Lower Manhattan Development Corporation - WORLD TRADE CENTER SITE CULTURAL INSTITUTION: DRAWING CENTER FACT SHEET

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Press Release

For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 19, 2005

WORLD TRADE CENTER SITE CULTURAL INSTITUTION: DRAWING CENTER FACT SHEET

VISION FOR THE DRAWING CENTER AT THE WTC SITE

The Drawing Center will contribute to a revitalized WTC site by presenting programs that reflect the highest standards of artistic excellence and innovation and that foreground art as an expression of meaning, culture, and life.

With art as the inspiration, the site will emerge as a catalyst of creativity, vibrancy, and new life for the community, the city, and the country.

The Drawing Center will assume a civic role in restoring the social fabric of Lower Manhattan and in promoting cultural exchange and tolerance in the world at large.

The Drawing Center’s unique approach to engaging audiences in the visual arts focuses on drawing as a medium of expression that is common to us all.

PROPOSED WTC SITE PROGRAM

The Drawing Center will extend the reach of its acclaimed exhibitions; bring drawing to a broader audience; improve its services to artists; and expand and strengthen its educational programs.
The Drawing Center’s programming will encompass the following components:

EXHIBITIONS

Produce original exhibitions of work by historical and contemporary artists in the drawing medium. Drawings from diverse cultures and disciplines will be juxtaposed in up to six gallery spaces. Among the artists under consideration for exhibitions are Cy Twombly, Francisco Goya, Jackson & Charles Pollock, J.M.W. Turner, Jane Quick-to-See Smith, John Cage, and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Present a lively array of daytime and nighttime public programs, including artists’ talks, panel discussions, poetry readings, and community forums for artists.

ARTIST PROGRAMS

Nurture and sustain the local and international artist community through exhibitions of emerging artists, portfolio reviews, and a registry of artists working in the drawing medium.

EDUCATION

Explore the common experience of drawing through education programs for children that feature hands-on workshops with artists, guided tours of the museum, and exhibitions of work created and curated by young people.

PUBLICATIONS

Publish new scholarship on drawing in formats ranging from catalogues to artist books, appealing to both general and art audiences.

MUSEUM PARTNERSHIPS

Partner with major museums in New York City and internationally to curate exhibitions exploring the medium of drawing in relation to other visual media, for example painting and sculpture. Possible collaborating institutions include: the Museum of Modern Art (New York); National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, D.C.); the Shanghai Museum (China); the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia); and Tate Gallery (London).

COLLABORATIONS

Celebrate and expand on the cross-disciplinary nature of drawing through collaborations with neighboring performing arts institutions.

PROPOSED FACILITY

The proposed facility will enable The Drawing Center to present concurrent exhibitions that draw correlations between work from diverse cultures, historic periods, and generations of artists. The Drawing Center will also have dedicated spaces for education programs and artists' services.

The Drawing Center’s new home at the WTC site will provide state-of-the-art program and administrative space, replacing its current facilities.

The new facility will feature up to six gallery spaces where The Drawing Center will present approximately 15 historical and contemporary drawing exhibitions each season. The facility will also provide a gallery space for a new initiative to bring world-class fine art together with their related drawings showing the artist’s creative process.

Visitors will enter into a free public gallery that will serve as an informal setting for events, programs, and introduction to The Drawing Center’s programs.

The Drawing Center will additionally have dedicated spaces for public programs and special events.

An artists’ registry will be expanded into a venue where artists, curators, students, and teachers can meet and artists can show their work informally.

Rooms dedicated to art education will provide space for students of all ages to engage in hands-on drawing activities, including after-school programs and family programs.

Loading, receiving, and paper-conservation areas, as well as an off-gallery staging area will provide necessary preparation facilities for mounting exhibitions of the highest quality.

The Drawing Center will have a bookstore and a library for the public to access a variety of publications on drawing.

BACKGROUND ON THE DRAWING CENTER

A downtown presence for nearly 30 years, The Drawing Center is a highly respected cultural and educational institution and a locally beloved organization. The Drawing Center has achieved the stature of a world-renowned small museum while providing visitors an intimate and accessible visual art experience.

The Drawing Center is the only not-for-profit institution in the U.S. to focus solely on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary.

The Drawing Center first opened its doors in 1977 at 137 Greene Street in the SoHo neighborhood and moved to its current facility at 35 Wooster Street in 1986.

The Drawing Center has presented over 30 acclaimed Historical Exhibitions, such as “Between Street and Mirror: The Drawings of James Ensor” (2001); “The Prinzhorn Collection: Traces upon the Wunderblock” (2000); “Shadows of a Hand: The Drawings of Victor Hugo” (1998); and “Plains Indian Drawings, 1865-1935: Pages from a Visual History” (1996).

The Drawing Center is also recognized for its influential major solo Contemporary Exhibitions, such as: “Mark Lombardi: Global Networks” (2003); “Ellsworth Kelly, Tablet, 1949-1973” (2002); “Ellen Gallagher: Preserve” (2002); and “Richard Serra: Weight and Measure Drawings” (1994).

The Drawing Center is known for its dedication to exhibiting emerging artists. Among the 800 artists whose work was first introduced to a wide public at The Drawing Center are Terry Winters, Ellen Phelan, Carroll Dunham, Glenn Ligon, Janine Antoni, William Kentridge, Kara Walker, Margaret Kilgallen, and Julie Mehretu.

The Drawing Center’s exhibitions are complemented by an array of scholarly publications on drawing, including the Drawing Papers series, launched in 1999.

MISSION STATEMENT

The Drawing Center was established in 1976 to provide opportunities and services for emerging and under-recognized artists; to demonstrate the significance and diversity of drawings throughout history; and to stimulate public dialogue on issues of art and culture.

PRESS CONTACT:

Rebecca Herman
The Drawing Center
35 Wooster Street
New York, NY 10013
Tel: 212.219.2166 x114
Email: rherman@drawingcenter.org
Web: www.drawingcenter.org

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