CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Maira Kalman: The Elements of Style
May 2, 2009–August 2, 2009

Maira Kalman is well known for children’s books (Max in Love); New Yorker illustrations (among them the 2001 NewYorkistan cover); and the book The Principles of Uncertainty, based on her monthly illustrated column for The New York Times. This exhibition includes Kalman’s original illustrations for a 2005 edition of the classic writer’s handbook The Elements of Style. Her serendipitous encounter with an old copy of the book in a Cape Cod antique shop led to a visual rethinking of the rules of writing that William Strunk Jr. and then E. B. White formulated over the years, beginning in 1918. The more than 50 colorful and humorous illustrations will be a treat for Kalman fans and a joy for visitors just discovering her work. 

Preview selected images

Read Margie Searl's blog about the exhibition

Listen to Bob Smith's interview with the artist on WXXI 4/6/09.

Listen to Peter Iglinski interview about The Elements of Style.

Made possible by Lynne Lovejoy and presented in memory of Bill Buckett, president of the Memorial Art Gallery Board of Managers, 1996-98.

How To: The Process Show
June 9–July 27
located in the Creative Workshop

The Creative Workshop’s How to…the Process Show started with an idea: how can we show what goes into making a work of art? How can we dispel the notion that a finished artwork just happens and that making art is impossibly hard? We decided to raise the curtain and reveal that the magic of creation comes about step by step, using skills that can be taught, following traditions with techniques that can be learned. The resulting show is an invitation to look, to learn and to ask questions.

This year, nine art processes, all taught in the Creative Workshop, are represented. In some cases, the processes are shown by instructors–who will be teaching these creative tricks this summer; in other cases, we can see what students made in classes this year.

View excerpts from the show:

• How to make a weaving
• How to make a creamer & sugar bowl on a potter's wheel
• How to make a ring with a Bezel‐set stone
• How to make a watercolor
• How to build a wire scupture

Special Burne Gallery Hours: The Creative Workshop’s Lucy Burne Gallery is open Saturdays June 13 and 20. After June 15 and before July 6th the Workshop will be open Monday–Friday 9 am to 5 pm. Between July 6 and July 27 the Workshop will be open Monday–Thursday 9 am to 9pm and Fridays 9 am to 5 pm. On June 18 the Workshop will be open until 9 pm and Sunday June 26 the Creative Workshop will be open noon to 5 pm.

Protected for Eternity:
The Coffins of Pa-debehu-Aset
Through mid-August 2009

This interactive exhibit for all ages showcases a rare pair of lavishly decorated nesting coffins that once held the mummy of an Egyptian official. Learn how the coffins were restored, write your name in hieroglyphs and follow the fascinating process of mummification. Also on view are other antiquities from the Gallery's collection and a mummy and objects on loan from the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA.

Protected for Eternity is scheduled to close in mid-August 2009, but by the end of November 2009, the coffins and other Egyptian objects will be back on view on the second floor in the newly renovated Helen H. Berkeley Gallery of Ancient Art.

This installation is made possible by funding from Dan and Dorothy Gill. Additional support has been provided by the Museum Loan Network, a program administered by MIT's Office of the Arts, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts; and by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York Council for the Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities; and the Davenport-Hatch Foundation, Inc.