7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Douglas I. Sheer was born in 1944 in New York City to two artist parents, Benjamin Sheer and Marcia C. Sheer. He grew up in Greenwich Village and attended P. S. 41 where his classmates included future critic A. D. Coleman and future actor Robert DeNiro. Both parents had been a part of the WPA and Artists Union in the 1930s and spent time in Woodstock, NY.
His parents maintained a second apartment on the same floor as their residential unit in a Hudson Street apartment building near the Meat Market and that studio faced north and saw the operating High Line Railroad. He was also exposed to the art teaching of Hans Hofmann, to whose class his parents went in the early 1950s. He is the only known artist to have attended Hofmann classes on 8th Street as a child, due to his parent’s frequent inability to find a sitter. He was honored to be chosen to proof the registry of Hofmann students, by Tina Dickey, author of “Color Creates Light,” due to that unique childhood experience and his ATOA efforts to keep Hofmann’s legacy alive. Summers were spent in Provincetown, where many Hofmann students migrated in that period, where they stayed on Captain Jack’s Wharf close to Hofmann’s P-town home.
Gail Levin is Distinguished Professor of art history, fine & performing arts, American studies, and women’s studies at Baruch College and the Graduate Center, of the City University of New York. The acknowledged authority on American realist painter Edward Hopper, she is author of books and articles on this artist, including the catalogue raisonné and Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography.
Her work on twentieth century and contemporary art has won international acclaim, been widely published, and translated in America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Articles range from theory of artists’ biographies to explorations of the intersection of American and Asian cultural studies. She has also written on the art of women artists in diverse historical contexts. Her frequent focus on women artists and Jewish artists, led to biographies of Judy Chicago and Lee Krasner and a major study of Theresa Bernstein. During 2015-16, Levin held a Distinguished Fulbright Chair in India and was a Fulbright Specialist in Mongolia in 2019. She also shows her own artwork and publishes fiction.
Website: https://gaillevin.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
Sajitha graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting from the Government college of Arts Trivandrum.
She lived and worked at the Cholamandalam Artists village Chennai for nearly two decades.
Sajitha has taught as faculty at various Art institutions including as Guest faculty at her alumni Government college of Arts, Trivandrum in 2013. She has served as a council member of Kerala Lalita kala Akademi from 1996 to till 2014 and as Executive member in 2022, and as Jury Member for many exhibitions like..the K.P. Krishnakumar Award, in 2022. She served as a Committee member of Gender Justice in Campuses, Higher Education, Kerala. She has been instrumental in organizing many state, national and international level Art camps and workshops over the years.She is the Founder and Director of Gowry Art Institute, Thirupananthapuram, Kerala, South India . Her works are on permanent display in National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore, India.
Sajitha was the recipient of the Pollock Krasner Award, New York in 2017; The Charles Wallace Award from British council, UK; She has been felicitated for her Outstanding contribution in the field of Arts( Painting ) by the Ministry of Culture, Kerala in 2012. She was awarded Senior Fellowship by the Ministry of Culture, New Delhi, 2009-11; The French scholarship for Artists residency in Cite des Arts Paris, France, 2006 - 07 and have also received numerous international travel grants . Represented India and South Asia in many countries. She has participated in several group shows and more than 30 solo shows over the years,in India and abroad.
Website: www.sajithashankar.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sajithashankhar?igsh=c3oyYXYzaDl0ZTQ5
alter bodies, acrylic on canvas ,5feet/4 feet 2011