Constellations
Artist
Dana Newmann
born 1937 Prairie City, Illinois; lives Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date1995
Mediumcollage, paint, glass
Dimensionssight: 19 1/2 × 15 3/8 in. (49.5 × 39.1 cm)
frame: 23 1/2 × 19 3/8 × 1 1/4 in. (59.7 × 49.2 × 3.2 cm)
frame: 23 1/2 × 19 3/8 × 1 1/4 in. (59.7 × 49.2 × 3.2 cm)
ClassificationsCollage, Montage, & Assemblage
Credit LineAlbuquerque Museum, gift of Susan and David Hill
Object numberPC2021.88.2
DescriptionA collage with a central blue rectangle, surrounded by a thick, smeared black border. The blue rectangle filled with constellations and astronomical charts, an image of clouds interrupted by cut-out circles, and a black-and-white image of a woman wearing a skirt with her face obscured by the border.On View
Not on viewPearl in the Night Sky: Reflections on the Moon in Art and Poetry
on view October 14, 2023 – April 7, 2024
Dana Newmann’s collage and assemblage techniques are rooted in a love for collecting a diversity of materials and objects. The reassembling of these media into works of art is a way to uplift them and honor the history that is inevitably entangled in material things. While reflecting on her practice, the artist stated: “with age certain objects acquire a patina, the iridescence of time or decay; the act of retrieval and display celebrate a kind of heroic promise of resilience and transformation.”
Constellations is a collage that includes clippings from books and other printed matter mounted on glass. Black paint is used to frame and at times interrupt the compositional structure of the work. Among the materials referencing the land and human history are references to the stars and the phases of the moon. The work reflects a universal interconnectedness that both engages with and transcends time.
