Collaborative Community Programming at the Addison

The Addison Gallery of American Art is fortunate to have a number of creative and inspirational community partners. The Merrimack Valley is chock-full of arts and programming, and the education department has recently partnered with three nearby institutions to create unique programming for our audiences.

Our first scheduled collaborative program this winter is presented with the Rogers Center for the Arts at Merrimack College, where the Bridgeman/Packer Dance Company will be presenting their piece, VOYEUR, on Friday, February 22 at 7:30 pm. VOYEUR is a combination of live and virtual aspects and is inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper. Noting Bridgeman/Packer’s inspiration and the Addison’s fine collection of paintings by Hopper, the museum will be hosting Community Conversation: Hopper Realism, and Quiet Moments in the Addison’s Museum Learning Center at 6:00 pm on Thursday, February 7. For this program, we will present the Addison’s Hopper paintings Manhattan Bridge Loop; Freight Cars, Gloucester Cars; and Railroad Train; along with artworks by Hopper’s contemporaries. After providing some background information, the audience will be asked to share thoughts, ideas, and observations with the group. Please note: There is currently a waiting list for this program. To sign up for the wait list please e-mail kziskin@andover.edu. Tickets to VOYEUR may be purchased online.

Also this season, we are proud to partner with the Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) in Lowell in recognition of Red, the Tony Award-winning play about painter Mark Rothko by John Logan. In this fiery and fiercely funny drama, a lucrative commission challenges Rothko’s aesthetic, and he and his young assistant must work feverishly to blend art and commerce. In honor of Red, the Addison’s Eye on the Collection and Stone, Wood, Metal, Mesh: Prints and Printmaking exhibitions this season include works of art by the artists referenced in the play, including Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, and others. Red runs at the MRT February 14 through March 10; tickets may be purchased at tickets.mrt.org. Friends of the Addison are eligible for a $5 discount on adult tickets to Red. To join the Friends of the Addison, please visit our website.

Finally, we are pleased to present a program with long-term collaborators, Andover’s Memorial Hall Library. In conjunction with their Women’s Month programming in March, the Addison will host Community Conversation: Women in Photography in the Museum Learning Center on March 26 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. The Addison’s first photography acquisition was a work by Margaret Bourke-White. Together, audience participants and I will explore photographs made by women photographers from the Addison’s permanent collection and discuss why many of them were pioneers in the field. Space is limited, please register online.

We look forward to an enlightening series of programs with our collaborators this season.

--Kait Ziskin, Education Fellow for School and Community Collaboration