Beverly Penn
Artist Residency Season:
2013-14
Artist Name:
Beverly Penn
Profile:
Lux Art Institute completes its seventh residency season with the work of Beverly Penn, a Texas-based artist whose delicate bronze sculptures represent a balance between the natural world and the manufactured environment. While in residence, Penn will be using her castings of local flora to construct a sculpture in the studio. Penn likens the process to drawing as she explores the unique possibilities of line, shape, density, and shadow.
Weeds rather than flowers are the source material for Penn’s tenderly crafted bronze sculptures. The fragile balance between the natural world and the manufactured environment is everywhere.
The impulse to arrange the wild variety of the natural world to fit an intellectual symmetry is a fundamental human urge. Beverly Penn’s sculpture speaks to the power of this desire. Her work explores the contradicting need to both idealize and modify the natural environment.
“I’m very interested in not only the plants, but the intersection of where nature and culture make their dividing line and have boundaries that are crossed over time,” says Penn. “In many ways, they are at odds with each other but also in synthesis.”
Penn is the recipient of numerous fellowships including a Rockefeller Foundation residency in Bellagio, Italy; a Connemara Conservancy Artist Grant; grants from the Texas Commission on the Arts and a Fulbright Fellowship in Barcelona, Spain. She has also received nine Texas State University Faculty Research Grants involving research in Mexico, Italy, Spain, and New York.
Beverly Penn’s sculptures are included in the collections of the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., the Austin Museum of Art; the Racine Art Museum; the El Paso Museum of Art; and the Monarch Center for Contemporary Art in Washington. She has been commissioned for several Public Art Projects, including Unity in Diversity in Las Cruces, NM; the Community Core Sample Project and the ThresholdProject with Steve Wiman in Austin, TX; the Natives Project at Whole Foods in Austin, TX; and the 719 Ash Hilton Hotel in San Diego. She is a tenured Professor in the School of Art & Design at Texas State University. McMurtrey Gallery in Houson, dberman Gallery in Austin and Lisa Sette Gallery in Scottsdale represent her work.
Works:
Solo Exhibitions
2014
Haptic Snare, Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, CA
2013
Naturalia, Co-Lab Project Space (with Barry Stone), Co-Lab Projects, Austin, TX
2012
Still Nature, Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Interstitial Spaces (with Julia Barello), Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts, Houston, TX
2011
Still Nature, McMurtery Gallery, Houston, TX
Still Nature, dberman Gallery, Austin, TX
Creating a Centennial Legacy The UTEP Mace by Beverly Penn, Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, El Paso. TX
2010
Beverly Penn, Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Still Nature, The Grace Museum, Abilene, TX
2008
Beverly Penn: Equivocal Topographies, Southwest School of Art and Craft, San Antonio, TX
2007
Beverly Penn: Ground Cover, Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Beverly Penn, Second Nature (w/ Susan Davidoff), Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX
2006
Beverly Penn: Weeds, University of Texas, Arlington, TX
Beverly Penn: Weeds, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
Beverly Penn: Weeds, D. Berman Gallery, Austin, TX
2005
Beverly Penn: Weeds, Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, El Paso. TX
The Edge of Paradise, El Paso Museum of Art, TX
2004
Beverly Penn (with Hillevi Baar), D. Berman Gallery, Austin, TX
2002-3
The Edge of Paradise, (with Jill Bedgood) Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX
2002
The Edge of Paradise, (with Jill Bedgood) Irving Arts Center, Irving, TX
Beverly Penn, Recent Work, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2000
Arcadia, James Gallery, Houston, TX
1999
Pedagogy: Recent Work by Beverly Penn, Memorial Student Center Gallery, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX
Beauty•Chaos: a collaborative book project by Beverly Penn, Susan Davidoff and Rachelle Thiewes, Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, TX
Beverly Penn, Sculpture & Prints, San Antonio College, San Antonio, TX
1998
Beverly Penn-The Border: Pas de Deux, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1997
Beverly Penn, James Gallery, Houston, TX
Beverly Penn, Recent Work, Artists’ Gallery, San Antonio, TX
1996
Beverly Penn, Recent Work, Milagros Contemporary Art, San Antonio, TX
1995
