Breaking Boundaries:
Exploration and Collaboration at Atlantic Center for the Arts

In 1997, a portfolio of original, signed works by former Master Artists in residence was amassed to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the founding of Atlantic Center for the Arts. The portfolio's theme, Breaking Boundaries, reflected the creative process, the essence of Atlantic Center's mission. The collection, which grows as the roster of artists-in-residence grows, now includes over 150 works of art ranging from musical scores and recordings to audio poems and dance videos, from edited manuscripts and photographs to sketches and studies.

"Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about the Breaking Boundaries exhibit is what is not on display," writes Edward Albee, a member of Atlantic Center's National Council and former Master Artist-in-Residence, in his introduction to the exhibition catalogue. "It is an assemblage of the invisible, the implied, the suggested, the hinted-at, a route map if you will."

Assembled, the work serves as a rare illustration of contemporary art at the end of the 20th century. It also represents an invaluable tribute to Atlantic Center and is an exceptional portrayal of its history and philosophy. Breaking Boundaries: Exploration and Collaboration at Atlantic Center for the Arts expresses the spirit behind an artists' community, where intellectual exchanges flourish, artistic souls are nourished, and the freedom to experiment provides limitless opportunity.

"The musical scores are some of this show's most visually striking works. Terry Riley's autograph score for A Rainbow in Curved Air is a minimalist masterpiece it its own right," wrote Orlando Sentinel arts writer Philip Bishop. "There are more finished and conventional works of visual beauty: blue pansies by Donald Sultan, a pencil drawing by Philip Pearlstein, and a set of photographs by Jack Mitchell. But this show is about the messy and exhilarating process of art - the daily labor of artistic creativity."

The exhibition has a unique educational component, which lends itself to a strong tie-in with numerous class curricula within a university, as well as community educational programs. "As a collegiate art museum, we were able to effectively bring in the liberal arts disciplines from several Rollins College departments," said Cornell Fine Arts Museum Education Coordinator Becky Savill. "The goal was to show the collaboration of writing, theater directing and playwriting, music and dance. The students actually held classes in the galleries, discussing poetry, playwriting, directing and choreography."

Judith Page, exhibition curator, selected 50 works for the national tour. The exhibition is accompanied by a brochure with a foreword by playwright Edward Albee and numerous videos from Atlantic Center's archives. Breaking Boundaries traveled in 2000 to Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, Florida; Pensacola Museum of Art, Florida; Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science, Tallahassee, Florida; in 2001 to Scarfone-Hartley Galleries, University of Tampa, Florida; Kendall Campus Art Gallery, Miami-Dade Community College, Florida; and the von Liebig Art Center, Naples, Florida; and in 2002 to the Hanes Art Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem. In 2003 it was exhibited at ISE Cultural Foundation in New York City. In keeping with the spirit of the exhibition, Breaking Boundaries is a work in progress. It is re-curated for each venue as new works are added to the collection. Additional venues are currently being pursued. For more information please contact Judith Page.

National Exhibition Tours to:

• Charles M. Avampato Discovery Museum, Charleston, West Virginia,
  September 11 - November 14, 2004
• The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
  January 1 - April 15, 2005
• Marsh Art Gallery, University of Richmond, Virginia,
  October 20, 2005 - February 19, 2006
• Breaking Boundaries:Exploration and Collaboration at Atlantic Center for the Arts
  Dowd Fine Arts Gallery
  State University of New York College at Cortland
  Opening date: January 30, 2007
  Closing date: March 17, 2007
  http://www.cortland.edu/art/html/gallery.html

Sponsored by:
Darden Restaurants
David Taub, CEO of Premier Wine and Spirits

Curator's Statement

What is on display is a look into the secret garden of the creative artist's mind-the notes, the sketches, the preliminary ideas, first thoughts, last reconsiderations. It is rather as if you were looking over the creator's shoulder as the ideas moved from the mind to the page.

Edward Albee, "The Art of the Invisible," foreword to Breaking Boundaries, 1999

The creative process is mysterious. The magical leap from idea to form often appears effortless to the uninvolved observer. Yet countless decisions and revisions-both conscious and unconscious-are made before a work of art is realized. Breaking Boundaries: Exploration and Collaboration at Atlantic Center for the Arts includes fifty works of art from Atlantic Center's extensive permanent collection that offer the viewer a glimpse "into the secret garden of the creative artist's mind."

The artworks on display are, in many instances, artifacts; they hold clues to the unique working methods of the internationally acclaimed poets, composers, choreographers, novelists, playwrights, and visual artists who were in residence at Atlantic Center of the Arts over the past twenty-two years. The evolution of each work of art may appear linear and logical or chaotic and random. But, ultimately, the creative processes and working methods of each artist are as diverse and as personal as the artworks they create.

Chinary Ung's visually dynamic page, Grand Alap, is equally a painting and compositional notation. The viewer can see in the vividness of Ung's editing marks the struggle to bring form to an inchoate inner glow. This is a very different method of working than that of the composer Henry Brandt whose composition Jericho is as structured as his spatial music performances-performances that rely on the placement of the performers in the concert hall, an inspired collaboration between composer, musician and architect.

With the writers and poets, word choice-for example, the subtle differences between "declaimed" and "asserted" in Allen Drury's The Last Reunion-can alter or skew the text in remarkable ways. Doris Grumbach's two versions of the first page of Life in a Day demonstrate the brutal decision-making, in which paragraphs with beauty and substance must be discarded, that is part of the struggle in forming an organically coherent work of art.

The painter Philip Pearlstein's Punch on a Ladder is typical of the numerous compositional studies that he completes before beginning a painting, and it is as meditative and carefully constructed as the resultant painting. The sculptor Lynda Benglis' process is much looser. Her untitled study is like a sudden breeze swirling pigment across the page-a burst of air filled with the possibilities of the moment.

Reflective of Atlantic Center's multidisciplinary program, the drawing of poet Allen Ginsberg reminds the viewer that performance was integral to Ginsberg's work. What we see is not just a two-dimensional surface, but also a poem created and performed with Ginsberg's spontaneity and humor. His sly reference to the "ah ha" phenomenon is a perceptive comment on the creative process-one in which life can emerge from death, and a silly snake can be transformed into a voluptuous flower with a few strokes of the artist's hand.

As voyeurs, viewing something as secret and sensual as a working document or study, one can glean more than a cheap thrill. A perceptive viewer will receive an education in creative thinking.

Judith Page, Curator