The Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery will reopen its doors for the season on Friday, Sept. 22, with an exhibit featuring the works of the late Robert S. Neuman, a recognized abstract artist and emeritus professor of Keene State College.
The exhibit will run from Sept. 22 to Dec. 6, and is named “Impulse and Discipline: 60 Years Of Painting by Robert S. Neuman, 1950-2010.”
The opening event runs from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22.
Brian Wallace, director of the gallery, said, “This is a very accessible little pocket art museum, right here on our campus. And whether you grew up going to museums or are if you’re like me and it took going to college to meet people who went to museums, we try to tailor what we do [here at the gallery] to both of those audiences”.
This year’s opening will be centered around Robert Neuman himself.
Photo by Kort Duce Photography ©
“We try to do music for every opening,” Wallace said. “We’ve had pretty young, loud bands the past couple times, [so] we are changing up a little this time because Bob [Robert] Neuman came of age in San Francisco in the 50s and then he was back and forth between Europe, New York and Boston in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and those were all real jazz hotspots”.
“There is a real kind of parallel to jazz in a lot of his [Neuman’s] paintings.” Wallace said.
The performer for this years opening will be the Scott Mullet Trio, a group Wallace said will embody the jazz influence that some of Neuman’s paintings impart.
Two more events will be happening in conjunction with the Neuman exhibit, one being Robert S. Neuman and Post-War Art, with speakers and catalogue signings on Nov. 4 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Gallery conference room, and Robert S. Neuman: artist as teacher; teacher as artist, an informal discussion open to the community taking place Friday, Oct. 13 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the gallery.
Sam Stephenson and Brooke Carlson, senior students at KSC, said they have not heard the buzz around campus about the opening.
“I think more posters would help [for students to be more aware of events] [or] I think if professors were a little more vocal about it; I know it’s hard to bring stuff like that up in class though, especially if there’s so much stuff to do [in class],” Stephenson, who is also a studio art major, said.
Both hope to now make it to the opening at the Thorne-Sagendorph on Sept. 22.
All in all, the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery is a space that is inclusive to all, and an open space that encourages discussion.
“We’re a friendly place, we don’t shy away from complicated discussions and sophisticated artworks,” Brian Wallace said. “It also is just really good to be able to be relaxed and informal and be able to trade ideas and opinions and the occasional joking insult back and forth just to get and keep conversations going.”
KSC Director of Strategic Communications and Community Relations Kelly Ricaurte, also encourages students to take advantage of the gallery as an on-campus asset.
“I think most importantly is for students to see the Thorne Gallery as a resource for them; we are really lucky to have that right on our campus. It’s a resource for our students, for our faculty and staff and for the broader community as well,” Ricaurte said.
Meridith King can be contacted at mking@kscequinox.com
