The Orlando Museum of Art presents Barbara Sorensen: Topographies an exhibition on view through 04.01,2012.
Barbara Sorensen, Shield de Pyrenees W4-07, 2007, stoneware and stones, 33 x 30 x 4 in., Collection of the artist.
Barbara Sorensen is known for monumental sculptural installations that draw on geological formations and classical elements, but recently turned her energies to large-scale environmental vessels constructed of metals and resins, as well as new, experimental mixed-media prints and two-dimensional works. Often interconnected and chromatically bold, the new series emerge from and focus on her sense of the relationships between human and landscape.
She discovered clay, an ideal medium for her interest in textural plasticity, as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. After completing her degree there, Sorensen went on to work with mentors Peter Voulkos, Paul Soldner, Don Reitz, Rudy Autio and others who were pushing the medium in fresh, sculptural directions. Today, in her Snowmass Village, CO., and Winter Park, FL., studios, she continues to evolve and expand her concerns in the series of works that explore her enduring interests: the natural environment and conceptual notions of the vessel. “Sorensen’s ultimate subject is growth and change. Characteristics of both the physical world that surrounds us and the interior landscape we carry inside, movement and energy are the essence of life. Sorensen’s works breathe with this truth and in turn, convey it to us.” Eleanor Heartney, Art Critic, Art in America.
Topographies features a survey of the last 20 years of her work, with a concentration on the resin and metal installations. It also includes Sorensen’s collaboration with composer Stella Sung and videographer David Hiser to create a site-specific sound/video/sculptural installation that relates to her work and the environment. A second collaboration is with the Orlando Ballet Company in a performance “Art and Dance: A Pas de Deux” featuring the Orlando Ballet dancers choreographed by Eric Yow. A comprehensive catalogue with essays by Eleanor Heartney and Barbara Bloemink will accompany the exhibition.
Orlando Museum of Art
2416 North Mills Ave
Orlando, Florida
407 896 4231
[email protected]
www.omart.org