Barbara Westermann

Barbara Westermann (born Swiezinski, in Werdohl, Germany in 1958) is a conceptual sculptor living in Providence, Rhode Island. She has shown her work widely, including shows at [http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/David_Winton_Bell_Gallery Bell Gallery] of Brown University, [http://www.artresourcestransfer.org Art Resources Transfer] , the [http://www.mcasd.org Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego] , the Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg in Germany. She has taught a course called Materiality and Social Sculpture at the New School for Social Research in New York for many years, as well as studio courses at Providence College, Roger Williams University, and the Rhode Island School of Design.

Education

Westermann received her BA in Architecture & Urban Planning, University of Kassel, Germany, 1982-77 and her MFA in Sculpture, Fachhochschule Köln, Cologne, Germany, 1985-82. She studied with Daniel Spoerri, Eduardo Paolozzi, and Wewerka. She also met her husband and artistic collaborator, William Allen, planting trees in the Joseph Beuys 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, 1985, and completed the Arts Education Certificate Program at the School of Visual Arts, 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 SretenovicCurator, [http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/David_Winton_Bell_Gallery Bell Gallery] , Brown UniversityOctober 2004, Providence, RI

Barbara's sculptural installation at the [http://www.socratessculpturepark.org Socrates Sculpture Park] in 2008 will include a sound piece by [http://www.michaelsamos.com Michael Samos] .

Exhibitions

* [http://www.patsfallgraphics.com Clay Street Press Gallery] , Cincinnati, OH, 2008, 2005-2004
* [http://www.socratessculpturepark.org Socrates Sculpture Park] , Long Island City, NY, Spring 2008
* [http://www.realartways.org/visualarts.htm#shadow RealArtWays] , Hartford, CT, Fall 2007
* [http://www.wheelergallery.org/westermannallen.html Wheeler Gallery] , Providence, RI, 2005
* [http://www.uri.edu/artgalleries University of Rhode Island] , Corridor Galleries, Kingston, RI, 2005
*Lenore Gray Gallery, Providence, RI, 2003
* [http://www.ansg.org Norton Sculpture Gardens] , West Palm Beach, FL, 2003
* [http://www.artresourcestransfer.org Art Resources Transfer] , New York, NY, 2000
*AuBase Gallery, New York, NY, 1999
* [http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/David_Winton_Bell_Gallery Bell Gallery] , Brown University, Providence, RI, 1999
*Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 1996
* [http://www.momentaart.org Momenta Art] , Brooklyn, NY, 1995
* [http://www.artbischoff.com Bischoff Galerie] , Stuttgart, Germany, 1992
* [http://www.mcasd.org 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 Center, Cincinnati, OH, 2005-4
*New Sense Gallery, Cleveland, OH, 2005
* [http://www.providenceartclub.org Providence Art Club] , Providence, RI, 2004
* [http://www.newportartmuseum.org Newport Art Museum] , 2006, 2005, 2003
* [ttp://www.bcaonline.org/visual_arts/visualarts.php Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts] , 2001
* [http://www.artresourcestransfer.org Art Resources Transfer] , New York, NY, 2000
* [http://www.gasworks.org.uk 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
* [http://www.pierogi2000.com Pierogi 2000] , Williamsburg, NY, 1996
* [http://www.feldmangallery.com Ronald Feldman Gallery] , New York, NY, 1996
*Holly Solomon Gallery, New York, NY, 1996
* [http://www.studiomuseum.org Studio Museum Harlem] , New York, NY, 1994
* [http://www.paulacoopergallery.com 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, Cologne, Germany, 1989
* [http://www.diacenter.org Dia Art Foundation] , New York, NY, 1988
* [http://www.ps1.org 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
* [http://www.artbischoff.com Bischoff Galerie] , Berlin, 2001
*New School University, New York, NY 1996
*Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 1988
* [http://www.mcasd.org Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego] , La Jolla, CA, 1987
*City of Offenburg, Offenburg, Germany, 1987

Teaching

*Seminar Leader, Brown University, Providence, RI, 2005. Craft and Idea in the Work of Josef Beuys, as a part of the Beuys Symposium, Brown University and Providence College, February 2006
*Art Teacher, [http://www.attleboroartsmuseum.org Attleboro Museum] (with the [http://www.biat.org 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 University, 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, [http://www.newschool.edu New School: A University] , New York, NY, 1998-94
*Seminar Leader, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 1996
*Art Teacher and Woodshop Manager, [http://www.cooper.edu/facilities/CURF/physcity.htm 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 University, out of the sculpture workshop
*Art Teacher, the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science & 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 College
*Art Teacher, New York University, 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 University, 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 Foundation Grant, New York, NY, 1990-89
*Art Matters Foundation Grant, Inc., New York, 1988
*Artist-in-Residence, [http://www.mcasd.org Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego] , La Jolla, CA, 1988
*Arts Organizing Fellowship, City of Offenburg, Germany, 1987-88
*Editor, Kunstforum International, Cologne University, Cologne, Germany, 1984-2

Curatorial

Project Space director, [http://www.barbarawestermann.com/livingroom/index.html 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

References

External links

* [http://www.barbarawestermann.com Barbara Westermann - Conceptual Sculpture Site]
* [http://www.cadetompkins.com Selected works at Cade Tompkins Fine Art]