Bio
Born in Chicago, Barbara Grad received both her BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For many years she continued to be an active member of Chicago’s contemporary art scene as a founding member of the Artemisia Gallery. An accomplished artist and distinguished educator, Grad is a Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Recent solo exhibitions include The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO, The Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, MA and the Miller Yezerski Gallery in Boston. In addition to gallery exhibitions in New York, Kansas City, Palm Beach, and Chicago, her work was regularly shown at the Bernard Toale Gallery in Boston. She is in the collections of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, The Danforth Museum of Art, Fidelity Investments, and Wellington Management. Grad’s many honors include two fellowships from the Art Institute of Chicago, and individual artist grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Foundation and Cultural Council Grants. She was a resident artist at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ireland and later at the Jentel Artist Residency in Wyoming. Currently, her work is represented by the Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston where she has an upcoming show. The artist currently lives and works in Wayland, Massachusetts.
Resume
AWARDS
2022 Massachusetts Curtral Council Artist Grant
2013 The Artist’s Resource Trust Fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Artist Grant
2013 William Hicks Faculty Fellowship, MassArt Foundation
2012 Jentel Colony, Wyoming Artists’ Fellowship
2011 Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ireland Artists’ Fellowship
2005 The Artist’s Resource Trust Fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation
2004 MA Cultural Council Artist Grant, Artist Books Finalist
1996 New England for the Arts/NEA Fellowship, Painting
1990 MA Foundation Fellowship Grant, Final
1988 MA Foundation Fellowship Grant, Semi-Final
1987 Polaroid Grant, 20” x 24”, Polaroid Corporation
1987 Kalani Honua Artist’s Retreat Center, HI, Artist in Residence
1984 MA Foundation Fellowship Grant, Final & Semi-Final
1978 Creative Arts Grant, Ball State University, IN
1977 Creative Arts Grant, Ball State University, IN
1977 University Research Grant, Ball State University
1977 Best Drawing Award, Springville Museum of Art, UT
1975 National Endowment for the Arts, Ind. Fellowship Grant, Visual Arts/ Painting
1975 George D. & Isabella A. Brown Fellowship, Art Institute of Chicago, Painting
1972 George D. & Isabella A. Brown Fellowship, Art Institute of Chicago, Painting
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selected)
2020 Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
2018 Findlay Galleries, Palm Beach, FL
2016 Miller Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
2013 Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
2011 Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
2011 Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
2010 Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA
2005 Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA
2005 Cambridge Arts Council, Public Installation: 4 Electrical Boxes; Cambridge, MA
2001 Gallery At First Parish, Weston, MA
2000 Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA
1997 Babson College, The Horn Gallery; Babson Park, MA
1996 Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA
1992 Fenway Gallery, New Buffalo, MI
1990 Rugg Road Papers and Prints, MA
1988 Bridgewater State College, MA, Art Gallery
1988 55 Mercer Gallery, NYC, curator Ethelyn Honig
1987 Fairleigh Dickson University, NY, Edward Williams Gallery
1985 Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA, Gallery 11
1985 55 Mercer Gallery, New York, NY
1980 Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL
1979 Ball State University, Art Gallery, IN
1978 Ball State University, Art Gallery, IN
1978 Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL
1978 Indiana University, Purdue University, IN
1977 Barat College, IL, Richer Gallery
1973 Hartford Plaza, Chicago, IL
GALLERY AFFILIATIONS
2017-present Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
2017-2020 Findlay Galleries, FL and NY
2014-2016 David Findlay Jr Gallery, em>NY
2013-2017 Miller Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
2010-2013 Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston MA
2006- present Pierogi Gallery (flat-file drawing project), New York City NY
1996-2008 Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston MA
1991-1997 Fenway Gallery, Lakeside MI
1978-1998 Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago IL
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COLLECTIONS (selected)
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, MO
Danforth Museum of Art, MA
Wellington Management Company LLP, MA
Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
Polaroid 20 x 24 International Collection, Vienna, Austria
Art Institute of Chicago Museum, Prints and Drawing Department, IL
Industrial Trust and Savings Bank, IN
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago IL
