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Artist's Statement
Statement of Work
Artist’s Statement about “Missing”
“Missing" is my response to the lives lost in the attack on the World Trade Center. After September 11th, my neighborhood, which is eight blocks from the Trade Center, was soon papered with "missing" posters from people still hopeful of finding their friends and family members alive. As I encountered these images on the street, day after day, I was always struck and deeply moved by the combination of ineffable sadness and irrepressible optimism that they represented.
To make the piece, I photographed hundreds of "missing" posters over a period of many weeks and selected 64 of them representing the diversity of people lost in this disaster. They come from all ethnic, economic and age groups. They are brokers, elevator operators, and firemen. This same diversity is one of the things I have always valued most about being a New Yorker. I then transferred the photographic images individually onto a medium of handmade paper, cloth and beeswax. My husband, Gary Schwartz, had just written a poem, Os Urubus, about the WTC attack in which vultures (os urubus in Portuguese) were the central metaphor. My installation (covering the wall and flowing onto the floor) is very abstractly configured to suggest both a bird—a vulture but also a phoenix—and a jet airplane. I've worked the text of the poem itself into the body of the installation.
For years, I've collected ex votos and Mexican retablo paintings. These small paintings with text on metal, starkly and powerfully represent incidents of suffering and redemption in the lives of ordinary people. The images of the missing people in my own piece and the installation as a whole is a form of retablo—a memorial to tragedy and loss, but also to our shared belief in the need to survive and affirm life.
This piece was first exhibited in a group show at the Wilson Gallery in Fairhope, Alabama in June, 2002, and then in a solo exhibition on the first anniversary of 9/11 at the Lehman College Art Gallery, City University of
New York, September 3-October 26, 2002.
—Barbara Siegel
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS
“Sideshow,” AIR Gallery, NYC, October, 2006.
“Missing,” Lehman College Art Gallery, Lehman College, CUNY, Bronx, NY, 2002
“New Work,” The Gallery of South Orange, South Orange, NJ, 2001
“World Over World,” Lehman College Library, CUNY, Bronx, NY, 2001
“Mixed Media,” Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, N.Y., 1999
“New Work,” Hartnett-Murray Gallery, NYC, 1999
“Hanging in There,” Art in General, NYC, 1997
“Shelf-Life,” AIR Gallery, New York City, 1997
“Recent Works on Paper,” Parsons School of Design, Gimbel Library, NYC, 1996
“Re-Collections,” Tribeca 148 Gallery, Art Initiatives, NYC, 1993
Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY, 1987
“Recent Paintings,” University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT. 1987
Marilyn Pearl Gallery, NYC, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1986
Leighton Gallery, Bluehill, ME, 1986
“New Work”, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY, 1983
Briarcliff College Museum of Art, Briarcliff Manor, NY, 1975
SELECTED MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
“Copy Cat,” Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY, Summer 2002
“Millennium Bugs,” Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY, January 2000
“Little Congregation,” Carriage House Project Space, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY, 1996
"Recent Acquisitions," Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY, 1982
"Be My Valentine," Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE, 1981
"New York Now," Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ, 1979
"New Jersey Biennial," Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, 1977
"Contemporary Reflections," Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT, 1974
"Large Scale Painting," New Britain Museum of Art, New Britain, CT, 1974
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
"Change of Scene," A.I.R. Gallery, NYC, 2008
“AIR Gallery in Budapest”, 2B Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, 2006
“Generations,” A.I.R. Gallery, NYC, 2006
“ ID/id”, members’ exhibition, curated by Dena Muller, A.I.R. Gallery, NYC, 2005
“Generations,” A.I.R. Gallery, NYC, 2004
"LandEscape 2003,” Mount Desert Symposium in the Arts, Mount Desert, ME, 2003
“Collecting Thoughts,” (3-person exhibition), Kristen Frederickson Gallery, NYC 2003
“Art for Now,” Kristen Frederickson Gallery, NYC, 2002
“Artist Books,” 5+5 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2002
“9/11,” Eastern Shore Art Center Galleries, Fairhope Ala., 2002
“Scarecrows/Higher Elevations,” College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, ME, 2000
“The Paper Show,” Hartnett-Murray Gallery, NYC, 1999
“ I Object: Sculptural Artists’ Books,” Parsons School of Design, NYC, 1999
“Corning Estate Installation,” Cold Springs, NY, 1998
"Faculty Leave Exhibition,” Parsons School of Design Galley, NYC, 1997
"The Bathing Suit Show," Elsa Mott Ives Gallery, YWCA, NYC, 1997
"Multiplism as a Feminist Strategy," WCA Exhibition, Phoenix Gallery. NYC, 1997
"Tenth Anniversary Exhibition," Lehman College Art Gallery, NYC, 1995
"Lost and Found," Nabisco Corporation Gallery, East Hanover, NJ, 1995
"Drawing Together," Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y., 1994
Parsons School of Design Gallery, NYC, 1983, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
"Works on Paper," (3-person exhibition), Kathryn Sermas Gallery, NYC, 1992
"360," Pino Molica Gallery, Rome/NYC, 1992
"Invitational," Richard Gasperi Gallery, New Orleans, LA, 1989
"Photofusion," Pratt Institute Gallery, NYC, 1981
"Works on Paper," Marilyn Pearl Gallery, NYC, 1980
"Word/Object/Image," Rosa Esman Gallery, NYC, 1979
MAJOR COLLECTIONS
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Amerada Hess Corporation, NYC
Brown University, Providence, RI
Chase Bank, NYC
City University of New York, Lehman College, Bronx, NY
Home Box Office Corporation, NYC
Marvin and Ruth Sackner, Miami, FLA
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
Newark Public Library, Newark, NJ
Prudential Life Insurance, Newark, NJ
Reed College, Oregon
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
University of Delaware
Vera List, NY, NY
Yale University, New Haven, CT
GALLERY AFFILIATION: Member, A.I.R. Gallery, NYC.
