What was it like growing up with the influence of your grandmother in the family?
MN: I thought she encouraged independent thinking. As you get older, you can see many people are not comfortable with independent thinkers, so you recognize when not to push them out of their comfort zone. I found her way of thinking super liberating and it allowed me to follow my own interests and path rather than adopt someone else’s. I can see many people get lost in wanting to be something they can’t be, and my Grandmother’s philosophy taught me to stay centered and uncover who I am. Her courage to follow her own path made it so much easier for me to do the same.
SJ: How did growing up in this artistic environment impact your own understanding of art?
MN: First of all, making art was very natural if that’s what you wanted to do. Second, I observed as a child…looked and listened. I did not feel I had to make something and part of me was sure it wouldn’t be good anyway. In college, I studied art history at George Washington University and that flowed into curating a collection of Correspondence Art for the Museum of Temporary Art. I was comfortable helping other artists.
Later here in Philadelphia, I volunteered in various capacities at Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art ending up as Chair of the Board. Now I help my Grandmother’s Legacy through the Louise Nevelson Foundation. I have the creative art awareness but the necessity to make a living blocked it. When I turned 40, Tibetan Buddhism showed up and I studied and practiced extensively. Peeling back the onion allowed this amazing energy out and I created my own sculpture and established the Louise Nevelson Foundation.
I think creativity comes in many forms. But Buddhism gave me my center that my Grandmother spoke of and that center is unshakeable, unstoppable. And then I was able to feel art, then I was in the creative flow more than I had ever been. I do feel all the professions I have undertaken are an extension of my creativity, but art allowed me to experience the Fourth Dimension.
SJ: Can you tell us a little bit more about Nevelson’s interest in creating monumental large-scale sculptures, and how these works fit into the broader oeuvre?
MN: New materials become available and some of them are good fodder for artists. My Grandmother was introduced to Cor-Ten steel when it was new to artists. She said she was first uncertain about it but soon found she took to it like “butter.” Cor-Ten allowed her to work big, e.g. 40 feet high with “Shadows and Flags” at Louise Nevelson Plaza in Manhattan, and it allowed her work to remain outdoors in all kinds of weather. This was her new oeuvre and she made over 100 outdoor sculptures, big and small, and municipalities and corporations were commissioning these large-scale pieces for their public spaces.
Some of these sculptures like the “Atmosphere and Environment” group used steel boxes to contain the shapes, much like her wooden boxes. But then she broke free and in pure inspiration composed free standing sculptures from the miscellaneous shapes and cast-offs around her. You can’t work so big and in this way unless you are centered We see a lot of large outdoor sculpture that was composed from an imbalanced artist. These metal sculptures made on the spot were paralleled when she made wooden sculptures without boxes to contain the elements, e.g. “Mirror Shadow” series in 1987, at the end of her life.
SJ: Do you have a favorite work or type of work by your grandmother?
MN: No. Each piece captures a moment in my Grandmother’s life, so I accept each one. Sometimes they are simple meditative groupings of shapes, and sometimes they get quite complicated which is super fun to explore. I recently visited the white painted “Dawn’s Forest” (1986) at the Artis-Naples Baker Museum and because its many components are spread through out the museum I felt like I stepped into Alice in “a White” Wonderland where time stands still. I admit in the past the white sculptures didn’t grab me but I’ve changed and really enjoy them now.
Explanation:
got it from a text book and re worded it,mark me as the brainlest