Descent: a collaborative installation by Beverly Penn and Jill Bedgood, Collett Art Gallery, Weber State College, Ogden, UT
1994
Reflections of Venus: Sculpture by Beverly Penn, Galveston Art Center, Galveston, TX
Beverly Penn: Recent Work, Center for Women and Their Work, Austin, TX
Beverly Penn: New Jewelry, Gail M. Brown, New York, NY
1993
Beverly Penn: Recent Work, Center for Contemporary Art, Abilene, TX
1992
Beverly Penn , St. Mary’s College, San Antonio, TX
Beverly Penn , Simon Michael Gallery, Beeville, TX
1988
Beverly Penn, Quadrum Gallery, Boston, MA
Beverly Penn: Recent Work (with Susan Davidoff), Fox Fine Arts Gallery, El Paso, TX
Selected Group Exhibitions
2013
Summons, K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX
Keep it in the Can, Equinox Gallery, San Antonio, TX
The Mona Lisa Project, People’s Gallery, Austin, TX
2012
Espoused, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX
Refresh, Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
The Mona Lisa Project, People’s Gallery, Austin, TX
2011
Field of Vision, Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
The Mona Lisa Project, ArtPrize, Grand Rapids Museum of Art, Grand Rapids, MI
The Mona Lisa Project, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX
La Noche del Broche, Equinox Gallery, San Antonio, TX
Texas Uprising II, Blue Star Contemporary Art, San Antonio, TX
Quarter Century, Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2010
30 Years of Outdoor Sculpture, Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, TX
10th Anniversary Exhibition, deberman Gallery, Asutin, TX
2009
The Book as Art: Artists’ Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston, MA
Art Miami, Lisa Sette Gallery, Miami, FL
The Great Texas Sculpture Roundup, Beeville Art Museum, Beeville, TX
2008
Los Angeles Art Show, Lisa Sette Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Content in Contemporary Design & Metalsmithing, Landmark Arts, The Galleries of Texas Tech School of Art, Lubbock, TX
The Texas Chair Project, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX
2007
Laguna Gloria Grounded, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX
Texas Uprising, Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, San Antonio, TX
Texas 100: Selections from the El Paso Museum of Art, Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, TX
True to Form, University Art Gallery, San Marcos, TX
2006
The Book as Art: Twenty Years of Artists’ Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Fresh Ink, Flatbed Editions, Nancy Wilson Scanlan Gallery, Austin, TX
Texas 100: Selections from the El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Museum of Art, TX
Oso Bay Biennial XIV, Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi, TX
Fire and Ice, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, TX
2006 Exhibition, People’s Gallery at City Hall, Austin, TX
2005
Juxtapositions, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, NY
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, TX
World of Nature, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, TX
Token of Affection, Tercera Gallery, Los Gatos, CA
5 x 7 x X, ArtHouse, Austin, TX
2004
Book As Art XV, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Figure Ground, Poissant O’Neal Gallery, Houston, TX
Rings, Gallery of Art & Design, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Texas Uprising: Indoor&Outdoor Sculpture, Blue Star Contemporary Art, San Antonio, TX
Off Site/On Target, Austin City Lofts Arts Collaborative, Austin, TX
Le Muse Giocose, Bellmont-Cogdell House, Austin, TX
Faculty Exhibition, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
5 x 7 x X, Arthouse, Austin, TX
2003
Making Meaning, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Steel Grrrls II, Jonson Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Faculty Exhibition, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
2002
Burning Desires: Acquisitions 1997 – 2001, El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX
Beauty•Chaos, El Paso International Airport Gallery, El Paso, TX
2002 Juror’s Choice, Women & Their Work, Austin, TX
Red Hot Red Dot, Women & Their Work, annual auction, Austin, TX
Faculty Exhibition, University Art Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
5 x 7 x X, Jones Center for Contemporary Art, TFAA, Austin, TX
2001
New Prints From Texas, Women & Their Work, Austin, TX
Traveling: -Galveston Art Center
Summer Exhibition, D. Berman Gallery, Austin, TX
Steel Grrrls, Art League of Houston, Houston, TX
5 x 7 x X, Jones Center for Contemporary Art, TFAA, Austin, TX
Traveling: -Inman Gallery, Houston, TX
-Dunn and Brown Contemporary, Dallas, TX