REVIEWS AND ARTICLES
Art in America, Carl Little, "Barbara Siegel at A.I.R.,February, 2007
The Tribeca Trib, Carl Glassman, Wally's World, October, 2006
Meridian, Vol. 41 No.1, Davina Sukumar, September, 2002
Bronxnet TV, Interview on BronxTalk AM with Gary Axelbank, September, 2002
Art on Paper, Nancy Princenthal, July/August 2002
The Star-Ledger, “Panorama Ponderings,” Dan Bischoff, June22, 2001
The Bar Harbor Times, Nan Lincoln, August, 2000
myprimetime.com, “Artist of the Month,” Beth Lewis, March, 2000
Tribeca Tribune, Jeanne Wilkinson, May, 1999
CNN-TV, Jeannie Moos, June 12, 1997
The New York Times, Helen Harrison, August, 1996
Arts Magazine, Greg Masters, April, 1986
Artnews Magazine, Ronny Cohen, December, 1984
The Buffalo News, Anthony Bannon, March, 1983
The Brooklyn Phoenix, Susan Paul, January, 1982
Artnews Magazine, Sarah Cecil, October, 1981
Arts Magazine, Susan C. Larsen, September, 1979
The Village Voice, Kay Larson, October, 1979
The Village Voice, Peter Frank, October, 1978
PUBLICATIONS AND ARTISTS BOOKS
A.I.R. Gallery Members’ Print Portfolio: a boxed edition of 10, with an introduction by Carey Lovelace, published by AIR Gallery, NYC, 2006.
Contributor, 100 Creative Drawing Ideas, Edited by Anna Held Audette, Shambhala Press, 2004.
The Lint Collection, a color edition of 5 and a black and white edition of 10 artist‘s books, self-published, NYC, 2001 (reviewed by Nancy Princenthal in Art on Paper, July/August, 2002.
Illustrations published in Contemplate (The International Journal of Secular Jewish Thought), 2001.
World Over World, an edition of 30 handmade artist’s books, published by Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY, 2000.
Appearances Magazine, Spring, 1983
"New Ways to Use Your Bean," Teachers and Writers Magazine, May, 1983,
Teachers and Writers Press, NYC.
"Teaching Art: Examining the Creative Process," Journal of a Living Experiment, edited by Philip Lopate, 1979, Teachers and Writers Press, NYC,
"Metamorphosis: A Drawing Project," Teachers and Writers Magazine, Dec.1977
Contributor, The Whole Word Catalogue, Edited by Bill Zavatsky and Ron Padgett, McGraw Hill Paperbacks, 1977.
Contributing Editor, contemporary art and artists, The Columbia Encyclopedia, 1975, NYC.
Illustrations for Eight Essays in Classical Humanities, 1975, R.F. Publishing, NJ
Drawings for Characters from Sir Thomas Overbury, Frumious Press, Chicago, IL, 1967
LECTURES
Ernst Museum, Budapest, Hungary, A.I.R. Gallery artists panel, 2006
Marymount College, Tarrytown, NY, 2004
Lehman College Library, Bronx, NY 2001.
Lehman College, City in the Humanities Program, 1988.
Parsons School of Design, Illustration Department, 1987.
Manhattanville College, Brownson Gallery, 1987.
University of Bridgeport, Carlson Gallery, 1986.
YWCA, NY, Women in Art Panel, 1981.
Sarah Lawrence College, 1979.
GRANTS, MISCELLANEOUS
Juror, 2004 Scholastic National Art & Writing Awards
Juror, 2003-4 artist-book grants, Women’s Studio Workshop, 2002.
Recipient, Artist Book Grant, Women’s Studio Workshop, 1999.
EDUCATION
University of Chicago, BA, 1968
New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, 1969)
Art Students League, 1969-71
TEACHING
Parsons School of Design, NYC, Adjunct Faculty, Core Studies Department, 1983- present.
Lehman College, CUNY, Bronx, NY, Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Individualized Studies/Fine Arts, 1985-86, 1994, 1995.
New York University, NYC, Adjunct Lecturer in Fine Arts, School of Continuing Education, 1979-1980.
Teachers and Writers Collaborative, NYC, Artist-in-Residence, New York City Public Schools, 1974-1983.