For Immediate Release
March 6, 2006
Contact:
Joby DeCoster 781/259-3663, jdecoster@decordova.org
The Search for Self
A Lecture by Artist James Surls
Dewey Family Gallery
Thursday, April 6, 2006 at 6 pm
LINCOLN, MA—Renowned contemporary American sculptor James Surls’s animistic sculptures derive from the forces, imagery, and materials of nature. He makes art that embodies the inherent dualities of natural forces. His work is simultaneously joyously optimistic and darkly expressionistic. His signature forms and images, such as diamond shapes, whirling vortexes, needles, knives, and houses, infuse highly personalized folk idioms with the aesthetics of high modernism.
This year’s Paul J. Cronin Memorial Lecture, The Search for Self, has been planned in conjunction with DeCordova’s showing of James Surls: The Splendora Years, 1977–1997, an exhibition organized by Terrie Sultan, Director of Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston. Mr. Surls will show slides of past and recent work and talk about his psychological journey as an artist, why he does what he does, and how his art comes from his deep personal world.
A book signing will immediately follow the lecture.
DeCordova’s annual Paul J. Cronin Memorial Lectures were established in 1981 to consider topics that are broadly focused upon changing attitudes towards contemporary art. They are made possible by a generous grant from the Grover Cronin Memorial Foundation.
Registration Information
Space is limited and reservations are requested. Tickets will be held at the door. The lecture will be held at DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in the Dewey Family Gallery on Thursday, April 6, 2006. Tickets are $8 for Members and students with valid ID, $10 for Non-Members. For reservations, please call 781/259-3629. The lecture begins at 6 pm; Museum doors open at 5:30 pm.
About James Surls
James Surls was born in East Texas in 1943 and graduated from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas before achieving his Masters of Fine Arts at Cranbook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In 1969 he returned to Texas to teach sculpture at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, before moving to Houston in 1976 to teach sculpture at the University of Houston. From 1977 to 1997 he lived and worked in Splendora, Texas, in an evolving compound of buildings including living and studio space. Surls was given the Living Legend Award by the Dallas Visual Art Center in 1993. In 1991, he was named Texas Artist of the Year by the Art League of Houston. Since 1998 he and his family have lived in Colorado. Surls has had solo exhibitions at museums throughout the country and his work is represented in many museum collections, among them the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. From March 30 – April 22, 2006, his new work will be featured in a solo show at the Charles Cowles Gallery in New York City.
General Information
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park is a museum of modern and contemporary American art with a particular focus on the work of New England artists. It features the only public sculpture park of its kind in New England and the largest non-degree granting studio art program in the state. DeCordova opened in 1950 on the former estate of Julian de Cordova, a Boston entrepreneur and art collector.
DeCordova Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm and on selected Monday holidays. General admission during Museum hours is $9 for adults, $6 for senior citizens, students, and youth ages 6–12. Children age 5 and under, Lincoln residents, and Active Duty Military Personnel and their dependents are admitted free. The Sculpture Park is open year round during daylight hours. The Store @ DeCordova and the School Gallery are open Monday through Thursday, 9:30 am to 7:30 pm, Friday through Saturday, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, and Sunday 11:30 am to 5:30 pm. The Café @ DeCordova is open Tuesday from noon to 3 pm, and Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm. Free guided public tours of the Museum's main galleries take place every Thursday at 1 and Sunday at 2 pm. Free tours of the Sculpture Park are given on Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm from May to October. Visit www.decordova.org or call 781/259-8355 for further information. This press release is available electronically on our Web site.
2006 marks the 100th anniversary of the American Association of Museums and has been designated the Year of the Museum. AAM's annual meeting will take place in Boston from April 27 – May 1. Learn more at www.aam-us.org.
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Images for Press
Please use caption and photo credit with any images.
James Surls
Photo Credit: Mark Wilson
James Surls
Pass
1977
Heart pine, red oak
60" x 30" x 31"
Collection Ted Pillsbury, Dallas
James Surls
Being in the Needle’s Eye
1981
Oak, pine, rattan
84" x 108" x 66"
Collection Ted Pillsbury, Dallas
