Williams Professor, Sculptor Receives Chesterwood Award
 Amy Podmore is artist-in-residence at Chesterwood through June 30. |
STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Chesterwood, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has named Amy Podmore as the recipient of its annual Lillian Heller Curator's Award.
Podmore, asculptor and Williams College professor of art, is artist-in-residence at Chesterwood through June 30; open studio hours with the artist will be held on June 27, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. A reception with Podmore will be held at Chesterwood's Morris Center on Sunday, June 29, from 4 to 6 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.
"Working at Chesterwood has been a real gift. Daniel Chester French made an exquisite studio in this beautiful setting, very conducive to creative work," said Podmore. "It has been wonderful to be able to immerse myself in the studio with fewer of the normal daily interruptions. I have been using the month to make new pieces and to experiment. I’m working on several sculptures and have begun a relief painting, which was triggered by the find of an oddly small and colorful vest."
While at Chesterwood, Podmore is also filming a sculptural/dance/video project with director Dave Simmons (who directed the documentary film "Cherry Cottage" about a historic house in Stockbridge), three dancers: Berkshire Pulse’s Ruth Bruno and Susan Quinn, as well as Charlie Reetz, and Nick Zammuto, of Zammuto Sound, who is creating the soundtrack music.
"We are delighted to have Amy in residence this June at Chesterwood. I became familiar with her sculpture the first time she exhibited in the Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood 2006 exhibition and I have been following her work ever since," said Executive Director Donna Hassler.
The award was created through an endowment by the family of Lillian Heller to memorialize her love and commitment to the arts.
Podmore's work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood. Her work has been exhibited at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Bell Gallery (Brown University), Mass MoCA, Williams College Museum of Art, The Islip Art Museum, Allston Skirt Gallery, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Art Space, San Antonio Art Institute, Albany Airport Gallery, the Wassaic Project, Sculpture by the Sea (Australia), Massachusetts College of Art, Institute for Contemporary Art, Rose Art Museum (Brandeis University), and the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center among others. She is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists Grant Program.
Chesterwood, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is the summer home, studio and gardens of Daniel Chester French (1850-1931). French is best known for his sculptures of the Minute Man (1871-75) and the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln (1911-12) for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