On the Edge: Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection, El Paso Museum of Art, TX
Scenic Overlook, Blue Star Contemporary Art, San Antonio, TX
Faculty Exhibition, University Art Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
2000
Attitude and Action, Atrium Gallery, University of Central England, Birmingham, England
Traveling: -DESIGNyard, Dublin, Ireland
Distinguished Works by Innovative Minds, LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
Winter Exhibition, Davis Gallery, Austin, TX
Works on Paper, D. Berman Gallery, Austin, TX
Beauty•Chaos, Carrington Gallery, Ltd., San Antonio, TX
The Figure: Alone & Together, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
Sculpture 2000, Cullen Center, Houston, TX
Refined II, SFA Gallery, Nacagdoches, TX
Juror’s Choice, Women & Their Work Gallery, Austin, TX
Faculty Exhibition, University Art Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
1999
Groundswell, Austin Museum of Art, Austin TX
Containment, University Museum, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL
Touring: -I Space, Chicago, IL
Sculptors Drawings, 1/4 Hora Project Space, Elgin, TX
Inaugural Exhibition, Flatbed Press, Austin, TX
ArtWorks Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Aquarena Center, San Marcos, TX
National Summer Faculty Invitational, Sandra J. Blain Gallery, Arrowmont, Gatlinburg, TN
The Figure: Experiencing Views, Art Gallery,University of Texas at San Antonio, TX
Metals Invitational, Fox Fine Art Gallery, El Paso, TX
Multiple Impressions, ACA Gallery at ArtPlex, Austin, TX
Breaking New Ground, Irving Arts Center, Irving, TX
1998
MICA Invitational, Gomez Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Textual Negotiations, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
Gendered Memory, Cardinal Stritch University Art Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
Its About Design, Women & Their Work, Austin, TX
Contemporary Metals USA, Center for the Visual Arts, Metropolitan State College, Denver, CO
Center of Attention, Texas Fine Arts Association annual auction, Austin, TX
Reunion, James Gallery, Houston, TX
1997
The Visceral Intellect, Center for Women and Their Work, Austin, TX
Since 1907: A 90-Year Creative Legacy, Hoffman Gallery, Oregon College of Art & Craft, Portland, OR
The Art Ball: Year One, Austin Museum of Art, Austin TX
Inaugural Exhibition, R Peeples Jr Gallery, Austin, TX
Red Dot Exhibition, Center for Women and Their Work, auction, Austin, TX
Members Exhibition Part II, Center for Women and Their Work, Austin, TX
3 Generations, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
Faculty Exhibition, University Art Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
1996
New American Talent: the Twelfth Exhibition, Austin Museum of Art at Laguna Gloria, Austin, TX, Juror’s Award
Touring (through Dec 1997):
-Texas A & M University
-Art League of Houston
Heritage & Diversity, Montgomery College Art Gallery, Rockville, MD
Abilene Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Abilene, TX
Dream, Center for Women and Their Work, auction, Austin, TX
The Brooch, Facere Jewelry Art, Seattle, WA
Faculty Exhibition, University Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
The Collectors Circle, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
1995
H x W x Depth, Blue Star Art Space, San Antonio, TX
Evocative Objects, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, TX
Annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Connemara Conservancy, Dallas, TX
One Of A Kind: American Art Jewelry Today, Joanne Rapp Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Touring: -Milagros Contemporary Art Gallery, San Antonio, TX
Art Jewelry: An Historical View, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
The Art of the Brooch, Margo Jacobsen Gallery, Portland, OR
Touring: -Edith Lambert Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Double Vision, I/O Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Touring: -Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI; Nov 1995
-National Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis, TN;1996
-The Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AK; 1996
Alumni Art, College Art Gallery, SUNY New Paltz, NY
Modern Metal: Objects of Contemplation, Fox Fine Art Gallery, El Paso, TX
Hello Good Buy, Center for Women & Their Work Gallery, auction, Austin, TX
Jewelry Invitational, The Works Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Faculty Exhibition, University Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
1994
Terra Incognita: New Outdoor Sculpture, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX,
