We had a lot of ground to cover in our last, and 60th, catalog. We curated three exhibitions under the title, Ways of Seeing, our broad-based umbrella look at how people collect art.
The Ways of Seeing catalog contains an intro about collecting and sections on our theme-based grouping, The Art Aquatic, our artist-based collection, Impact: 20 Women Artists to Collect, and our size-based assemblage, Right-Sized. The result is a 188-page volume that features work by 74 international artists.
In the intro, we share a bit about our research into collectors, their passion and proclivities. People like Herb and Dorothy Vogel, who created a vast collection of Minimalist art, Komal Shah and Gaurav Garg who’ve created the Shah Garg collection of women artists and artists of color and Lloyd Cotsen who collected broadly and in depth, including bamboo baskets and contemporary textiles.
In The Art Aquatic section there is work by more than two dozen artists. There are works that are made from water-related materials, ones that evoke oceanic themes, and ones that feature maritime motifs. Included are Marian Bijlenga’s motif of fish scales, Jeannet Leenderste’s foamy sculpture of silk, and Merja Winqvist’s boat sculpture of paper.
The catalog offers extra content in the section on Impact: 20 Women Artists to Collect. There are short portraits of the women included, highlighting their innovative approaches and evolving art practices. And there are additional examples of their work, beyond those that were displayed in the in-person exhibit. Included in this section are works from a 55-year period, from a 1959 woven work by fiber pioneer, Kay Sekimachi to an ikat created by Polly Barton in 2024.
The Right-Sized section of the exhibition includes 68 works, organized into a few subgroupings. Among the mini-collections are works on paper — including newspaper and sandpaper, spheres and boxes of various materials, and taller baskets of natural materials, each at least 12 inches tall. Also included are ceramics, works of thread and acrylic, and of silk.
You can order a copy of Ways of Seeing from the store on our website.