WELCOME 2025!
We hope your year is off to a great start! The Addison is in the midst of preparing for a new exhibition season: Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School will close this weekend, and three new shows highlighting the Addison's collection will open in February.
In March, we will present a major exhibition devoted to the work of June Leaf (1929–2024), whose art is both endlessly inventive and uncategorizable. The most comprehensive exhibition of Leaf’s work in more than three decades and the first to span the entirety of the artist’s 75-year career, June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart demonstrates Leaf’s expansive mind and cyclical returns to the themes of movement, theater, gender, and the human condition.
Read on to find out more about these thought-provoking exhibitions!
The Addison is free and open to the public, Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am–5:00 pm, and Sunday, 1:00–5:00 pm.
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Last Chance: Closing Sunday, February 2!
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Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School, organized by the New-York Historical Society, places landscape paintings by Cherokee artist Kay WalkingStick in conversation with highlights from the New York Historical's collection of 19th-century Hudson River School paintings, exploring the relationship between Indigenous art and American art history.
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IN THE NEWS: Jared Bowen interviews Kay WalkingStick on WGBH Radio's The Culture Show (begins at 16:38 mark)
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Playing to Our Strengths: Highlights from the Permanent Collection (opening February 1) presents exceptional works from the collection in three sections: late-19th-century masterworks by Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer; modernist paintings that convey the ingenuity of artists working amidst the tumult of the interwar years; and large-format postwar abstract paintings that distill the vocabulary of painting to its very essence.
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Dynamic Duos (partial preview opens February 1, full exhibition opens February 22) features works from the museum's photography collection and considers the dynamics of two beings sharing space, whether they be romantic partners, family members, close friends, strangers, or interspecies companions. Each image invites viewers to delve into the stories behind the expressions, prompting questions about the context of the encounter, and the emotions at play.
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On and Off Stage: Performance and Persona (opening February 22) draws works from the Addison’s collection that invite viewers to reflect on the roles we perform in everyday life, in both public settings, such as dance, theater, and the circus, and on private stages in which individuals explore new identities and modes of expression, as well as challenge stereotypes and societal norms using costume and roleplay to experiment with shifting personas.
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June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart (opening March 15) includes over 150 sculptures, paintings, and works on paper to explore decades of the artist’s inventive blending of media and materials in unconventional and intuitive ways. Synthesizing outside influences with distinctive motifs and symbols drawn from her own rich self-mythology, Leaf’s art allows for new ways to see the world and ourselves.
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WORKSHOP: Algorithmic Drawing
Thursday, February 20, 6:00–7:30 pm
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Explore the intersection of art and algorithms with the Addison’s Edward E. Elson Artist-in-Residence Paul Hertz. Hertz will discuss his history with intermedia and computer art and lead participants through a collaborative experimental drawing made by repeating simple instructions step by step. All are welcome, no art or programming experience necessary. This free program is organized with Andover's Memorial Hall Library.
Space is limited and registration is required.
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PANEL: Museum Career Day
Friday, February 21, 12:25–1:25 pm
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High school and college students, as well as adults, are invited to the Addison to learn about the work of museum industry professionals. Explore what it takes to run an art museum, discover how to pursue multiple interests, and find inspiration to shape your professional journey. This program has been organized by Elise Zhang (Addison Community Ambassador, Phillips Academy Class of 2026).
This event is free, no registration required.
Email cjee@andover.edu with any questions.
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GALLERY TOUR:
Playing to Our Strengths: Highlights from the Permanent Collection
Friday, February 21, 3:00–4:00 pm
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Join curator Gordon Wilkins for a tour of the inaugural exhibition in this new series at the Addison. This free program is organized with Andover's Memorial Hall Library.
Space is limited and registration is required.
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OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, March 29, 4:00–6:00 pm, free and open to the public
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More programs to be announced soon—please check our online Calendar of Events for the latest information!
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Virtual Talk with the Curator: Americans in Paris: Artists Working in Postwar France, 1946–1962
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Lead exhibition curator Debra Bricker Balken presents a virtual talk about the artists, themes, and works presented in the exhibition. (Recorded December 3, 2024)
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Virtual Talk: Caring for Native American Collections
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Marla Taylor, Curator of Collections, and Ryan Wheeler, Director, from Phillips Academy’s Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology present a virtual conversation on a museum’s role and responsibilities in stewarding Native American cultural material. The Peabody Institute lent several works to the Addison’s installation of Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School. (Recorded on January 14, 2025)
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Images: June Leaf, Shooting from the Heart, 1980. Tin plates, rods, spring, and gears, 18 x 8 inches. Museum purchase, 1995.62. © The Estate of June Leaf; Winslow Homer, Eight Bells (detail), 1886. Oil on canvas, 25 3/16 x 30 3/16 inches. Gift of anonymous donor, 1930.379; Barbara Morgan, Merce Cunningham: Totem Ancestor (detail), 1942. Gelatin silver print, 17 1/2 x 12 inches. Gift of Fred Nazem, 1984.28; Jonathan Becker, Nicole Kidman with Tom Cruise at Vanity Fair, Oscar Party, West Hollywood, March 26, 2000 (detail), printed 2020. Archival pigment print, 15 x 15 inches. Purchased as the gift of Katherine D. and Stephen C. Sherrill (PA 1971, and P 2005, 2007, 2010), 2021.43; Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School installation view, photo by Julia Featheringill; Patrick Henry Bruce, Peinture/Nature morte, c. 1924. Oil and graphite on canvas, 28 3/4 x 36 1/4 inches. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Lane, 1958.38; Sally Mann, Little Miss Rockbridge, 1985. Gelatin silver print, 8 x 9 15/16 inches. Museum purchase, 1990.57; George Bellows, The Circus, 1912. Oil on canvas, 33 7/8 x 44 inches. Gift of Elizabeth Paine Metcalf, 1947.8; June Leaf, Motel Room, 1975. Ink, graphite, and acrylic on paper, 17 3/4 x 24 inches. Collection Estate of June Leaf. Courtesy Hyphen, New York. © The Estate of June Leaf; photo courtesy of Paul Hertz; installation of a painting at the Addison, photo by Addison staff; Stuart Davis, Red Cart, 1932. Oil on canvas, 32 1/4 x 50 inches. Museum purchase, 1946.15.
Exhibition and program credits:
Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School has been organized by the New-York Historical Society. Major support is provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation. Generous support for the Addison’s presentation of this exhibition has been provided by Katherine D. and Stephen C. Sherrill (PA 1971, and P 2005, 2007, 2010) and the Elizabeth and Anthony Enders Exhibitions Fund.
Playing to Our Strengths: Highlights from the Permanent Collection is generously supported by the Bernard and Louise Palitz Exhibitions Fund.
Generous support for Dynamic Duos has been provided by the Francesca S. Woodman Exhibitions Fund.
Generous support for On and Off Stage: Performance and Persona has been provided by the Winton Family Exhibition Fund.
June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart is co-organized by the Addison Gallery of American Art and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College. The exhibition has been supported by a planning grant from the Andrea Frank Foundation. Major support for the exhibition and publication is provided by the Estate of June Leaf with additional funding provided by The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation, John and Sally Van Doren (PA 1980), and the Allen Memorial Art Museum’s John H. ’29 and Marjorie Fox ’29 Wieland Current-Use AMAM Support Fund.
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