Thursday, March 28, 2024

Telling Stories with Pictures: Toledo Museum of Art hosts narrative drawing exhibit

Beginning Nov. 21, the Toledo Museum of Art will display “Telling Stories: Resilience and Struggle in Contemporary Narrative Drawing”, an exhibition of contemporary pieces including twenty-five large and small-scale works, along with an animated film. 

The featured artists, Amy Cutler, Robyn O’Neil and Annie Pootoogook, create their art through graphite or pencil. Other artists also use colored pencil, oil sticks and gouache, according to TMA for the exhibit, Robin Reisenfeld.

“One of the rationales for this exhibition was to bring together three artists who chronicle the complexity of human relationships and the struggles with societal and economical concerns. Bring together these three different artists, each one creates a different approach towards their world and addressing these concerns,” said Robin Reisenfeld.

robyn_oneil_an_unkindness_detailThree perspectives
Brooklyn’s Amy Culter creates imagery pieces that reflect her personal experiences. Typical art subjects in her piece are women and animals— more specifically, her artwork portrays women’s domestic labor.

Annie Pootoogook is an Inuit artist from Cape Dorset, Canada whose art documents her community’s life who intertwines activities associated from past traditions in her community such as hunting and camping, but also reflects and bridges the present in her community as they utilizing media and technology, as well as consumer products. Most of her work embodies her community’s belief system, while making connections to their past lifestyles or traditions and carrying it forward to the present.

Robyn O’Neil, who has lived in Nebraska and Texas, utilizes weather themes in her landscape art. “O’Neil is known for these cautionary tales of men’s careless stewardship of the world,” Reisenfeld said. O’Neil does larger scale works; one piece in particular is 14 feet wide.

Showcasing expression
Robin Reisenfeld curated this exhibition to showcase the work of contemporary drawing— a form of expression of human emotions and life that’s accessible to anyone with a pencil. The target audience of this exhibition are those familiar with drawing— especially a younger audience. “Drawing is an outlet that’s an important means like reading and writing,” explains Reisenfeld. 

A preferred method for young artists who have found new and exciting opportunities for the medium, the exhibition of drawings will appeal to a broad audience, but with proof that materials within reach are also expressive instruments. 

“Telling Stories: Resilience and Struggle in Contemporary Narrative Drawing” is on view from Nov. 21, until Feb. 14, 2021. For more information, visit TMA’s website at toledomuseum.org.

Recent Articles