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Ad Code: 3
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An example of work by Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| The following information, submitted December 2004, is from the artist.
STATEMENTS:
For years I have been walking a tightrope dealing with unpopular and unlikely
subjects, techniques, methods and feelings. Redefining drawing in the 1950's
and '60's from small and personal to huge and involving time (48 feet high or
drawn from a sky-writing airplane). Drawing completely unheroic forms (aging,
obese figures) on a heroic scale. Drawing aging lovers showing the tenderness
and love in the midst of disintegration. Drawing using shadows through
lucite, paper pulp alone, scrimshaw or rediscovering Old Master techniques and
making my own bistre, sepia, pastels.
Since 1967 I have worked intensely with the Fundamentalist religious people of the lower Appalachian Mountains showing first their religious forms and ceremonies and then their beliefs. Without necessarily subscribing to these beliefs, I honor these people and try to fairly show their feelings.
For the last 15 years I have been drawing and painting them on various velvets, challenged by the assumption of these Pentecostal People that since I was an artist I painted on black velvet. In recent years I have turned from drawing their outward activities and am dealing more and more with their beliefs: fears of the world ending soon with subsequent Final Judgment; beliefs that every person carries his/her own cross through life; certainty that after Conversion God lives inside their bodies and speaks through their mouths (evidenced by their "speaking-in-tongues") and will be harmed by their smoking, drinking, fornicating, etc; the strength of women with their children; ecstatic states of complete union with God as they "fall-out" when under-the-power of the Holy Spirit.
Average people to specialists seem to understand my intent. When writing about my work, critic Victoria Dalkey (Sacramento Bee) said:
Poised between factuality and flamboyance, heroic poetry and
purple prose, they accomplish some difficult tasks. The
figures, which tower over you, radically foreshortened so that
their enormous feet seem about to slide off the wall and onto
your head, are powerfully drawn and completely believable. It
is as if you were standing at the foot of the cross on a dark
night, witnessing the scene by torchlight. Dickinson is a fine
draftsman, and she handles the considerable technical problems
of rendering a foreshortened figure on a large scale with
aplomb.
What is more remarkable, though, is that considering the
material, the subject and the perspective she uses, the works
are not in any sense exploitative. The idea of doing religious
paintings of nudes seen from an extremely foreshortened angle,
which lends itself to emphasing grotesque anatomical
distortions (and on black velvet, yet), could easily lend
itself to a cynical mockery of popular art, past art,
Christianity and the people who modeled for the drawings.
Instead, Dickinson uses black velvet without poking fun at it.
She gives us pictures of plain people in painful positions
without making them look ugly or foolish. Most amazing of all,
she offers us religious images without mocking religion.
From the most unlikely combinations of means and sources, she
makes a genuine, rather than ironic, connection with the grand
religious paintings of the past. . . . with the anguished, very
human, yet heroic Christ of Grunewald's Crucifixion and
the dramatic splendor and veering perspective of baroque
ceiling paintings. Yet they also connect with the visceral,
twisted, terrifying figures of a 20th-century master, Francis
Bacon.
These works are disturbing and difficult to look at, I know. They are even more difficult to draw as I take on the subject's pain and ecstasy. Alice Thorson ("Washington Times") found: ". . subjects proven highly controversial in the current cultural climate. . Mrs. Dickinson achieves excruciating images of human vulnerability, naked, in the darkness, at times so battered by physical and spiritual travails that their very viscera come through the skin." I am trying to travel through these images of pain to their concomitant shape of praise, both felt and recapitulated through the cruciform; from the specific to the universal.
PERSONAL:
Born Feb. 7, 1931, Knoxville, Tennessee
Married Wade Dickinson, 1952; three children
Moved to California, February, 1953
Studio: San Francisco, CA and New York, NY
EDUCATION:
Golden Gate University, (Art Law) 1984
California College of Arts and Crafts, M.F.A. (Film/Video) 1982
University of California (Art, Art History) 1967, 1971, 1981
Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, Paris (Drawing) 1971
San Francisco Art Institute, (drawing/Prints) 1961-1963 teachers: James Weeks, Richard Graf, Gordon Cook. Bay Area Figurative.
