Exhibitions take a tremendous amount of planning and coordination. Beach Museum of Art staff have worked on “Art for Every Home: Associated American Artists” for over seven years. Below are some facts about this exhibition.
- Associated American Artists (AAA) of New York (1934-2000), was a business that sold American art via mail-order catalogue with a goal of making art accessible for everyone.
- The exhibition provides an overview of AAA’s contribution to the history of American art, printmaking, ceramics, textiles, and interior design.
- 137 prints, paintings, ceramics, glass work, and textiles are in the exhibition.
- 35 prints, drawings, and ephemera are from the Beach Museum of Art collection
- Items are borrowed from 27 private and museum collections. Loan agreements were made for each piece and museum staff arranged shipping to the Beach Museum of Art.
- Substantial research: 100 online collection databases for AAA objects were consulted, travel to review archives in Washington, DC.
- Organizers traveled to approximately 35 museums and private collections to see works.
- Selections include visually compelling objects that touch on important aspects of the AAA story.
- Production of a major catalogue with 14 essays by 10 contributors. Catalogue design coordinated by Marquand Books of Seattle, WA; printed in China and distributed by Yale University Press.
- Production of an illustrated list of AAA objects: more than 2500 prints, 250 ceramics, and 350 textiles available as a free pdf document.
- Collaboration on exhibition design with Tim Durfee of Los Angeles.
- Matting and framing of substantial portion of works in exhibition.
- Production of wall panels and object labels: succinct and compelling presentation of AAA story.
It has been a busy planning process but the show looks phenomenal, so make sure to get in and check it out. For more information visit the exhibition page on our website.
The exhibition will be on display through January 31, 2016.