Images of Zora

Ann Tanksley
Images of Zora
An Exhibition of Prints based on the work of Zora Neale Hurston EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
July 24 - August 23, 2009

OPENING RECEPTION ARTIST TALK
Friday July 24, 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm Saturday July 25, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Celebrated printmaker and painter Ann Tanksley created a series of monotypes and monoprints inspired by the writings and life of Zora Neale Hurston in the late 1980's. This body of work became the subject of an exhibition that toured the country in the early 1990's.

Avisca Fine Art Gallery is pleased to present an exhibit of 50-odd prints from this critically acclaimed body of work in their final showing as a suite, and to bring the long-archived prints to market.

The original series of 60-odd prints was first shown in New York City in 1991, in an exhibition titled Zora: A Visual Interpretation of Zora Neale Hurston: Prints by Ann Tanksley. The art critic Raymond Steiner described it as "one of the most visually stimulating exhibitions I've seen in some time."

Ann Tanksley discovered the work of Zora Neale Hurston in the mid 1980's, when she first read Hurston's 1937 book Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston, an anthropologist, playwright, poet, and novelist who was prominent during the Harlem Renaissance, died in poverty and relative obscurity in 1960. Rediscovered in recent years, she is now lauded as the intellectual and spiritual foremother to a generation of Black and women writers. Tanksley said in a 1996 New York Times interview that she "immediately fell in love with her writing." Her interest in Hurston led to her collaboration on a book that was never published, Zora: A Psychoanalytic and Artistic Interpretation of the Life and Works of Zora Neale Hurston, by psychoanalyst Dr. Hugh F. Butts. Tanksley has since been commissioned to illustrate Hurston's children's book, The Six Fools.

A Unique Cultural Event

Join us in honoring one of the great women artists of this century and in celebrating the legacy of an African American literary icon during the 2009 Atlanta Black Arts Festival.

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Ann Tanksley

Ann Tanksley’s work is ebullient and fascinating. An experienced technician and a deeply intuitive artist, she tells stories and communicates her ideas in a richly emotional body of work that transcends the ordinary. She has enjoyed a long and illustrious career highlighted by numerous honors, awards and artistic achievements.

Ann Tanksley was born in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1934. She graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon) in 1956 with a BFA degree. She also studied at the Art Students League, the Parsons School of Design, Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop and the New School for Social Research - all in New York City. Additionally she studied with notable masters Norman Lewis, Balcom Green, Sam Rosenberg, Robert Blackburn and Paulette Singer.

Among the anthologies and publications in which the artist and her work have been featured are Gumbo Ya Ya: Anthology of Contemporary African American Women Artists; Time Capsule: A Concise Encyclopedia of Women Artists by Robin Kahn; The Art of Black American Women: Works of Twenty Four Artists of the Twentieth Century by Robert Henkes; Forever Free: Art by African American Women 1862-1980, Edited by Arna Alexander Bontemps.

She has been the subject of numerous group and solo exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the African American Museum in Dallas, and the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. She has received numerous commissions including Absolut Vodka, Coors Brewing Company, Pepsi Cola Company and Colgate-Palmolive. She is distinguished by her inclusion in the prominent collections of Harmon and Harriet Kelley, Oprah Winfrey, and the Hewitt Collection of African American Art (recently acquired by the Bank of America).

Program and Events
July 24 - August 23: Exhibition on view at Avisca Fine Art Gallery, 507 Roswell Street, Marietta, GA 30060

July 24, 6-10 PM: Opening Reception at which the artist will be present. Open Bar and Hors d'oeuvres.

July 25, 3-5 PM: Talk by the artist on the series and the printmaking processes.
July 25, 5-7 PM: Carnegie Mellon Black Alumni Association reception for the artist.

August 23, 3-5 PM: Author Talk and Book Signing. Award-winning Zora Neale Hurston biographer Valerie Boyd talks and signs her book, Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue with essay by Faye V. Harrison, Director of African American Studies at the University of Florida.

GALLERY HOURS:
Thurs-Sat, 12-6 PM
Other times by appointment

AVISCA FINE ART GALLERY
507 Roswell Street, Marietta, GA 30060
http://www.aviscafineart.com
Phone: (770) 977-2732
email: contact@aviscafineart.com

Sponsors:____________________________________________________________

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photos from exhibition opening

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