New Yorks Sculpture Center repurposing itself

Sculpture Center Plans to Move, Shedding Students and Studios

By CHRISTOPHER S. WREN

The Sculpture Center plans to sell its Upper East Side coach house and invest the proceeds in a radically different center in Long Island City, Queens, that will explore more experimental art. But it will no longer provide studios for students.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/19/arts/19SCUL.html? pagewanted=3?ex=98... &ei=1&en=29e3d2300f130f69

[The New York Times article lays it out- the Sculpture Center's Board of Trustees don't want to teach stuff like clay, bronze and stone, and they don't want to exhibit 'amateur' work (by students and faculty). Instead, they want to sell their somewhat dilapidated quarters in Manhattan, get a shiny new facility in Queens for showing avant-garde work by international artists, dump the students, and end up with two million bucks in hand. A sample of the Board's aesthetic leanings is described- dishwasher hoses stuffed with plaster, burnt sugar cubes, and a performance where a woman demonstrates the art of groin-shaving, that sort of thing.

Needless to say, the numerous students and faculty are not very enthusiastic about this plan. The Sculpture Center has been a place (maybe the one place) in New York where people who weren't full-time students could rent a shared sculpture studio at reasonable rates, take classes in traditonal sculpture techniques, and share models for figurative studies as well as opinions and ideas. There might be a court fight in the works, since the charter of the organization specifically refers to the encouragement of beginners and amateurs, although their Director quoted in the article dimisses this, claiming the educational function can be adequately addressed by 'educating' the public in general into appreciating an expanded view of sculpture which apparently includes crotch-shaving, barfing, and other activities beloved of the high-art cognoscenti.

I visited the Sculpture Center a few years ago, and while it was dirty and over-crowded there was a feeling that things were happening- an artistic ferment was in the air. Some of the work being made was amateurish, but some was quite accomplished. To see it killed like this is a pity- and a new home for more of the same stuff that already dominates the New York scene hardly compensates for its loss.]

Andrew Werby

I'm interested to get my teacher's perspective on this. He was the director of the Sculpture Center for some extended period of time in the 80s I think and still has lots of gonnegtions there. Also know lotsa peeps who're members. It's funny how like when you read about groin-shaving art it sounds almost as stupid as it actually is.

'I shaved my groin once, for charity.' -Ammanatti

On Tue, 20 Mar 2001 19:03:19 GMT, 'Andrew Werby'

Andrew I really enjoy it when you get cranked

to be pc about this - - will groin shaving be limited to females only?

Can I replace my tools with a shick.

Thanks for the expose

Fred Mason wrote

Hey Fred,

That does not sound like a good idea.

I doubt that Barbara would allow this.

As an old-fashioned Englishman I shave with an old-fashioned open razor. Think I'll leave groin shaving to females who have less to lose. I've suffered for my art but I have to draw the line somewhere.