past exhibition
Distant Conversations: Ella Walker and Betty Woodman
Introducing the first of a new series of exhibitions entitled Distant Conversations
The Currier is thrilled to introduce a new exhibition series exploring intergenerational dialogues and artistic conversations between practitioners who have not necessarily met in real life but whose work similarly resonates despite their differences.
The exhibition combines the work of British artist Ella Walker (b. 1993, lives and works in London, UK) and American artist Betty Woodman (1930-2018), who use art-historical references in their work to revisit a male-dominated history of Western art and subvert its dominant narrative.
Walker’s imagery, very much like Woodman’s, collapses conventional readings of time. Both artists blend multiple styles to develop a visual language that becomes uniquely their own. The artistic dialogue between Walker and Woodman is recreated in the galleries by juxtaposing their work in a suggestive and poetic manner without rigid separations.
The exhibition features a dozen artworks by each artist, including ceramics, installations, canvases, and works on paper.
On view through Sunday, October 22, 2023.
Join us for a special evening program | Thursday, September 28 at 6 pm
Italian Connections: Ella Walker & Betty Woodman
Katarina Jerinic, Collections Curator at The Woodman Family Foundation, will offer deeper insight into how Betty Woodman’s time in Italy influenced her singular approach to ceramic sculpture, in concert with a presentation from the Currier’s Chief Curator Lorenzo Fusi highlighting the influence of Italian fresco on Ella Walker’s work.
Their remarks will be followed by a dialogue between the two presenters and a Q+A.
As a special addition to the evening, there will be a rare opportunity to see a small number of Ella Walker’s works in reverse, illuminating her unique working process of incorporating drawings and text on the verso.
About the Artists
Ella Walker was born in Manchester (UK) in 1993 and presently lives and works in London, UK. She studied Painting and Printmaking at the Glasgow School of Art (Glasgow, UK) and The Royal Drawing School in London. She participated in artist residencies at Palazzo Monti (Brescia, Italy); the Moritz/Heyman Residency Program in Volterra (Italy); and Dumfries House (Scotland, UK). The forthcoming exhibition at the Currier Museum of Art is the first presentation of Walker’s work in a US institution.
Betty Woodman (1930–2018) was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, raised in Newton, MA, and studied ceramics at the School for American Craftsmen in Alfred, New York from 1948–1950. Woodman was the subject of numerous solo exhibitions worldwide during her lifetime, including a 2006 retrospective at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York—the first time the museum dedicated a survey to a living female artist.
Betty Woodman. Santa Maria della Quercia, 2005. 89 x 86 x 9 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, terra sigillata, and canvas. Courtesy Woodman Family Foundation and David Kordansky Gallery. © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Ella Walker
Queen of the Night, 2022
Acrylic dispersion, pigment, chalk, and pencil on linen
82.68 x 55.12 x 7.87” / 210 x 140 x 20cm
© Ella Walker
Courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York
Photo: Jason Wyche
Betty Woodman. Fra Angelico’s Room 2, 2013. 86 x 86 x 11 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, canvas, and wood. Courtesy Woodman Family Foundation and David Kordansky Gallery. © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
upcoming exhibitions
past exhibitions
Archived material on past exhibitions can be explored further here, and recent past exhibition catalogues are available through the museum shop.
artist in residence
Our Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program invites artists to live and work at the museum. While in residence, artists consider the collection and community, and refresh our perspectives on the role of the museum. The program is central to the Currier Museum’s mission of connecting our audiences with art and creative thinking, whether of the past or the future. We hope to learn from our visiting artists – and be surprised by their perspectives.
Artists working in all media participate in the AIR program, which has three main components: 1) an open call to support emerging artists making socially engaged art; 2) an invitational through which artists are selected to develop special projects, commissions, or exhibitions; and 3) artist-led, community-centered public art projects in the city of Nashua, NH.
Open Call for Artist in Residence Applications
Our annual open call is currently live from October 1 – December 1, 2022. Artists who share the museum’s goal of positively impacting communities through the transformative power of art are encouraged to apply to this residency.