The Art Story Foundation's official statement of purpose is to: "Educate, inform, and introduce people to modern art through speaker series, educational workshops, and online educational resources".
This website's mission is to make modern art more accessible and digestible to the general public by providing information that is easy-to-understand, professionally designed, and logically presented. Modern art requires much from the viewer, but a large time commitment should not be a prerequisite.
The Abstract Expressionist movement is the first movement covered by this website. With time, this website will grow to include more movements, artists, and educational tools to inform our audience.
The Art Story Foundation is an educational 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Please feel free to provide suggestions and comments on the information provided on this site, or
donate to The Art Story Foundation to help us continue our work.
"The Art Story Foundation is a result of my interest in trying to understand the art that is all around us. After developing a serious interest in Abstract Expressionism and other 20th century American art movements, I found the available sources of information too limited to satisfy my needs. Many excellent art books are too narrow in their scope, and hard to reconcile with other each other. I found similar issues with existing websites and other resources.
I believe the Internet offers a tool that can potentially address all these problems, and bring art education to the 21st century. This website, and the Foundation as a whole, is striving to achieve this goal."
- Michael Zurakhinsky
THE TEAM:
|
|
|
Morgan Falconer is a freelance critic, journalist and lecturer. Since completing a Ph.D. on American modernist culture, he has written about contemporary art for publications throughout the world, and he joined The Art Story because it echoes his interest in making modern and contemporary art accessible to a wide audience. His writing appears regularly in the Times (London), Frieze, Art in America, and the Burlington Magazine. He is currently writing a guide to art in New York, to be published by Rizzoli (New York) and Thames & Hudson (London) in 2011.
|
|
|
|
Linda Pedersen is a senior level arts management professional, with extensive experience in arts education and development. Her career has focused on making art appreciation understandable, and relatable, with an emphasis on how art enhances the quality of life for all. Pedersen's background includes curating, and creating art exhibitions and museum level shows. She has served as the Executive Director of several visual arts organizations, including the National Association of Women Artists in New York City.
|
|
|
|
Alan Goldstein is President of The Computer Studio, a software, marketing and web development firm in Yonkers, NY, which he founded in 1986. He has a Masters degree in Engineering from the City University of NY and an MBA from New York University, and an avid interest in art and design. With his extensive professional background in marketing communications and in developing intuitive, user friendly web interfaces, he has helped guide the design and functionality of the website as well as the overall direction of the foundation.
|
|
|
|
Michael Zurakhinsky is a graduate of Manhattan College, with an MBA from New York University. His background includes extensive experience in web technology, business and finance and a passion for art and literature. Michael has traveled extensively, and brings to The Art Story a deep appreciation and broad understanding of modern art. His frustration with current educational resources covering modern art movements has motivated him to create our new, interactive website.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Justin Wolf has a BA from the University of Missouri and a Masters in Liberal Studies from The New School for Social Research. His background includes extensive work in urban education, modern art, criticism, creative non-fiction and editing. Since joining The Art Story in February 09, Wolf has been integral in building the site's sections on modern art theory, galleries, and other entities that he feels are often overlooked in the canon of Abstract Expressionism. But above all, he's proud to be a part of something that celebrates the myriad complexities of modern art through such a comprehensive lens.
|
|
|
|
Rachel Gershman is a writer, editor and art collections management consultant based in New York City. She holds an M.A. degree in Museum Studies from Columbia University, where she also earned her B.A. degree. Her work with The Art Story expands on her M.A. thesis, which explored methods for making art more accessible to wider audiences. Rachel also brings to The Art Story her long-standing interest in contemporary art and her years spent working in arts publicity.
|
|
|
|
Julia Brucker has an extensive background in art history and education, including over three years as museum educator of the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, Mass. She received her M.A. in Art History and a Certificate in Museum Studies from Tufts University. Her passion for modern art brought her to write for The Art Story.
|
|
|
|
Stephanie Taylor, originally from the Boston area, moved to New York to earn her Masters in American Fine & Decorative Arts from the Sotheby's Institute of Art. She then went on to work for Sotheby's in their Impressionist & Modern Art department for several years as an assistant and cataloguer for auctions and the highly discrete private sale sector. Her favorite artists include Picasso, Homer, Whistler, Maillol, Cezanne, Egon Schiele, and Gustave Klimt.
|
|
|
|
Ivan Savvine has recently earned his Master's degree in Art History from Syracuse University. Born and raised in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, Mr. Savvine studied Linguistics and British-American Literature before pursuing his graduate studies in the history of art. An inveterate enthusiast of Russian Modernism, he brings to The Art Story a thorough understanding of the groundbreaking avant-garde artists often overlooked in the critical understanding of modern art. Based in New York City, Mr. Savvine pursues various freelance writing projects focusing on the theory of architecture and the Russian and German art of the 1920's.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eve Griffin is a freelance editor and writer and is currently obtaining an MLS in Archival Studies, with a concentration on variable media in museum archives. She has her MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History from Tufts University and received her BA in Art History from Smith College. She has worked at The Museum of Modern Art in New York where she processed the scrapbooks of Abstract Expressionist Robert Motherwell, and at the Fogg Museum at Harvard University in the Modern and Contemporary Department.
|
|
|
|
With an MA in Art History from the University of Auckland, Ashley E. Remer has worked as an art historian, writer, editor, curator, and critic. Based in both New York City and New Zealand, Ashley is the founder and Head Girl of the newly established Girl Museum Inc., an online museum dedicated to research and exhibiting contemporary and historic representations of girlhood cross culturally. She is committed to exploring innovative delivery of virtual resources for art history education.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Constantine Tsaregradsky lives in Kharkov, Ukraine. He is fond of Renaissance artists. Among his interests and hobbies is web programming, airsoft, live action role-playing games, historical reenactment, snowboard, folk and metal music.
|
|
|
|
|
|
David Kupperberg lives in Brooklyn, NY, where he settled after spending several years in London getting a Masters degree in Contemporary Art criticism and curatorial studies. A freelance writer and graphic artist, David is also part of a design and event-planning collective called Midnight Kitchen Media, and maintains a (mostly) healthy obsession with all things music and film.
|
|
|
Why Abstract Expressionism?
We're often asked why The Art Story Foundation has opened this site with a focus on Abstract Expressionism. Principally, this is because many of the roots of current art, and of the current art world, can be found in the years when the movement flourished. The period saw a shift in the leadership of modern art from Paris to New York - where, despite increasingly global outlooks, it remains. The movement represented the first self-conscious avant-garde in America - and supplied the last great achievements of modernist painting. Many of the styles and attitudes of the movement's leading figures can still be found in the work of young painters today.
A note on simplifying art history:
Although the creators of TheArtStory.org understand that breaking down movements and influences into simple statements is a form of simplification, we believe that this step is a required one to make the complex concepts in Modern art palatable for the larger audience that this website is trying to accomodate. Users with advanced understanding of Modern art may find the breakdowns too general, but for those people the website offers further in-depth analysis and references to original sources.
A note on viewing reproductions online:
Whenever we look at web images of artworks, it is important to remember that much of the effect that these images have is completely lost when viewed on our computer monitor. This is invariably the case with Abstract Expressionist works where the size, color and surface are key to the appreciation and the experience. Please do not forget this at any point while using this site.
©2010 The Art Story Foundation