EVANSVILLE, IN.- The Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science, Evansville, IN, will open a unique exhibition, The Luster of Silver, a survey of contemporary silverpoint drawings, on June 28th, 2009. The exhibition will remain open until 13th September, 2009. It is a rare opportunity for lovers of drawings to be able to view a selection of exceptional drawings executed in a medium about which few people know but whose shimmering look is hauntingly memorable.
Silverpoint is a demanding yet subtle medium requiring consummate draftsman skills. Marks are made with fine or sterling silver on a prepared ground, erasures are impossible, and the resultant drawing slowly oxidizes to the warm golden brown of tarnished silver. Interest is steadily growing in this medium, testimony to the power of its lustrous voice that has endured for over eight centuries. Silverpoints history is highly unusual, its practitioners today are superb artists with great diversity in approach, and the Evansville exhibition will reflect the mediums strength and universal appeal.
Twenty-seven US, Canadian and British artists will participate in this show. All have gained widespread recognition for their drawings. While many use a more traditional approach to silverpoint, others are exploring new frontiers in the medium. The exhibition thus offers an array of drawings of great interest and diversity. Many of the artists, such as Koo Schadler, Jeannine Cook, Susan Schwalb, Tom Mazzullo, Curtis Bartone, Sherry Camhy or Carol Prusa, were included in a most successful 2006 metalpoint survey curated by the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia. The Evansville Museums exhibition, The Luster of Silver, will include additional noted silverpoint artists, such as Ephraim Rubenstein, Jane Masters, Timothy Mayhew and Constance McClure. All twenty-seven artists have work in the permanent collections of many museums here and abroad.