University of Tennessee, B.A. (Fine Arts) 1952 teacher:C. Kermit Ewing,
George Cress, Joe Cox
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS: *= 24 Solo Museum Exhibitions
*2003 The Tennessee State Museum, Nashville
2000 "Revelations: Selected Works of Eleanor Dickinson," Thacher
Gallery, University of San Francisco
1996 Council for Creative Projects, New York
*1995 Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis
1991 "Sacred and Spiritual in American Art" Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
1989 Ohlone College, Fremont, CA
1989 City Hall, San Francisco
1987 "Art-in-Embassies", U.S. Dept. of State, Washington, D.C.
1985 Davis and Elkins College, West Virginia
1983 Solano State University, California
1982, 1974 California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland
*1981 Tennessee State Museum, Nashville
1980 Women's InterArt Center, New York
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2001 "Tennessee Collects." Frist Center for Art, Nashville, TN
2001 "Like A Prayer," Tryon Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC
2001 "Art by Women," Goethe Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal
2001 -01 "Over the Bridge," California Arts Council, Sacramento
2000 "Truth and Lies," Triton Museum, Santa Clara
2000 "Selections from the Permanent Collection," Ewing Gallery, University
of Tennessee
2000 "Velvet Painting," Andrea Achwartz Gallery, San Francisco
2000 "Faculty Exhibition," CCAC, Oakland
2000 "The Female Gaze," Ohlone College, Fremont
2000 "Dorothy Gillespie Collection," Maither Art Center, Moami
2000 "KTEH," Triton Museum, Santa Clara
2000 "Bay Area Figurative, 2000," SOMARTS Gallery
2000 "Women Consuming, Women Consumed," Matrix, Sacramento
1999 "5 Women Artists of this Century: and Beyond," Somar Cultural Center, CA
1999 "Carried To The Heart," Millsaps College, Mississippi
1999 "Add/Drop/Add," Oliver Art Center, Calif. College of Arts and Crafts
1999 "Angels and Apparitions," Di Rosa Foundation, Napa, CA
1999 Third Intuit Film Festival, Chicago, ILL
GRANTS, HONORS AND AWARDS
2000 Artist-in-Residence, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
1998 "Second Prize," KTEH Exhibition, Triton Museum
1995 "President's Award", National Women's Caucus for Art
1995-7 www.sonoma.edu/waa/dickinson/ Sonoma State Univ.
1994 Grant, California College of Arts and Crafts
1992 "Certificate of Recognition: El Consejo Mundial de Artistas Plasticos", Second International Conference, U.S.A.
1991 Grant, Skaggs Foundation for G.T.U. Exhibition, Berkeley
1991 Commissions, University of San Francisco
1993 Artist in Residence, Arkansas State Univers ity
1990 Grant, San Francisco Community Television Corporation
1989-91, '93-95 Travel Grants, California College of Arts and Crafts
1989 "Distinguished Service Citation for Arts and Social Activism", National League of American Pen Women, Inc.
1988 Emmy Award, "The Sawdust Trail", WKRN (Consultant, participant)
1988 Grant, PAS Graphics, Pasadena
1988-93 Grant/subsidy, Bay Area Video Coalition
1987 World Record continuous drawing time (Guiness), 4 artists
1987 "Honorable Mention," "Political Satire' 1870 Gallery, CA
1985 Grant, West Virginia Commission for the Humanities (N.E.H)
1985 Grant, Thomas F. Stanley Foundation
1985 "Award of Merit," Artists Gallery, CCAC
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS (SELECTED)
Rene and Veronica Di Rosa, Napa
Moses Lasky, San Francisco
Sen. Edward Kennedy, Washington, D.C.
Sen. Herschel Rosenthal, Sacramento
Mr. Aldous Chapin, Washington, D.C.
Dr. G. Austin Conkey, San Francisco
Rebecca Cooper, New York
Christo, New York
William and Mary Rosenwald (Estate), New York
Mrs. John Chiles, Nashville
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, San Francisco
Dr. Alfred Frankenstein (Estate), San Francisco
Mr. and Mrs. John Merrill Jr., Tiburon
Mr. and Mrs. Roy Slade, Cranbrook, MI
Walter Hopps and Carolyn Huber, Houston
Richard West, Santa Barbara
Dr. Lorenz Eitner, Stanford, Palo Alto
Roselyn Swig, San Francisco
Modesto Lanzone (Estate), San Francisco
Mrs. Paul Wattis, San Francisco
TEACHING AND CURATORIAL:
California College of Arts and Crafts, Professor Emeritus
Professor of Art, 1971 to 2001 (Painting-Drawing Dept.)
