Barbara Westermann

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The artist at the Ocean State
The artist at the Ocean State
Borderlands, URI, 2006
Borderlands, URI, 2006

Barbara Westermann (born Swiezinski, in Werdohl, Germany in 1958) is a conceptual sculptor living in Providence, Rhode Island. She has shown her work widely, including shows at Bell Gallery of Brown University, Art Resources Transfer, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg in Germany. She has taught a course called Materiality and Social Sculpture at the New School for Social Research in New York for many years, as well as studio courses at Providence College, Roger Williams University, and the Rhode Island School of Design.

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[edit] Education

Westermann received her BA in Architecture & Urban Planning, University of Kassel, Germany, 1982-77 and her MFA in Sculpture, Fachhochschule Köln, Cologne, Germany, 1985-82. She studied with Daniel Spoerri, Eduardo Paolozzi, and Wewerka. She also met her husband and artistic collaborator, William Allen, planting trees in the Joseph Beuys documenta 7 project in Kassel, Germany.

After moving to New York in 1983, she studied at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York City, 1985, and completed the Arts Education Certificate Program at the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, 1995-93.

[edit] Art

Westermann's recent work is a conceptual alphabet to monitor the way we see the human body, the architectonics and literatures of sky and earth, and the music which courses through the world's membrane.

Like in her previous work, in Observatory, Westermann adopts the vocabulary of minimalist art, using elemental abstract shapes, but at the same time she goes beyond the minimalist rigid, impersonal character. Instead, her work keeps its orientation toward some narrative or poetic contents, which although never explicitly conveyed is suggestive of a range of moods and sentiments. Moreover, by choosing the color white for all her pieces, she recalls the modernist notion of purity of forms and materials by which the matter is transformed into spirit. It is this contemplative quality that gives Westermann’s work a special power, referring back to the meaning of “observatory” as a place for observation and contemplation.

Vesela Sretenovic Curator, Bell Gallery, Brown University October 2004, Providence, RI

Barbara's sculptural installation at the Socrates Sculpture Park in 2008 will include a sound piece byMichael Samos.

[edit] Exhibitions

[edit] Group exhibitions (selected)

[edit] Collections

[edit] Teaching

  • Seminar Leader, Brown University, Providence, RI, 2005. Craft and Idea in the Work of Josef Beuys, as a part of the Beuys Symposium, Brown University and Providence College, February 2006
  • Art Teacher, Attleboro Museum (with the Boston Institiute for Arts Therapy), *Art Educator, Attleboro, MA, 2005-2004. Ran the sculpture workshop.
  • Sculpture Instructor, Portsmouth Abbey, Portsmouth, RI, 2002-1999. Ran the Sculpture department, workshop, taught classes in Studio, 2-D and 3D Design, drawing, and architecture, and ran College Art School Preparation Program
  • Instructor, Roger Williams University, School of Architecture School, Bristol. RI, 1999-98. Core Curriculum Interdisciplinary courses, 2-D and 3-D Design
  • Instructor, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, 1999-98. *Participated in Senior Critiques, Illustration department
  • Art Teacher, Providence College, Providence, RI, 1998. Taught 3-D and 2-D Design, and Foundation courses
  • Art Teacher, New School: A University, New York, NY, 1998-94
  • Seminar Leader, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 1996
  • Art Teacher and Woodshop Manager, School for the Physical City, New York, NY, 1996-94. Ran the sculpture and wood workshops. Taught seminars for SPC students with the Cooper Union and Columbia University, out of the sculpture workshop
  • Art Teacher, the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science & Art, New York, NY, 1993. House of Poetry seminar participant: sculptural practices. College Preparation program for high school students.
  • Art Teacher, Spring 1997. Seminar on feminist studies/contemporary art, Hunter College
  • Art Teacher, New York University, Winter 1997. Seminar on Morality & Materials, with Kirby Gookin

[edit] Publications (selected)

  • Artist’s work included in Weighted Space, http://www.providenceartclub.org Providence Art Club] monograph, written by Lauren Cicione, 2005
  • Review of Exhibition at Clay Street Press Gallery, by Sara Eisen, The Cincinnati Enquirer, 2004
  • Artist’s work included in WindSeaSky catalog, Newport, RI, 2004
  • Essay by Vesela Sretenovic, “ Observatory,” 2004
  • Review of Exhibition at A.R.T. Gallery, by Ken Johnson, New York Times, 2000
  • Immobile Spaces, catalog for Bell Gallery exhibition, written by Vesela Sretenovic, Brown University, 1999
  • Artist’s work, with Group Material at P.S. 1, Art of the Millennium, by Burkhardt Riemschneider, Taschen, 1999
  • Artist’s work included in 'Blurring the Boundaries: Installation Art 1969-1996, essays by Hugh Davies and Ron Onorato, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, 1997
  • Artist’s work included in Timeline: A Concise Encyclopedia by Women Artists, edited by Robin Kahn, Creative Time, 1995
  • Artist’s Portfolio, Chelsea magazine, 1994
  • Barbara Westermann, monograph,Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 1988
  • LivingRoom magazine, Amsterdam, 1985
  • Editor, Kunstforum International, Nr. 51 , Kassel, 1980

[edit] Awards and other activities

  • Member, Steelyard (large-scale metal and ceramic fabrication workshop), Providence, RI, 2007-05
  • Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, Sculpture Fellowship, 1999
  • Sculpture Fellowship, Utica Sculpture Space, 1998
  • Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York, NY, 1990-89
  • Art Matters Foundation Grant, Inc., New York, 1988
  • Artist-in-Residence, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 1988
  • Arts Organizing Fellowship, City of Offenburg, Germany, 1987-88
  • Editor, Kunstforum International, Cologne University, Cologne, Germany, 1984-2

[edit] Curatorial

Project Space director, Living Room, virtual art gallery. 2007-1999

  • “Wie Gesehen” (‘As Is’), exhibition in conjunction with *ProvFlux, Providence, RI, June 2-3-4, 2006
  • “Water," with Baker, Patsfall, Messner, Coffin, Allen, and Palmer, Winter, 2000
  • 'Living Room 2,’ with Kiki Smith, Beuys, Strong, and Baker, Winter 1999
  • 'Living Room 1,’ with Paik, Tiravanija, Hayes, Oldenburg, Parnes, McElheny, Mosher, and Kahn, Spring 1998

[edit] References

[edit] External links