Artist's Project: Models as Muse
Written by Julie Bernson, Director of Education
 |
Jennifer and Kevin McCoy (b. 1968 and b. 1967)
High Seas, 2007
mixed media with video projection
courtesy Postmasters, New York
Photo by Frank E. Graham |
On permanent display since their creation, our famed model ships continue to be a favorite of museum visitors. Stirring the imagination, they also have generated a great deal of discussion with the Addison's many artists-in-residence. It was this ongoing dialogue that led us to invite five contemporary artists to create new works inspired by these magnificent objects.
While working on their installations, three of the Models as Muse artists, Roderick Buchanan, Christine Hiebert and David Opdyke, were able to share their creative processes with Phillips Academy students and explain how our ship models had served as inspiration for their new works.
For example, artist Christine Hiebert created a site-specific wall drawing in which loose and abstract forms and lines resonate subtly with the model ship collection. Slack Away is less a depiction of nautical forms than a suggestion of ship rigging and the mysterious forces at work in engineering the graceful movement of vessels at sea. In the drawing we gain a sense of mass and buoyancy and of tension and slack at work to guide the viewer through the room. By gaining insight into her creative process students were able to better understand her art and also appreciate the ship collection in a different way — not just for their beauty and historical meaning, but to also understand how artists can interpret meaning.
The goal of the Edward E. Elson Artist-in-Residence Program at the Addison Gallery of American Art is to create meaningful interactions between artists and students. Since its inception, the program has brought together thousands of students and more than fifty acclaimed artists, including Robert Frank, Judith Joy Ross, Abelardo Morell, Wendy Ewald, Robert Hudson, Richard Shaw, Nari Ward, Allison Saar, Lee Mingwei, Kerry James Marshall and Sue Williams.
