For Immediate Release
Contact: Amy Day
Tel: 515.271.0344 (o)
515.612.0775 (c)
aday@desmoinesartcenter.org

DES MOINES, IOWA (September 2024) – The Des Moines Art Center has received a $63,000 Collections Grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art to support our upcoming exhibition “Whisper to a Scream: Women Artists and Minimalism,” which is slated to be on view from early to mid-2027.

Inspired by a core group of works from the Des Moines Art Center’s permanent collections, “Whisper to a Scream” will unite a multigenerational group of female-identified artists, most of whom are American or spent time living and working in the United States. These women played a key role in establishing and evolving minimalist abstraction, one of the dominant aesthetic languages of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Their philosophical and material approaches are myriad, but all embrace spare forms of abstraction that speak volumes with limited formal elements. Moving beyond the traditional definition of Minimalism, which has long centered around a group of predominately white male, New York-based artists, this exhibition will instead consider a continuum of women painters, sculptors, and more who have often been overlooked or underappreciated in the narrative of art history.

The Collections Grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art will support the planning and development of “Whisper to a Scream,” making possible an ambitious, multi-faceted project. With this grant, the Des Moines Art Center will be able to conduct new, ground-breaking research into the museum’s collections for the first time in over a decade, which will also allow the museum’s minimalist art to be shown in a fresh, unfamiliar context.

“We are thrilled and honored to receive a Collections Grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art, the first such grant the Des Moines Art Center has received from this eminent foundation. I am especially pleased to have Terra’s support for “Whisper to a Scream,” a ‘dream exhibition,’ conceptualized by Senior Curator Laura Burkhalter with support from Associate Curator Dr. Elizabeth Gollnick. The ultimate success of any project lies in its earliest moments, when the creative and scholarly thinking is just starting. The Terra Foundation’s investment in the research phase of “Whisper to a Scream” is deeply meaningful, and it will have an enormous impact on the final exhibition and catalogue. We wholeheartedly thank the Terra Foundation, its staff, board of directors, and the panel of external readers,” said Kelly Baum, John and Mary Pappajohn Director.

“Whisper to a Scream” is much more than a singular exhibition, representing a multi-part project consisting of sustained research, scholarly exchange, a catalogue, and a series of public programs. Funds from the Terra Foundation will allow the Des Moines Art Center’s curatorial team to meet with artists, galleries, and staff from other museums to access archival material, secure loaned artwork, and conduct extensive research on Art Center holdings. Additionally, the Art Center will engage the Midwest Art Conservation Center to explore, preserve, and protect permanent collections works that are a part of the exhibition. Most notably, a select group of curators, scholars, and artists will be invited to Des Moines to view the collections and provide input on the thematic direction of the exhibition and opportunities for public programming.

Works from the Des Moines Art Center’s collections will form the base of the project, with branches moving forward and back in time, to an array of Modernist pioneers. Together with the addition of loaned artworks, this exhibition will also represent a diverse array of Latinx, Black, Indigenous, and Asian-American artists, as well as artists from Central and South America and other regions of the globe.

Additionally, “Whisper to a Scream” will catalyze research into Louise Rosenfeld Noun, a Des Moines-based collector, philanthropist, activist, and historian of both art and feminism who played a foundational role in the Des Moines Art Center’s history. The impact of this level of research on our collections will last beyond the scope of the exhibition, enhancing knowledge around the minimalist works held both within the Art Center’s buildings as well as outdoor works on the grounds and in the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park. These new contexts and connections made possible by the Terra Foundation will become building blocks for interpretive collection-based activities at the Des Moines Art Center for years to come.

For additional information, contact Senior Director of Communications and Marketing Amy Day at 515-271-0344 or aday@desmoinesartcenter.org.

About the Terra Foundation for American Art
The Terra Foundation for American Art, established in 1978 and having offices in Chicago and Paris, supports organizations and individuals locally and globally with the aim of fostering intercultural dialogues and encouraging transformative practices that expand narratives of American art, through the foundation’s grant program, collection, and initiatives.

About the Des Moines Art Center
The Des Moines Art Center is a vibrant, AAM-accredited (American Association of Museums) institution located in the capital city of Iowa that welcomes over 300,000 visitors annually from across the country and around the globe. Its historic campus consists of three buildings designed by major architects of the 20th century—Eliel Saarinen, I. M. Pei, and Richard Meier—incorporated into the natural landscape of Greenwood Park. The Art Center is home to one of the strongest collections of 20th- and 21st-century art in the region, and it hosts a series of ground-breaking exhibitions and lectures each year featuring artists known regionally, nationally, and internationally. The experimental art for which the Art Center cares is reflected in its creative offerings, including a celebrated education program that prioritizes access and collaboration, an art school with studio classes for all ages, and the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park, situated on 4.4 acres in downtown Des Moines. The Art Center is committed to the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which are incorporated into every facet of its mission and identity.

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