Collection Dialogues: The Addison’s Architectural Legacy

On May 18th, Susan Faxon, Associate Director and Curator of Art Before 1950, presented The Addison’s Architectural Legacy, the first in a series of three Collection Dialogues. Beginning with a discussion of the architecture and landscape planning of the Addison’s architect Charles Platt, who was also responsible for the sweeping redesign of the Phillips Academy campus from 1923-1932, Susan led us through the design decisions for the Addison’s expansion and restoration by Centerbrook Architects and Planners, completed in 2009. Her presentation concluded with a discussion of the current roof project by Robert Olson and Associates.

Along with drawings by the architects involved in the Addison’s restoration and expansion and the roof project, Susan presented oil paintings from the Addison collection by Platt, including Cornish Garden (A Garden in Snow), shown above, which reveals Platt’s continuing interest in the relationship between landscape and architecture. Photographs taken by Platt during visits to Italy shed light on the design aesthetic of the classically-inspired architect whose vision shaped not only the Addison and the Andover campus, but the Freer Gallery of Art, the Lyman Allen Museum, the campuses of the University of Illinois, Rochester, and Dartmouth, and numerous notable homes and villas.

We hope you’ll join us for our two upcoming Collection Dialogues:

Wednesday 1 June 6:30 pm
Conservation Discoveries and Quandaries
with Allison Kemmerer, Curator of Art After 1950 and of Photography
A “beneath-the-surface” examination of the intriguing and complicated conservation challenges facing curators, using examples from the Addison collection such as paintings by Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, and James McNeill Whistler, watercolors by Winslow Homer, and albums by John LaFarge and Peter Sekaer

Thursday 16 June 3:00 pm
American and British Silver
with Brian Allen, The Mary Stripp and R. Crosby Kemper Director
Be among the first to see a newly acquired teapot that belonged to Phillips Academy founders Phoebe Foxcroft Phillips and Samuel Phillips, Jr., along with other examples of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century silver

For more information, please visit our website.

Taking the Show on the Road

In spite of the galleries being closed, the Addison’s education team has been busy as ever with preK-12 classes from Phillips Academy, Andover, Lawrence and even as far as Exeter and Everett. Whether in the Museum Learning Center or on the road, we continue to use the extraordinary resources of the Addison to foster and support creative teaching practices while complementing and connecting various academic subjects.

In the Museum Learning Center

Using works from the permanent collection, Phillips Academy history, English, art, and theater classes have explored everything from the Civil Rights Movement, to the history of photography, to ships and pirates. The Andover Youth Services Girls Leadership group explored gender identity while Exeter, NH High School investigated class identity during their visits to the MLC. The wall drawings of Sol LeWitt were the inspiration for a teacher workshop that demonstrated how process documentation can further both teacher and student learning. And, teachers from as far as Beijing participated in the “Museums as Center of Integrative Learning” session at PA’s Global Education Conference.

In the Community

Artist Wendy Ewald continues to be an inspiration to us as we take photography and writing projects into schools and communities. Second and fourth grade classes at the Frost School in Lawrence have been working on “Best Part of Me” projects featuring self-made photographs of their favorite body parts with accompanying poetry and prose that celebrate their bodies and minds. “Who I Am/What I Do” was our theme at the Andover Bread Loaf Writing Conference at Lawrence Community Works/Movement City on Saturday. As the high school participants made photographs that reflected both their identities and actions, we also brainstormed about public places where we might display mural-size enlargements of the images.

Sheila Hicks is another artist who continues to be an inspiration, even though her exhibition has since traveled to the ICA in Philadelphia . A weaving studio has been set up in the waiting area at Essex Art Center, so parents and their children can weave together on a community loom. Two classrooms which have caught the weaving bug are coming together in June to share their weaving projects, join forces in a collaborative artwork, and create an exhibit for parents and community members. Look for more information and an invitation to see weavings from The Children’s Place in Andover and the Oliver School in Lawrence – and perhaps contribute to collaborative projects in public places!

Collection Dialogues
Museum Learning Center, Addison Gallery of American Art

The Addison is pleased to announce a Special Series of Collection Dialogues, free and open to the public, to be held in the Museum Learning Center in the Addison’s Sidney R. Knafel Wing.

Wednesday, May 18, 6:30pm
The Addison’s Architectural Legacy
with Susan Faxon, Associate Director and Curator of Art Before 1950
A discussion of the confluence of three architectural projects: the original 1931 Addison Gallery of American Art building by Charles Platt, the recent addition by Centerbrook Architects and Planners, and the roof renovation by Robert Olson & Associates.

Wednesday, June 1, 6:30pm
Conservation Discoveries and Quandaries
with Allison Kemmerer, Curator of Art After 1950 and of Photography
A "beneath-the-surface" examination of the intriguing and complicated conservation challenges facing curators, using examples from the Addison collection such as paintings by Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, and James McNeill Whistler, watercolors by Winslow Homer, and albums by John LaFarge and Peter Sekaer.

Thursday, June 16, 3:00pm
American and British Silver
with Brian Allen, The Mary Stripp and R. Crosby Kemper Director
Be among the first to see a newly acquired teapot that belonged to Phillips Academy founders Phoebe Foxcroft Phillips and Samuel Phillips, Jr., along with other examples of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century silver.

Museum Learning Center Access
Entrance to the Museum Leaning Center is through Elson Art Center across from the Andover Inn. Enter by Kemper Auditorium and proceed to the top of the stairs. For wheelchair access, enter by the loading dock through the metal mesh door across from the Chapel Avenue parking lot.