Barbara Westermann
Encyclopedia
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Art Resources Transfer, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. She has taught a course called Materiality and Social Sculpture at the New School for Social Research in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for many years, as well as studio courses at Providence College
Providence College
Providence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...
, Roger Williams University
Roger Williams University
Roger Williams University, commonly abbreviated as RWU, is a private, coeducational American liberal arts university located on in Bristol, Rhode Island, above Mt. Hope Bay. Founded in 1956, it was named for theologian and Rhode Island cofounder Roger Williams...
, and the Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...
.
Education
Westermann received her BA in Architecture & Urban Planning, University of KasselUniversity of Kassel
The University of Kassel, founded in 1970, is one of the newer universities in the state of Hesse. The university is in Kassel, and as of September 2010 has about 18,113 students...
, Germany, 1982-77 and her MFA in Sculpture, Fachhochschule Köln, Cologne, Germany, 1985-82. She studied with Daniel Spoerri
Daniel Spoerri
Daniel Spoerri is a Swiss artist and writer born in Romania, who has been called "the central figure of European post-war art" and "one of the most renown[ed] [artists] of the 20th century." Spoerri is best known for his "snare-pictures," a type of assemblage or object art, in which he captures...
, Eduardo Paolozzi
Eduardo Paolozzi
Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi, KBE, RA , was a Scottish sculptor and artist. He was a major figure in the international art sphere, while, working on his own interpretation and vision of the world. Paolozzi investigated how we can fit into the modern world to resemble our fragmented civilization...
, and Wewerka. She also met her husband and artistic collaborator, William Allen, planting trees in the Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
documenta 7 project in Kassel, Germany.
After moving to New York in 1983, she studied at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, 1985, and completed the Arts Education Certificate Program at the School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
, New York, NY, 1995-93.
Art
Westermann's recent work is a conceptual alphabet to monitor the way we see the human body, the architectonics and literatures of sky and earth, and the music which courses through the world's membrane.Like in her previous work, in Observatory, Westermann adopts the vocabulary of minimalist art, using elemental abstract shapes, but at the same time she goes beyond the minimalist rigid, impersonal character. Instead, her work keeps its orientation toward some narrative or poetic contents, which although never explicitly conveyed is suggestive of a range of moods and sentiments. Moreover, by choosing the color white for all her pieces, she recalls the modernist notion of purity of forms and materials by which the matter is transformed into spirit. It is this contemplative quality that gives Westermann’s work a special power, referring back to the meaning of “observatory” as a place for observation and contemplation.
Vesela Sretenovic
Curator, Bell Gallery, Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
October 2004, Providence, RI
Barbara's sculptural installation at the Socrates Sculpture Park in 2008 will include a sound piece by Michael Samos.
Exhibitions
- Clay Street Press Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, 2008, 2005-2004
- Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY, Spring 2008
- RealArtWays, Hartford, CT, Fall 2007
- Wheeler Gallery, Providence, RI, 2005
- University of Rhode Island, Corridor Galleries, Kingston, RI, 2005
- Lenore Gray Gallery, Providence, RI, 2003
- Norton Sculpture Gardens, West Palm Beach, FL, 2003
- Art Resources Transfer, New York, NY, 2000
- AuBase Gallery, New York, NY, 1999
- Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI, 1999
- Williams CollegeWilliams CollegeWilliams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, Williamstown, MA, 1996 - Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY, 1995
- Bischoff Galerie, Stuttgart, Germany, 1992
- Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA, 1989
- Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 1988
- Orangerie, Kassel, Germany, 1986
Group exhibitions (selected)
- Artists space, New York, NY, 2006
- Contemporary Arts CenterContemporary Arts CenterThe Contemporary Arts Center is a pioneering contemporary art museum located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The CAC is a non-collecting museum that focuses on new developments in painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, performance art and new media...
, Cincinnati, OH, 2005-4 - New Sense Gallery, Cleveland, OH, 2005
- Providence Art Club, Providence, RI, 2004
- Newport Art Museum, 2006, 2005, 2003
- [ttp://www.bcaonline.org/visual_arts/visualarts.php Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts], 2001
- Art Resources Transfer, New York, NY, 2000
- Gasworks Gallery, London, England, 1999
- Artspace Manchester, Manchester, England, 1999
- Hamburger + Munchner Kunstverein, Hamburg/Munich, Germany, 1998
- WDR Gallery, Cologne, Germany, 1997
- Informationsdienst, Goethe Haus, New York, NY, 1996
- Pierogi 2000, Williamsburg, NY, 1996
- Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York, NY, 1996
- Holly Solomon Gallery, New York, NY, 1996
- Studio Museum Harlem, New York, NY, 1994
- Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, NY, 1994
- Bischoff Galerie, Stuttgart, Germany, 1992
- New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York, NY, 1992
- Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 1990
- Cologne Word Art Festival, CologneCologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Germany, 1989 - Dia Art Foundation, New York, NY, 1988
- P.S. 1 Institute for Art & Urban Resources, Long Island City, NY, 1987
- Whitney Museum Biennial, with Group Material, New York, NY, 1984
Collections
- Progressive Insurance, Cleveland, OH, 2005
- Jim and Dorothy Baker, Newport, 2006-2002
- Bischoff Galerie, Berlin, 2001
- New School University, New York, NY 1996
- Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 1988
- Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 1987
- City of Offenburg, Offenburg, Germany, 1987
Teaching
- Seminar Leader, Brown UniversityBrown UniversityBrown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Providence, RI, 2005. Craft and Idea in the Work of Josef Beuys, as a part of the Beuys Symposium, Brown University and Providence CollegeProvidence CollegeProvidence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...
