If you go
› What: “Once & Again: Still Lifes by Beth Lipman.”› When: Opens Friday, March 11.› Where: Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View.› Admission: $15 nonmember adults, free for children and members.› Phone: 423-267-0968.› Website: www.huntermuseum.org.
About Beth Lipman
› Recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, a United States Artist Berman Bloch Fellowship and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, among others.› She has exhibited internationally. Her works are collected by numerous museums, including the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Detroit Institute of Arts in Michigan, the Jewish Museum in New York, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga.
Hunter Museum of American Art has peppered the calendar with five events in three days – four of them centered on a new exhibition.
The main event is the opening of “Once & Again: Still Lifes by Beth Lipman,” featuring large-scale, three-dimensional sculptures of dazzling glass inspired by 17th-century Baroque still-life paintings. Curators say “Once & Again” reflects the themes and processes explored during Lipman’s entire career, such as the superabundance of contemporary culture, consumerism, decay and materiality.
The Wisconsin-based artist finds inspiration in European master paintings and draws links between past and present, expanding beyond still life to incorporate elements of portraiture and the landscape into her intricate works. The results are provocative pieces that transcend the glittering beauty of glass and speak about issues relevant to contemporary life.
Also featured in the exhibition are photographs taken during a residency in Alaska in 2014, unique because Lipman placed her clear glass pieces directly into the landscape, turning the still-life object into a portrait. With some of her photographic work, the artist destroys and recycles the glass, further commenting on the inability of things to satisfy, the fragility of life and our role in the natural cycle.
“Once & Again” is the largest presentation of Lipman’s work to date. It is organized by the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Alabama.
At a glance
“Once & Again: Still Lifes by Beth Lipman” goes on view Friday, March 11. The following events will be held in conjunction.
* Vision and Verse: The Art of Beth Lipman, 6-7:30 p.m. today, March 10. This new spoken-word poetry and art series opens with regional poet Erika Blackmon, whose performance is inspired by a glass piece by artist Beth Lipman. A discussion follows.
* Art Wise: Distinguished Speakers Series, 6-7:30 p.m. Friday, March 11. Artist Beth Lipman discusses her work.
* Reception for “The Painter’s Hand: The Art of Adolph Gottlieb,” 6-7:30 p.m. Friday, March 11. The official reception for the new exhibition of works by Adolph Gottlieb, which opened last week, will take place during the Art Wise gathering.
* The Science of Art, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, March 12 (repeats Saturday, March 19). The Hunter is partnering with teens in the Museum Apprenticeship Program at Creative Discovery Museum to connect families with STEM-inspired discussions of the Beth Lipman exhibition, followed by a studio activity. The interactive tours are created just for families, particularly for youth ages 8-12, though younger children can join. The hour-long programs start at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. To reserve a spot, email Rachel White, assistant curator of education, at rwhite@huntermuseum.org. Limited space will be available for drop-in families each hour of the tour.