The Richard F. Brush Art Gallery will present two exhibitions showcasing artwork by notable western artists, recent acquisitions by women and BIPOC artists, and photographs of the collars worn by late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on display beginning Monday, Oct. 18, through Thursday, Dec. 9.
The exhibitions are open to the public and any visitors inside the art gallery are required to wear a mask. For up-to-date St. Lawrence masking policies and guidelines, please visit the Always Forward website.
Looking Back, Looking Forward: Highlights from St. Lawrence University’s Permanent Collection
To welcome Kathryn A. Morris as the 19th president of St. Lawrence University, Looking Back, Looking Forward will feature selected works of art from the Gallery’s permanent collection created by notable western artists of the past 75 years and recent acquisitions by women and BIPOC artists.
Looking Back will feature a range of modernist genres from figurative drawing and landscape painting to pure abstraction including works by several artists of the Western art historical canon as well as one-of-a-kind drawings and paintings by 20th-century artists Milton Avery, Isabel Bishop, Willem de Kooning, Paul Klee, Reginald Marsh, Henry Moore, and David Smith.
Looking Forward will showcase ceramic vessels by regional Akwesasne Mohawk artists Katsitsionni Fox and Natasha Santiago Smoke, as well as a large quilt by Iakonikonriiosta illustrating the Haudenosaunee Creation Story. In addition, paintings by six Mexican indigenous artists in the Kjoaetzen Colectivo depict aspects of the Mazatec agricultural calendar with a particular emphasis on the cultural importance of corn in order to nurture and protect ancestral wisdom. A selection of Japanese-style mokuhanga water-based prints by contemporary women artists is also featured in the exhibition.
The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Collars: Photographs by Elinor Carucci
The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the second woman to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States and she regularly wore distinctive collars which encoded meaning into her dress. The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Collars: Photographs by Elinor Carucci exhibit will feature images of Ginsburg’s collars, commissioned by TIME magazine in 2020, from her early penchant for traditional lace jabots to necklaces made of beads, shells, and metalwork from around the world.
The exhibition is presented in conjunction with the exhibit welcoming Kathryn A. Morris as St. Lawrence University’s 19th president, noting the connection between Ginsburg and Morris each being the second woman to hold their respective positions.
Named in recognition of the generosity of Richard F. Brush '52, the Gallery is an academic resource of St. Lawrence University. Rotating exhibitions showcase the visual arts and other forms of creative expression by regional, national, and international artists. The gallery is free and open to the public during the academic year.