Brandywine River Museum of Art Receives National Endowment for the Arts

 The Brandywine River Museum of Art has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)to support the exhibition Things Beyond Resemblance: James Welling Photographs and its accompanying catalogue. 

Things Beyond Resemblance: James Welling Photographs, on view at the Museum from August 8 through November 15, is a series of color photographs by Los Angeles-based artist James Welling (b. 1951) inspired by the painter Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009). Welling began the series as an examination of Wyeth's formative influence on Welling's career, from his earliest watercolors in the 1960s through his recent photographs. "I realized I had never stopped thinking about Wyeth," Welling wrote, "he had become a part of how I see." Shot on location in Pennsylvania and Maine--in the same areas where Wyeth painted throughout his life--this major series includes new work created specifically for the exhibition. 

"We are extremely grateful to the NEA for their support of thisexhibition," said Thomas Padon, Director of the Brandywine River Museum of Art. "This project represents the continuation of Welling's photographic experimentation and exploration of light and color." He added, "In this series of photographs, James Welling creates a fascinating dialogue across decades and media with the work of Andrew Wyeth, an iconic American painter." 

On the occasion of this exhibition, the Museum has commissioned James Welling to create a site-specific installation on the grounds of the Museum, the Andrew Wyeth Studio, the N.C. Wyeth House and Studio, and the Kuerner Farm. Gradients will be a series of works that explore the intersection of photography and sculpture, and references and distills the color of the various locales in which they are installed.Gradients will run concurrently with Things Beyond Resemblance, extending the visitor's experience of Welling's work beyond the walls of the Museum. 

Things Beyond Resemblance: James Welling Photographs is also supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. The planning of this exhibition has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. 

Through its grant-making to thousands of nonprofits each year, the NEA promotes opportunities for people in communities across America to experience the arts and exercise their creativity. The NEA will make 1,023 awards totaling $74.3 million nationwide in this funding round. NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, "The NEA is committed to advancing learning, fueling creativity, and celebrating the arts in cities and towns across the United States. Funding these new projects like the one from the Brandywine River Museum of Art represents an investment in both local communities and our nation's creative vitality." 

To join the Twitter conversation about this announcement, please use #NEASpring2015. For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, go to arts.gov. 

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The Brandywine River Museum of Art, located on U.S. Route 1 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, is open daily (except Christmas Day) from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults; $10 for seniors ages 65 and over; $6 for students and children ages 6 to 12; and free for children ages five and under and Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art members. Admission is free on Sunday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to noon (except on May 24,during the annual Antiques Show, which is a fundraiser for the Museum Volunteers' Art Purchase Fund, and art education and programming).