Pulsating Patterns

This monthly talk show, a spin-off of the 2021 GLAMi award-winning series BMA x NMWA, connects viewers to NMWA and its mission to champion women artists. Join us as hosts from the museum interview special guests, including artists, educators and curators; consider topics relevant to our world; and offer insight into collaborations that the museum is fostering while its building is closed for renovation.

On this episode, museum staff members Virginia Treanor, associate curator, and Adrienne L. Gayoso, senior educator, welcome artist Barbara Takenaga, whose work is featured in NMWA’s special exhibition Positive Fragmentation: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, on view at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center through May 22, 2022. This episode centers on Takenaga’s expression of subjects from the cosmic to the cellular through a meticulous process of patterning. This discussion also celebrates Untitled (Belinda), the first work by Takenaga to be accessioned into NMWA’s collection.

Barbara Takenaga is the Mary A. and William Wirt Warren Professor of Art, Emerita, at Williams College. She divides her time between Williamstown, MA, and New York City, where she maintains a studio. Her work has been widely exhibited, at institutions including Mass MOCA, North Adams, MA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver; National Academy Museum, New York City; Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia; and International Print Center, New York City.

Takenaga’s most recent awards include the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in the field of Fine Arts, the Wauson Fellowship from the FOR-SITE Foundation, and the Eric Isenburger Annual Art Award from the National Academy Museum. She is represented in the permanent collections of the Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney; and Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, among others. She was born in North Platte, Nebraska.