Andrea Merrell: Measure of Man
April 5 – June 22, 2008

Idaho artist Andrea Merrell has worked for two decades creating drawings, sculpture and mixed- media works based on sacred geometry, mathematical formulas such as the Golden Mean and the Fibonacci sequence.  More recently her work has also incorporated a study of the paintings of 14th-century Italian renaissance artist Giotto, whose fresco murals tell sacred stories of life from the Bible.  In studies of color value, geometric form, abstraction, and art history, Merrell has developed an installation of relationships and juxtapositions for Boise Art Museum's Measure of Man, the artist’s first solo museum exhibition. 

Day and Night (detail), 1991
Egg tempera on panel
Image courtesy of J Crist Gallery

Marsden Hartley: American Modern
March 15 – June 22, 2008

Marsden Hartley: American Modern examines this renowned artist through the largest collection of his work, the Hudson and Ione Walker Bequest at the University of Minnesota’s Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum.  As Hartley’s last dealer and important patron, Hudson Walker amassed a rich collection that spans the artist’s career. Hartley who lived from 1877 – 1943, was an American avant-garde artist who was involved in pivotal art events of the 20th century.  First as an artist shown by Alfred Stieglitz’s at the groundbreaking 291 gallery in 1909, and then at the famed Armory show of 1913. Later in the 1920s, he painted in Taos and Santa Fe depicting the American southwest at a time when the great luminaries of southwest painting were drawn to New Mexico. Hartley today is recognized as a twentieth-century American master.   

Marsden Hartley: American Modern is organized by the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. This exhibition is made possible by the generous bequest of Hudson and Ione Walker, whose gift comprises the Frederick R. Weisman art Museum’s collection of works by Marsden Hartley.

Local Sponsors:

Wells Fargo
J.A. & Kathryn Albertson Foundation
Idaho Media Corp

Portrait, 1914-1915
Oil on canvas
Bequest of Hudson Walker from the Ione and Hudson Walker Collection
Image courtesy of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis

John Taylor: Submerge
Dec 22, 2007 - May 25, 2008

Self-trained California artist, John Taylor, grew up near the ocean and from childhood was steeped in boating and shipping lore.  After setting up practice as a landscape architect, Taylor returned to his childhood fascination with the sea and began to create sculptures of sunken and damaged ships.  Made of weathered wood and metal, and a host of other components such as old earrings, computer motherboards, curved wire coat hangers and parts from worn-out children's toys, each boat built by the artist is his personal (albeit researched) version of an actual, historical vessel, long forgotten in American history.  The title of the exhibition, Submerge, reflects on these historic ships' demise at sea, their past as wreckage, and their reclamation from a long forgotten history by the artist.  This emerging artist was recently featured in High Tide: Imaging Maritime Space at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, as well as Garde-Rail Gallery in Seattle, which focuses on folk and outsider art.  The Submerge exhibition will feature 21 ships created between 2000 and 2007 as well as sculptures examining other aspects of maritime lore and culture, including a large whale and several penguins.

ART TALK - Artist John Taylor
First Thursday, February 7, 2008, 5:30 p.m

Sponsored in part by Arlene and Peter Davidson .