Sylvia Lark (1947–1990) was a Native American/Seneca artist,[2][3] curator, and educator. She best known as an Abstract expressionist painter and printmaker.[4][5] Lark lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years.
Sylvia Lark | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1947 Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Died | December 27, 1990 Berkeley, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Mountain View Memorial Park, Lakewood, Washington, U.S. |
| Nationality | Seneca, United States |
| Occupation(s) | painter, curator, professor |
| Movement | Abstract expressionism |
| Spouse | Stephen M. Chase[1] |
| Children | 1[1] |
| Awards | Fulbright grant (1977); CAA Award for Distinction (1991) |
| Website | www |
Early life and education edit
Lark was born in 1947 in Buffalo, New York.[6] She went to high school at Nardin Academy in Buffalo.[7] Lark attended school at the University of Siena; University at Buffalo (formally State University of New York, Buffalo) where she received her B.A. degree in 1969; Mills College; and the University of Wisconsin–Madison where she received her M.A. degree in 1970 and M.F.A. degree in 1972.[8][1][9]
Career edit
Starting in 1972, Lark taught art at California State University, Sacramento where she remained until 1976.[1] In 1977, she received a Fulbright-Hays Program grant and traveled and study in Korea and Japan.[8] Lark taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1977 until 1990.[1] Students of Lark's included Shirin Neshat.[10] She was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award for teaching studio art by the College Art Association posthumously in 1991.[8]
Her early work used symbols and patterns, and there was a shift in her later career with more abstraction and overlapping colors with delicate textured surfaces.[9] She painted in oils and encaustics and printed monotypes.[1] Her 1983 painting series Jokhang, featured many textures and layers of colors painted over or under black leaves.[5][2] This series was a response to her visit to Jokhang Temple in Lhasa and her study of Tibetan spirituality.[2] Lark was curator of the exhibition, Prints: New Points of View (1978) at the Open Ring Galleries in Sacramento.[11]
In 1992, she was the second inductee into Nardin Academy's Alumnae Hall of Fame.[7] Lark had served on the National Board of the Women's Caucus for Art from 1978 to 1984; and was the Regional Coordinator for the Coalition of Women's Art Organization from 1978 to 1990.[1]
Death and legacy edit
Lark died on cancer at the age of 43 in Berkeley on December 27, 1990.[8]
Her works are in the museum collections at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,[12] Metropolitan Museum of Art,[13] Crocker Art Museum, Sheldon Museum of Art, Oakland Museum of California,[14] and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.[14]
Exhibitions edit
- 1975 – Drawings and Prints by Howard Hack, Sylvia Lark, and Leonard Sussman, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California[15]
- 1977 – Lark–Palmer Prints and Sculptures, included Sylvia Lark and Jon Palmer, Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California[16]
- 1977 – Look, Touch, Rub, Pull, Smell, and Hear, included Carlos Villa, Chisato Nishioka Watanabe, Phil Weidman, Jon Palmer, Phil Hitchcock, Jock Reynold, Laureen Landau, Sylvia Lark, William Maxwell, Bruce Guttin, Paul DeMarinis, and Jim Pomeroy, Artspace, Sacramento, California[17]
- 1980 – Contemporary Trends in Presentation Drawings, curated by Roberta Loach, Linda Langston; including J.J. Aasen, Walter Askin, Gary Brown, Eleanor Dickinson, Bob Anderson, Harry Lynn Krizan, Judith Linhares, Roy DeForest, Robert Freimark, Sylvia Lark, Roberta Loach, Norman Lundin, Shane Weare, Vince Perez, Mary Snowden, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, California[18]
- 1980 – Bhirasri Institute of Modern Art, Bangkok, Thailand[6]
- 1983 – Galerie Akmak, Berlin, Germany[6]
- 1984 – (solo exhibition), Jeremy Stone Gallery, San Francisco, California[5]
- 1985 – Galerie Hartje, Frankfurt, Germany[6]
- 1986 – The 54th Hanga Annual, Japan-California Print Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan.[citation needed]
- 1987 – The Ethnic Idea, curated by Andrée Maréchal-Workman, including Lauren Adams, Robert Colescott, Dewey Crumpler, Mildred Howard, Oliver Lee Jackson, Mary Lovelace O'Neal, Joe Sam, Elisabeth Zeilon, Tom Holland, Celeste Conner, Jean LaMarr, Sylvia Lark, Leta Ramos, Judy Foosaner, Joseph Goldyne, Belinda Chlouber, Carlos Villa, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California[19]
- 1991 – North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Fork, North Dakota[6]
- 2002 – Art/Women/California, Parallels and Intersections: 1950–2000, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California[2]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g "University of California: In Memoriam, 1991". Online Archive of California (OAC). Regents of The University of California. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ a b c d Fuller, Diana Burgess; Salvioni, Daniela (2002-05-29). Art/Women/California, 1950–2000: Parallels and Intersections. Univ of California Press. pp. 144, 149. ISBN 978-0-520-23065-1.
- ^ Indian Truth, Issues 212-266. Indian Rights Association. 1974. p. 12.
- ^ Hammond, Harmony; Quick-to-See Smith, Jaune (1985). Women of Sweetgrass, Cedar and Sage: Contemporary Art by Native American Women (Exhibition). Gallery American Indian Community House. ISBN 978-0934305006.
- ^ a b c Boettger, Suzaan (February 1984). "Sylvia Lark, Jeremy Stone Gallery, San Francisco". Artforum.com. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ a b c d e Heller, Jules; Heller, Nancy G. (2013-12-19). North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-63882-5.
- ^ a b "Nardin Honors Artist Sylvia Lark". Buffalo News. June 5, 1992. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ a b c d "Memorial Rites Set For Sylvia Lark, Abstract Painter, Professor of Art". Buffalo News. January 23, 1991. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ a b Moore, Sylvia (1989). Yesterday and Tomorrow: California Women Artists. Midmarch Arts Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-9602476-9-1.
- ^ Cohen, Alina (2019-03-01). "Shirin Neshat on Her Path from Art School Outcast to Contemporary Art Icon". Artsy. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
- ^ Dalkey, Victoria (November 25, 1978). "Opening Stabs Hole in Proposition 13 Cloud". The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, California). p. 19. Retrieved 2022-02-02 – via Newspaper.com.
- ^ "Sylvia Lark". Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF). 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "Untitled, 1980". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ a b "Sylvia Lark, UC Berkeley Art Professor". Newspapers.com. The Sacramento Bee. 30 December 1990. p. 37. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
- ^ "Art: S.F. Museum of Art". The Argus (Fremont, California). June 20, 1975. p. 25.
- ^ "Southland Scene, Art Scene: Lark–Palmer Prints and Sculptures". Star-News (Pasadena, California). December 22, 1977. p. A-6.
- ^ Johnson, Charles (16 October 1977). "The Sea Returns". Newspapers.com. The Sacramento Bee. p. 49. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
- ^ "Group Shows: Palo Alto Art Center". Newspapers.com. The San Francisco Examiner. 13 January 1980. p. 283. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
- ^ "'About Faces' Celebrates Portraiture, Preserve Interest in Ourselves". Newspapers.com. Oakland Tribune. 22 September 1987. p. 32 (C-3). Retrieved 2022-02-03.
Further reading edit
- Blank, Chotsie; Beard, James (1982). California Artists Cook Book. Abbeville Press. ISBN 978-0896592469. includes recipes by Lark.
- Frueh, Joanna (January 2, 1979). "Chicago: Kathe Keller and Sylvia Lark". Art in America. ISSN 0004-3214.