Inspired by George Inness: Life and Landscape

Studio Montclair (SMI) and the Montclair Art Museum (MAM) will be partnering again this year to create a unique exhibition of art  inspired by a new installation of works by George Inness curated from MAM’s extensive collection. MAM’s collection is regarded by the renowned Inness scholar and local resident, Dr. Adrienne Baxter Bell as “the greatest collection of Inness paintings in the world.”

Inness believed that natural forms were manifestations of the divine; he referred to this spiritual dimension as “the reality of the unseen.” A master of essentials, he felt that a literal copying of nature would record only its transitory and fragmentary aspects.

We invite artists to be inspired by master painter George Inness, his colors, his subject matter, his style, his spirituality, etc…

Use this link to view MAM’s virtual George Innes gallery and listen to insightful commentary by Adrienne Baxter Bell: https://montclairartmuseum.org/george-inness-adrienne-baxter-bell

Studio Montclair’s Virginia S. Block Community Partnership Exhibition Program
This exhibition is the fifth in SMI’s Community Partnership Exhibition Program created by cofounder and past president Virginia S. Block. The partnership aims to reach out to other nonprofit organizations each year to create a collaborative exhibition designed to inspire our members, create new connections, and reach new audiences.

About the Montclair Art Museum
The Montclair Art Museum, together with its Vance Wall Art Education Center, engages our diverse community through distinctive exhibitions, educational programs, and collections of American and Native American art. Our mission is to inspire and engage people of all ages in their experience with art, including the rich inter-cultural and global connections throughout American history, and the continuing relevance of art to contemporary life.

CURATORS
Virginia S. Block is a native of New Jersey. She holds a B.A. in Art Education and M.A. from William Paterson University. Ms. Block is one of the five co-founders of Studio Montclair and served as its first president from 1997 – 2002, she also served as Studio Montclair’s gallery director from 2010 – 2018. Block’s work is included in hundreds of corporate and private collections throughout the east coast and the mid-west. She has had a long and varied art career, including positions in teaching, package and logo design and director of incentive marketing for an advertising company. Throughout this time, she has continued to develop her career as a fine artist.

Ira Wagner, Executive Director, Montclair Art Museum.  A Montclair resident for more than 30 years,  Ira began studying photography in 2008, after working on Wall Street for more than 25 years.  With an interest in urban history and design, he has focused on photographing the urban landscape.  He received his MFA from the Hartford Art School in 2013 and has taught photography at Monmouth University in New Jersey.  His project Houseraising, photographs of houses being raised on the Jersey Shore following Hurricane Sandy, was featured in The New Republic, The National Geographic, and was released in a photobook by Daylight Books in 2018.  

VENUE
This joint exhibition will be displayed concurrently at two locations in Montclair: the Leach Gallery, Studio Montclair’s newest  3,000 square foot gallery located at 641 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair; and MAM’s Vance Wall Art Education Center gallery. Museum’s Vance Wall Art Education Center arcades. It is expected that only 2-D work will be considered for exhibition in the Museum’s gallery.

The openings at both locations will coincide on September 9, 2022.