Portraits of Sky: Selections from the Permanent Collection

Ever-present, the sky hugs earth and serves as the backdrop to our world. Early morning mist; stark-blue skies; electric-pink sunsets; black, silent, star-filled nights – in all its shifting forms – the sky is reassuringly there while simultaneously reflecting the temporary realities of our lives back upon us. Portraits of Sky investigates our fascination with the world above, through artist illuminations of clouds, stars, and the sky in its transitory splendor. Created over a hundred-year period from the 1920s forward, the artworks range in style from the graphic Pop Art of Roy Lichtenstein to the delicate woodcuts of Vija Celmins. Some of the artists pay homage to mother nature, by capturing their visions of her beauty in paint, pastels, photographs, and clay, while others emphasize clouds and stars as symbols for contemporary, environmental, and social promises. The artists use their unique creative practices to accentuate the world above, by freezing a moment of fleeting existence for our everlasting enjoyment.

Organized by the Boise Art Museum