New Mexico Museum of Art

Intertwined: Contemporary Baskets from the Sara and David Lieberman Collection

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 18, 2008

MEDIA CONTACT


Sara and David Lieberman, with their passion for collecting contemporary craft and their exceptional openness to new forms and ideas, have assembled one of the best collections of contemporary baskets in the country. The more than 150 baskets in their collection were at first collected for their “function and appeal” and their grounding in ancient traditions. But their selections soon included new works of great “vitality and vigor” that were more about “expression and communication” rather than function.

Intertwined: Contemporary Baskets from the Sara and David Lieberman Collection opens at the New Mexico Museum of Art on April 24, 2009 and runs through September 6, 2009. The Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico will host an opening reception on the Free Friday Evening, April 24, 2009 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30p.m.

Intertwined and its accompanying catalog will provide an international look at contemporary basket making and its current level of innovation and experimentation. The baskets in their collection utilize a range of materials and techniques from traditional organic to commercial and often surprising media. Represented artists include the well-known international to the regional—four from Santa Fe—and they work in both functional containers as well as closed, sculptural forms.

Intertwined will include more than 70 traditional and non-traditional baskets, including works by some of the major figures in contemporary basket making: Ed Rossbach, Katherine Westphal, Sally Black, Kiyomi Iwata, Kazuaki Honma, Dorothy Gill Barnes, Carol Eckert John McQueen, Elsie Holiday, Ferne Jacobs, Norma Minkowitz, Fran Reed, Lisa Telford, John Garrett, Kay Kahn, and many more. Both Garrett and Kahn are New Mexico artists.

“This exhibition demonstrates how basketry has been redefined during the past four decades,” says Laura Addison, Curator of Contemporary Art at the New Mexico Museum of Art and local curator for this exhibition. She goes on to say, “Many of the works in Intertwined are unrecognizable as baskets; rather they are sculptures that employ traditional, and nontraditional, basketmaking techniques and materials. The Liebermans’ collection is exceptional in its quality and breadth. Included are works primarily from the United States, including Native American basketry, but also from Japan and Great Britain.”

The contemporary baskets of Intertwined are another sub-category of “crafts” that the Museum has been showing in recent years, including this summer’s exhibition Flux: Reflections on Contemporary Glass and several exhibitions on ceramics over the past decade.

Intertwined is curated by Heather Sealy Lineberry, Senior Curator, ASU Art Museum. Jane Sauer, nationally known basket maker and scholar, consulted on the selection process. The 48-page color catalog includes an essay by nationally-known curator and scholar Kenneth R. Trapp, and a short piece by artist Ferne Jacobs.

Intertwined: Contemporary Baskets from the Sara and David Lieberman Collection is organized by the Arizona State University Art, Tempe, Arizona.

The ASU Art Museum is part of the Herberger College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University.

 

Media Contacts

Laura Addison, Curator of Contemporary Art

505-476-5118

laura.addison@state.nm.us

 

Steve Cantrell, PR Manager

505-476-1144

505-310-3539 – cell

steve.cantrell@state.nm.us

 

For more information about the exhibition, related events, and images visit our Media Center at http://media.museumofnewmexico.org/ and log in with your own user name and password to download text and high-res images.

 

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The New Mexico Museum of Art was founded in 1917 as the Art Gallery of the Museum of New Mexico. Housed in a spectacular Pueblo Revival building designed by I. H. and William M. Rapp, it was based on their New Mexico building at the Panama-California Exposition (1915). The museum's architecture inaugurated what has come to be known as "Santa Fe Style." For more than 90 years, the Museum has collected and exhibited work by leading artists from New Mexico and elsewhere. This tradition continues today with a wide-array of exhibitions with work from the world’s leading artists. The New Mexico Museum of Art brings the art of New Mexico to the world and the art of the world to New Mexico.

The New Mexico Museum of Art is a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

Information for the Public

Location: Santa Fe Plaza at 107 West Palace Avenue

Information: 505-476-5072 or visit www.nmartmuseum.org

Days/Times: Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Open Free on Fridays, 5:00-8:00 p.m., with the exception of major exhibition openings. Memorial Day through Labor Day the Museum is open on Mondays.

Admission: School groups free. Children 16 and under free. New Mexico residents with ID free on Sundays. New Mexico resident Senior Citizens (age 60+) with ID free Wednesdays. Museum Foundation members free. NM Veterans with 50% or greater disability free. Students with ID $1 discount. Single visit to one museum: $8.00 for non-state residents, $6.00 for New Mexico residents. Four-day pass to five museums including state-run museums in Santa Fe plus The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art $18.00. One-day pass for two museums (Museum of International Folk Art and Museum of Indian Arts and Culture OR New Mexico Museum of Art and Palace of the Governors) $12.00. Group rate for ten or more people: single visit $6.00, four-day pass $16.00.

 



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