WebinART: In Pursuit of Poetry: A Discovery with Geoff Dunn
Virtual event hosted by Pucker Gallery.
We invite you to join us September 1st at 12PM EDT for a WebinART devoted to the refreshing fresh air – plein air - art of Geoff Dunn in his initial exhibition with our Gallery. We rarely add a painter to our roster but Geoff's sure handed and spontaneous works have called to us! He and Brattleboro Museum Curator Emerita, Mara Williams, will join Gallery Director Bernie Pucker in a discussion of his art.
In Pursuit of Poetry: A Discovery will be on view at Pucker Gallery from 9 September through 9 October 2022.
Mara Williams has been curating exhibits at Brattleboro Museum & Art Center for thirty years. Her area of expertise is modern and contemporary art. Recent solo exhibitions include Gathering Light: The Art of Stephen Hannock, Wolf Kahn—Landscape of Light; Secrets by Gloria Garfinkel; Andy Warhol—Selections from the Jon Gould Collection. Group shows have included the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Janet Fish, Mary Frank, Keith Haring, David Hockney, Maya Lin, James McGarrell, David Nash, Robert Rauschenberg, Ursula von Ridingsvard, Michael Singer, Tseng Kwong Chi, and Barbara Zucker, as well as a host of regional and emerging talent.
In addition to Brattleboro, her exhibits have been seen by audiences at Tufts University Art Gallery, Florence Griswold Museum, Carving Studio, and Sculpture Center, and a number of galleries in New York City.
As a partner in Arts Bridge LLC, Williams leads exhibition teams for institutions developing new large-scale museum projects. She led a team at Norwich University to conceive and build the inaugural exhibits and media productions at the Sullivan Museum & History Center; she was the exhibition developer and project manager for the Vermont Historical Society's interactive exhibit and film, Freedom & Unity: One Ideal, Many Stories; she developed Bravo! A Century of Theatre in Fairfield County; and a number of exhibits for the Vermont Folklife Center.
She holds an A.B. in Theatre from Boston College; an MFA in Museology from Syracuse University, and has completed doctoral course work and passed comprehensives in comparative arts at New York University. She has served as Chair of the Vermont Arts Council and Board Member of the New England Museum Association. She is currently serving her third term on the Senate Curatorial Advisory Committee for the U.S. Capitol.
Geoffrey P. Dunn, MD, FACS, is an Emeritus member of the Department of Surgery of UPMC Hamot, former Medical Director of the Palliative Care Consultation Service there, and has been a visiting professor in India, Great Britain, Canada, China, and Norway.
Painting has been an important activity in Dunn’s life ever since it was recommended to him at age thirteen by his mother when he was confined to quarters for misbehavior at school. Upon graduation from high school, he had a one-person show of his work, earning him the school prize in fine arts. He also received the school’s prize for best historical essay in which he chronicled the development of American landscape painting during the nineteenth century. In college, Dunn majored in religion and minored in fine arts, studying with the Dutch painter Charles Stegeman. Professor Stegeman first suggested to Dunn a career in medicine: “You are a very competent painter and do fabulous work, but I believe your heart is elsewhere. I think you should be a doctor.” Dunn continued to study privately with Andrew Sanders; then, after a long hiatus resumed painting during trips to the Georgian Bay region of Ontario, where he was strongly influenced by the Canadian school, The Group of Seven. During the late 1990s, Dunn recognized a deeper and more spiritual purpose to painting through the inspiration and counsel of Brother Thomas. At that time Plein air painting had increasingly become the counterpoint and catharsis for Dunn’s career in hospice and palliative care and the substance of much of his professional writing and lecturing.
Dunn has had solo exhibitions at Glass Growers Gallery and the Erie Insurance Group’s gallery and exhibited at the Mercyhurst faculty exhibit and the Erie Art Museum Spring Show. Dr. Dunn is a member of the Northwest Pennsylvania Artists Association and in 2012, he was accepted as a non-resident artist member of the Salmagundi Art Club in New York.
Bernie Pucker is the director of Pucker Gallery, which he founded with his wife, Sue, on Newbury Street in Boston in 1967. Pucker Gallery represents over fifty artists from around the world, presenting approximately ten exhibitions annually, often paired with artist talks, virtual “WebinArts,” and other public events.
Bernie is currently a Board Member at the Japan Society, Boston, and the Jewish Publication Society. He also serves on the Leadership Council for Facing History and Ourselves, as well as the Artistic Advisory Board for the Terezin Music Foundation. Previously, he served as President of Solomon Schechter Day School; President of the Newbury Street League; and a Board Member for the Friends of Copley Square and The Unity Project, among others.
Bernie received his MA in Modern Jewish History from Brandeis University and his BA in History and English Literature from Columbia College.