Prudential Insurance Company, Maryville IL
Koehnline Museum of Art, Des Plaines IL
Ballinglen Foundation, Ireland UK
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston MA
Private Collections: (selected )
George Irwin Collection, IL
Jerome Herskowitz, FL
Grizwald Draz, MA
Peter & Karen Sonnabend, MA
Barbara & Steve Grossman, MA
Carol & Jimmy Herscot, MA
Avril & Sam Ellenport, MA
Daphne & Rob Lees, MA
Audrey & Jim Foster, MA
PUBLICATIONS (selected)
2018 Findlay Galleries catalogue, ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ essay, John Yau
2017 Boston Globe, Abstract Systems, Cate McQuaid, March 31
2016 Boston Globe, Fasten Your Seat Belts For ‘Off Road’, Cate McQuaid, June 24
2014 Boston Globe, Personal Terrain, Cate McQuaid, May 14
2013 Boston Globe, review Cate McQuaid, Feb 20
2013 Slightly Wonky.com, review Elizabeth Kostojohn, Mar 8
2013 Artscope, review Lindsey Davis, Feb 19, blogspot.artscopemagazine.com/2013/”lost-horizons”-at -howard-yezerski-gallery/
2013 Wayland Town Crier, review, Mike Wyner
2012 100 Boston Painters, by Chawky Frenn, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, Atglen, PA
2011 Artscope, Selections 11, Franklin W.Liu, Nov/Dec 11, image pg 14
2011 The Kansas City Star, Exhibit is a Higher Form of Art, by Elisabeth Kirsch, March 10
2011 Art Tattler, review Blair Schulman, February
2011 Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, The Circumstantial Evidence of Place, Finding Our Way Into (and Out of) a Painting, essay & brochure by Barbara O’Brien, curator
2010 The Metrowest Daily News, “Artists at the Danforth Deserve Fresh Eyes, The Art of Looking,” by Chris Bergeron, September 26, C1 & C9
2007 Art New England, Those Who Paint, Teach, Ellen Howards, Editor Oct/Nov, pg 21-23, 75
2005 New American Painting, curated Bill Arning, MIT List Center for Visual Arts, Issue 62, pg 54
2005 Boston Globe, review Cate McQuaid, Oct 14
2005 Big RED & Shiny, review Jonathan Fardy
2005 Boston Phoenix, review Randi Hopkins, Oct 7-13
2005 South End News, review D’Lynne Plummer, Sept 29
2005 Art New England, From Hand To Hand, Artist Books, Aug/Sept
2004 Wayland Town Crier, article, Susan L. Sherwood, Aug. 19
2000 Boston Globe, review: Cate McQuaid, Sept. 14
2000 South End News, review: Richard Foster, Sept. 21
1997 ARTFORUM, review F. Koslow-Miller, Jan, pg 89
1997 Boston Globe, review Cate McQuaid, Dec 12, pg C12
1996 Art News, review N.Stapen, Dec., p 126
1996 Artsmedia, Boston, review Mari Spirito, Oct.
1996 Wayland Town Crier, front page feature, review Tammy Wilson
1989 Rose Art Museum, Restive Visions, catalogue
1985 Arts Magazine, review Stephen Westfall, Dec, pg 125
EDUCATION
M.F.A. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
B.F.A. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago & The University of Chicago, IL
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1981-2015 Massachusetts College of Art –Professor Emeritus, Boston, MA
Painting Coordinator 2011-2012, Fine Arts-2D Chairman: 1997-2000
Born: Chicago IL, USA
Statement
My work is inspired by a love of paint and the fiction of painting. A strong belief in the personal visual experience is reinforced by my travels and everyday living; an integration of art and life. Familiar shapes are not recognized but create ideas or metaphors. Imagery is assembled, layered and veiled to offer multiple meanings. Abstraction enables the freedom of invention. An array of graphic climate change figuration is referenced, including: water, air and locations. these are shapes and rhythms where man-made forms merge with aerial views and reflections. It is the juxtaposition of these components which create an invented space and visual metaphor of how our culture and physical landscape has changed and continues to advance.
Understanding a constructed mysterious illusion is realized through the paint. Imagery is created through a balance of representation and abstraction, then moments of connection and disconnection appear. Using bold flat color placed adjacent to natural light and shadow, a collision of perspectives and invented spaces are instinctively discovered. It’s an uncertain territory, where a man-made place has landscape roots and respects the beauty of nature. They are landscapes with a vague familiarity of nature that hardly exists. There are no answers, only questions of the changes confronting us.
I work in a studio, in a private way, but in relation to my world experience. I use my hands and get dirty to understand the physicality of the paint. Color needs light but can also be a pleasure. It is messy thinking and graphic imagery is a way to simplify the ideas.
Reality shapes my imagination and optimistically, my imagination shapes a painted reality.
Essays & Reviews (selected)
John Yau, Essay for Findlay Galleries, Barbara Grad solo Exhibit, 2018
Barbara O’Brien, Former Executive Director and Chief Curator Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Essay for Video Villa, New Paintings by Barbara Grad, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art 2011
Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe, 2016
Wikiwand
Francine Koslow-Miller, Art Forum
