PELHAM, NY — Pelham Art Center is pleased to offer a guest lecture by Victoria Lewis, Interpretive Specialist at the New York Botanical Garden. Victoria will be discussing current NYBG exhibit Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai’i and drawing a correlation between art and botany. The free lecture will be held on Wednesday, June 13th, from 5:30-7:30 pm.
Pioneering American modernist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) conveyed a distinct sense of place with innovative depictions of her surroundings, from stark New Mexican landscapes to New York cityscapes. Yet flowers and plants were subjects that engaged O’Keeffe throughout her career. Curated by Theresa Papanikolas, Ph.D., of the Honolulu Museum of Art, this landmark exhibition offers a rare focus on 20 of O’Keeffe’s depictions of Hawai‘i from a nine-week sojourn in 1939 while on commission to produce images for a Hawaiian Pineapple Company promotional campaign.
A lush exhibition in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory of Hawaiian flora and a stunning display in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library Art Gallery that includes 17 of O’Keeffe’s Hawai‘i paintings—not seen together in New York since their debut in 1940—spotlight a transformative experience in the legendary artist’s life, revealing O’Keeffe’s deeply felt impressions and the enduring influence of the Islands’ dramatic landscapes and exotic plants.
Guest speaker Victoria Lewis is the Interpretive Specialist at The New York Botanical Garden. She is part of the curatorial team that develops Garden-wide exhibitions such as Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i, CHIHULY, and Impressionism: American Gardens on Canvas, as well as the annual Orchid Show and Holiday Train Show. She is responsible for creating interpretive materials throughout the 250-acre Garden, including mobile experiences, signage and display text, and audio tours, and trains staff and volunteer tour guides. She studied art history at Yale.
About the artist:
Georgia O’Keeffe was born on November 15, 1887, in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York. Photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz gave O’Keeffe her first gallery show in 1916 and the couple married in 1924. Considered the “mother of American modernism” and was well known for her boldly innovative art, distinct flowers, dramatic cityscapes, and glowing landscapes. O’Keeffe eventually moved to New Mexico after her husband’s death and was inspired by the landscape to create numerous well-known paintings. She died on March 6, 1986 at the age of 98.