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Minna Newman Nathanson

Artist Statement

I use reflections, transparencies, and surface depths of metal, screening, and plastics to demonstrate both our shifting perceptions of the world-obscured and revealed-and the essence and variety of the forms. I manipulate materials (primarily industrial) to counter viewers’ expectations of them to evoke a fresh look at their shaping of space in which the sit. (In my folding pieces, I manipulate two dimensional planes to explore the myriad possibilities and innate beauty of three dimensional forms and their underlying geometric order, sometimes placing these shapes in repetitive, evolving, modular arrangements to uncover the tensions created by their special relationships, scale and position) In my use of found objects, I am interested in the transformation of everyday utilitarian objects into trash and then into works of art.

In all my work, I am led by line, whether by the edge of folded metal or the movement of wire. The ultimate shape of the material in each piece- whether steel, plexiglass, screening, wire, or found objects-carries a hidden message perhaps only for me; every shape is a rune.

(Thus, while I give some pieces titles reflecting personal interpretations/readings. I try to avoid imposing contextual references so that the viewer may approach each work as a purely visual/special/aesthetic experience.

Education

Academic training, Swarthmore College; graphic design, George Washington University; sculpture Corcoran College of Art & Design; Washington Glass School; Pyramid Atlantic Art Center

Exhibitions

2005 Brookside Gardens 2005 Sculpture Show (juried), Wheaton, MD
Sculpture Now- 2005 (juried), Washington Square, Washington, DC
Gallery Artists, Apex Gallery, Washington, DC
Kalorama Artists Fair at Mary’s Center, Washington, DC

2004 Brookside Gardens 2004 Sculpture Show (juried), Wheaton, MD
Summer Group Show, Milton Teichman Gallery, Brewster, MA
Art-O-Matic 2004, Washington, DC

2003 All Hung, Montpelier Cultural Arts Center, Laurel, MD
Valentines, Arts and Humanities Council, Montgomery Country, MD
Artists’ Museum, solo show, Washington, DC
Spring 2003 Art Exhibition, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC
Movin!, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Silver Spring, MD
Summer Group Show, Milton Teichman Gallery, Brewster, MA
Fall Group Show, Milton Teichman Gallery, Brewster, MA
Group 2003 Show, P.A.S.S. Gallery, Washington, DC

2002 Sculpture, Corcoran College of Art & Design, Washington, DC

Memberships

Board member, Washington Sculptors Group

Member, International Sculpture Center

Former Vice President, Board of Directors, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center for hand printmaking and art of the book

Panelist, DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities

Former Board member, Washington Very Special Arts

Affiliated with Parish Gallery, Washington DC, Milton Teichman Gallery, Brewster, MA

Experience

Museum educator, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD
Free-lance curator
Graphic designer, US Commission and Immigration, the Untied Nations, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law