Pat Adams facts for kids

Pat Adams (born July 8, 1928) is an American artist. She is known for her modern paintings and mixed-media art. Pat Adams is also a member of the important National Academy of Design.

About Pat Adams

Pat Adams was born in Stockton, California. She studied art at several universities. In 1949, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After that, she took more classes at places like the California College of Arts and Crafts and the Art Institute of Chicago.

In 1950, she moved to New York City. There, she joined the art program at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. She learned from famous artists like Max Beckmann.

Studying and Teaching

In 1956, Pat Adams won a special award called a Fulbright scholarship. This award allowed her to study art in France. She traveled there with her husband, Vincent Longo, who is also an artist.

Later, Pat Adams taught art at Bennington College from 1964 to 1993. She also taught as a visiting professor at Yale University from 1990 to 1994.

Her Art Style

Pat Adams's art style mixes modernism with abstraction. Abstraction means her art doesn't always show things exactly as they look. Instead, she uses shapes, colors, and lines to express feelings or ideas.

She describes her art as focusing on "qualities" and "matter" more than just naming things. She feels her art helps release "potentiality," showing more than we might know at first glance. She believes an artist's work is always reaching for new visions.

Where Her Art Has Been Shown

Pat Adams had her very first solo art show in 1954. It was at the Korman Gallery, which later became the Zabriskie Gallery. She had many shows there, about 20, between 1954 and 1997.

Her art was also shown at other places. These included the Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont and the Rutgers University Art Gallery. In 1993, she became a member of the National Academy of Design. She also had an exhibition at Dartmouth College's Art Gallery in 1994.

Art in Collections

Many important museums and universities own Pat Adams's artwork. Some of these include:

• Whitney Museum of American Art in New York
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.
• Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut
• Brooklyn Museum of Art
• University of California, Berkeley

What People Say About Her Art

When Pat Adams had her first solo show, the New York Times newspaper described her art as "quiet, but intense." They also said it was abstract but "filled with lyrical allusions." One of her early works, Ribbons of Breath (1954), used bright, colorful shapes.

Later, art critics said her work showed a desire to make what you see feel real. In 1960, Dore Ashton wrote that Pat Adams's art explored her "visual experiences of nature" and her "spiritual insights about the cosmos." She compared Adams to artists who look for the "inmost secrets of the universe."

Hilton Kramer, another critic, noted that Adams has a "mystical temperament." He said she is "extraordinarily inventive" at creating a world of delicate feelings. He also mentioned that her paintings fill your eyes with "delightful visual detail."

In 2003, Pat Adams showed new paintings at the Zabriskie Gallery. These paintings used rough textures and basic shapes. Some of these works included Into the Garden (2003) and What Follows (2003). What Follows was described as a "soft, dusty mist" that seemed to float and move.

In 2005, an exhibition celebrated 50 years since her first show. An essay for this show described her paintings like Sweetness (1990) as showing many different possibilities. Her newer painting, Be/Hold (2004), was said to draw your eye to its detailed surfaces. Overall, Pat Adams's work has been well-received. She has even been called "one of the most important abstract painters working today."

Awards and Recognition

In 1995, Pat Adams received the Vermont Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. She also won the Jimmy Ernst Award in 1996.