The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Opens a Digital Exhibition of “Mildred Bryant Brooks: The Art of Etching”
EUGENE, Ore. – (July 17, 2020) - The University of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art presents “Mildred Bryant Brooks: The Art of Etching,’ a digital exhibition that explores the work of Brooks, an award-winning American etcher and master printmaker.
“Mildred Bryant Brooks: The Art of Etching” will examines Brooks’ ability to explore the physical and metaphorical world through her exceptional artistic skill, curiosity, and appreciation of nature. Brooks brings the forest, desert, and ocean landscapes of her native California to life through her etchings.
The exhibition is drawn from the JSMA’s permanent collection and includes segments from Brooks’ 1959 instructional film The Art of Etching. In addition to the physical beauty of her work, “Mildred Bryant Brooks: The Art of Etching” celebrates the breadth of Brooks’ pioneering career as a female artist and educator in the 1930s and 40s.
“The work of Mildred Bryant Brooks offers something for everyone: pure visual delight and a respite from the chaos of the outside world, skilled technical lessons in etching, a reminder to explore all that nature has to offer, an inspirational story for women and all artists. We are so pleased to introduce the UO community and wider public to this sampling of the incredible collection of Brooks’ works at the JSMA,” says Emily Shinn, curator of the exhibition, Curatorial Extern in American and European Art and 2019 Mildred Bryant Brooks intern.
Mildred Bryant Brooks (1901-1995) was born in Maryville, Missouri and grew up in Long Beach, California. She began studying etching in 1920 and practiced her craft for more than thirty years before turning to painting and interior design to accommodate her declining eyesight. Brooks attended the University of Southern California as well as the Otis College of Art and Design, Chouinard Art Institute, and Stickney Art Institute. In addition to her etching work, Brooks taught at USC, Stickney, and Los Angeles County Art Institute, and served as artist-in-residence at Pomona College. Brooks was a member of multiple printmaking associations and served as president of the California Society of Etchers eight times. She won twenty-two national and international awards, including the Pasadena Arts Council Gold Crown Artist Award in 1976. Her etchings have been exhibited internationally and are in the collections of numerous American art museums.
“Mildred Bryant Brooks: The Art of Etching” is on view on the JSMA website at https://jsma.uoregon.edu/MildredBryantBrooks. An exhibition catalog with essays by Emily Shinn and Jacob Armas, 2018 Mildred Bryant Brooks intern, will be available in 2021.
This exhibition is made possible by gifts from Beth Bryant Tucker and the Mildred Bryant Brooks Art Fund.
Contact: Debbie Williamson Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu
Link: https://jsma.uoregon.edu/MildredBryantBrooks