Emphasis Sculpture, Blackfish Gallery, Portland, OR
Transformation: The Alchemy of Change, Women & Their Work Gallery, Austin, TX
Subversive Infiltration, Susan Cummins Gallery, Mill Valley, CA
Habatat/Shaw Invitational, Habatat/Shaw Gallery, Farmington Hill,
1994 Summer Exhibition, Nancy Margolis Gallery, Portland, ME
Outdoor Sculpture Competition, City of Los Altos, CA
Sculpture Invitational, Ruth Taylor Gallery, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX
Sculpture at the Plaza, Plaza of the Americas, Dallas, TX
The Telling of Stories, The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA
1993
Sculptural Concerns, The Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, OH
Touring: -Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN; Sept 1993
-American Craft Museum, New York, NY; June – Oct 1994
-Spencer Museum, Lawrence, KS; Nov – Dec 1994
-Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN; June – Aug 1995
-California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco, CA; Jan – March 1996
-Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL; March – May 1995
-Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI; Sept – Oct 1995
1993 Summer Exhibition, Nancy Margolis Gallery, Portland, ME
In Response To Nature: Sculpture at Laguna Gloria, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX
Crossing Over The White Line, Trammel Crow Center, Dallas, TX
Another View, Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MA
Every Object Tells A Story, Art Museum, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Objects in Metal, Clay, Fiber, Glass, Art Gallery, Kent State University, Kent, OH
1993 Critic’s Choice, D-Art Visual Art Center, Dallas, TX
Beyond Pink and Blue, West Third St. Gallery, Austin, TX (local juried exhibition); Nov
Habatat/Shaw Invitational, Habatat/Shaw Gallery, Farmington Hills, MI
Premiere Invitational, Images Friedman Gallery, Louisville, KY
Confluence 1993, Jeaneane B. Duncan-Edith McAshen Visual Arts Center, Ingram, TX
15th Annual Vahki Exhibition, Galeria Mesa, Mesa, AZ
1993 Tom Peyton Memorial Art Exhibition, Alexandria, LA
Faculty Exhibition, University Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
1992
1992 Summer Exhibition, Nancy Margolis Gallery, Portland, ME
1992 Critics Choice, D-Art Visual Art Center, Dallas, TX
Habatat/Shaw Invitational, Habatat/Shaw Gallery, Farmington Hills, MI
Steeping Matters, Swidler Gallery, Royal Oak, MI
Holiday Exhibition, The Works Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
In Their Element, Center for Women and Their Work, Austin, TX
Invitational Exhibition, Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, TX
SWT Art Faculty, Art Gallery, Odessa College, Odessa, TX
Faculty Exhibition, University Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
1991
Other Voices, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY
Copper III, Old Pueblo Museum, Tucson, AZ
Biennial Arkansas Exhibition, Arts and Science Center, Pine Bluff, AR
The Brooch, Swidler Gallery, Royal Oak, MI
Materials: Hard and Soft, Meadows Gallery, Center for the Visual Arts, Denton, TX
Group Exhibition, Hipotosi Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
The Rachelle Thiewes Collection, Art Gallery, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
Faculty Exhibition, University Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
Then and Now, University Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
SWT Art Faculty, Art Gallery, Midland College, Midland, TX
Faculty Exhibition, University Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
1990
Sculpture To Wear, Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, TX
1990 Metals Invitational Exhibition, Hayes Fine Art Gallery, Bozeman, MT
Metalwork From Barcelona, University Gallery, SWT, San Marcos, TX
Barcelona Invitational, Galaria Gu, Barcelona, Spain
1989
Integrated Art, Aaron Faber Gallery, New York
The Object Contemplated, Perkins Student Center Gallery, Newark, DE
New York Metals Invitational, Roland Gibson Gallery, SUNY Potsdam, NY
First National Invitational Exhibition, Great American Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Collect New York, A Show of Hands Gallery, New York, NY
1988
Altering Boundaries, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
New Paltz Metal, Convention Hall, Baltimore, MD
Contemporary Southwest, Roland Gibson Gallery, , SUNY Potsdam, NY
Touring: -Tyler Art Gallery, SUNY Oswego, NY
-Michael C. Rockefeller Art Center, SUNY Fredonia, NY
The Wichita National 1988, Wichita Art Association, Wichita, KS
1987
Contemporary Metals USA III, Downey Museum of Art, Downey, CA
Conversations III, College Art Gallery, SUNY New Paltz, NY