Artist Spotlight

View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.
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Artist Spotlight: Evangeline “EJ” Montgomery

Posted: January 10, 2018
Category: Artist Spotlight
Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today places abstract works by multiple generations of black women artists in context with one another—and within the larger history of abstract art—for...
A woman with medium-dark skin and short, gray hair sits before a yellow and white painting. She wears a black shirt with rhinestones and looks slightly to her right, smiling into the distance.

Artist Spotlight: Chakaia Booker

Posted: December 31, 2017
Category: Artist Spotlight
Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today places abstract works by multiple generations of black women artists in context with one another—and within the larger history of abstract art—for...
An installation shot of a gallery shows several art pieces in the room. On the left, there is a sculpture made from black rubber tires sits on a. The black rubber tires are shaped and distorted in way that they create an organic form, resembling an insect or an alien-like figure.

Artist Spotlight: Alma Woodsey Thomas

Posted: December 30, 2017
Category: Artist Spotlight
Learn more about Alma Woodsey Thomas and her work Orion (1973), which is featured in the current NMWA exhibition Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today.
A view of a gallery space with a painting and a sculpture hanging on white walls. The painting on the left is a large, red canvas with little dots in a darker color in vertical lines.

Artist Spotlight: Mildred Thompson

Posted: December 5, 2017
Category: Artist Spotlight
Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today places abstract works by multiple generations of black women artists in context with one another—and within the larger history of abstract art—for...
An installation shot of a gallery with a large painting hanging on the wall. Abstract painting features a vivid yellow background covered by circles, daubs, and straight and wavy lines in red, orange, cobalt, sky blue, and violet. Arcing red strokes evoke concentric circles. Straight lines in other hues radiate out from the center circle like a starburst.

A Cut Above: Kiki Kogelnik

Posted: December 4, 2017
Category: Artist Spotlight
Learn more about Austrian-born artist Kiki Kogelnik, whose work Superwoman (1973) is now on view in the museum.
A monumental figure sports a gray camouflage jumpsuit, black army boots, red gloves, and an aviator cap with goggles. Legs splayed, the standing figure wields oversized, white scissors open in an X-shape. The linear style, bulbous eyewear, and cartoonish weapon evoke comic books.

Artist Spotlight: Shinique Smith

Posted: November 29, 2017
Category: Artist Spotlight
Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today places abstract works by multiple generations of black women artists in context with one another—and within the larger history of abstract art—for...
An installation shot of a gallery with a large square sculpture in the middle of the room. The square sculpture is as tall as person and the surface is covered in textiles, possibly shirts, dyed in different colors. On top, the textiles are white, and they slowly fade into a lilac and blue hue. The change of color has an ombre-effect.

Artist Spotlight: Nanette Carter

Posted: November 16, 2017
Category: Artist Spotlight
Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today places abstract works by multiple generations of black women artists in context with one another—and within the larger history of abstract art—for...
A woman with a medium-dark skin tone and long, dark hair stands in a gallery before a couple of people next to an art piece hanging on the wall. The art piece is a structure made of a variety of shapes stacked on top of each other in different colors and with different textures. The brushstrokes are visible, giving the piece an interesting texture. The colors are vibrant against the white background.

Hung Liu: Restoring Memory

Posted: November 10, 2017
Category: Artist Spotlight
Born in 1948, a year before the Chinese Communist party came to power, Hung Liu grew up in an environment that discouraged apolitical personal expression.
A square painting with layered, dripping textures of a Chinese woman with dark hair and a traditional dress. She gazes straightforward at the viewer. In front of her, a tree branch extends upward and a bird perches on the end of it. The background consists of two different shades of blue and on the left side of the canvas an open-mouthed fish points towards the woman.

Artist Spotlight: Maren Hassinger

Posted: November 9, 2017
Category: Artist Spotlight
Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today places abstract works by multiple generations of black women artists in context with one another—and within the larger history of abstract art—for...
A woman with a light skin tone and gray, short hair is standing in a gallery space next to a sculpture lying on the ground. The sculpture is a large, round shape, and a smaller, round ball of newspapers folded into thin tubes and tied together. The many tubes tied together look like brushes made from newspaper. They are black and white with some pops of color in between.

Spotlight: Mary Lovelace O’Neal

Posted: October 17, 2017
Category: Artist Spotlight
Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today places abstract works by multiple generations of black women artists in context with one another—and within the larger history of abstract art—for...
A view of a gallery with white walls and a gray floor. A large canvas with colorful brushstrokes takes up almost the entire wall. On a gray background, brushstrokes in pink, red, blue, and brown take up half of the canvas, while the other half remains gray.