Director of C.C.A.C. Gallery 1975-1985
Tennessee State Museum, Co-Curator 2001-3
University of California, Berkeley, Haas School Lecturer, 1990 to present
Somar Gallery, WCA Regional Exhibition, Curator 1998
Foster-Freeman Gallery, San Antonio, TX Guest Curator 1995
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Lecture Series, 1993
Visiting Artist, Arkansas State University, 1993
Lectures, Academies of Art: Hangzhou, Xian, Shanghai, China, 1992
Knoxville Museum of Art, Guest Curator 1991
Crocker Museum of Art, Guest Co-Curator 1991
Viacom Ch. 25, Producer, "The 'art of the Matter" 1986-present
Tennessee State Museum, Guest Curator, 1980-92
California Confederation for the Arts Congress, "Masks", 1987
University of California, Davis, Ext. Instructor, 1983-1985
Davis & Elkins College, West Virginia, Instructor 1985
Graham Center Museum, Guest Curator 1984-1985
Center for the Visual Arts, Guest Curator 1984
Solano State University, Instructor 1983
Fresno State University, Lecturer 1983
International Sculpture Symposium Exhibition at C.C.A.C.,
Co-Curator with Walter Hopps, 1982
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
National Museum of American Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art
Butler Institute of American Art
Stanford Art Museum
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Santa Barbara Museum
The Library of Congress
The Oakland Museum
The Smithsonian Institution
Tennessee State Museum
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The Archives of American Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art
Fresno Arts Center Museum
The National Museum of Women in the Arts
Cheney Cowles Museum, Spokane
Mills College, Oakland
The McClung Museum, Knoxville
Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis
Home Savings and Loan Association, Los Angeles
PUBLICATIONS (SELECTED)
Eleanor Dickinson and Barbara Benziger, Revival!. Introduction by
Walter Hopps. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. Cover and 300 plates.
Nominated for Pulitzer Prize.
Eleanor Dickinson and Barbara Benziger, That Old Time Religion. New
York: Harper and Row, 1975. Cover and 20 plates.
Eleanor Dickinson, Lovers. William Sawyer Gallery and Archer Press,
1975. Portfolio of Lithographs with Collophon
Eleanor Dickinson, Southern Revival Services, Library of Congress, Archive of Folk Song, audio and video tapes, 1968 to present.
CATALOGS (SOLO EXHIBITIONS):
Diverse Works. Eleanor Dickinson: Selected works from: Revival! -
The Mark of the Beast - Crucifixions. Houston, TX. 1990. Cover and 8 Plates.
Introduction: Carolyn Huber, Director.
Tennessee State Museum. Revival! Nashville, TN. 1981-2. Cover and 16 Plates. Introduction: Dr. Richard H. King and Richard Ahlborn, Curator, The Smithsonian Institution.
The Oakland Museum. That Old Time Religion. Oakland, CA. 1979 Cover and 15 Plates. Introduction: Thomas Frye, Curator. Editor: Brooks Johnson, Curator, The Oakland Museum.
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Eleanor Dickinson: Line Drawing. San Francisco, CA. 1975 Cover and 29 Plates. Introduction: Dr. Alfred Frankenstein. Editor: Fenton Kastner, Curator.
Poindexter Gallery. Eleanor Dickinson Drawings. New York, N.Y. 1972. Cover and 7 Plates. Introduction: Elinor Poindexter.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art. Revival! Washington, D.C. 1970. Cover and 14 Plates. Introduction: Elizabeth Coffelt. Editor: Nina Felshin, Curator.
The Knoxville Museum of Art (Dulin). Revival! Knoxville, TN. 1969. 4 Plates.
Temple Emanu-El. Drawings of Old Testament Personalities by Eleanor Dickinson. San Francisco, CA. 1967. Cover. (Reprinted in 1969 by Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA. and in 1969 by the San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, CA.)
The McClung Museum. Eleanor Dickinson: Figure Drawings, Nineteen Sixty-Four. Knoxville, TN. 1964. Cover and 5 Plates. Editor: C. Kermit Ewing.
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Biography from Butler Institute of American Art:
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Born Feb. 7, 1931, Knoxville, Tennessee
Married Wade Dickinson, 1952; three childre
Moved to California February, 1953
Studio: San Francisco, CA and New York, NY |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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