SOFA WEST: Santa Fe 2011

LECTURE SERIES

SANTA FE, NM. Plans are well underway for the SOFA WEST: Santa Fe 2011 Lecture Series featuring renowned curators, collectors, critics, artists and dealers. Lectures take place Thursday - Sunday, August 4 - 7 in the Santa Fe Convention Center and are complimentary with admission to the fair. Seating is on a first-come basis.

Principal among offerings is a panel discussion entitled The Language of Glass presented by Pilchuck Glass School, Seattle, WA and moderated by Pilchuk’s Executive Director James Baker. Baker says, “Glass as a material for creative expression is relatively new to the (Southwest) region and increasingly gaining popularity among collectors and the public. As work is acquired, collectors are developing a greater understanding of the aesthetic qualities of glass, the artists involved in working with glass and its emerging role in exhibitions, galleries and collecting.”

Baker’s panel brings together artists with international reputations as well as a connection to Santa Fe to discuss the role of glass as an artistic medium. Panelists are:

• James Drake, an internationally acclaimed artist whose work has been honored with inclusion in both the Venice Biennale and the Whitney Biennial. The New Mexico Museum of Art will have a major exhibition of Drake’s work this fall, curated by Laura Addison.
• John Torreano, professor of studio art at New York University, has exhibited widely in museums and galleries of national and international standing and is the recipient of numerous grants and awards.

Laura Addison, Curator of 20th Century Contemporary Art, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, will moderate a Lecture Series discussion on the museum’s special exhibit Kimono: Karen LaMonte and Prints of the Floating World which takes place June 24, 2011 - November 6, 2011. The Floating World exhibit juxtaposes Karen LaMonte’s life-sized cast-glass kimono with figurative Japanese woodblock prints. Participants are Santa Fe collector Lee Dirks, and renowned New York Asian art dealer and SOFA exhibitor Joan B. Mirviss. The New Mexico Museum of Art will also present a small exhibition at SOFA WEST previewing the upcoming museum show. (See Special Exhibits/Events release)

	Rick Beck Thomas R. Riley Galleries

Also of note planned for the Series:

• What is Outsider Art?: A question and answer session between Santa Fean Eugenie Johnson, regarded collector of outsider and folk art, and Cleo F. Wilson, Executive Director of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Chicago, IL.
• IS THIS REAL? Seeking Authenticity: Specialist in ancient and historic art from Africa, Asia and the Americas, Douglas Dawson, owner, Douglas Dawson (Chicago) discusses how to determine authenticity and why we seek it in contemporary art, tribal art, found art, and experience.
• A discussion with sculptor Ted Larsen (Eight Modern, Santa Fe) and independent curator, critic, and writer, John O’Hern, former director of the Arnot Art Museum in Elmira, NY, who now resides in Santa Fe.
• Artist Rick Beck (Thomas R. Riley Galleries, Cleveland) discusses his evocative large-scale, cast glass synthesis of human and mechanical form in Stimulus/Response: What are you looking at?
• A lecture organized by Blue Rain Gallery (Santa Fe) on the increasing and much-deserved blending of the Native American and contemporary art collecting fields.

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SOFA WEST: Santa Fe 2011 and spotlight presentation of The Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art take place at the Santa Fe Convention Center, 201 W Marcy Street, Santa Fe, NM as follows: Opening Night, Wednesday, August 3 begins with FIRST LOOK Preview, an invitation-only event for Museum of New Mexico Foundation supporters from 5-6:30 pm. SOFA WEST VIP Cardholders may enter at 6:30 pm. Opening Night Public Preview begins at 7 pm. Tickets are $50 and will be available on sofaexpo.com or at the door beginning at 5 pm. Opening Night continues until 9 pm. General admission fair hours are Thursday, August 4 - Sunday, August 7 from 12 noon-6 pm. Tickets are $15 for single day general admission and $25 for a four-day pass. Catalogs may be purchased for $15 at the exposition.
High-resolution images and press releases are available for immediate download at www.sofaexpo.com/sfpress.