WATERVILLE, ME.- The Colby College Museum of Art presents The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture: 60 Years, on view through October 29. Since its founding in 1946, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture has established itself as one of the most important art schools in the country. In celebration of the School’s 60th anniversary and the newly formed Skowhegan Lecture Archive, the exhibition will bring together works by 27 distinguished artists and faculty spanning the history of the School.

Skowhegan: 60 Years: Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Lynda Benglis, John Cage, Vija Celmins, Merce Cunningham, Leon Golub, Ann Hamilton, David Hockney, Alex Katz, Jacob Lawrence, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden, Marisol, Agnes Martin, Elizabeth Murray, Alice Neel, Pepón Osorio, Paul Pfeiffer, Ad Reinhardt, Carolee Schneemann, Richard Serra, Ben Shahn, David Smith, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, Fred Wilson.

Since its founding in 1946, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture has established itself as one of the most important art schools in the country. In celebration of the School’s 60th anniversary and the newly formed Skowhegan Lecture Archive, the exhibition will bring together works by 27 distinguished artists and faculty spanning the history of the School. Through digital recordings from the Skowhegan Lecture Archive, artists’ voices enter the Museum, facilitating a dialogue between artistic ideas and the artworks themselves. In addition to creating an interactive learning environment for visitors, the juxtaposition of artists’ works and words presents a unique opportunity to consider the impact of this singularly influential art school on the visual arts in America from the critical period following the Second World War into our present time.

The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture began as the brainchild of four artists—Henry Varnum Poor, Willard Cummings, Sidney Simon, and Charles Cutler—on a tranquil farm in rural Maine where converted chicken coops and barns were transformed into artists’ studios. From the beginning, the School maintained a strong commitment to encouraging diversity among its students and faculty. It has also nurtured an expansive vision of art, welcoming a wide range of creative views and practices. Skowhegan students and faculty have worked to both delineate and challenge the boundaries of the major movements that have defined much of the post-War American art world.

A central feature of the exhibition will be the newly released Skowhegan Lecture Archive, which contains recordings of over 520 lectures by over 370 artists who have spoken at Skowhegan since 1952, as well as over 350 transcripts. This is the first time that this remarkable archive, which chronicles the development of many of the formative philosophies of contemporary American art, will be the centerpiece of a major exhibition.

Major funding for the exhibition was provided by the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces Program; and by major grants from The H. King and Jean Cummings Charitable Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston. Generous financial support was also provided by the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Board of Trustees and the Colby College Museum of Art Board of Governors.