, February 2006 - Art Teacher, Attleboro Museum (with the Boston Institiute for Arts Therapy), *Art Educator, Attleboro, MA, 2005-2004. Ran the sculpture workshop.
- Sculpture Instructor, Portsmouth Abbey, Portsmouth, RI, 2002-1999. Ran the Sculpture department, workshop, taught classes in Studio, 2-D and 3D Design, drawing, and architecture, and ran College Art School Preparation Program
- Instructor, Roger Williams UniversityRoger Williams UniversityRoger Williams University, commonly abbreviated as RWU, is a private, coeducational American liberal arts university located on in Bristol, Rhode Island, above Mt. Hope Bay. Founded in 1956, it was named for theologian and Rhode Island cofounder Roger Williams...
, School of Architecture School, Bristol. RI, 1999-98. Core Curriculum Interdisciplinary courses, 2-D and 3-D Design - Instructor, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, 1999-98. *Participated in Senior Critiques, Illustration department
- Art Teacher, Providence College, Providence, RI, 1998. Taught 3-D and 2-D Design, and Foundation courses
- Art Teacher, New School: A University, New York, NY, 1998-94
- Seminar Leader, Williams CollegeWilliams CollegeWilliams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, Williamstown, MA, 1996 - Art Teacher and Woodshop Manager, School for the Physical City, New York, NY, 1996-94. Ran the sculpture and wood workshops. Taught seminars for SPC students with the Cooper Union and Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, out of the sculpture workshop - Art Teacher, the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY, 1993. House of Poetry seminar participant: sculptural practices. College Preparation program for high school students.
- Art Teacher, Spring 1997. Seminar on feminist studies/contemporary art, Hunter CollegeHunter CollegeHunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
- Art Teacher, New York UniversityNew York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, Winter 1997. Seminar on Morality & Materials, with Kirby Gookin
Publications (selected)
- Artist’s work included in Weighted Space, http://www.providenceartclub.org Providence Art Club] monograph, written by Lauren Cicione, 2005
- Review of Exhibition at Clay Street Press Gallery, by Sara Eisen, The Cincinnati Enquirer, 2004
- Artist’s work included in WindSeaSky catalog, Newport, RI, 2004
- Essay by Vesela Sretenovic, “ Observatory,” 2004
- Review of Exhibition at A.R.T. Gallery, by Ken Johnson, New York Times, 2000
- Immobile Spaces, catalog for Bell Gallery exhibition, written by Vesela Sretenovic, Brown UniversityBrown UniversityBrown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, 1999 - Artist’s work, with Group Material at P.S. 1, Art of the Millennium, by Burkhardt Riemschneider, Taschen, 1999
- Artist’s work included in 'Blurring the Boundaries: Installation Art 1969-1996, essays by Hugh Davies and Ron Onorato, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, 1997
- Artist’s work included in Timeline: A Concise Encyclopedia by Women Artists, edited by Robin Kahn, Creative Time, 1995
- Artist’s Portfolio, Chelsea magazine, 1994
- Barbara Westermann, monograph, Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 1988
- LivingRoom magazine, Amsterdam, 1985
- Editor, Kunstforum International, Nr. 51 , Kassel, 1980
Awards and other activities
- Member, Steelyard (large-scale metal and ceramic fabrication workshop), Providence, RI, 2007-05
- Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, Sculpture Fellowship, 1999
- Sculpture Fellowship, Utica Sculpture Space, 1998
- Pollock-Krasner FoundationPollock-Krasner FoundationThe Pollock-Krasner Foundation was established in 1985 for the purpose of providing financial assistance to individual working artists of established ability. It was established at the bequest of Lee Krasner, who was an American abstract expressionist painter and the widow of fellow painter Jackson...
Grant, New York, NY, 1990-89 - Art Matters Foundation Grant, Inc., New York, 1988
- Artist-in-Residence, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 1988
- Arts Organizing Fellowship, City of OffenburgOffenburgOffenburg is a city located in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With about 60,000 inhabitants, it is the largest city and the capital of the Ortenaukreis.Offenburg also houses University of Applied Sciences Offenburg...
, Germany, 1987–88 - Editor, Kunstforum International, Cologne University, Cologne, Germany, 1984-2
Curatorial
Project Space director, Living Room, virtual art gallery. 2007-1999- “Wie Gesehen” (‘As Is’), exhibition in conjunction with *ProvFlux, Providence, RI, June 2–3-4, 2006
- “Water," with Baker, Patsfall, Messner, Coffin, Allen, and Palmer, Winter, 2000
- 'Living Room 2,’ with Kiki Smith, Beuys, Strong, and Baker, Winter 1999
- 'Living Room 1,’ with Paik, Tiravanija, Hayes, Oldenburg, Parnes, McElheny, Mosher, and Kahn, Spring 1998