At the 45th Parallel: Artist Talk & Pop-Up Exhibit
Tuesday, September 23 | 4:00
Join us for an artist talk and afternoon with artist Brenda Zlamany, whose pop-up exhibition At the 45th Parallel: 45 Portraits + 4–5 Landscapes will be on view in the Janis room September 23 - 25.
At Tusen Takk, Zlamany painted local subjects as part of the 'Climate in America’ chapter in her ongoing project, The Itinerant Portraitist. While in northern Michigan, Zlamany painted 45 watercolor portraits of residents, symbolic of the 45th parallel that runs through the region, and a cycle of 4 to 5 oil paintings to explore the landscape through elemental and allegorical themes. Together, the portraits and landscapes form a meditation on what it means to live halfway between the equator and the North Pole, where seasonal extremes, shifting climates, and human experience intersect.
The Itinerant Portraitist is a multi-year global project created by Zlamany in 2011 to explore the positive impacts of painted portraiture. The residency at Tusen Takk continues Zlamany's “Climate in America” chapter after previous iterations in Key West, Sonoma, Denali National Park, and Glacier National Park. For details on the project, visit www.brendazlamany.com, or follow on Instagram @brenda_zlamany and @tusentakkfoundation.
Limit of 50.
*Please be advised that photographs and/or video may be taken at this event for use on the Dennos website, press, marketing materials, social media, and/or other NMC publications. By entering this event, you consent to the Dennos Museum Center photographing and using your image and likeness.
Artist Bio
Brenda Zlamany is a painter who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Since 1982 her work has appeared in dozens of solo exhibitions and numerous group shows in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East including the National Portrait Gallery, London; the Brooklyn Museum; the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, among others. Her work has been widely reviewed and is held in the collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Deutsche Bank, the Neuberger Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the World Bank, Yale University, and Rockefeller University. Zlamany has collaborated with authors and editors of the New York Times Magazine on several portrait commissions.
She has completed major institutional commissions for Yale, Rockefeller University, and Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. She has participated in residencies including Yaddo, MacDowell, the American Academy in Rome, and Denali and Glacier National Parks. Since 2011, her ongoing project The Itinerant Portraitist has produced more than 2,000 portraits and earned recognition for its community-centered and globally engaged approach. Her film "100/100: The Itinerant Portraitist" won Best Documentary Short at the Greenpoint Film Festival.
Grants she has received include a Fulbright Fellowship, Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant, New York Foundation for the Arts Artists' Fellowship in painting, Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant, and Jerome Foundation Fellowship. She received a BA from Wesleyan University.
About Tusen Takk
The Tusen Takk Foundation seeks to nourish artists by giving them a time and a place to work, an engagement opportunity to enrich the culture of Northwest Michigan, and a platform to share their work internationally.
“Tusen Takk” means “thousand thanks” in Norwegian and is often used to convey appreciation for something received, like a wonderful dinner or a helping hand. With this same sense of gratitude and grace, the founders established the Tusen Takk Foundation to express thankfulness to artists for the transcendent truth and intangible joy they give back to the world in their work.
Located on the isolated Leelanau Peninsula in Northwest Michigan, the Tusen Takk studios and guesthouse are set into the quiet, forested dunes of Lake Michigan. Designed by renowned architect Peter Bohlin, the buildings provide artists with an architecturally inspiring space to focus on their work.
Tusen Takk was designed to host one artist-in-residence at a time (or two artists in collaboration) to provide artists with space and time to develop current work and explore new directions. While in residence, artists are encouraged to engage with the local arts community. In the past, artists have invited guests for a workshop or studio visit or given a public talk, exhibition, or performance in collaboration with one of the Foundation’s partner organizations.
https://www.tusentakk.org/
The Dennos Museum Center builds community, sparks conversation, and inspires change for audiences of all ages through its exhibitions, programs, and the collection and preservation of art.
Opened in 1991, the Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College is a premier cultural facility in northern Michigan offering a dynamic array of exhibitions and programs in the visual arts, sciences, and performing arts. The Museum includes temporary exhibition and permanent collection galleries, an elegant sculpture court, and a hands-on Discovery Gallery. The permanent collection features regional, national, and international art from the 19th-21st centuries. The Milliken Auditorium hosts events and concerts with performers from around the world. Visit the Museum Store for great shopping, including a fine selection of Inuit art for collectors.
The Museum's signature collection is Inuit art of the Canadian Arctic, one of the largest and most historically complete collections of these distinctive sculptures and prints in the United States. A significant collection of outdoor sculptures by noted international and Michigan artists surrounds the Museum on the beautiful campus of Northwestern Michigan College. In 2000, the Dennos Museum Center was recognized by ArtServe Michigan with the Governor's Award for Arts and Culture. The Museum expanded its original building in 2018, adding new galleries and auditorium spaces with wide support from the community.
In 2021, the Dennos joined a network of more than 200 other Smithsonian Affiliates in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Panama. Established in 1996, the affiliations program is designed to facilitate a two-way relationship among Smithsonian Affiliates and the Smithsonian to increase discovery and inspire lifelong learning in communities across America. Smithsonian Affiliates are collaborators on many of the Smithsonian’s strategic priorities, adding local content, context, and expertise to national initiatives to help tell a fuller story.
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