DOYLESTOWN, PA.- Opening day for the
Michener's newest exhibition brought crowds of art and photography enthusiasts to admire the widely-known and unique work of native Australian, Kate Breakey. Her show, Kate Breakey: Small Deaths runs through July 12, 2015 in the Fred Beans Gallery and is organized by The Wittliff Collections / Texas State University – San Marcos.
A former professor of photography at the University of Texas at Austin, Breakey now lives and works in Tucson, Az. She has received international recognition for her large-scale, manipulated photographs, which she meticulously colors by hand adding many layers of oil paints and pencils.
Small Deaths is her acclaimed portrait series featuring thirty extraordinary, oversized images of the birds, flowers, and insects that the photographer has memorialized in carefully posed portraits. The brilliance of her palette includes deep purples, vibrant yellows, and soft pinks, and draws viewers to a close-up and unexpected confrontation with mortality. Breakey's work has appeared in more than 30 one-woman exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad. She received the Photographer of the Year Award in 2004 from the Houston Center for Photography.
"The most overpowering feature of Breakey's oeuvre is the way her visions cast a hypnotic silence that stops you cold in your tracks as you look at them. They add up to a state of quiet reserve that leads your imagination to reflect on such contradictory conditions as moving and unmoving, warm and cold, large and small, light and dark and, of course, life and death," noted writer Burton Wasserman.
Her photos are held in public collections, among them the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts; the Houston Museum of Fine Arts; the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Arizona; the Australian National Gallery; and the Wittliff Collection, University of Texas San Marco from which this exhibition originates. The exhibition is complemented by a full-color book featuring images from the exhibition.
Related Programs:
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Artist lecture: Kate Breakey
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 · 1 to 2 pm
Edgar N. Putman Event Pavilion
Fee: $10 member/$20 non-member/$5 student with valid ID, includes museum admission. Advance registration required.
About The James A. Michener Art Museum
The James A. Michener Art Museum collects, preserves, interprets and exhibits American Art, with a focus on art of the Bucks County region. The Museum presents changing exhibitions that explore a variety of artistic expressions, and offers a diverse program of educational activities that seek to develop a lifelong involvement in the arts as well as nurture a wide range of audiences. We also seek to educate our community about nationally and internationally known Bucks County artists of all creative disciplines. The James A. Michener Art Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
The James A. Michener Art Museum is located at 138 South Pine St., Doylestown, PA. The Museum is open Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 am – 4:30 pm; Saturday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm and Sunday noon – 5:00 pm. For more information, visit MichenerArtMuseum.org or call 215.340.9800.
