GRAND RAPIDS -- Sculptures and prints by an artist whose work has been featured alongside Andy Warhol, Jim Dine and other pop artists of the 1960s is coming to Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.
“George Segal: Body Language” opens on April 3 and runs until Aug. 16 at Meijer Gardens, 1000 E. Beltline Ave. NE.
Segal is renowned for his work using gauze bandages dipped in plaster to create life size sculptures of people and different body parts.
“These are great, great sculptures that will engage visitors,” said Jochen Wierich, curator of sculpture and sculpture exhibitions for Meijer Gardens. “And they’ll be able to really kind of imaginatively think about their own lives and how in everyday life we are kind of bodies in a crowd.”
The exhibit will feature sculptures and prints created by Segal that focus on his use of the human body to depict different emotions and themes.
Wierich said one of the sculptures he’s excited to display is “Bus Passengers.” It’s a plaster and mixed media piece made up of six life-size figures and plastic seats designed to look like they are riding a bus.
“It’s such a wonderful kind of real life situation that he recreates," Wierich said. "That, to me, is really Segal at his best.”
While Segal is best known for his sculptures, he was also an avid print maker. The exhibit will include 31 prints that were gifted to Meijer Gardens from the Segal Foundation. This is the first time those prints will be on display.
Wierich said showing the prints side by side with the sculptures is a great way to experience Segal’s exploration of the human body.
"So this is a kind of a new way of a representation of Segal beyond only the sculpture and really showing him as an artist who explored all different kinds of media,” he said.
This is the first time Meijer Gardens is showing Segal’s work in an exhibit since 2004.
The gardens also have programs planned to go along with the exhibit. All the programs are free with admission and there is no registration required.
- Drop-In Workshop: Body Fragment Collages Sunday, April 5, 1–4 p.m. Explore the exhibition then create your own collage with human figures cut out of magazines. You will learn why the artist used fragmented body images in his artworks, and get creative with colors, shapes and compositions. All materials provided. Best for adults and older children.
- Lecture: Body Imagery in Contemporary Art Sunday, May 17, 2 p.m. Though the human body has been central to art throughout most of history, modernists often severely distorted or completely eliminated the figure as a subject during much of the 20th century. In the late 1960s, the body returned as a key focus for artists. Join us for this presentation about how and why the body has recently been such a meaningful, beautiful and often controversial topic for aesthetic investigation.
- Drop-In Workshop: Capturing What’s Not There Sunday, June 14, 1–4 p.m. Explore the role of positive versus negative space in this drop-in activity. Check out the exhibition and then use light, line, pencil and paper to create a silhouette of yourself, a friend or an everyday object. For Segal, capturing what is not present was just as important as capturing what is. His monochromatic figures recall snapshots of memories. All materials provided. Best for adults and older children.
- Sculpture Walk: Figures in the Gardens Sunday, July 12, 2 p.m. Explore the Sculpture Park with Curator of Arts Education, Amber Oudsema during an hour-long walk, discussing sculptures that focus on the human figure. Learn about how artists investigate the human condition through the body.
- Lecture: Exploring Process - Printmaking Sunday, Aug. 9, 2 p.m. Join working artist and college professor Mariel Versluis as she discusses the processes of printmaking. Topics will include why an artist might choose one printmaking process over the other, when to add color and which medium is her favorite. See some examples of Versluis’ work and equipment and learn about this widely appreciated and complex artistic process.
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