6-6:30 p.m. Galleries will be open
6:30-7:30 p.m. Talk in CSM Lobby
Clyfford Still saw how the boundless plains in the West could offer generous bounty in times of plenty or pitilessly starve in dust and wind. He referred to that experience as one that taught him to respect the “awful bigness of the land, the men and the machines.” In subsequent years, he worked on an enormous scale, and each time, he had to confront the awful bigness of the vast expanse of blank canvas. CSM’s current exhibition, Awful Bigness features Still’s most ambitious works to facilitate our consideration and discussion of some of the biggest ideas impacting our lives today. Join us for this lecture series exploring monumental topics related to exhibition themes. The June program will feature Bridget Cooks talking about Feeling.
This program is $5 for the public, free for CSM members, and registration is required to attend in person at the Clyfford Still Museum.
About Bridget Cooks
Bridget R. Cooks is a scholar and curator focused on the art of African Americans. She serves as Chancellor’s Fellow and Professor of African American Studies and Art History at the University of California, Irvine. Her books, articles, and essays can be found widely across interdisciplinary academic publications and art exhibition catalogues. She is most well-known as the author of the book, Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum (UMass, 2011).
Cooks has curated many art exhibitions including, Grafton Tyler Brown: Exploring California (2018) (Pasadena Museum of California Art); Ernie Barnes: A Retrospective (2019) (California African American Museum), The Black Index (2021-2) (national tour), and Lava Thomas: Homecoming (2022) (Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and Spelman College Museum of Fine Art). Her work has been awarded by the Ford Foundation, Southern Poverty Law Center, Getty Research Institute, California Humanities, the James A. Porter & David C. Driskell Book Award in African American Art History, and the Henry Luce Foundation.