Agnes Martin and Karen Yank: Meditations on Mentor and Student
Bunny Conlon Modern & Contemporary Art Gallery, University Art Museum
June 22-September 16, 2023
Opening: June 22, 2023, 5:30-7:30 pm
The University Art Museum is pleased to present Agnes Martin and Karen Yank: Meditations on Mentor and Student, an exhibition exploring the work and intersecting lives of artists Agnes Martin and Karen Yank. Featured in this exhibition are Martin’s lithographs on vellum, whose complex and meditative grids are indicative of the renowned artist’s style which impacted upon Abstract expressionism, Minimalism, and Transcendentalism. Yank’s steel wall-based sculptures reference nature and convey abstract emotional content in minimalist/maximalist forms.
Yank met Martin in 1987 at the artist residency, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Madison, Maine. The two had a passion for New Mexico, and both chose the high plains to live out their lives and artistic practices. For nearly 17 years, Yank and Martin met weekly as a friendship and mentorship flourished. Martin taught Yank how to focus her inspirations, create a strong artistic vision through meditation, and scale her mind's-eye sketches into large-scale artworks. Towards the end of Martin’s life, she asked Yank to share her philosophies with younger artists to keep her teachings alive past her death. Many elements of those teachings are revealed in this exhibition.
This exhibition and programming is supported by The Mellon Foundation; The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation; Turner Carroll Gallery; NMSU College of Arts & Sciences; Friends of the University Art Museum; Mullennix Art Museum Fund; George and Lucy Gray Endowed Art Fund; and several private donors.
More information is coming soon.
Image credit: Karen Yank, Clarity, Steel and stainless steel, 72" x 43" x 1.5", 2005. Courtesy of NMSU Permanent Art Collection. Gift of Tonya Turner Carroll and Michael Carroll in honor of Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe.
Image Credit: Agnes Martin, Untitled, Lithograph, 13.75 x 13.75 x 1", 13.75 x 13.75 x 1", 1990. Courtesy of NMSU Permanent Art Collection. Gift of Tonya Turner Carroll and Michael Carroll in honor of Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe.