SPRINGFIELD, MONT.- The Springfield Art Museum is presenting three focus exhibitions during the winter of 2022, that opened on Saturday, November 26. Focus exhibitions are pulled from the Museum’s permanent collection of over 10,000 objects and aim to create a deeper understanding and connection with select artists, artistic media, genre, or art period. Both Rodney Frew and Frieda Logan: Swap Meet focus on Missouri artists and their connections to the region. Lyrical Abstraction features work by a group of artists from across the country, dubbed "Lyrical Abstractionists," during the 1960s and 1970s.
Rodney Frew - Rodney Frew, a longtime local artist and art educator, developed a reputation for not only his talent as a printmaker, but his “penchant for depicting the human condition in a no-holds-barred manner.” Frew taught printmaking, drawing, and painting at Missouri State University for 34 years, retiring with emeritus status in 1997. This exhibition features a broad range of Frew’s work, thanks in large part to a generous gift from the artist’s estate, facilitated by his son Morgan Frew, in 2019.
Frieda Logan: Swap Meet - Frieda Logan attended Springfield Senior High (now Central High School) where she took art classes from Roberta Stoneman Baker, who she cited as a lifelong influence on her artistic career. Logan completed a fine arts degree at the Kansas City Art Institute and went on to a successful career in Kansas City creating commercial illustrations for Macy’s Department Store, among other businesses. She was active in Springfield’s local art community through participation in the Springfield Visual Arts Alliance, the annual Watercolor USA exhibition, and serving on the Visual Arts committee for Springfield Public Schools. This exhibition includes paintings gifted to the Museum in 2004 by Logan, featuring heartfelt renderings of daily life in the American Midwest during the 1980s.
Lyrical Abstraction - American Lyrical Abstraction developed as an art movement in the 1960s and 1970s led by a group of artists including Dan Christensen, Larry Poons, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Natkin, and Sam Francis. These artists sought to expand the idea of abstract painting and to reassert the importance of the formal elements of line and color. These artists made work characterized by loose gestural brushstrokes, acrylic staining, an emphasis on rich color, monumental scale, occasional imagery, and a return to a physical and direct sensory experience of painting. This exhibit features work by lyrical abstract artists including Poons, Natkin, Francis, Marlene Mueller, and Sharon Jesik, among others.
The exhibitions will continue through March 19, 2023 in the Eldredge, Spratlen, and Armstrong Galleries. All three focus exhibitions include Spanish language translations for all exhibit text. In conjunction with these exhibitions, the Museum plans educational and community programs including a gallery talk with Frew’s son, artist Morgan Frew, art-making workshops, and Slow Viewing Nights.
The Springfield Art Museum is Springfield, Missouri’s oldest cultural institution, founded in 1928. A department of the City of Springfield, the Museum invites you to connect with the world, your community, and yourself through active engagement with art objects. For more information, please visit www.sgfmuseum.org
