorary society of architects, artists, writers, and composers.  

The Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts will feature many new works on view for the first time in New York, including an installation by Jeesoo Lee; sculptures by Brian Tolle and Stephen Antonakos; collage by Stephen Talasnik; and paintings by Hilary Harkness, Duncan Johnson, Stanley Lewis, Beverly McIver, Jeffrey Reed, Celia Reisman, and Nancy Wissemann-Widrig.

Exhibition Arists:

Painters: Jake Berthot, Charles Cajori, John Dubrow, Ann Gale, April Gornik, Hilary Harkness, Elisa Jensen, Duncan Johnson, Mark Karnes, Stanley Lewis, Tine Lundsfryd, Chris Martin, Beverly McIver, Harry Naar, David Nelson, Jim Nutt, Jeffrey Reed, Celia Reisman, Harriet Shorr, Susan Jane Walp, and Nancy Wissemann-Widrig. Installation and mixed-media artists: Charles Gaines, Jeesoo Lee, and Stephen Talasnik. Photographers: Gregory Crewdson and Judy Linn. Sculptors: Diana Al-Hadid, Stephen Antonakos, Roxy Paine, and Brian Tolle.

The Academy's Art Awards and Purchase Programs:

The Academy’s art awards and purchase programs serve to acknowledge artists at various stages of their careers, from helping to establish younger artists to rewarding older artists for their accumulated body of work.  Paintings and works on paper are eligible for purchase and placement in museum collections nationwide through the Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Funds. Works by Bruce Davidson (The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA), Gordon Moore (The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA), David Moreno (Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA), and Trevor Winkfield (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA) are among the fifteen placements made last year. Reginald Marsh and Guy Pene du Bois were some of the program’s earliest beneficiaries. Since the purchase program’s founding in 1946, through the legacy of Childe Hassam, more than one thousand works have been purchased and donated to museums throughout the country. For further information, please visit www.artsandletters.org/awards2_art.php.

The Academy:

The American Academy of Arts and Letters, chartered by Congress, was established in 1898 to “foster, assist, and sustain an interest in literature, music, and the fine arts.”  Founding members include William Merritt Chase, Kenyon Cox, Daniel Chester French, Childe Hassam, Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Vedder, and Woodrow Wilson. Each year, the Academy gives almost one million dollars in awards to artists, architects, writers, and composers.  It presents exhibitions of art, architecture, and manuscripts, and subsidizes readings and performances of new musicals. The 111-year-old organization is located in three landmark buildings, designed by McKim, Mead & White, Cass Gilbert, and Charles Pratt Huntington, on Audubon Terrace at 155 Street and Broadway.

Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts
Admission Free
Dates   Thursday, March 12 through Sunday, April 5, 2009  
Hours   Thursdays through Sundays, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Location   Audubon Terrace on Broadway between 155 and 156 Streets
Directions   Subway: #1 to 157 Street; Bus: M4, M5 to 155 Street and Broadway

Press Contact :  
Cecilia Bonn
(212) 734-9754 / Cbonn@nyc.rr.com
Cecilia Bonn Marketing and Communications
JPEG images available upon request.

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