December 16, 2009
Work by Pinky Bass. Download image.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Visual Arts Gallery will present "Pinky Bass: A Retrospective," an exhibition featuring works by Bass across the range of her artistic practices, Jan. 8 through Feb. 6, 2010, at the gallery, 900 13th St. South. An opening reception is planned for 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8, with the artist. Admission is free and open to the public. Call 205-934-0815.
Bass, an Alabama artist who lives in Fairhope, has exhibited at museums including the Ashville Art Museum, Birmingham Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Huntsville Museum of Art, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Mobile Museum of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia Museum of Art and Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, N.C., among others. Bass is best-known for her handmade cameras and large format pinhole prints; the UAB Visual Arts Gallery exhibition will include examples of each.
"My work is far more personally driven than it is positioned by gender," Bass told UAB Visual Arts Gallery Director Brett Levine. She does, however, create handmade lace and stitch directly onto her photographs. "Even before I went to art school," which she did at the age of 50, "I had always crocheted and made lace," Bass said.
Bass' works reflect a commitment to both personal voice and technical expertise, says Levine. Her hand-stitched photographs developed as she searched for a creative way to deal with personal loss. Now, the immediate and palpable scope and scale of these pieces is evident to anyone who views them. The exhibition of Bass' works, her first at UAB, also continues the gallery's commitment to works by local and regional artists. Bass will create site-specific installations in the gallery as part of the project. "I want this to be an exhibition that is both historical and contemporary," Levine says about the installations.
About the UAB Visual Arts Gallery
The UAB Visual Arts Gallery showcases both historical and contemporary artworks by local, regional, national and international artists. Its exhibitions highlight works by faculty and students, as well as emerging and established artists, in up to a dozen regularly changing shows which are always free and open to the public.