TWO SPECIAL EXHIBITS AT SOFA NEW YORK 2005
FEATURE ARTWORKS BRIDGING THE DECORATIVE AND FINE ARTS

Two Special Exhibits at SOFA NEW YORK 2005, complementary with admission, will feature international artworks bridging the fine and decorative arts. Special Exhibits at SOFA are educational in nature and are designed to supplement the gallery presentations.

de Amaral, Olga ESTELAS, installation view Presented by Bellas Artes/Thea Burger, Santa Fe, NM and New York, NY, in cooperation with the Museum of Arts & Design, New York, NY

Bellas Artes/Thea Burger of Santa Fe, NM and New York, NY, in cooperation with the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY, presents a Special Exhibit entitled Estelas by Colombian textile master, Olga de Amaral. In the past 10 years, major exhibitions of de Amaral's work have been held in museums in Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Japan, Germany, France and the United States. Her work is in numerous museum collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Musee d' Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto.

de Amaral, Olga ESTELAS, detail view # 1 and # 2 Presented by Bellas Artes/Thea Burger, Santa Fe, NM and New York, NY, in cooperation with the Museum of Arts & Design, New York, NY

Olga de Amaral’s painterly, shimmering gold and silver leafed wall hangings and panels challenge narrow critical categorization, combining elements of fiber art, painting and sculpture. Charlotte Kornstein of Bellas Artes said, “Inspired by stone monoliths on her farm in Columbia, de Amaral began creating Estelas in 1996—low relief suspended panels with gold leaf on one side and silver leaf on the other. The Estelas installations have been exhibited at museums on four continents. This is the first time they will be shown in New York.”

Chang, Peter; British, born 1944 Bracelet, 1991 Acrylic, gold leaf, resin, and PVC Photo: Thomas R. DuBrock The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Helen Williams Drutt Collection

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), in cooperation with Helen Drutt: Philadelphia presents a Special Exhibit at SOFA NEW YORK of artworks from the Museum’s acclaimed decorative arts collection. Located in the heart of Texas’s largest city, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is a dynamic cultural complex consisting of two museum buildings, two art schools, two decorative arts centers, and a sculpture garden. Since its founding in 1976, MFAH’s decorative arts department has actively acquired and exhibited ceramics, fiber, furniture and wood art, glass, jewelry and metalwork.

Vigeland, Tone Neckpiece, 1981 Steel, silver, 14k and 18k gold Overall: 12.4 x 12 .4" The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Helen Williams Drutt Collection, gift of the Susan Vaughan Foundation

Cindi Strauss, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Decorative Arts and Design of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston said, “The special exhibition at SOFA NEW YORK reflects MFAH’s aim to collect globally by all media by both acknowledged masters and emerging artists alike. (It) will feature select highlights from the Museum’s decorative arts collection, including works by the Norwegian artist Tone Vigeland from the newly acquired Helen Williams Drutt Collection of modern and contemporary jewelry.” The Drutt Collection includes many one-of-a-kind works that redefined the concept of jewelry—pieces that moved beyond ornamentation and preciousness, pushing the boundaries of traditional decorative art forms.

Strauss continued, “Also included in the presentation at SOFA will be a monumental ceramic installation entitled Manhattan Canyon Wall (1971) by the American artist, William Daley, and one of Wendell Castle’s trompe l’oeil mahogany sculptures, Coat Rack with Trench Coat (1978), among other pieces.” Cindi Strauss and Helen Drutt will both make presentations in the SOFA NEW YORK 2005 Lecture Series.

Daley, William P. Manhattan Canyon Wall (detail), 1971 Stoneware Overall: 73 x 112 x 14" The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Gift of Marlin Miller, Jr. and Helen Williams Drutt English		Castle, Wendell Coat Rack with Trench Coat, 1978 Honduran mahogany 75 x 22 .9 x 21.5" The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Gift of Roy M. Huffington, Inc. and anonymous donors