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Contact: Cara Egan,
SAM Public Relations
(206) 748-9285;
email: PR@SeattleArtMuseum.org
Seattle Artist Nicola Vruwink Creates 70 Cakes for SAM’s 70th Birthday
A Feast for Your Eyes: Seventy Years at SAM
July 10–August 24, 2003
SEATTLE, June 6, 2003 – This summer the Seattle Art Museum will celebrate its 70th birthday with A Feast for Your Eyes: Seventy Years at SAM, an installation by Seattle-based sculptor and video artist Nicola Vruwink on view July 10 – Aug. 24, 2003 at SAAM and SAM downtown.
“Nicola Vruwink is known for her use of unconventional materials—she has incorporated everything from sugar to plastic Easter grass into her work—and for her innovative approach to sculpture,” says Tara Young, curator of the installation. “Her work is approachable and at times lighthearted, yet is also extremely thoughtful, which seemed the perfect combination for this project that celebrates SAM’s history.”
The installation of 70 cakes documents objects entering the collection from 1933 to the present. To represent SAM’s first year, 1933, Vruwink was inspired by the Ming Dynasty Camels. Other works include the 1961 acquisition Giovanni di Bologna and Pietro Francavilla’s Standing Cupid (c. 1580, in the European Galleries), the 1965 acquisition of William de Konning’s, Arrangement in Pink and Green, 1955 (now on view in International Abstraction Part I: Making Painting Real)and the 1998 acquisition of a selection of snuff bottles on view at SAAM. Each lavish cake representing a particular artwork are formed in plaster and molding paste. The cake sculptures will be installed throughout the Seattle Asian Art Museum at Volunteer Park and the Seattle Art Museum, downtown.
“Some pieces I could hardly wait to transform into a confection, I would be almost giddy! Others, I feared not doing them justice as the pieces themselves are awe-inspiring. I feel that I have acquired a wealth of knowledge making every minute worth it,” says Vruwink.
As a second component of the project, Vruwink will create a video installation, filmed in front of SAAM in Volunteer Park by the camels. It will feature 70 individuals, ranging in age from one to 70 years old to document the growth of SAM. The subjects will all have connections to the museum and will include staff, members, volunteers, board members, artists and museum visitors. By filming individuals in numerical order by birthday, Vruwink’s video will make the aging process immediately visible.
Vruwink is a Seattle based artist who creates interactive pieces that allows the viewer to be part of the work. She received an MFA from the University of Washington and her work has appeared at various venues and in several exhibitions including the Henry Art Gallery, an installation titled Living, at Bumbershoot, 2002 and most recently in the project Nest at the Bellevue Art Museum. A Feast for Your Eyes was organized by Tara Young, assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.
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