WORKSHOPS

 

walter gropius masters workshops

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The Walter Gropius Master Artist Series is funded through the generosity of the Estate of Roxanna Y. Booth, who wished to assist in the development of an art education program in accordance with the proposals of Walter Gropius, who designed the Museum's Gropius Addition, as well as the Gropius Studios. The Museum is indebted to Roxanna Booth's son, Alex, for his participation in the concept development of the Gropius Master Artist Workshops.

Workshop fees -- Workshop fee, which includes materials, is $225 for non-members; $195 for Museum Members; $165 for teachers; and $120 for students. Meet-and-greet, first-day breakfast and daily lunch included in the workshop fee.

How to enroll -- Registration must be received at least 3 days in advance of the class starting date. All checks should be made to the Huntington Museum of Art. Most major credit cards are accepted by fax, phone, mail or in person. For more information, call (304) 529-2701.

Walter Gropius Masters Workshop Series Presents:
Thorney Lieberman

Exhibition: May 17-August 3, 2008

Public Lecture: 7 p.m. Friday, May 30, 2008
Workshop: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 30-June 1, 2008

“Several Arguments with Photography:
Thorney Lieberman, Photographs 1968-2008”

Thorney Lieberman, Paint Can, 1976. Photograph with paint, 16" x 20". Image courtesy of the artist.

“Throughout its history, photography has been inexorably and unselfconsciously tied to subject matter. Without a second thought, a photograph of a beautiful sunset is widely considered a beautiful photograph. My primary argument, which we will explore in the workshop, is that if photography is to further develop (pun intended) contemporary photographers need to look beyond subject matter.

It’s my contention that subject matter as the main event - or more often, the only event - has been exhausted. After all, Edward Weston elevated the mundane object to a monumental photograph in the 1930s, marking photography’s last great breakthrough.

And if indeed photography has reached its saturation point with the world in front of the lens, where do we go with this medium? What beckons to be explored? Perhaps we need to focus inward, on photography itself.

If you look at the history of painting, you see that painters were forced long ago to move beyond subject matter, beyond addressing the world around them. In order to move their medium forward, they took up issues of perception, perspective, picture plane, psychology, illusion and paint itself. Photography is comparatively young and so has barely begun to make this transition.

To that end, this workshop will examine aspects that are unique to photography, exploring for example the photograph as a slice of time, the translation of three-dimensional space to a two-dimensional representation, and the interpolation of scale (from the “big” world to the “small” print).

Even as we argue with photography, we will address the traditional issues of composition, framing, quality, the use of light, and as much Photoshop® as you can handle! I will be available throughout - to both critique and coach.”

Thorney Lieberman Background

Photographer Thorney Lieberman has consistently engaged the inherent possibilities and contradictions of his medium over the course of his impressive career. Since earning a B.A. from Bard College in 1968, Lieberman’s focus has expanded from mere subject matter to include the complexities of photography and its relation to issues of time, space, and scale. His work has ranged from representational and conceptual pieces in the 1970s, to scenes from New York City in the 1980s and Colorado landscapes in the 1990s, to his recent focus on Native Americans in the new millennium, and his current project to capture the gritty reality of the lives of West Virginia coal miners. His exhibition at the Huntington Museum of Art will serve as a retrospective of Lieberman’s career.

Lieberman’s work has been shown several times at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, The Brooklyn Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, as well as the Bibilothèque Nationale in Paris. During the 1970s and 80s, Lieberman photographed architecture professionally, working for many notable firms including I.M. Pei and Partners. In 1990, Abbeville Press published a compilation of some of his New York scenes in the book, Manhattan Lightscape. His work is held in collections internationally.