Granite State Stuff : David Macaulay

Last Chance to See Building Books: The Art of David Macaulay At the Currier Museum of Art through June 14

AskLisa — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:30:00 GMT

The exhibition featuring the whimsical and enchanting original drawings, paintings, and sketches of best-selling author and illustrator David Macaulay is coming to a close at the Currier Museum of Art on Sunday, June 14.

Macaulay's gift for conveying complex concepts in a fun and understandable way has delighted children and adults for decades. He has a special genius for explaining the wonder of the way things work—from gadgets to gargantuan buildings—and for bringing readers on extraordinary journeys of the imagination. Building Books: The Art of David Macaulay is the first in-depth museum exhibition to explore the work and process of this popular artist.

"David Macaulay is one of the most creative and innovative artists working today. His books have inspired and intrigued more than two generations of readers around the world. We are delighted to bring his original work to northern New England," says director Susan Strickler.

Don't miss the opportunity to see this terrific family-friendly exhibition!

Building Books: The Art of David Macaulay has been organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The Currier Museum of Art presentation of the exhibition is supported in part by TD Charitable Foundation and RiverStone Resources LLC. Media sponsor is WZID.

About the artist:
As a young boy in Lancashire, England, David Macaulay was fascinated by the way objects are made and how they operate. Out of cigar boxes, he constructed elevators. Using yarn, he made intricate systems of moving cable cars. In 1988, using his remarkable talents for translating concepts and information to the printed page, he was asked to illustrate The Way Things Work: From Levers to Lasers. Macaulay has since expanded the book to include digital technology. The artist's books have sold two million copies in America and have been published in a dozen languages, and Cathedral, Castle, and Pyramid have been made into popular PBS television programs. Macaulay is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the Caldecott Medal and Honor Awards and a MacArthur Fellowship.

About the Currier:
The Currier Museum of Art (http://www.currier.org) is home to an internationally respected collection of European and American paintings, decorative arts, photographs and sculpture. New galleries showcase the collection of over 11,000 objects, including works by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, O'Keeffe, and Warhol. Visitors of all ages will enjoy the engaging traveling exhibitions, a series of dynamic programs ranging from music to lectures to hands-on art-making, an expanded gift shop and an airy café filled with light and equipped with WiFi. The associated Art Center offers studio classes, art camps and intensive workshops for all ages.

The Currier is located at 150 Ash Street, Manchester, New Hampshire and is wheelchair accessible. Museum hours are: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, 11-5; Saturday, 10-5. Closed Tuesday. Open 11-8 the first Thursday of each month. Museum admission: adults $10; seniors $9; students $8; children under 18 free. Free to all on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. To get more information, visit http://www.currier.org or call 603.669.6144, x 108.

Currier Family Day to Play, Art Center Fundraiser

AskLisa — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:28:00 GMT

Visit the Currier on May 30 from 1-5pm for a campus-wide day of family fun. Participate in hands-on art-making in the Art Center and Museum all afternoon. Learn how to create your own pottery, silk-screen a t-shirt to take home, participate in community weaving, add your artistic touch to a mural, get your face painted, or draw monster cartoons with Boston Herald's editorial cartoonist Jerry Holbert.

As a special highlight of the day, award-winning artist David Macaulay will demonstrate how he illustrates his books in the auditorium at 2pm (reserved seating required). After the demonstration, Macaulay will be available to sign his books.

While at the museum you can walk through the galleries and view the Macaulay exhibition, dance with your kids to the sounds of the "Toe Jam Puppet Band" at 3:30pm, and view and bid on special silent auction items in the lobby. The silent auction includes original works of art, international travel, local shows and restaurants, tickets to the Red Sox and other local sporting events, and a number of unique experiences. All proceeds benefit the programs of the Currier Art Center. The auction concludes at the museum on Thursday, June 4 at 7:30pm.

The day wraps up at the Art Center Gallery at 4:30pm with a celebration of the Art Center's 70th birthday. Enjoy some birthday cake and take your chance at a raffle for two seats to a Red Sox/ Tampa Bay Devil Rays game.

Family Day to Play Admission fee is $15 for all adults, $5 children (under 18). For an additional $2/person see David Macaulay demonstrate how he illustrates his books at 2pm in the auditorium. Space is limited for this special Macaulay program to support the Art Center Fundraiser, so purchase your tickets early.

All ticket proceeds fund the programs of the Currier Art Center.

About the Currier:
The Currier Museum of Art (http://www.currier.org) is home to an internationally respected collection of European and American paintings, decorative arts, photographs and sculpture. New galleries showcase the collection of over 11,000 objects, including works by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, O'Keeffe, and Warhol. Visitors of all ages will enjoy the engaging traveling exhibitions, a series of dynamic programs ranging from music to lectures to hands-on art-making, an expanded gift shop and an airy café filled with light and equipped with Wi-Fi. The associated Art Center offers studio classes, art camps and intensive workshops for all ages.

The Currier is located at 150 Ash Street, Manchester, New Hampshire and is wheelchair accessible. Museum hours are: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, 11-5; Saturday, 10-5. Closed Tuesday. Open 11-8 the first Thursday of each month. Museum admission: adults $10; seniors $9; students $8; children under 18 free. Free to all on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. To get more information, visit http://www.currier.org or call 603.669.6144, x 108.

