Alice Adams (artist) facts for kids

Alice Adams (born November 16, 1930) is an American artist. She is famous for her sculpture and special outdoor art called site-specific land art from the 1970s. Since 1986, she has created many public art projects. These can be seen in places like transit systems, airports, and university campuses across the United States.

Her early work included tapestry and woven forms. This work was very important in the American fiber art movement.

About Alice Adams

Alice Adams grew up in Jamaica, New York. In 1953, she earned a degree in painting from Columbia University. After graduating, she traveled to Aubusson, France. There, she studied how to design and weave tapestries at L'Ecole Nationale d'Art Decoratif.

Except for two years in France, Adams has lived in New York City. She often travels for her public art projects. These projects involve working with others and giving advice in the United States and other countries. Her art career has changed and grown through several different stages.

Alice Adams's Art Journey

Early Art: Tapestries and Woven Forms

After studying in Aubusson, Alice Adams came back to New York in 1956. She brought a special loom from Aubusson to weave her own designs. However, her art soon moved away from traditional tapestry methods.

She started working on what was usually the back of the tapestry. She made the surface more interesting and added new materials. These included rope, sisal twine, and found objects. She mixed these with traditional wool and cotton. Alice Adams and other artists like Lenore Tawney and Sheila Hicks began to create three-dimensional forms with weaving. Her work was shown in an important exhibition called "Woven Forms" in 1963.

In 1963, Adams began using materials like tarred rope, chain link fence, and steel cable in her sculptures. She used knotting and looping methods, similar to sailor's knots. But she made them much larger and used different materials than usual. In 1966, art expert Lucy Lippard included three of Adams's works in an exhibition. This show, called "Eccentric Abstraction," was at the Fischbach Gallery in New York City.

Sculptures and Architecture

After 1968, Adams's sculptures explored parts of buildings. She focused on the wall, the corner, the column, and the vault. She continued to use flexible materials. For example, she painted layers of latex onto old plaster walls in her studio. Then, she peeled off these layers and put the casts on wooden frames.

She wanted her art to make people see familiar spaces in a new way. She used common building materials like wood lath. She would cover or partly cover frameworks to create free-standing walls, columns, and arches. This art was shown at the 55 Mercer Gallery and in the Whitney Museum Annuals in 1969 and 1971.

Later, around 1977, she started working outdoors. She used traditional barn building methods. She also began to use large wooden slabs and laminated wood arches to make sculptures. These sculptures hinted at larger buildings. Her pieces always suggest something bigger. They make you think about doorways leading to a wider world. They also connect personal memories to shared memories of built places. This architecture-related sculpture was shown in 1979 and 1981. It was also part of a big international art show at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1984.

Earthworks and Site-Specific Art

Alice Adams's site-specific sculptures from the 1970s connect to her later public art. Some of these works used heavy earth-moving equipment. For example, "Shorings" (1978) at the Artpark in Lewiston, New York, used the shape and weight of earth. "Mound for Viewing Slope and Sky" (1981) at Princeton University and "Vertical Up for OOIC" (1983) in Omaha, Nebraska, also depended on earth.

In other works like "Leveling" (1977), her structures measured the ground's height. Her earlier ideas about architecture grew into actual building-like projects. "The Adams' House" (1977) and "The Lost House" (1979) used the idea of a house. These houses were like containers for shared and personal memories.

In 2008, an exhibition called "Decoys, Complexes and Triggers" showed the work of women artists who created land art in the 1970s. This show at the Sculpture Center in New York City included Alice Adams and other artists like Mary Miss and Nancy Holt.

Public Art Projects

Adams's site sculptures from the 1970s were often temporary. Her first permanent public art project was "Small Park with Arches." It was built in her studio and put in the Toledo Botanical Garden in 1984. This work used wooden beams and laminated arches. It continued her goal of creating places where people could gather and interact.

Over the years, she added new materials and forms to her projects. For "The River," she worked with boat builders to use wood for a hospital room. For "African Garden," a schoolyard in East New York, Brooklyn, she mixed cast iron bases with laminated wood seats. These were inspired by African furniture.

For the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, she created "Glider Park." This project had hanging seats under steel shelters. These shelters were designed to allow trees to grow through them. Later, she started using precast and cast-in-place concrete structures. She also used cast, etched, and fabricated steel, bronze, and aluminum. Often, water and plants were important parts of her designs.

Two large outdoor meeting places on college campuses are "The Roundabout" in Philadelphia and "Scroll Circle" at the University of Delaware. These works are major gathering spots. They include water walls, brick or granite paving, concrete seating, plants, and lighting. At The University of Texas at San Antonio, a simple granite fountain is the center of the "Healer's Spring" rotunda. In the "Wall of the Tides," water flows over a mosaic, and spheres reflect the water and clouds.

Two of her biggest works are important parts of airport concourses. In "Beaded Circle Crossing" at the Denver International Airport, giant aluminum arches filled with colorful argon gas lean towards each other over a moving walkway. At the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport, an aluminum boat frame sits on one of three large platforms. These platforms are made of limestone and thick glass and hold plants.

Working with Others

Alice Adams often works alone on her commissioned projects. But she also works with other artists and designers. She learned a lot about the architectural process. This includes everything from the first idea to the final construction plans. This knowledge has helped guide her own art.

Adams's first team project was in 1985. For five years, she worked with artists and architects to design the stations for the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. This experience taught her how to work with many different trades and materials. It also showed her how to handle the complex steps of big building projects. She realized that working with others can make an artist's vision bigger. It can open up new ways for artists to impact large public infrastructure programs.

After that, she helped design the MetroLink in St. Louis, Missouri (1988–1990). She also worked on the Ronkonkoma, New York Long Island Railroad Station (1994–1995). And she helped with the Montclair State University at Little Falls Station for the New Jersey Transit System (2004). She also advised on the Birmingham, England, Midland Metro Light-Rail System (1992). As a co-lead artist, she and Marek Ranis created the art plan for the Charlotte (NC) Area Transit System (2002–2006). They also helped design the landscape and other parts of the project.

A special exhibition in 2000 at the Lehman College Gallery showed models and photos of Alice Adams's public sculptures. These works have been displayed across the United States since 1986.

Works

• The Roundabout 1992
• African Garden 1994
• Beaded Circle Crossing 1994
• Stone and Glass Gardens 2003

See also

In Spanish: Alice Adams (artista) para niños