Fall 2015 Exhibitions
September 25, 2015 to January 3, 2016
Curators: Michele Ellis Pracy, FAM Executive Director & Chief Curator, and Kristina Hornback, FAM Curator
A Professor and Chair of the Roski School of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California where she has taught since 1986, Margaret Lazzari is the Fresno Art Museum’s Council of 100 Distinguished Woman Artist of 2015. A classically trained painter who received her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, Lazzari’s works are abstractions that can be interpreted as metaphors for moments in life involving transformation, upheaval, or energized states. Curated by Michele Ellis Pracy, FAM Executive Director & Chief Curator, and Kristina Hornback, Curator, the selected paintings employ bold color juxtaposed with free flowing forms and expressive brushstrokes and range from monumental to intimate. In the words of the artist, “painting is another word for feeling.”
Images: Margaret Lazzari, Water Cycle, 2012 and Copper Landscape II, 2015, acrylic on canvas
Exhibition Support: Fresno Art Museum's Council of 100
September 25, 2015 to January 3, 2016
Curator: Jay Belloli
In recognition of the legacy of local photographer Hanna S. Barsam, the Fresno Art Museum is proud to host a biennial photography exhibition with the generous support of the Hanna S. Barsam Estate Funds of the Fresno Regional Foundation
Guest curated by Jay Belloli, former director of the gallery programs at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, the theme of the 2015 Hanna S. Barsam Photography Invitational is Urban California. Mr. Belloli has selected eleven photographers from Southern California, Central California, and the San Francisco Bay Area to take part in this exhibition. Each selected photographer explores the urban experience and the human reaction to the man-made environment as captured through a lens. Just as Mr. Barsam was known for his innovative and often avant-garde approach to photography, this invitational showcases photographers that push the envelope with regards to technique and subject matter.
Images: Connie Samaras, Edge of Twilight 16, 2010-2013, archival pigment print, courtesy of the Artist and DeSoto Gallery; and Mark Swope, Los Angeles, CA (M02-0014), 2002, archival pigment print, courtesy of the Artist and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, California.
September 25, 2015 to January 3, 2016
The eight works exhibited in from The Lake were realized while Ron Wigginton lived temporarily at Morris Graves’ studio, “The Lake”, as an artist-in-residence over a three-week period. Cocooned in Morris Graves’ highly personal physical environment, Wigginton was inspired to make these particular paintings and to keep a journal of his accompanying thoughts.
Morris Graves' retreat served to support and enhance the creativity of Ron Wigginton by providing him uninterrupted time for work and reflection in a setting of intimate natural beauty. Included in this exhibition are two artworks by Morris Graves, objects from his studio and house, generously loaned by the Morris Graves Foundation.
Images: Ron Wigginton, Full and Empty Form, 2011, co-polymer, dye, colored pencils and metalics on 140 pound cold press Arches paper; and Bridge (Sambhogakaya), 2011, co-polymer, dye and metalics on Persimmon paper
September 25, 2015 to January 3, 2016
The portfolio exhibited here, entitled Insetos, was created by California artist Bob Nugent. It consists of twenty etchings, each watercolored by hand, depicting the colorful and diverse insect life that make their home in the Amazon Basin. Accompanying the renderings of the Amazonian insects is a poem by Donn Brannon, a National Humanities Scholar poet. The portfolio is part of the Fresno Art Museum's permanent collection.
September 25, 2015 to August 28, 2016
Contemporary Gallery
Curator: Susan Yost Filgate, FAM Education Director
Imaginary Worlds are places many of us visit through stories or images in books, movies, and dreams. They are realms where environments seem real, yet are not quite connected to our concrete world. They are make-believe, mysterious, and magical, and we can go there to escape and dream and imagine, whatever our age.
This exhibition was curated by FAM’s Education Director, Susan Yost Filgate in conjunction with the Kennedy Center's Any Given Child program with the Fresno County Office of Education. With this program, every third grader in Fresno Unified visits the Museum and learns about illustrators and illustrations. The exhibiting artists reveal imaginary worlds through their artwork, including engaging paintings by Leslie Batty and Leonard Filgate, colorful works on paper by Doug Hansen, Leslie Hawes and Bruno Pegoretti, and the amazing anamorphic sculpture of Karen Mortillaro.
Images: Bruno Pegoretti, The Mad Hatter's Tea Party, 2014, color pencil on paper; and Leonard Filgate, Tea Anyone? (from the Rip Squeak® Series) 2015, acrylic on canvas
Exhibition Support: Bonner Family Foundation