April Schedule of Events at the Currier Museum of Art

AskLisa — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:54:00 GMT

The art of best-selling author and illustrator David Macaulay comes to the Currier in the new exhibition Building Books: The Art of David Macaulay, on view through June 14. The exhibition includes over 100 original works of art, including illustrations from his highly acclaimed 2008 book The Way We Work, studies, sketchbook, models, manuscripts, and a video documentary about the artist. Also on view through May 10 are A Passionate Collector: Highlights from the Robert Cross Vergobbi Bequest and Function and Sculpture: Building a Ceramics Collection.

The museum's entrance is located at 150 Ash Street and parking is available in the new parking lot. Museum hours are Sunday, Monday, Wednesday - Friday 11a.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., open the first Thursday of each month 11 a.m. – 8 p.m., and closed Tuesday. Admission to the museum is always free for children 17 and under, and every Saturday from 10 a.m. – noon admission is free to everyone.

The Currier Art Center offers art classes and vacation camps for all ages.

To find more information, visit http://www.currier.org or call 603.669.6144, x108.

Currier Museum of Art Presents David Macaulay Exhibition

AskLisa — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:32:00 GMT

Building Books: The Art of David Macaulay on view March 7 - June 14, 2009

The whimsical and enchanting original drawings, paintings, and sketches of best-selling author and illustrator David Macaulay are the subject of the Currier Museum's major spring exhibition, which opens March 7 Macaulay's gift for conveying complex concepts in a fun and understandable way has delighted children and adults for decades. He has a special genius for explaining the wonder of the way things work—from gadgets to gargantuan buildings—and for bringing readers on extraordinary journeys of the imagination. Building Books: The Art of David Macaulay is the first in-depth museum exhibition to explore the work and process of this popular artist.

"David Macaulay is one of the most creative and innovative artists working today. His books have inspired and intrigued more than two generations of readers around the world. We are delighted to bring his original work to northern New England," says director Susan Strickler.

The exhibition presents a diverse range of materials, including over 100 original works of art, studies, sketchbooks, book dummies, manuscripts and correspondence, artifacts (including hand-built ship models), stuffed specimens, reference materials, travel mementos, and a video documentary about the artist, produced for the exhibition by the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Macaulay's books, which bring together the worlds of art, history, science and fantasy include The Way Things Work, The New Way Things Work, Unbuilding, Cathedral, Castle, City, Mill, Ship, Mosque, Rome Antics, Angelo, Black and White as well as his newest book released in fall 2008 entitled The Way We Work.

The exhibition has been divided into three significant aspects of Macaulay's work: "Big Ideas," "Building Ship: Exploring the Artist's Process," and "Journey Books: The Evolution of Ideas." "Big Ideas" explores the mechanics of everyday objects, the construction of the world's most complex architectural structures, and the intricacies of the human body. Viewers will learn about Macaulay's evolution as an artist and his innate desire to understand and explain how and why objects and structures come to be. Dramatic, original drawings from such classic books as The Way Things Work, Mill, City, Underground, Unbuilding, Pyramid, Mosque, and Cathedral, will be featured.

"Building Ship: Exploring the Artist's Process" examines the creation of a book from concept, research, and preliminary layouts to finished art and text Through images and artifacts relating to David Macaulay's 1993 book Ship, about boat building and maritime archaeology, this section of the exhibition offers insights into the artist's creative process through ship models, artifacts, studies, drawings, photographs, and finished art.

"Journey Books: The Evolution of Ideas" looks at the unpredictable and often frustrating nature of the evolution of ideas. Original paintings, drawings, sketches, book dummies and manuscripts will be presented from works inspired by Macaulay's love of travel and his appreciation for journeys of the imagination, including Rome Antics, Angelo, Shortcut, Why the Chicken Crossed the Road, Baaa, and Black and White.

A series of family-friendly programming accompanies the exhibition. Visit http://www.currier.org for details.

Building Books: The Art of David Macaulay has been organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The Currier Museum of Art presentation of the exhibition is supported in part by TD Charitable Foundation and RiverStone Resources LLC.

About the artist:
As a young boy in Lancashire, England, David Macaulay was fascinated by the way objects are made and how they operate. Out of cigar boxes, he constructed elevators. Using yarn, he made intricate systems of moving cable cars. In 1988, using his remarkable talents for translating concepts and information to the printed page, he was asked to illustrate The Way Things Work: From Levers to Lasers. Macaulay has since expanded the book to include digital technology. The artist's books have sold two million copies in America and have been published in a dozen languages, and Cathedral, Castle, and Pyramid have been made into popular PBS television programs. Macaulay is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the Caldecott Medal and Honor Awards and a MacArthur Fellowship.

About the Currier:
The Currier Museum of Art (www.currier.org) is home to an internationally respected collection of European and American paintings, decorative arts, photographs and sculpture. New galleries showcase the collection of over 11,000 objects, including works by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, O'Keeffe, and Warhol. Visitors of all ages will enjoy the engaging traveling exhibitions, a series of dynamic programs ranging from music to lectures to hands-on art-making, an expanded gift shop and an airy café filled with light and equipped with WiFi. The associated Art Center offers studio classes, art camps and intensive workshops for all ages.

The Currier is located at 150 Ash Street, Manchester, New Hampshire and is wheelchair accessible. Museum hours are: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, 11-5; Saturday, 10-5. Closed Tuesday. Open 11-8 the first Thursday of each month. Museum admission: adults $10; seniors $9; students $8; children under 18 free. Free to all on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. To get more information, visit http://www.currier.org or call 603.669.6144, x 108.