Louise Berliawsky Nevelson
was born in Russia in 1899. She spent the majority of her years as an artist in New York City (1920 - 1988) working in metal, wood, and cast paper creating "assemblages", or assemblies of discarded objects, redefining their purpose and meaning by giving them new lives as a work of art. This new genre of assemblage was formally recognized in the 1950's although Louise had been creating her found wood sculptures since the early 1930's!
"When you put together things that other people have thrown out, you’re really bringing them to life – a spiritual life that surpasses the life for which they were originally created."
Shallow relief, monochromatically toned, her sculptures are an organization of forms that create rhythm and movement through positive and shadowed space. Massive installations of organized forms, her work is monumental in size and feeling. Having studied with famous artists such as Hans Hofmann, George Grosz and Diego Rivera, her work is a mixture of styles that transcends categorical descriptions and is associated with as many art movements as Cubism, Dada, Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism and she is also known as the pioneering dame of Installation art. She received several honorary doctorates and awards from schools including Harvard, Columbia and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Below are some examples of Louise Nevelson's work that strongly reveal a dynamic sense of pattern, taking on a life of their own in elegant silence. After studying several images of her work, students at FMAA were each given vast amounts of wood scraps recycled from lumber yards and local studios throughout the city to create an inspired composition that captured rhythm and movement. At the end you will see the first stages of these fantastic assemblages being built:
To find out more about the art classes at Flying Machine Art Academy, please visit our website at www.flyingmachineartacademy.com
