Monday, September 5, 2011

After the Drawing Crit ... a Trip to ICA!








Bill Walton's Studio

September 7 – December 4, 2011
Reception: Wednesday, September 7, 6-8PM
Exhibition walkthrough with curator Ingrid Schaffner: Wednesday,
September 7, 5PM, ICA Members Only
The Institute of Contemporary Art presents Bill Walton's Studio
in the Project Space. This exhibition recreates the unique environment
of the minimalist artist, a key figure in the Philadelphia art community
for nearly 50 years.
Walton, a commercial printmaker by trade and later an instructor at
Moore College of Art and Design (1974-1990), was often more interested
in the materials used for printmaking—wood, lead, steel—than in the
finished product. His studio contained an exhibition area so he could
display his work in progress in order to judge whether or not it was
finished, a crucial part of his studio practice. At the time of his
death in 2010, Walton's studio was a small miracle of order.
Tools and materials were arranged as carefully as works of art. Indeed
it was not always simple to tell the tools from the work, to judge
whether an artful arrangement of screws and bolts was waiting to be used
or to be admired.

ICA's exhibition catalogues, transfers, and displays the elements of
Walton's studio, from finished work to workbench to cassette tapes and
coffee cups. Using plywood slats and weathering techniques, ICA
faithfully re-creates the studio's painted wooden floor, down to the
way Walton filled the seams in the area that was his exhibition space.
In today's art world, where so many artists work digitally and conceptually,
this installation gives visitors insight into the hands-on, craft-oriented
way a traditional artist hones his craft. This exhibition is organized by
ICA Senior Curator Ingrid Schaffner, and is accompanied by a brochure
publication.

RELATED PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Sunday, December 4, 2pm
Bill Walton: Gifting the Studio

Share memories, receive ephemera, and help complete the transfiguration
of Bill Walton, a key figure in the Philadelphia art community for nearly fifty
years. Hear how his animating spirit affects artists working today as ICA's
recreation of his unique studio environment prepares to close.

ICA is grateful to the Edna W. Andrade Fund of The Philadelphia Foundation 
for their generous support. We acknowledge the generous sponsorship of Barbara 
B. & Theodore R. Aronson for the exhibition brochure, and are grateful to the 
Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation for funding public educational programs in 
conjunction with this project. Additional support has been provided by The Horace 
W. Goldsmith Foundation; The Dietrich Foundation, Inc.; the Overseers Board for 
the Institute of Contemporary Art; friends and members of ICA; and the University 
of Pennsylvania. General operating support provided, in part, by the Philadelphia 
Cultural Fund. ICA receives state arts funding support through a grant from the 
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. We are 
grateful to John Ollman and the Fleisher/Ollman Gallery for their in-kind support. 
ICA acknowledges Le Meridien Philadelphia as our official UnLock Art partner hotel.
images: (Top, middle left and right): Bill Walton's Studio, 2011, Philadelphia. Photo
by Karen Mauch. (Bottom): Bill Walton,Untitled, n.d. clamp, brass, aluminum, copper,
4 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches. Collection of Kirk Kirkpatrick and John Wind.

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New podcast – ICA’s Ingrid Schaffner on curating, making her zine Pink, and working with artists


 

CONTINUA. An upcoming solo exhibition.


Two-years in the making, Continua is a systems-based project that explores
the foundational aspect of color as a continuous and singular element that is
fragmented into formalized units of three-dimensionally parceled space using
hand-dyed Philadelphia phonebooks.

CONTINUA will be presented as a site-specific installation at 
319 N. 11th Street, 2nd Floor, September 2nd through October 7th, 2011.

Opening Reception September 2nd, 4-9pm. Closing Reception October 7th, 4-9pm.
Open gallery hours Wednesdays and Fridays, 12-6pm. And by appointment.