Speed Art Museum Number of Objects in the Colleciotn

It's common knowledge that romantic couples often keep their partnerships strong past having shared hobbies or traditions.

A pair of long-time Louisville, Kentucky, residents and art patrons — retired cardiologist Dr. Leonard Leight and his belatedly married woman, Adele — are certainly proof of this. During a 69-yr union, the couple had a passion for ceramics and drinking glass, and spend decades amassing colorful, unique works.

"They were devoted to one another and to their shared dear of collecting," said Scott Erbes, the Speed Fine art Museum'due south curator of decorative arts and blueprint.

Dozens of significant pieces from the couple's glass collection will be on display in the Speed Art Museum'due south first exhibit of 2021, "Collecting — A Dear Story: Glass from the Adele and Leonard Leight Collection."

Highlighting a 'collecting journey'

Erbes said one of the aims of the exhibit, which opens on Feb. 5 and is on display through June twenty, is to highlight the Leights' "collecting journey," which spanned more than 50 years.

"I am ofttimes asked what makes a corking collection," he said, "and the Leights actually embody what it takes to build one: an irresistible attraction to art, a delivery to looking and learning, passionate persistence, trust in their own vision and judgment, and a demand to exist surrounded past objects that captivated their eyes and minds."

To co-curate "Collecting — A Love Story," Erbes turned to artist and educator Norwood Viviano. The pair had previously worked together, equally the latter was commissioned to create a sculpture for the Leights in 2016. Teaming up again for this ambitious exhibit fabricated perfect sense due to Viviano's background, Erbes said.

"Equally an creative person, Norwood brought a different perspective than mine — and certainly a much greater understanding and appreciation of the technical aspects of using drinking glass as an creative person'south medium.

"Co-curating a project like this is not so unique," he added. "What was unique was admission to i of the state's most comprehensive collections of international contemporary glass, carefully assembled over more than than l years."

How to tell a dear story through glass

The men pored through more 200 pieces of glass in the Leights' drove, and then looked at photographs after the fact in social club to "place themes suggested past pieces in the collection," Erbes said, earlier settling on the 69 pieces in the exhibit itself.

"Because of the Leight Collection's remarkable chronological and thematic range, Norwood and I wanted to explore the visual, conceptual and technical range of contemporary glass," Erbes said, "beginning with the sometimes clumsy work of the 1960s and early 1970s and ending with the increasingly diverse, technically ambitious piece of work produced in the past decade."

Glass, he explained, "has unique properties completely dissimilar other sculpture media like marble and bronze," including "the variety of techniques that tin exist used in fabricating a sculpture and the range of colors available to artists today."

Using light when working with glass tin also atomic number 82 to transcendence.

"Glass can be transparent, translucent or opaque — sometimes within a unmarried piece of work of fine art," Erbes said. "When glass' various qualities get integral to the artist's objective, peachy work happens."

An incredible range

All told, "Collecting — A Beloved Story" features more than 50 artists, including notable figures such every bit Kentucky artist Stephen Rolfe Powell; renowned educator Beth Lipman; and two MacArthur Foundation Fellows, Joyce J. Scott and Jeffrey Gibson.

"The late Stephen Powell's legacy lies both in his artistic practice — characterized by an exceptional eye for color and form — and his role as a teacher and mentor to many artists," Erbes said. Lipman, meanwhile, "provides a very gimmicky accept on themes of excess, fragility and decay," while "referencing historic notwithstanding-life painting traditions."

Scott and Gibson implement glass beadwork "equally role of their practices and both face up bug of race, social justice and identity," he added.

The curator hopes visitors "experience and relish the incredible range of contemporary glass" on display in "Collecting — A Beloved Story," which comes about due to the different ways each artist approaches the cloth and their craft.

"All of the work included in the exhibition by these various artists is incredibly potent, though very dissimilar, depending on each artist's practice and the objectives of their work," Erbes said.

"In the hands of the exhibition's artists, glass takes on many voices. And I hope, likewise, that visitors enjoy learning more well-nigh Leonard and Adele and their remarkable journey equally partners and collectors."

"Collecting — A Love Story: Glass from the Adele and Leonard Leight Drove" is on display between Feb. half dozen and June 20, 2021, at the Speed Art Museum, Kentucky'south largest fine art museum.

This exhibition is free with admission, and access is always free for members. Due to COVID-19 chapters restrictions, the Museum recommends booking tickets in accelerate. Go to speedmuseum.org for more information.

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Source: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sponsor-story/speed-art-museum/2021/02/03/speed-art-museum-opens-2021-unique-colorful-collection-built-love/4278134001/

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